The war in Israel launched by Hamas is also having a significant negative impact on airlines' businesses. While foreign providers have largely withdrawn for security reasons, local companies are trying to maintain the flight offering. Due to lack of demand, this costs a lot of money.

Before the corona pandemic, Israel was a very popular destination for cultural, city and beach holidays. Due to the long duration, people have come to terms with the fact that there is a simmering conflict between hardliners on both sides and trust that Israel has everything under control. However, the corona pandemic meant that demand collapsed to zero virtually overnight. One of the main reasons for this was the comparatively extremely restrictive entry and quarantine regulations set by the government. At times, tourists were not allowed to enter Israel at all.

After the restrictions were lifted, tourists gradually started coming back into the country. In addition, the Israelis themselves are considered to be extremely fond of traveling and are therefore also an extremely important target group for airlines. So business is going well again for the airlines. However, Hamas' military attack meant that demand collapsed to virtually zero within a few days.

While most foreign providers have stopped their flights to/from Tel Aviv or Eilat, Arkia, Israir and El Al, among others, are trying to maintain their flights if possible. But: That has its price, because due to a lack of demand, you can hardly get new bookings anymore, because for a variety of reasons, Israelis don't want to or can't travel at the moment. Many people see it as their duty, regardless of military obligations, to stay in the country and participate in national defense, even if it is just by volunteering to cook food for the soldiers.

Shortly after the Hamas attack, many Israelis decided to travel home immediately, even before the military could formally call them up. They volunteered to defend their country and made their way to Israel. This is why at least one El Al flight arrived in Tel Aviv overcrowded. This “passenger boom”, which everyone would have been happy to do without given the very unpleasant occasion, is now over.

It's hard to get new bookings anymore and foreigners don't want to travel to Tel Aviv and/or Eilat at the moment due to the unclear security situation. By the way, this also has “Side effects” on the border regions of Taba (Egypt) and Aqaba (Jordan), because here too, demand has collapsed to a level that is no longer worth mentioning.

For El Al, Israir and Arkia, the situation is now even threatening to their existence. The corona pandemic cost the carriers a lot of money because, in contrast to other countries, the opportunities to fly “at least a little” were very limited. There were loans and support from the government, but it certainly didn't make you rich. Now the three airlines are warning that they could run out of money in the foreseeable future. That's why these three providers have applied to the government for state aid as quickly as possible. The crisis cabinet wants to decide on this in the next few days.