The airline said it was monitoring the situation across the region and remained in close contact with authorities.
The airline said the affected flights to Tel Aviv are flight EY593 from Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Tel Aviv (TLV) and flight EY594 from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi, while the affected flights to Beirut are flight EY535 from Abu Dhabi to Beirut (BEY) and flight EY538 from Beirut to Abu Dhabi.
“The safety of our guests and crew is our top priority and we apologise for any inconvenience caused by this cancellation,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Emirates’ sister airline flydubai said it was diverting Dubai-Tel Aviv flight FZ1245 to Ramon International Airport (ETM) on August 25 due to the temporary closure of Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV).
“The return flight, FZ1246, has been cancelled. We are in contact with passengers regarding rebooking options. Today’s flight is expected to operate once Ben Gurion Airport reopens,” a flydubai spokesman said.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely and will revise our schedules accordingly,” the statement explained. Dubai’s flagship carrier Emirates has suspended operations to Tel Aviv from November 2023 “until further notice.”
Flights in and out of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport were suspended for about 90 minutes on Sunday after Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel, prompting the Israeli military to send about 100 jets into Lebanon to thwart a larger attack, in one of the most serious clashes in the more than 10-month border conflict, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, an AFP correspondent said Beirut airport was functioning on Sunday but many passengers were stranded after flights were cancelled or delayed.
Other airlines, including several European carriers, have also cancelled or suspended flights to the two airports. Air France has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut until Monday. “The resumption of these routes will be subject to a new assessment of the security situation,” the airline said in a statement.
Jordan’s national carrier Royal Jordanian suspended flights to Beirut on Sunday “due to the current situation”, while German airline Lufthansa said on Friday it was extending the suspension of flights to Tehran and Tel Aviv until September 2 over security concerns.