LE PLUS. Israeli carrier El Al has abruptly suspended all of its flights to Russia, with the airline due to make a decision about reinstating service at the end of the week. The cancelations come despite no change in official policy from Israeli authorities, and Russian airlines will continue to provide service between the two countries.
El Al halts all services to Russia.
As reported by news outlet Israel Hayom, passengers booked with the carrier on its services between Tel Aviv and Moscow have begun receiving cancelation messages within the past few days. El Al has cited « operational constraints » as the reason behind its cancelations, although it has not elaborated further on what exactly this entails. A representative from the airline told local media that the decision is not related to the security situation in Israel, nor is it a decision imposed by the government.
« Due to operational constraints, El Al was forced to cancel some Moscow-Tel Aviv flights. Passengers whose flights are being canceled have received and will receive messages and will be allowed to choose any alternative flight option that suits them in addition to what is due to them by law. »
The cancelations cover the airline’s scheduled services to Moscow until November 7th, although new bookings for this route are not showing up as available until January 2025. Data from aviation analytics firm Cirium reveals that El Al operated a total of 34 scheduled flights between Tel Aviv (TLV) and Moscow (DME) in September, representing over 6,300 seats each way – the majority of flights were operated by El Al’s Boeing 737-900ER fleet, along with a few services flown by its Boeing 777-200ERs.
In October, this dropped to 16 monthly roundtrips, with the final flight taking place on October 27th. Flights between Israel and Russia, as operated by Russian carriers, will continue – presently, Red Wings Airlines operates two routes from Tel Aviv to Moscow Domodedovo and Moscow Zhukovsky (ZIA), while both Red Wings and Azimuth Airlines fly between Tel Aviv and Sochi (AER).
Compared to the roughly 100 departures scheduled for September 2024 between Israel and Russia, frequencies are much lower than they were five years ago. In September 2019, there were over 350 monthly departures on Israel-Russia routes, with Aeroflot and Ural Airlines flying to several Russian destinations.
Resumption decision to be made soon.
A delegation from El Al is currently in Moscow and is expected to return to Israel by the end of the week. It is at this point that El Al will make a decision on whether or not to resume its services to Russia.
More than 60 airlines worldwide offer scheduled services to and from Russia.
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