FAA Ban on Flights to Israel Having Minimal Impact at LAX

A short-term Federal Aviation Administration ban on U.S. airline flights to Israel appeared to have minimal impact today on passengers at Los Angeles International Airport, with the only direct flight bound for Tel Aviv operated by Israeli airline El Al.

El Al announced that it planned to continue operations as usual, despite decisions by some U.S. and European carriers to halt flights to Tel Aviv. The FAA's ban applied only to U.S. airlines.

El Al's only flight to Israel from LAX left this afternoon as scheduled.

Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United all suspended operations to Israel over safety concerns stemming from rising violence in the region. Those announcements came prior to the FAA's imposition of a 24-hour ban on flights by U.S. carriers to Israel in response to a rocket attack near Ben Gurion International Airport.

Air France later announced that it was suspending Tel Aviv flights until further notice, along with KLM and Air Canada. Lufthansa imposed a 36-hour flight ban.

Nancy Castles of Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates LAX, said the El Al flight was the only nonstop flight from LAX to Tel Aviv.

"It is difficult to determine how many passengers headed for Tel Aviv are flying to other airports and then connecting to Tel Aviv," she said.

American Airlines, in conjunction with U.S. Airways, operates a flight from LAX to Philadelphia that took off as normal, but its continuation from Philadelphia to Tel Aviv was canceled.

It was unknown how many passengers on the Philadelphia portion of the flight from LAX had been planning to continue to Israel.

--City News Service