US Airways resumes flights to and from Tel Aviv

US Airways resumed its nonstop flight from Philadelphia to Tel Aviv, Israel, at 9:10 p.m. Thursday. The first return flight from Tel Aviv will arrive in Philadelphia on Saturday morning.

"Based on a thorough review of all information available," US Airways' parent company, American Airlines, said the carrier would fly Thursday night "as scheduled."

Delta Air Lines said it would resume its once-daily flight from New York John F. Kennedy Airport to Israel on Thursday evening.

United Airlines restarted its flights to Tel Aviv starting with a 4:45 p.m. flight Thursday from Newark, N.J., and a second flight that was scheduled to depart Newark at 10:50 p.m. Thursday.

The Federal Aviation Administration lifted restrictions on U.S. commercial flights into Israel just before midnight Wednesday.

American said in a statement: "Nothing matters more than keeping our crews and customers safe, so this decision was made only after extensive review of information from our internal resources, the FAA, and other government agencies, including our team on the ground in Tel Aviv."

Delta said: "The decision comes after careful internal consideration and input from high levels in government, including the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Transportation. The FAA has informed Delta that Ben Gurion International Airport is safe for operations."

After U.S. regulators ended what is termed a "notice to airmen," United Airlines was the first U.S. carrier to announce resumption of flights.

"Based on the notification from the FAA and our own review," United said in a statement, "we are resuming our flights in and out of Tel Aviv."

The FAA instituted the no-fly rule Tuesday, in response to a rocket strike that landed about one mile from the airport in Tel Aviv.

Before lifting the ban, the FAA said it "worked with its U.S. government counterparts to assess the security situation in Israel and carefully reviewed both significant new information and measures the government of Israel is taking to mitigate potential risks to civil aviation."

The FAA added, "The agency will continue to closely monitor the very fluid situation around Ben Gurion Airport and will take additional actions, as necessary."

The Lufthansa Group, which includes Lufthansa, Germanwings, Austrian Airlines, Swiss Air, and Brussels Airlines, said that, "following a risk analysis" it was not yet resuming flights.

United Parcel Service, with an airfreight hub in Philadelphia, resumed "some flights" to Israel on Thursday night.

Bloomberg News reported that Alitalia, FedEx, Air Canada, Iberia, and easyJet were resuming flights to Tel Aviv. Other airlines were still deciding. Korean Air said it would suspend flights until at least July 31.