Air India flight diverted to Abu Dhabi after Tel Aviv airport comes under missile attack 

An Air India flight from the national capital to Tel Aviv was diverted to Abu Dhabi on May 4 as there was a missile attack near the airport in the Israeli city, PTI reported. 

The attack happened less than an hour before the Air India flight AI139, operated with a Boeing 787 aircraft, was to land at Tel Aviv, the report added. The flight will be coming back to Delhi. 

As per information available on flight tracking website Flightradar24.com, the flight was in the Jordanian airspace when it was decided to divert the flight to Abu Dhabi. Air India's flight from Tel Aviv to Delhi has been cancelled for today. 

An Air India Spokesperson said, "Air India flight AI139 from Delhi to Tel Aviv on 4 May 2025 was diverted to Abu Dhabi after an incident at Ben Gurion airport this morning. The flight has landed normally in Abu Dhabi and will soon return to Delhi."

Earlier today, the Israeli police said air traffic to the country's main airport in Tel Aviv was briefly closed after a missile was launched from Yemen. 

Police said plane traffic and other activity around the airport were expected to resume after officers performed final searches, according to the AP.  

The Houthi rebels, who have been striking Israel throughout the war in Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians, said in a video statement that the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport, reported the AP. 

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed retribution for the airport attack: “Whoever harms us, we will harm them sevenfold.” 

According to the arrivals board at Ben Gurion Airport, Austrian Airlines has cancelled all flights to Israel until tomorrow, Swiss and Brussels Airlines have each cancelled one flight, and Lufthansa has cancelled five flights.

Since the missile landed, air traffic at Ben Gurion has restarted, and most of the planes that turned around have resumed their original routes and headed for the airport as planned.