El Al extends halt on all flights until May 30

On Monday, El Al said it will operate 60 humanitarian cargo flights from Wuhan, China, to several major European cities via Israel.

An Israeli flag is seen on the first of Israel's El Al Airlines order of 16 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jets, as it lands at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv (photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)
An Israeli flag is seen on the first of Israel's El Al Airlines order of 16 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jets, as it lands at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv
(photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)
El Al will extend its halt on all scheduled flights to and from Israel until May 30, the airline told the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Tuesday, with the exception of cargo flights and one-off services.
The Israeli flagcarrier said the decision was based on new measures announced by the Health Ministry on Monday, which did not include lifting the requirement on self-quarantine of passengers arriving in Israel or enabling non-citizens to enter the country.
El Al announced on Monday that it would operate "special" return flights from Ben-Gurion Airport to London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle on May 11 and May 14.
On Monday, El Al said it will operate 60 humanitarian cargo flights from Wuhan, China, to several major European cities via Israel.
The airline will initially operate 15 weekly cargo flights from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport to Ben-Gurion Airport, followed by nine weekly flights to London, three to Paris and three to Frankfurt.
The international airport in Wuhan reopened in early April after two months of closure, serving the Hubei province capital where the COVID-19 outbreak originated.
El Al’s Dreamliner fleet will fly the routes, each carrying approximately 25 tons of humanitarian goods to assist the battle against the pandemic.