The gradual resumption of flights is expected to accelerate in the spring.

By JNS staff

The Lufthansa Group announced Thursday that its airlines will be resuming flights to Israel next month.

The widely-expected move by the global aviation group, which includes Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways and Eurowings, comes as an increasing number of foreign airlines are renewing flights to Tel Aviv as regional tensions begin to deescalate.

British Airways and Air France are expected to follow suit.

The three major U.S. legacy carriers are still not flying to Israel.

United and American Airlines suspended flights to Israel indefinitely, while Delta is scheduled to resume flights to Tel Aviv in April. United and Delta sought to restart flights to Israel periodically over the last year, only to extend the suspension of service following flareups in the war, while American has stayed away entirely. A United spokesperson told JNS on Wednesday that the company had no news to offer yet on the renewal of flights.

Lufthansa will operate daily flights to and from Frankfurt and Munich starting on February 1, Swiss will operate daily flights to Zurich, Austrian Airlines will run daily service to Vienna, Brussels Airlines will run three weekly flights, and Eurowings will fly twice weekly to Düsseldorf. The gradual resumption of flights is expected to accelerate in the spring.

Renewed service by major European airlines follows the resumption of service by popular low-cost carriers.

Hungary-based Wizzair has already resumed it flights, while Ireland’s Ryanair is due to renew service this spring, returning to a full schedule in the summer.

January and February are typically the slowest months for travel to Israel. Some 48,000 passengers passed through Ben-Gurion International Airport on Thursday on over 300 international flights, including 25,600 departing Israel and 22,400 arriving, according to the Israel Airports Authority.