Air France has committed to operating daily flights on the Paris-Tel Aviv route, establishing itself as the first non-Israeli carrier to currently maintain direct service between the two cities. The Air France-KLM group is set to expand its presence further, with Transavia France joining the route in three days.

While both airlines will serve the Paris-Tel Aviv market, they will operate from different Paris airports – Air France will utilize Charles de Gaulle Airport, while Transavia France will operate from Orly Airport.

The aviation sector's recovery is gaining momentum, with several major carriers announcing their return to Israel beginning February 1, including Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, ITA, and Eurowings. The restoration of international connections will continue into spring, with Air India planning to resume services in early March, followed by Delta Airlines in April.

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There are currently no foreign airlines are operating flights between Israel and France. The French airline is part of the same organization running the Dutch airline KLM, which also has yet to resume its flights to from the Netherlands to Tel Aviv.

Flights in and out of Israel by non-Israeli carriers, which dropped sharply in the beginning of the war but then gradually picked up as the situation calmed, suffered a major blow when the northern front escalated in September. But the recent truce with Hezbollah following the successful campaign that eradicated its top leadership, has seen the tourism industry get a boost, with the return of more airlines.

Flights to and from the US have been particularly hit, with virtually no flights available except with Israel's El Al airline. But just days ago another Israeli airline announced it was launching a new line from Tel Aviv to New York.

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An Air France passenger plane was nearly hit by ballistic missiles during Iran's missile attack on Israel, which took place on October 1.

According to a report by the German news outlet Bild, the flight departed from Paris en route to Dubai. As it passed through southwestern Iraqi airspace, just before 19:45 (Israel time), the pilots noticed missiles near their aircraft from the cockpit. Bild notes that the plane likely flew close to the path of the missiles launched from Iran.

The report states that an Air France spokesperson refused to comment on the details of the incident but mentioned that the airline had launched an internal investigation to assess the incident.

The company also noted that at 20:00 (Israel time), Air France halted all flights over Iraqi airspace. It also completely avoided flying over the airspace of Israel, Lebanon, and Iran on that day, opting for a different route used by other airlines. Iraqi authorities also closed their airspace to flights, but the order to shut down the country's airspace came about an hour after Iran's missile attack on Israel.

Iran has previously been involved in an international crisis after it downed a Ukrainian civilian passenger plane on January 8, 2020, killing all 176 passengers aboard. Iran initially denied responsibility for the crash, but later admitted that its air defense forces had mistakenly shot down the plane. The missile strike occurred just hours after Iran had launched an attack on US military bases in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. It is believed that Iran's military, on high alert after their own strike, mistakenly identified the civilian aircraft as an enemy plane and fired a missile, leading to the tragic crash.

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Air France has announced the cancellation of flights to Israel following the explosions in Lebanon. The French airline is joined by the Lufthansa group, which includes Swiss, Austrian, Brussels, and Eurowings. The company stated, "All passenger and cargo flights will be temporarily suspended starting today until Thursday, September 19."

Lufthansa is offering affected passengers the option to cancel their tickets free of charge or to rebook their flights.

It's important to note that Air France's cancellations currently apply only through Sep. 19. The company will provide further updates regarding decisions beyond that. At this time, Ben Gurion Airport is operating as usual with no changes to guidelines. If there are any updates, they will be published here, on Israel Hayom.

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European nations and Canada moved on Sunday to shut their airspace to Russian aircraft, an unprecedented step aimed at pressuring Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his invasion of Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since World War II.

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The ban on Russian jets comes as the airline industry continues to grapple with the effects of the global pandemic that is still straining demand for travel.

Germany and France joined Britain, the Nordics and Baltic states in announcing bans on Russian use of their airspace, a major escalation in a tactic by mostly NATO allies to wage economic war against Putin in retaliation for the invasion.

The West, led by the United States, also unveiled severe financial sanctions against Russia, which has called its assault on Ukraine a "special operation" to dismantle Kyiv "junta," capture dangerous nationalists and destroy Ukraine's military.

Russia is now widely expected to further retaliate against the air blockades and other sanctions. It has already responded to the earliest European airspace bans with its own edicts barring airlines from Britain, Bulgaria and Poland.

Without access to Russia's airways, experts say carriers face diverting flights south while also avoiding areas of tension in the Middle East – adding significant time and cost.

"France is shutting its airspace to all Russian aircraft and airlines from this evening on," French Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said in a tweet, an announcement echoed across continental Europe.

Earlier, Germany's transport ministry said it would close airspace to Russian planes and airlines for three months from Sunday, with the exception of humanitarian aid flights.

Canada also said on Sunday it had shut its airspace to Russian aircraft effective immediately.

Air Canada said it "does not operate to destinations in either the Ukraine or Russia, and at all times, we comply with all airspace restrictions per Transport Canada and the FAA (US Federation Avian Administration)."

Nordic countries Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland also made similar announcements, following on from closures already declared by Britain, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Romania. Baltic countries Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are also closing their airspace to Russian airliners.

"It is now absolutely necessary to proceed with further touch measures to isolate Russia," Swedish EU Minister Hans Dahlgren told public service radio SR.

Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications Timo Harakka said in a tweet late on Saturday that Finland, which shares a long land border with Russia, was preparing a similar closure.

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