FAA lifts ban on flights to, from Tel Aviv

The Federal Aviation Administration has lifted its ban on U.S. airlines flying to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport.

“The agency will continue to closely monitor the very fluid situation around Ben Gurion Airport and will take additional actions, as necessary,” the FAA website said.

On Tuesday, the FAA banned U.S. airlines from flying into the airport after a rocket landed about a mile from the facility amid ongoing clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.

The notification about cessation of service had disappeared from United Airlines’ website today, and Delta Air Lines announced on its website that it has reinstated service.

Those wishing to contact airlines about rebooking can go to this list of phone numbers and websites.

Some cruise lines, meanwhile, have changed itineraries that would have had them stopping in the Israeli ports of Haifa and Ashdod.

Haifa, a city of about 275,000 people, is an important deepwater port on the Mediterranean Sea that dates to 1933. Ashdod is an artificial port whose modern incarnation dates to 1956 but whose history dates to at least the 17thcentury BC.

On Monday, the U.S. State Department reissued a travel warning for Israel, urging Americans to consider deferring nonessential travel there.

Elisa Moed, who with Christina Samara runs Breaking Bread Journeys, which offers cooperative Israeli-Palestinian culinary tours, said she worries about how recent events coupled with the warning will affect tourism.

“Travel can have an immensely positive impact on people and the destinations they visit and hopefully when this conflict subsides perhaps more travelers will be seeking meaningful travel experiences,” she said in an email.

“Prior to the start of this conflict, Israel and the Palestinian Territories were in the midst of a record breaking year of tourism with double digit increases. So many new hotels have opened and many more are under construction and over 4 million people were expected to visit.”

Tourism represents as much as $8 billion in economic benefit to Israel, said Eliezer Hod, counsel for tourism and the director of the western region of the United States for the Israel Ministry of Tourism.

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