- Major international airlines resume Ben Gurion flights following the reopening of Israeli airspace after a ceasefire.
- Regional carriers like Bluebird and TUS lead the immediate return to service this April 2024.
- North American airlines maintain extended flight suspensions with United and Air Canada delayed until September 2026.
(TEL AVIV, ISRAEL) – Foreign airlines resumed and scheduled flights to Ben Gurion Airport this week after Israel reopened its airspace following a ceasefire with Iran, with the Israel Airports Authority announcing on April 12, 2026 that operations would return gradually pending approvals from each airline’s home regulators.
Bluebird Airways, a Greece-based carrier with Israeli ownership, operated flights to Athens on April 13 using planes leased from ALK Airlines of Bulgaria and plans to increase service to two daily flights later this week. ALK Airlines also resumed daily flights on April 13 on behalf of Bluebird.
TUS Airways, a Cyprus-based carrier with Israeli ownership, is restarting the Tel Aviv-Larnaca route on April 14 and plans to add more destinations in the coming weeks. Etihad Airways is due to resume two daily Tel Aviv-Abu Dhabi flights from April 15, down from five daily flights before the disruption and below plans for six.
Ethiopian Airlines is set to resume Tel Aviv-Addis Ababa service on April 17, while Hainan Airlines is also due back on April 17. Smartwings, Georgian Airways and FlyOne are expected to return this week, and Red Wings Airlines is scheduled to resume on April 18.
Flydubai is also in discussions to restart flights as early as this week, adding another Gulf carrier to the list of airlines testing demand after the airspace reopening.
Israel shut its airspace to most foreign carriers on February 28, 2026 during fighting with Iran. Ben Gurion Airport fully reopened at midnight on April 15-16 after the ceasefire announcement.
Israeli airlines resumed limited operations earlier, focused in part on repatriation. El Al is expanding to 40 destinations from April 19, including Boston, Kraków, London, Marseille, Paphos, Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Tivat and Sofia, while Arkia and Israir also returned to limited service.
The staggered restart by foreign carriers leaves Ben Gurion Airport in a transitional phase rather than a full return to pre-war schedules. The airport has reopened, but each airline still needs clearance from its own regulators before rebuilding regular service.
That process has produced a mixed timetable. Wizz Air plans to resume on April 25 and is monitoring safety, while British Airways has set July 1 for its return and was the first carrier to announce plans after the ceasefire.
Several airlines have pushed their suspensions well into the summer or beyond. United Airlines remains suspended through September 7, and Air Canada is also suspended through September 7.
Aegean Airlines has extended its suspension after June 26. Austrian Airlines and Iberia Express remain suspended after May 31, and Azerbaijan Airlines remains suspended after April 30.
The uneven schedule reflects how carriers are weighing operational constraints, regulatory approvals and security assessments even after the formal reopening of Israeli airspace. Airlines that resumed first tend to be regional operators or carriers with closer commercial links to the Israeli market.
Bluebird Airways and TUS Airways fit that pattern. Both carriers have Israeli ownership, and Bluebird’s early restart through aircraft leased from ALK Airlines gave the market one of its first signs that foreign-branded service was returning to Ben Gurion Airport.
Etihad Airways’ return carries wider regional weight because the Abu Dhabi route became one of the more visible post-Abraham Accords links between Israel and the Gulf. Its restart at two daily flights shows service is resuming, but not yet at the scale seen before the shutdown.
Ethiopian Airlines and Hainan Airlines restore additional long-haul connectivity later in the week, though the broader long-haul picture remains uneven. North American service, in particular, appears set to recover more slowly than short-haul and regional routes.
IAI Chairman Yiftach Ron Tal said the returns reflect confidence in Israel’s aviation system. Even so, the timetable still points to a gradual recovery, with full normalization expected to take weeks and US routes likely to take longer than others.
