Overview
- Authorities issued a NOTAM allowing flights with prior permission from 09:10 local on March 4, initially approving one arrival per hour from the west with a plan to later increase to two.
- El Al resumed inbound services on March 4 to prioritize returns from 22 gateways in the United States, Europe, and Thailand, and it has paused new ticket sales until March 21 with no outbound flights planned.
- The airline will automatically place customers whose flights were canceled onto recovery flights at no extra cost, prioritizing humanitarian and medical cases and contacting travelers directly for assignments.
- Operational protocols call for expedited passenger processing at Ben Gurion and very short ground times before aircraft depart again, with officials previously indicating only Israeli carriers would operate in the first phase.
- Additional capacity is being added via Egypt, with Arkia and Israir running repatriation charters to Taba and other nearby airports and coordinated buses meeting passengers to cross into Israel.