Bookings to Israel have collapsed and it is up to governments to decide if airlines keep flying there, Michael O'Leary, the group CEO of Ryanair, said today.
The CEO of Aer Lingus and BA parent IAG, Luis Gallego, said the group had decided to cancel Israel flights for three weeks to see how the situation unfolds after BA diverted a flight yesterday due to security concerns.
The airline executives were speaking at a previously scheduled industry briefing in Brussels.
Airlines continue to wrestle with the safety risk of evacuation operations in Israel today, with Norwegian Air and Dutch KLM cancelling flights while Air France was going ahead with a special flight chartered by the French foreign ministry.
Norwegian Air said it had cancelled a planned evacuation flight from Tel Aviv to Oslo due to a lack of insurance cover.
Dutch airline KLM said last night it had retracted an offer to the Dutch government for a flight to Israel to take Dutch citizens out of the country, citing safety concerns.
But sister airline Air France was pressing ahead with a flight from Paris today, a spokesperson said.
The two airlines are owned by the same parent group Air France-KLM but are operationally separate.
No explanation was available for the contrasting decisions.
KLM said "the most recent information on the situation in Israel indicates it is not sufficiently possible for a civilian airline to conduct a flight that's safe for crew and passengers."
The Dutch foreign ministry said it would send a military plane to Israel today instead.
Norwegian Air had been due to fly Norwegian and other Nordic citizens stranded in Israel out of the country this evening. The flight had already been postponed from yesterday.
"The reason is that the insurance company that Norwegian and a number of other airlines use no longer cover flights to Tel Aviv," Norwegian said in a statement.
Airlines have faced warnings over insurance cover in the wake of the weekend attacks on Israel by Hamas militants.
Norwegian said it was working with Norway's foreign ministry to find other solutions. On Tuesday it cancelled regular flights from the Swedish and Danish capitals to Tel Aviv until December 19.
Germany's Lufthansa was sticking to its plans for evacuation flights today and tomorrow.
Airlines say sustainable fuel targets may mean higher fares, consolidation
Meanwhile, European airline chiefs also said today the industry needs to make more money and may consolidate further to pay for sustainability targets.
This trend will likely to lead to higher fares for passengers on top of rising demand for air travel.
The head of Aer Lingus and British Airways parent IAG told reporters at a CEO roundtable that there was a more than a 90% risk that the industry would not meet a European Union mandate for the availability of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in 2025.
The European Union has adopted rules requiring flights departing from EU airports to carry a progressively increasing amount of SAF, starting with 2% of total fuel in 2025.
Luis Gallego said Europe's tougher rules, compared to other regions, risked making its fragmented industry less competitive, putting pressure on airlines to continue a recent wave of partnerships.
"The problem we have in Europe is we have a small group or a small airline competing in a global war with mandates of sustainability that are ahead of others. We are not going to be competitive," Gallego said.
"So we need to consolidate the industry, you know, in order to afford all these, for example, sustainability ambitions that we have. And that's the reason why we are trying to be bigger, more efficient, and to develop better platforms for our customers."
Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the Brussels event, Ryanair group chief executive Michael O'Leary forecast more consolidation with IAG best placed to buy Portugal's TAP ahead of rivals Air France-KLM and Lufthansa.
He expressed surprise that Air France-KLM had bought a stake in Scandinavian SAS.
He also reiterated predictions that low-cost rivals Wizz Air and EasyJet would fall to consolidation, with EasyJet snapped up by IAG or Air France-KLM, or both, and Wizz Air getting bought by Lufthansa or a Middle Eastern buyer.
"Riyadh (Air) have lots of plans, but they have no access to aircraft," he said.
The comments drew a frosty response from EasyJet. Other carriers were not immediately available for comment.
"Millions of consumers in Europe will be relieved to hear there is no realistic prospect of Ryanair becoming the only low cost airline in Europe," an EasyJet spokesperson said.
