KLM Airlines decided not to operate a flight to Israel on Thursday to repatriate the Dutch. KLM currently believes it is “not sufficiently possible” to operate a safe flight for passengers and crew to Tel Aviv.
“We made this decision with a heavy heart because we realized that many people were looking forward to their return flight to the Netherlands. For KLM, the safety of crew and passengers is of the utmost importance,” the company wrote on its website.
The Foreign Office asked KLM earlier this week to conduct a repatriation flight. KLM agreed, but taking into account that such a flight would only be possible if safety was sufficiently guaranteed.
“However, based on today’s military flight experiences and the latest information about the situation in Israel, it is not currently possible for civil aviation to operate a safe flight for passengers and crew,” KLM said.
The Dutch Ambassador to Israel, Mariette Schorman, confirmed this on Wednesday evening in a television broadcast In 1 That there was some delay in the landing of the defense aircraft due to the sounding of the air raid siren.
The Israeli Airports Authority acknowledged that rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday afternoon, but they did not pass through the air near Ben Gurion Airport.
Ontvang meldingen bij nieuwe berichten
‘The security situation may deteriorate rapidly’
The defense plane carrying the first group of Dutch citizens returning home landed at the military air base in Eindhoven at 10:10 p.m. On board were 199 people repatriated from Israel. These are men, women and children, including 28 students from 4VWO and their four teachers from Rotterdam and Gouda.
The aircraft can accommodate 267 passengers and 45 tons of cargo. A Foreign Ministry spokesman explained that the reason there were no more passengers on board was that it was not possible to refuel in Tel Aviv. He said: “We could not accommodate more than these 199 people because of the excess weight.”
On Thursday, a defense plane will fly again to Tel Aviv to transport a second group of Dutch. This flight replaces the KLM airline flight. The Foreign Office says the defense flight’s flight times are the same as the canceled KLM flight.
The Foreign Office says the defense flight’s flight times are the same as the canceled KLM flight. In addition, the Ministry emphasizes that if people have the option to leave the country on their own, they should do so. “The security situation may deteriorate rapidly.”
“Lifelong zombie fanatic. Hardcore web practitioner. Thinker. Music expert. Unapologetic pop culture scholar.”