Israeli airline suspends flights to Eilat resorts for safety concerns

Israel’s main airline company El Al suspended on Tuesday daytime flights to Eilat resorts in Southern Israel for safety concerns, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said.

The newspaper reports that the airline company is taking this measure after new flight paths were introduced to reduce exposure to potential attacks by terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula in the wake of the Egyptian army’s latest military operation to crackdown on the restive region.

Normally, El Al has three daily daytime flights from Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport to Eilat.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the chief executive of El Al expressed deep concern to the director of the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority “about the implications of the new directive in terms of safety,” however did not detail why the airline deemed the new paths unsafe.

In the past Eilat has been targeted by rockets launched from Sinai. Last month, Israel shut down the Eilat airport for a couple of hours citing security concerns.