easyJet cancels all flights to Israel for the next six months because of the ... trends now

EasyJet has cancelled all flights from the UK to Israel for over six months due to increasing tensions in the Middle East. 

The budget airline said it would not reopen routes to Tel Aviv until October 27 - with any customers who already have tickets offered the choice of a refund. 

A spokesperson for the airline said: 'As a result of the continued evolving situation in Israel, easyJet has now taken the decision to suspend its flights to Tel Aviv for the remainder of the summer season.

 'Customers booked to fly on this route up to this date are being offered options, including a full refund.'

The Luton-based company had previously suspended flights until April 21, but has now extended the ban to cover the entire summer season. 

Saturday's missile and drone assault on Israel by Iran has caused 'chaos' in the aviation industry after further narrowing options for planes navigating between Europe and Asia.

More than ten airlines have had to cancel or reroute flights over the last two days, including easyJet, Qantas, KLM, Lufthansa, WizzAir, United Airlines and Air India.

Experts claimed this made it the biggest single disruption to air travel since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001.

German airline Lufthansa has suspended its flights to and from Iran, while others including Australia's Qantas and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) have rerouted planes to avoid Iran's airspace. EasyJet and WizzAir have also cancelled flights to Tel Aviv. 

Mark Zee, founder of Ops Group, which monitors airspace and airports, said: 'Not since (9/11) have we had a situation with that many different air spaces closed down in that quick succession, and that creates chaos.' 

Iran's airspace is used by airlines travelling between Europe and Asia and those carriers will be restricted to two viable alternative routes, either through Turkey or via Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Mr Zee said.

German airline Lufthansa has suspended its flights to and from Iran, while others including Australian airline Qantas rerouted planes to avoid Iran's airspace.

This meant it had to temporarily reroute the popular direct flight between Perth and London, meaning it will instead have to land in Singapore en route to Britain.

A Qantas spokesperson said: 'We're temporarily adjusting the flight paths for our flights between Perth and London due to the situation in parts of the Middle East. 

'We'll reach out to customers directly if there's any change to their booking.'

Qantas said no flights between Perth, the capital of Western Australia state, and London had been paused or cancelled, but that flights on the route were operating on the adjusted flight path via Singapore.

The Sydney-based airline's other flights to and from London remained unchanged as they take different flight paths.

KLM cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv until today, a spokesperson for the Dutch arm of Air France KLM said yesterday.

Finnair suspended operations in Iranian airspace until further notice, which may cause longer flight times on flights from Doha.

A spokesperson said the Finnish carrier will reroute over Egypt, resulting in delays of a 'few minutes'.

Meanwhile an SAS spokesperson said flights between Copenhagen and Bangkok fly partially over the region, and one flight had to reroute on the night between Saturday and yesterday.

Air Canada warned of long delays and cancellations on its Israel flights, and cancelled flights to Tel

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