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Photo: Reuters
Flights cancelled at Ben Gurion Airport
Photo: Reuters

FAA, EASA lift ban on US flights to Ben-Gurion Airport

Several American and European airlines have already renewed flights to and from Israel's international airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration lifted its ban on US flights in and out of Israel, which the agency had imposed out of concern for the risk of planes being hit by Hamas rockets. The decision was effective at 11:45pm EDT on Wednesday.

 

 

US Airways announced it would resume its flights to Ben-Gurion on Thursday evening. United Airlines and Delta Airlines have also renewed their flights to Ben-Gurion.

  

European companues Air Berlin, Alitalia, Meridiana and Air Méditerranée have also renewed their flights to and from Israel, after the European Aviation Safety Agency announced it would remove its recommendation not to fly to Ben-Gurion Airport due to the rocket threat.

 

Air France, however, said that at present it is not resuming flights to Israel.

 

"Before making this decision, the FAA worked with its US 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 said. "The agency will continue to closely monitor the very fluid situation around Ben-Gurion Airport and will take additional actions as necessary."

 

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On Thursday morning, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz welcomed the decision, noting that "it has once again been proven that the Israeli sky is safe. Those who tried to lay siege on Israel have failed. I hope the European companies announce their return to regular activity (at Ben-Gurion) soon."

 

Israel Airports Authority (IAA) spokesman Ofer Leffler said that "the talks the prime minister, transportation minister, the head of the IAA and the director of Ben-Gurion Airport held with the Americans have eventually borne fruit. As we previously said, Ben-Gurion Airport is the safest place in Israel and the safest airport in the world. We've received the okay from the FAA to resume flights from the US and I believe a similar decision will be made by the European airlines that stopped flying to Israel."

 

The FAA instituted a 24-hour prohibition Tuesday in response to a rocket strike that landed about a mile from the airport.

 

The directive, which was extended Wednesday, applied only to US carriers. The FAA has no authority over foreign airlines operating in Israel.

 

The FAA's flight ban was criticized by the Israeli government and by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who questioned whether President Barack Obama used a federal agency to impose an economic boycott on Israel.

 

Delta Air Lines, which diverted a jumbo jet away from Tel Aviv before Tuesday's ban by the FAA, will not necessarily resume flights to Israel even if US authorities declare the area safe, the airline's CEO said before the FAA lifted the ban.

 

CEO Richard Anderson said Delta would of course obey FAA orders but would continue to make its own decisions about safety.

 

"We appreciate the advice and consent and the intelligence we get, but we have a duty and an obligation above and beyond that to independently make the right decisions for our employees and passengers," Anderson said on a conference call with reporters. "Even if they lift" the prohibition on flying in and out of Ben-Gurion Airport, "we still may not go in depending on what the facts and circumstances are."

 

Anderson declined to discuss specifically how the airline would make the decision to resume the flights and spoke only in general terms. He said the airline decides whether flights are safe to operate "on an independent basis, so we will evaluate the information we have and we will make the judgment that our passengers and employees rely on us to make for them every day."

 

The CEO of Middle East carrier Emirates said after the shoot-down in Ukraine of a Malaysia Airlines jet last week that global airlines need better risk-assessment from international aviation authorities. Delta, however, seems more inclined to go it alone.

 

"We have a broad and deep security network around the world," Anderson said. "We have security directors that work for Delta in all the regions of the world, and we have a very sophisticated capability and methodology to manage these kinds of risks, whether it's this or a volcano or a hurricane."

 

Itay Blumental and Eli Senyor contributed to this report.

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.24.14, 09:01
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