Delta cancels Atlanta service to Israel indefinitely

In early December, an Israeli plane took off from Eilat headed to Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv. As passengers watched in fear and amazement, rockets could be seen outside the windows, many, if not all, intercepted by Israel’s missile defense system known as Iron Dome. American airlines aren’t willing to take those kinds of risks. As the war was launched by Hamas on Oct. 7, thousands of rockets and their interceptors dotted the skies over many Israeli cities, preceded by piercing sirens warning residents to flee for safe rooms, stairwells, and bomb shelters. And foreign airlines delayed, then canceled their flights to and from Tel Aviv, some for the immediate future and some indefinitely. Delta Air Lines direct flights between Atlanta and Tel Aviv fall into the latter category. A statement released by the Atlanta-based airline said, “Delta is continuously monitoring the security environment in Israel to inform cancellations to our flight schedule to and from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.”<br/>