El Al Airlines on Sunday suspended its regular flight schedule through April 18, leading to thousands more cancellations for Israelis planning to travel abroad, as wartime airspace restrictions continue to limit operations at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

Instead, El Al will continue to operate an emergency flight schedule of a limited number of flights to several central gateways, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Bangkok, London, Paris, Rome, and Athens.

“Due to the limited number of available seats, passengers [whose flight was cancelled] awaiting assignment are being accommodated based on priority according to the original ticket issue date, with priority given to exceptional humanitarian medical cases,” El Al said.

The Transportation Ministry decided on Sunday to slightly increase the number of passengers allowed on departing flights from Ben Gurion Airport to a maximum of 100 people, up from 80.

Arriving flights to Israel have been operating without passenger quantity restrictions. However, the number of takeoffs and landings at Ben Gurion Airport is still restricted to one plane per hour. Depending on the security situation, the Transportation Ministry........

© The Times of Israel