FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Lufthansa has canceled an onward flight from Cyprus to Tel Aviv for security reasons. The A321 aircraft had previously landed at Larnaca Airport from Munich as planned, in order to fly to Israel with a new crew, according to a company spokesman. However, this onward flight was canceled because Iran had temporarily closed its airspace in the early hours of the morning. Lufthansa therefore did not consider the safety of the flights to Tel Aviv to be guaranteed.

Following the killing of two important opponents of Israel, the security situation in the Middle East is even more tense than it already was. One of the attacks, for which Iran blames Israel, took place in the Iranian capital Tehran. The Iranian leadership is threatening to retaliate.

The Lufthansa spokesperson explained that there are currently no more restrictions on flight operations to Tel Aviv. After the onward flight from Cyprus to Israel was canceled, 23 of the 190 passengers did not want to fly back to Munich and remained in Cyprus, according to the airline.

With the recently introduced stopover in the island state in the Mediterranean, Lufthansa is avoiding overnight crew stays in an area of tension. Another flight operated by Group subsidiary Austrian had to divert to Sofia./ceb/DP/ngu