El Al Israel Airlines Adds Six Rescue Flights & Flexible Conditions for Future Amsterdam-Tel Aviv Flights in Response to Antisemitic Attacks on Israeli Soccer Fans Overnight
El Al’s employees have mobilized to operate free rescue flights for more than 1,000 Israeli passengers during Shabbat.
(Tel Aviv, Israeli and Amsterdam, Netherlands) El Al Israel Airlines (TLV: ELAL) announced this morning that it added six rescue flights from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv in order to transport more than 1,000 Israeli passengers to Israel, free of charge, in response to multiple attacks on Israeli soccer fans reported in Amsterdam Thursday (Nov. 7th) night – following the Europa League soccer game between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch’s Ajax – which were condemned as antisemitic by Dutch authorities.
Photo of of an El Al Israel airliner courtesy of El Al Israel’s @elalisrael account on Instagram.
El Al also added flexible conditions for upcoming flights this week (between November 8th and November 16th) on the Amsterdam-Tel Aviv route, according to a post on El Al Israel’s LinkedIn page. The price of a one-way flight ticket from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv on existing flights will be 179€ for a light ticket, per El Al.
El Al does not ordinarily operate on Shabbat – which takes place weekly from Friday evening through Saturday evening – in accordance with traditional Jewish religious law, but received permission to do so from Israel’s newly appointed Chief Rabbis, Rabbi David Yosef and Rabbi Kalman Bar, according to The Times of Israel.
The six recue flights are being offered free of charge for all passengers who had booked a return ticket from Amsterdam to Israel with El Al and all other airlines, according to El Al Israel Airlines on LinkedIn.
“In light of the severe and exceptional events in Amsterdam, all of EL AL’s employees have mobilized to operate free rescue flights during Shabbat,” said EL AL CEO Dina Ben Tel Ganancia, via an Instagram story posted by El Al’s @elalusa account. “EL AL is proud to cooperate and, together with Magen David Adam, serve as a steadfast pillar in rescuing and providing medical services to Israelis in Amsterdam. It is both our privilege and our duty.”
El Al’s first rescue flight departed from Amsterdam at 18:40 local time, the second departed at 18:40 local time and the third flight departed at 20.35 local time. The fourth flight will take off at 22.20 local time, and is expected to land in Tel Aviv tomorrow at 03.40 local time, according to a post by El Al Israel Airlines on LinkedIn.
Passengers who purchased a ticket by today, November 8th, on the Tel Aviv-Amsterdam route, for flights departing by Saturday, November 16th will be able to change their flight to any of El Al’s destinations from Europe without change fees, differences or airport taxes; these passengers will be able to cancel their flights and receive credit vouchers for future redemption, according to a post on El Al’s LinkedIn page.
