The ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict continues to affect airfreight and express shipments to Israel and the surrounding region, with many carriers and forwarders advising that services are subject to cancellation and delay.
Many airlines have suspended direct flights to and from Israel, UK forwarder Woodland International warned on its website on 10 October.
This followed the advice by many international aviation authorities to avoid the region’s airspace, it said. Woodland added that most airlines have stopped accepting bookings on the affected routes, and, in most cases, completely halted flight operations, leaving some goods already in transit stuck until further notice.
Photo source: aircargonews.net
UK forwarder Kintetsu World Express also warned on October 11 that it might not be able to accept cargo to and from Israel, after Europe, US, and Asia carriers suspended flights to and from Israel, though it noted that Tel Aviv and Ramon airports remained open.
Kuehne and Nagel (K+N) said in an update: “As of now, KN TLV offices remain fully functional and operational.”
The logistics company added that “while international airlines have temporarily suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv, it is worth noting that TLV airport remains open. We would like to highlight that EL AL and Cal Airlines are still providing services, thus offering alternative transportation options for your cargo needs”.
Following the resumption of daily international service to and from Tel Aviv, UPS said: “Delivery and pick-up services are still suspended in the southern areas of the country. However, deliveries and pick-ups have resumed in Tel Aviv and in the northern areas of the country.”
Delta, along with all US carriers, has suspended all flights to Israel itself. However, it said the US Department of State had chartered connecting flights out of Tel Aviv Ben Gurion to European destinations to evacuate citizens.
Germany’s Lufthansa previously said it had suspended regular flights to and from Tel Aviv up to and including Sunday, October 22. The carrier has also suspended flights to Lebanon up to the same date. There is no indication whether it plans to restart services after then.
Etihad Airways however said it was currently operating its daily flight schedule to and from Tel Aviv but added: “We are monitoring the situation minute-by-minute. Safety is always our highest priority and we would never operate a flight unless it was safe to do so.”
Turkish Airlines flights from Istanbul to Tel Aviv also appeared to be operating normally on October 19.
Source: aircargonews.net