ByAARON GLICK

Lufthansa Group announced that its crews will not be allowed to stay overnight in Israel between flights to and from Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion Airport until November 30, citing the threat of a potential war with Iran, N12 News reported Thursday.

The parent company, which includes Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and ITA Airways, added that the new regulations will require schedule changes that may result in some cancellations.

According to N12, early morning flights from Frankfurt, Munich, and Zurich (operated by Lufthansa and SWISS) will now include an hour-long crew change layover in either Athens or Larnaca to avoid the need for overnight stays in Tel Aviv.

European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) regulations require a crew rest period of at least 10 hours while away from one's base city for every 13 hours of active flight duty, so it is likely that the crew change works with the updated schedule to either keep crew hours below the maximum or to allow for rest outside of Israel.

This would be similar to British Airways (BA), which operates its London to Tel Aviv route with a 45-minute crew-change layover in Larnaca, while its return service operates directly, according to the airline's website. BA resumed its Tel Aviv flights in October after suspending them in February at the start of Operation Roaring Lion.

A man walks past a logo of German airline Lufthansa, seen on a vertical stabiliser of the airliner outside the Lufthansa headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on September 16, 2026.
A man walks past a logo of German airline Lufthansa, seen on a vertical stabiliser of the airliner outside the Lufthansa headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on September 16, 2026. (credit: Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP via Getty Images)

Other non-canceled flights beyond those specified (LH691, LH683, and LX257) will continue to operate directly to Ben-Gurion, N12 added, though flight times may change.

The report noted that affected passengers will be notified and that reservation systems will be updated accordingly.

Lufthansa Group cancels, resumes flights several times since Oct. 7 attacks

The group has canceled and resumed its flights to Israel several times since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, and announced in August that it would expand its operations to Ben-Gurion.

It was not clear how the new crew regulations would affect the expanded operations.

James Genn and Ariella Roitman contributed to this report.