Major Gulf airlines resume Israel operations: The UAE’s Emirates, flydubai, and Etihad Airways are all resuming flights to Israel amid its ongoing war with Palestine, Zawya reports. Emirates, which operates three-weekly flights to Tel Aviv, is operating as normal after canceling some flights to the Israeli capital earlier this week. The airline is also allowing customers to rebook or cancel flights to and from Tel Aviv and Amman through to 31 October without charge. Emirates’ flydubai is also running its flights as scheduled. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways is set to resume operations after temporarily halting flights. Qatar Airways has not made any public announcements regarding changes to its flight schedule since the violence broke out.
One exception: Bahraini airline Gulf Air has canceled all flights to Tel Aviv until this Saturday, 14 October. It remains unclear whether the suspension of operations could be extended beyond that date.
Israel’s airlines are doing overtime: Israel’s El Al Airlines — which runs daily flights to Dubai — added 12 additional flights yesterday and today between Athens, Rome, Madrid, Bucharest, New York, Paris, Larnaca and Istanbul to evacuate tourists and citizens from Israel. The airline’s low cost unit, Sun Dor, will operate evacuation flights from Istanbul.
And as for the rest of the world: United Airlines, Turkish AIrlines, Wizz Air, Air Canada, and Air France are among the global airlines that have halted operations to Tel Aviv until further notice. American airline Delta has so far canceled its flights to Israel until 31 October. Air France will, however, operate a “special flight” from Tel Aviv to Paris today. Lufthansa — which also said earlier this week it is suspending operations indefinitely due to the conflict — is planning evacuation flights today and tomorrow.
IN THE SHIPPING + MARITIME WORLD
Maersk says that Israel’s major port terminals are operating normally despite the ongoing conflict, Reuters reports. The company said it is continuing to accept container bookings in and out of the country, adding that inland road and rail services are also running at full capacity. “At this time, port operations across Israel’s major terminals are continuing to function normally and we are currently not expecting a substantial impact at our key hubs in Ashdod and Haifa,” Reuters quotes Maersk as saying in a note to customers.
Air freight, however, has been impacted due to canceled flights. Maersk said its offices are still open in Tel Aviv and Haifa, but circumstances could suddenly change.
MARKET REAX-
The oil market is “nervous, not terrified” amid the war, head of Pickering Energy Partners Dan Pickering is quoted as saying by the Financial Times. The impact on the oil market is muted with prices for Brent crude jumping by 4% on the first day of conflict, before returning to USD 87.56 per barrel, where it has remained below September’s USD 97 / bbl. The jump in prices reflected the market’s evaluation of the risks in the region, rather than concerns of supply, a Eurasia Group director tells the salmon-colored paper. There are also no immediate disruption threats to Israel’s supply as it does not produce significant volumes of oil, the outlet writes.
Chevron adjusts natgas deliveries: Chevron has rerouted shipments of its natural gas produced from Israel’s offshore Tamar field, and is sending natural gas to Egypt through the Arab Gas Pipeline that links Israel, Jordan and Egypt, the company said in an email, according to Bloomberg. Israel’s Energy Ministry had earlier this week instructed Chevron to shut down operations at the Tamar field.