El Al Airlines to Suspend Flights Between Israel and South Africa

(Tel Aviv, Israel) El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TLV: ELAL) yesterday announced plans to suspend flights on its route between Tel Aviv and Johannesburg – the only direct flights between Israel and South Africa – starting April 1st, citing a significant decrease in demand among Israeli travelers due to current security situations.

Image of an El Al Airlines’ Boeing 787 Dreamliner courtesy of El Al Airlines.

"All passengers whose flights will be canceled will be updated and there will be a number of alternatives that the passengers can choose from," reads yesterday’s post from El Al’s Israeli Instagram account, @elalisrael. “The [termination] of the line to Johannesburg will allow expansion of activity to existing destinations, alongside examining possibilities for new destinations."

The cessation of the Tel Aviv-Johannesburg line comes less than one month after the Republic of South Africa accused Israel of genocide and requested emergency measures against Israel, including that it halt its military operations in Gaza, in proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the Netherlands. Israel, whose military actions in the Gaza War came in response to the terrorist organization Hamas’s October 7th attacks on Israeli citizens in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and more than 240 abducted, asked the court to reject the case outright. Per Gaza health authorities, more than 25,000 people have been killed in the war to date, according to CNBC.

The International Court of Justice yesterday ordered Israel to “take all measures” to prevent genocide in Gaza, rejecting Israel’s request for the case to be thrown out but stopping short of ordering Israel to halt the war as South Africa asked.

“Israelis don’t want to fly to South Africa,” said an El Al spokesperson, according to CNBC. “They are cancelling flights and planes are pretty empty… We understand it’s the situation because it was different before.”

Simple Flying reported that until November of 2023, El Al operated two weekly flights from Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport (IATA: TLV, ICAO: LLBG) to Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport (IATA: JNB; ICAO: FAOR); however, following the outbreak of the war, this was reduced to one weekly flight operated with a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.

Johannesburg is currently El Al’s only destination in Africa after the carrier suspended flights to Egypt and Morocco last year, according to Simple Flying.

In December of 2023, passenger traffic at Ben Gurion Airport was approximately 70% lower than in it was in December 2022, per Simple Flying.

The Times of Israel reported that El Al representatives said that once the airline has stopped flying to Johannesburg it would specifically shift the wide body aircraft it uses on the route to expand service to current destinations in North America and Bangkok and Tokyo in Asia, while also examining new routes.

“El Al,” or אל על in Hebrew, translates to "Upwards", "To the Skies", or "Skywards" in English. The airline was founded in 1948 along with the State of Israel as both an airborne bridge between Israel and the world as well as an expression of national existence and pride, with an image of the Israeli flag adorning the tail of each of the carrier’s airplanes, according to El Al’s website.