UPDATED: Ryanair says up to governments whether airlines fly to Israel

BRUSSELS, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Bookings to Israel have collapsed and it is up to governments to decide if airlines keep flying there, Michael O’Leary, CEO of European budget carrier Ryanair, said on Thursday.

The CEO of British Airways parent IAG , Luis Gallego, said the group had decided to cancel Israel flights for three weeks to see how the situation unfolds after BA diverted a flight on Wednesday due to security concerns.

The airline executives were speaking at a previously scheduled industry briefing in Brussels.

Norwegian Air  said it had cancelled a planned evacuation flight from Tel Aviv to Oslo due to a lack of insurance cover.

Dutch airline KLM said late on Wednesday it had retracted an offer to the Dutch government for a flight to Israel to take Dutch citizens out of the country, citing safety concerns.

But sister airline Air France was pressing ahead with a flight from Paris on Thursday, a spokesperson said.

The two airlines are owned by the same parent group Air France-KLM  but are operationally separate.

No explanation was available for the contrasting decisions.

KLM said “the most recent information on the situation in Israel indicates it is not sufficiently possible for a civilian airline to conduct a flight that’s safe for crew and passengers.”

The Dutch foreign ministry said it would send a military plane to Israel on Thursday instead.

Norwegian Air had been due to fly Norwegian and other Nordic citizens stranded in Israel out of the country on Thursday evening. The flight had already been postponed from Wednesday.

“The reason is that the insurance company that Norwegian and a number of other airlines use no longer cover flights to Tel Aviv,” Norwegian said in a statement.

Airlines have faced warnings over insurance cover in the wake of the weekend attacks on Israel by Hamas militants.

Norwegian said it was working with Norway’s foreign ministry to find other solutions. On Tuesday it cancelled regular flights from the Swedish and Danish capitals to Tel Aviv until Dec. 19.

Germany’s Lufthansa  was sticking to its plans for evacuation flights on Thursday and Friday.