British Airways renews flights to Israel

British Airways, the flagship airline of Britain, resumed operations in Israel after more than six months of suspension, with a flight departing from London's Heathrow Airport and landing at Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv on Sunday.

The airline suspended flights to Israel in late September last year due to the escalating security situation in the region.

It now resumed operations with one daily flight to Tel Aviv and plans to increase service to two daily flights starting April 20.

United Airlines resumed flights to Israel on March 16 and Delta Air Lines on April 1.

Meanwhile, data released on Sunday by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics showed that the number of tourists visiting the country in the first quarter rose 30.7 percent year-on-year, reaching 267,600.