Following the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv, Israel by British Airways, Virgin Atlantic has confirmed that they are in the process of making a decision on whether to follow suit.
Virgin Atlantic Making A Decision on Israel Flights…
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AviationSource approached Virgin Atlantic for a comment on their Israel operations, as they operate to Tel Aviv as well, and a spokesperson has said the following:
“The safety of our customers and our teams is our number one priority, always.”
“We’re currently reviewing our flying programme and no further decision has been taken yet.”
It is not clear yet when this decision will be made or finalised.
It has emerged that a British Airways Airbus A350 from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv and is returning back to the UK capital following safety concerns.
British Airways has confirmed that the aircraft will be returning to London Heathrow in a statement:
“Safety is always our highest priority and we’ve taken the decision to return our Tel Aviv flight to Heathrow”.
G-XWBF is the Airbus A350-1000 operating this flight, as per data from RadarBox.
Airlines have been cancelling services into Tel Aviv over the last few days amid the ongoing fighting with Hamas.
It is unclear at this stage whether the airline will join the growing list of carriers to cancel services into Israel for the time being.
This remains a developing story. As soon as we find out the decision from Virgin Atlantic on the decision to cancel flights to Israel, then we will update this piece accordingly.
Updates…
UPDATE #1 @ 1717 UK time – Courtesy of their flight information page, Virgin have cancelled some flights into Tel Aviv, Israel, following an update yesterday being:
VS453 departing at 22:10 local from London Heathrow-Tel Aviv – This will be between 10th October – 27th October
VS454 departing at 05:55 local from Tel Aviv-London Heathrow – This will be between 11th October – 28th October.
As it stands, the following flights are still running, pending the decision expected to be made by the airline soon:
VS457 departing at 08:50 local from London Heathrow-TLV
VS458 departing 16:25 local from Tel Aviv-London Heathrow
UPDATE #2 @ 1804 UK time – BREAKING:
Virgin Atlantic has taken the decision to pause operations between London Heathrow and Tel Aviv for 72 hours.
In a statement, the airline said:
“The safety of our customers and our teams is our number one priority, always. After careful consideration, based on latest information, we have taken the decision to pause flying to and from Tel Aviv for the next 72 hours.
“As the dynamic situation evolves, we’ll keep our flying programme under constant review. Our teams will be in contact with any affected customers to discuss their options, which include rebooking to a later date or a full refund. We would advise anyone booked to travel to check their flight status on the website before travelling to the airport.”
The following flights have been cancelled;
- VS453/VS454 LHR-TLV-LHR until 28 October
- VS457/VS458 LHR-TLV-LHR 12th, 13th and 14th October
UPDATE #3 @ 1820 UK time – VS458 is currently in the air and has been for around two hours now. This is the final flight to Heathrow before the suspension takes place.
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