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SWISS extends Middle East flight suspensions

A man in a high visibility jacket is walking on the runway tarmac alongside the engine of a white SWISS plane. The SWISS logo is visible on the engine: SWISS in white lettering on a red backdrop with the Swiss flag 'plus' in the corner, and the full acronym: Swiss International Air Lines
The airline said the safety of crew and passengers was the top priority KEYSTONE

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has extended its suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Beirut, Lebanon, until August 26 due to the current tensions in the Middle East.

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The airspace over Iran, Iraq and Israel will also not be used until August 26, according to a statement published on Monday by the Swiss subsidiary of German airline Lufthansa.

“We deeply regret any inconvenience this may cause our passengers, but the safety of our passengers and crew always remains our top priority,” SWISS said. Passengers affected will be contacted directly.

+ SWISS prolongs suspension of flights to Beirut and Tel Aviv

The airline offers “the possibility of postponing the trip to a later date at no cost or obtaining a full refund of the ticket”.

SWISS says it is continuing to monitor the situation in the Middle East closely and remains in constant contact with the relevant authorities in Switzerland and on the ground.

The Lufthansa group suspended its flights to Beirut at the end of July after a deadly rocket attack on the Druze community of Madjdal Shams on the Golan Heights, annexed by Israel, which blamed Hezbollah for the attack. Several extensions have since been announced.

Translated from French by DeepL/sb

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

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