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 @ISIDEWITHNewsDaily DiscussionIndiaIraqBeirutTel AvivItalyIsmail HaniyehJordan•••5mos ago

Airlines cancel Middle East flights as escalation anxiety rises

In recent days, the Lufthansa Group and Air India joined the growing list of airlines canceling flights in the region after the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31 and the killing of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike near Beirut on July 30.

The Lufthansa Group — which includes Lufthansa Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings — canceled all flights to Amman, Jordan, and Irbil in northern Iraq through Wednesday.

All group flights to Tel Aviv, Tehran and Beirut are suspended up to and including Aug. 12, extending a previous suspension on flights to and from Beirut that was in place until Monday.

Air India announced last week that it would cancel flights to and from Tel Aviv until Thursday. Italy’s ITA Airways extended a previously announced cancellation of flights to and from Tel Aviv through Thursday, citing “geopolitical developments in the Middle East” in an email to The Washington Post.

13 Replies

 @C1v1cTealUnity from Florida  commented…5mos5MO

The question here is why would any airline fly into the Middle East in the first place? To support the oppression of women? To promote colonialism? Ridiculous. The entire region is barbaric and should be canceled.

 @JubilantR3d1strictingSocialist from South Carolina  disagreed…5mos5MO

Blanket stupid in your case. Do you think the USA has helped Israel? Or AIPAC? Israel is a colonial nation, Netanyahu its worst leader ever. The problem is that it’s a colonial Nation, in 2024, two centuries late. Saudi Arabia? Murderous sexist bribe people. As low as humans go. The place is an oppressive human rights pit, and the sooner we stop supporting it, the sooner they might reform. Right now? We support evil. Until that changes, the tragic status quos will endure.

 @JealousKingdomRepublican from Minnesota  disagreed…5mos5MO

This is the sort of blanket statement that represents the kind of thinking that is a root cause of misunderstandings and needless conflicts in the world.

 @G3rrymanderElandRepublican from Colorado  commented…5mos5MO

Israel's neighbors have done so much to ruin flying these past many decades through their terrorism. Hijackings, bombings, 9/11... And it should be noted that a region comprising well over half a billion people between greater Arabia and Iran can't even build a plane. Nor can their people even understand how things fly, since that would require being able to read.

Glad to see that, not only are they too backward to make these kinds of things possible, they want the rest of the world to not be able to enjoy progress, either.

 @CharismaticLegislationVeteran from California  agreed…5mos5MO

Israel did a couple things to the airport in Gaza that kinda ruined flying.

 @Gr4ssrootsCordialSocialist from Pennsylvania  commented…5mos5MO

Any update on flights in and out of Gaza? In case there are any stories about people trying to flee?

 @ISIDEWITHasked…5mos5MO

Do you think the safety concerns of airlines are justified when they cancel flights due to geopolitical tensions?

 @ISIDEWITHasked…5mos5MO

How would you balance the need for safety with the economic and personal inconvenience caused by such flight cancellations?

 @ISIDEWITHasked…5mos5MO

What impact do you think these flight cancellations have on people's perceptions of safety when traveling internationally?

 @ISIDEWITHasked…5mos5MO

If you were an airline executive, how would you decide whether or not to cancel flights in a region experiencing conflict?

 @ISIDEWITHasked…5mos5MO

How would you feel if your travel plans were suddenly canceled due to rising tensions in another part of the world?

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▲  2016 replies3 agree1 disagree

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