FRANKFURT: German airliner group Lufthansa on Thursday announced it was extending a suspension of flights to the Lebanese capital Beirut until October 15 because of heightened regional tensions.
Flight operations to Beirut had previously been halted until the end of September. The Lufthansa group, whose carriers also include SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines, has not operated its flight to Beirut since late July.
Lebanese group Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily fire with Israeli forces in support of ally Hamas since the war between the Palestinian group and Israel started on October 7 in the Gaza Strip.
Lufthansa had also stopped flights to Tel Aviv in Israel due to the tensions but resumed them on September 5.
Flights to Tehran also restarted on September 5, however, Austrian Airlines is currently the only airline in the group that is serving the capital of Iran.
Germany, Britain and France on Tuesday said they were taking measures to cancel air transport deals with Iran because of what they said was Iran’s delivery of ballistic missiles to Russia.
“The Lufthansa group is aware of the planned sanctions and is in contact with the relevant authorities,” the spokesman said.
Germany’s foreign ministry on Wednesday said the country was in intensive consultation with its European and global partners about the imposition of new sanctions, including in the aviation sector.
