El Al is suspending its operations on the Tel Aviv-Moscow route for the coming week in light of developments in Russian airspace, the airline announced on Thursday.
Aviation officials attribute the decision to the crash of an Azerbaijani passenger plane on Wednesday, which is increasingly believed to have been caused by a Russian air defense system that attempted to shoot down Ukrainian drones.
The crash claimed the lives of 38 of the 69 passengers on board.
A new assessment of the situation will be conducted next week, and a decision will be made as to whether operations on the route will resume.
Details of the crash
The Embraer passenger jet crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, after diverting from an area of Russia in which Moscow has used air defense systems against Ukrainian drone strikes in recent months.
The aircraft was en route from Baku, Azerbaijan to Grozny, in Russian Chechnya.
According to videos of the incident circulated on social media, the plane appears to have attempted to make an emergency landing before crashing.