The airlines of the Lufthansa Group are suspending flights to Israel for an even longer period due to security concerns.

Regular flights will remain suspended up to and including October 22, the company announced on Thursday. The airlines - in addition to the main Lufthansa brand, this includes Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines - have decided to do this due to the still unclear situation in Israel. "Safety is the top priority for the airlines of the Lufthansa Group." In the meantime, the airline is still in contact with the Federal Foreign Office about possible further special flights to bring Germans home from Israel. On Thursday, the first four return flights went to Tel Aviv, and four more are planned for Friday.

Normally, Lufthansa airlines have 17 Israel flights per day in their program. Most other airlines have also suspended connections to the country attacked by the Islamist organization Hamas - for the coming weeks, without a precise deadline until further notice and some even until December.

(Report by Ilona Wissenbach, edited If you have any queries, please contact the editorial team at frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)