Israel’s national airline made the dramatic decision to stop all regular flights beginning Thursday night, due to the economic crisis facing the company.
The halt is expected to remain in force until at least April 4, according to a report by Israel’s Channel 12 News.
Cargo flights will continue to take place, but at the bottom line, the company needs a loan of hundreds of millions of dollars in order to be able to survive this crisis.
At this point, the company still operates about 10 daily flights to the United States, Canada, France and the United Kingdom.
EL AL will continue to operate “rescue flights” to retrieve stranded Israelis, in addition to the ongoing cargo flights, according to the report.
In addition, the company will continue to provide flights to bring essential medical equipment to Israel as well.