Lufthansa cancels Israel flights until the end of month over coronavirus restrictions

Lufthansa said in a statement: “The extended refusal of entry of the Israeli authorities … will lead to a considerable drop in demand for flights to Israel.

“As a result, Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines will cancel all their flights to Tel Aviv and Eilat as of Sunday 8 March 2020 for the remaining winter timetable period until 28 March.”

The Lufthansa Group of airlines offer around ten daily flights to Israel.

On Wednesday Israel announced it would start sending back travellers arriving from Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.

It follows earlier restrictions on flights from Italy, China, Thailand and Singapore.

Flights from the UK are unaffected at this stage.

El Al had warned last week that it expected to lose up to $70 million (£54 million) in revenue between January and April because of the virus.