Virgin Atlantic has announced it will extend the suspension of its flights to Israel after a “security and safety assessment”, as hostilities in the Middle East escalated overnight.

The airline will resume its daily flight in both directions between Heathrow and Tel Aviv from September 25.

It had been one of many carriers which suspended flights to Israel in October last year, after the start of the country’s conflict with Hamas.

Wizz Air and British Airways resumed operations to the country in March and April, respectively.

Flights operated by Virgin Atlantic had been due to restart on September 5.

The delay comes after the Israeli military said it had launched “pre-emptive” strikes against the militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Sunday.

A Virgin Atlantic plane
The airline had said in June that a daily flight would restart on September 5 (Steve Parsons/PA)

British Airways flights between Heathrow and Tel Aviv were cancelled between Sunday and Tuesday, according to the airline’s online flight status tool, with subsequent journeys showing up as “re-routed”.

The airline has been approached for comment.

A spokesman for Virgin Atlantic said on Sunday: “Following the latest security and safety assessment and after careful consideration we have taken the difficult decision to delay the restart of our Tel Aviv services.

“Daily flights are now planned to resume on 25 September from London to Tel Aviv. We’d like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused.

“Our teams will be in contact with anyone affected to discuss options, which include rebooking to a later date or a full refund and in the meantime, customers can benefit from our partnership with EL AL which operates multiple daily flights between Heathrow and Ben Gurion Airport.

“We remain committed to our services to Israel and look forward to resuming flights to Tel Aviv as soon as the situation permits.”

The resumed flights between London and Tel Aviv will use an Airbus A330 aircraft, the airline said.