US lifts ban on flights to Tel Aviv 2

The US aviation regulator has lifted its ban on US carriers flying to
Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport.
But it has warned that the situation with the conflict in Gaza remains
"very fluid".

The US Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) first imposed the ban on
Tuesday and extended it further on Wednesday citing the "potentially
hazardous situation" in Israel and Gaza.

The cancellations had drawn criticism in US and Israel.
"The FAA has lifted its restrictions on US airline flights into and
out of Israel's Ben Gurion Airport by cancelling a Notice to Airmen it
renewed earlier today (Wednesday)," the regulator was quoted as saying
by the AFP news agency.

Meanwhile, three French and German airlines, including Air Berlin and
Lufthansa, have cancelled more flights of their own to Tel Aviv amid
ongoing safety concerns.

Lufthansa said its decision to cancel flights also applied to its
subsidiaries including Germanwings, Austrian Airlines, Swiss and
Brussels Airlines.

Air France said it was suspending such flights "until further notice".
British Airways, however, has said it will continue scheduled flights
into the region with no current plans to suspend service.

'Show solidarity'
The initial US flight suspension had prompted Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu to ask US Secretary of State John Kerry for help
lifting the FAA ban.
Israel's transportation ministry had said: "Ben Gurion Airport is safe
and completely guarded and there is no reason whatsoever that American
companies would stop their flights and hand terror a prize."

On Tuesday, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg flew on Israeli
airline El Al to Tel Aviv to "show solidarity with the Israeli people
and to demonstrate that it is safe to fly in and out of Israel".

However, the same day, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said
it "strongly recommends" that airlines should avoid operating to and
from Tel Aviv.

Earlier, Delta said a flight from New York City to Tel Aviv was
diverted to Paris on Tuesday after Israeli police confirmed that a
rocket landed approximately one mile (1.6km) from Ben Gurion airport.

The suspension in flights came less than a week after Israel began a
ground operation in Gaza, and as airlines around the world re-think
their flight paths over conflict areas in the wake of the crash of
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine.