Flights again halted to Israel after Houthi missile lands near airport
Israeli police officers investigate a crater at the site of a missile attack, launched from Yemen, near Ben Gurion Airport, in Tel Aviv, Israel May 4, 2025. REUTERS/Nir Elias TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Flights again halted to Israel after Houthi missile lands near airport
JERUSALEM - European and U.S. carriers cancelled flights for the next several days after a missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels on Sunday landed near Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport, the country's main international airport.
Many foreign airlines subsequently suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv. Following a ceasefire deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas in January, foreign carriers had begun to resume flights to Israel after halting them for much of the last year and a half, although with less capacity and frequency.
That left flag carrier El Al Airlines - along with smaller rivals Arkia and Israir - with a near monopoly, full flights and higher air fares.
Delta Air Lines said it had cancelled Sunday's flight from JFK in New York to Tel Aviv and the return flight from Tel Aviv on Monday. United, though, had yet to cancel its flights from Newark. Flights from Tel Aviv on Delta and United departed about 90 minutes late.
Lufthansa Group, which includes Lufthansa, Swiss, Brussels and Austrian, said it had halted flights to and from Tel Aviv through Tuesday due to the current situation.
ITA said it had cancelled flights from Italy to Israel through Wednesday, while Air France cancelled flights on Sunday, saying customers were transferred to flights on Monday. TUS flights to and from Cyprus were cancelled through Monday, while Air India flights from New Delhi were halted on Sunday.
Ryanair suspended flights on Sunday but flights are still scheduled for Monday, according to the Israel Airports Authority.
Aegean, flydubai and Ethiopian did not cancel flights.
Udi Bar Oz, head of Ben Gurion Airport, said the airport was up and running less than 30 minutes after the missile hit a road nearby. He said the airport and Transportation Minister were providing information to carriers to minimize damage to flight schedules in the coming days.
Claiming responsibility for the strike that sent a plume of smoke into the air and caused panic among passengers in the terminal building, the Houthis' military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said Israel's main airport was "no longer safe for air travel".
The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, began targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping in late 2023, during the early days of the war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. President Donald Trump in March ordered large-scale strikes against the Houthis to reduce their capabilities and deter them from targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to respond to the Houthis. "We attacked in the past, we will attack in the future ... There will be more blows," he said. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
36 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Iran to present counter-proposal to US in nuclear talks
FILE PHOTO: Iran's and U.S.' flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo DUBAI - Iran will soon hand a counter-proposal for a nuclear deal to the United States via Oman, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, in response to a U.S. offer that Tehran deems "unacceptable". The spokesperson also called on the international community to force nuclear disarmament upon Israel, Iran's longstanding foe which Tehran says is trying to thwart the nuclear negotiations. "The U.S. proposal is not acceptable to us. It was not the result of previous rounds of negotiations. We will present our own proposal to the other side via Oman after it is finalised. This proposal is reasonable, logical, and balanced," Baghaei said. "We must ensure before the lifting of sanctions that Iran will effectively benefit economically and that its banking and trade relations with other countries will return to normal." Reuters previously reported that Tehran was drafting a negative response to the U.S. proposal which was presented in late May. An Iranian diplomat said the U.S. offer failed to resolve differences over uranium enrichment on Iranian soil, the shipment abroad of Iran's entire stockpile of highly enriched uranium and reliable steps to lift U.S. sanctions. Baghaei said there was not yet any detail on the timing of a sixth round of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington. Last week, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the U.S. proposal as against Iran's interests, pledging to continue enrichment on Iranian soil, which Western powers view as a potential pathway to building nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes. During his first term in 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. Iran responded by escalating enrichment far beyond that pact's limits. Iran says the West has turned a blind eye to Israel's nuclear programme even while pushing against Iran's. Israel neither confirms nor denies that it has nuclear weapons. Baghaei said sensitive Israeli documents, which Iran has previously promised to unveil, would demonstrate "that parties constantly questioning Iran's peaceful nuclear programme actively work to strengthen Israel's military nuclear programme". The negotiating parties should not allow Israel to disrupt diplomatic processes, he added. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Low turnout set to thwart moves to ease Italian citizenship rules
Secretary of the Italian Democratic Party (PD) Elly Schlein votes during a referendum on employment and Italian citizenship at a polling station in Rome, Italy, June 8, 2025. REUTERS/Matteo Minnella A person holds ballot papers during a referendum on employment and Italian citizenship at a polling station in Rome, Italy, June 8, 2025. REUTERS/Matteo Minnella Five Stars Movement leader Giuseppe Conte stands at a polling station, during a referendum on employment and Italian citizenship at a polling station in Rome, Italy, June 8, 2025. REUTERS/Matteo Minnella People prepare to vote during a referendum on employment and Italian citizenship at a polling station in Rome, Italy, June 8, 2025. REUTERS/Matteo Minnella A person votes during a referendum on employment and Italian citizenship at a polling station in Rome, Italy, June 8, 2025. REUTERS/Matteo Minnella ROME - Voting resumed on Monday for Italy's two-day referendum on proposals to make it easier to obtain Italian citizenship and strengthen labour rights, but low turnout looked set to make the vote invalid. Data overnight showed under 23% of eligible voters had cast their ballots as polls provisionally closed on Sunday, far short of the 50% plus one of the electorate needed to make the outcome of the vote binding. Voting ends at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT). One of the five referendums is about reducing the period of residence required to apply for Italian citizenship by naturalisation to five years from 10 years. This could affect about 2.5 million foreign nationals, organisers say. With Italy's birthrate in sharp decline, economists say the country needs to attract more foreigners to boost its anaemic economy, and migrant workers feel a lot is at stake for them as they seek closer integration into Italian society. Three other referendum questions would reverse a decade-old liberalisation of the labour market, and a fourth concerns liability rules for accidents at work. Opposition leftist and centrist parties, civil society groups and a leading trade union have latched on to the issues of labour rights and Italy's demographic woes as a way of challenging Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition government that took power almost three years ago. Meloni and her allies encouraged their supporters to boycott the vote. The prime minister attended a polling station in Rome on Sunday but her staff confirmed that she did not collect ballot papers and did not cast a vote, a tactic she had indicated that she would adopt. A low turnout and a failed referendum could lead to further infighting among centre-left opposition groups which have struggled to find a way to dent Meloni's popularity since she came to power. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
Banks want staff back at the office. There aren't enough desks
[LONDON] Five years after the Covid pandemic fuelled an unprecedented boom in remote work, bank executives have become ever more vocal in their insistence that workers should return to the office. In a growing number of cases, however, they don't have enough desks. JPMorgan Chase has just signed up for thousands more in the UK and Paris. Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria is running short of office space in the UK for its growing corporate and investment banking teams. And HSBC Holdings, which touted its plans to slash space in the aftermath of the pandemic, now has a shortage that could run to as many as 7,700 desks in London. To cope, it is in talks to lease a second new building a stone's throw from its current base, having previously agreed to vacate Canary Wharf in favour of a new and smaller global headquarters in the City of London in 2023. These are just some examples of a real estate squeeze few predicted in the wake of the pandemic. Return to work mandates, more generous layouts to help lure back staff and growing headcount have fuelled demand for office space across the continent, upending plans by executives to cut back on desks and save costs. Supply shortages after years of developer caution, meanwhile, are limiting what space is available, further complicating the return to office. 'The 'death of the office' rhetoric that was commonplace during and immediately post the pandemic has proven to be completely overdone,' Kevin Darvishi, leasing director at developer Stanhope, said. 'Especially in London.' Visible reversal Within Europe, nowhere is the reversal more visible than the UK capital, where a a long decline in banks' need for office space that started after the global financial crisis was exacerbated by Brexit and then the pandemic – and where calls for a return to office are now the loudest. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Tuesday, 12 pm Property Insights Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond. Sign Up Sign Up London remains a key hub for European investment banks, a business where office attendance is more frequently required than in commercial and retail lending. Lenders occupied about 21.9 million square feet (sq ft) of office space in the City and Docklands back in 2011, according to data compiled by CBRE Group. By the end of the decade that had shrunk to 16.1 million sq ft, the broker's data shows. 'A lot of the banks have been strategically looking at their resources, headcount for the last 10 to 15 years, probably post global financial crisis,' said James Nicholson, head of London office occupier transactions at CBRE. That's changing. Of all the businesses leasing space in London last year, banks and financial firms showed the biggest increase in size, according to data compiled by broker Cushman & Wakefield. This year, two of the eight largest tenants looking for new office space are banks, according to Savills director Josh Lamb, who advises on central London leasing. Caught on the wrong foot The reversal has caught some firms wrong-footed that had made plans for a less office-centric future. HSBC, which under former chief executive officer Noel Quinn wanted to slash its real estate footprint by 40 per cent, signed for a new global headquarters in the City of London in late 2023 that represented a major downsizing from its existing base in Canary Wharf. But now executives are concerned the new building will not be big enough, with one scenario predicting a shortfall of as much as 7,700 desks, Bloomberg News has reported. The bank is in talks to rent space in another Canary Wharf building at 40 Bank Street to help deal with the shortage. Deutsche Bank, which repeatedly highlighted work from home as a way to cut back on office expenses, has finally stopped shrinking in London after slashing its footprint in the city from 21 buildings to four including a new UK headquarters in the City. It is weighing up options for about 250,000 sq ft of space in the UK capital that could see it maintain its current outpost in Canary Wharf or replace that office with an alternative elsewhere, a person with knowledge of the options said. BBVA is running short of office space in London as its corporate and investment banking team expands, according to people familiar with the matter. The Spanish lender has rented one additional floor in its building to house new teams, said the people, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorised to speak publicly. Bloomberg reported last year that BBVA was looking for a new regional headquarters for its London business, with plans to almost double its space to roughly 4,600 square metres (sq m). 'Return to the office is in full swing, with mid-week occupancy back to pre-pandemic levels,' British Land chief executive Simon Carter said last month as the landlord reiterated guidance for rental growth of 3 to 5 per cent. Slower shift Outside London, the shift back to the office has been slower. As the pandemic receded, European banks sought to make themselves more attractive to staff by offering greater flexibility to work from home. Many still allow employees to split their time fairly evenly between home and the office. The approach had the added benefit of cutting millions in costs. BNP Paribas said in February that it had reduced office space including branches by 120,000 sq m since the end of 2023, equivalent to almost half the Empire State Building. Dutch lender ING Groep NV now uses 30 per cent less office space globally than it did in 2020, while Germany's Commerzbank expects to halve its office use in Frankfurt and surrounding areas by the end of this decade. Both ING and Commerzbank, which is scheduled to move to a new building with a smaller office footprint by 2028, aim for a 50/50 split between working from home and in the office. At French lender BPCE SA, 90 per cent of its employees can work 10 days a month from home, with a minimum of two days a week in the office. The exception are staff in trading rooms, who need to be present because of regulations. Even on the continent, however, lenders have started to implement tracking tools and tightened policies to bring staff back to offices, in an effort to foster better communication and mentorship. Deutsche Bank last year cut the days per week that employees can work from home to two from three, despite angry responses from staff. Employees aren't allowed to work from home on both Monday and Friday in a given week. Germany's largest bank cut office space in Frankfurt and nearby Eschborn by 40 per cent. Globally, its office-related expenses declined by about 17 per cent between 2020 and 2022. Since then, however, they have started to climb back up as the lender invests in existing and new buildings. Rising demand Some of the demand for bank offices also reflects the growth of Wall Street firms in Europe. In Switzerland, Bank of America has expanded its Zurich office space after doubling the size of its banking team there, said Thorsten Pauli, the lender's country executive for the Alpine nation and head of equity capital markets in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. JPMorgan, which employs more than 300,000 people globally, recently announced that it signed for a bigger building in Paris, a decision that was not driven by plans to increase headcount. In London, the bank is taking a chunk of the former Credit Suisse headquarters in Canary Wharf to deal with overspill from its own building nearby and it has an option to expand further. The largest US bank in January told its employees to return to the office five days a week, ending a hybrid-work option for thousands of staff and returning to the attendance policy that was in place before the pandemic. The return to office has left some firms struggling to find viable options, especially in London, after successive shocks the past decade deterred developers from making speculative bets on office developments. Morgan Stanley, whose former CEO James Gorman predicted in 2020 that the firm would have 'much less real estate' in the future, decided to recommit to its existing London headquarters after scouting the market for several years. The way banks occupy their buildings is creating further pressure, with many seeking to provide more amenities to help lure staff back. That means the overall amount of space required to accommodate the same number of workers has started to go back up. 'If you bring those two factors together, you effectively end up with more space per person than you would've had pre-Covid,' said Ben Cullen, head of UK offices at Cushman & Wakefield. BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink complained in an interview with The Times newspaper in London earlier this year that he was unable to find space to accommodate recent acquisitions. One option may be the former Deutsche Bank headquarters at Winchester House. The developers of that project, a venture led by Castleforge, had a message for Fink that they unveiled on a large banner atop the building, which overlooks BlackRock's current London headquarters. 'Hey Larry, heard you're having trouble finding good office space. We're right in front of you! Call us maybe?' BLOOMBERG
