Due to the unsafe situation, KLM is abandoning its plan to fly once to Tel Aviv. They would pick up Dutch people there who want to flee the conflict in Israel. Instead, a Ministry of Defense aircraft will be deployed today, as was the case yesterday.
In recent days, it was investigated whether KLM could help to pick up Dutch people staying in Israel as quickly as possible. On Tuesday, outgoing Minister of Foreign Affairs Hanke Bruins Slot announced that the airline would fly that way on Thursday. It would be the second repatriation flight to the Netherlands after yesterday’s military plane.
KLM announced yesterday that it was canceling the flight for security reasons: “Based on the most recent assessments of the security situation in Israel, we have decided that the flight cannot be operated by us. We took this decision with a heavy heart because we realized that many people were looking forward to a flight back from the Netherlands.”
Defense does fly
That does not mean that Dutch people who wanted to leave the country on Thursday are stranded. The ANP reports that Defense flies from Cologne to Tel Aviv with its own aircraft. That flight arrives at Schiphol in the evening.
In the meantime, the number of registrations for the pick-up flights has increased to such an extent that more flights need to be scheduled, the minister said in the House of Representatives on Thursday. It is still unclear when they will leave.