Shmuel Zakay, head of the Israel Civil Aviation Authority, issued an unusually sharp warning to Transportation Minister Miri Regev that the heavy presence of American military aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport is severely damaging Israel’s civilian aviation sector, Calcalist reported.

Zakay warned that Ben Gurion Airport has effectively “become an American military airfield,” harming Israeli airlines, discouraging foreign carriers from returning to Israel, and likely leading to significantly higher airfare prices this summer.

According to the report, at the start of Operation Roaring Lion on February 28, Israeli airlines relocated many of their aircraft abroad, and many have still not returned. Israir CEO Uri Sirkis reportedly told the Knesset Economics Committee that although the airline normally parks 17 aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport, it is currently permitted to keep only four there — a situation that both raises operating costs and limits the number of flights the airline can operate.

In his letter, Zakay wrote that the massive presence of American aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport is severely restricting Israeli airlines’ ability to operate efficiently and expand flight schedules, while also discouraging foreign airlines from resuming service to Israel.

“It appears that the defense establishment does not fully understand the severity of the damage to civilian aviation and the effect that reduced flight availability has on prices and on all Israeli citizens,” Zakay wrote. “The defense establishment is preventing the Transportation Ministry from fulfilling its responsibilities. Under the current circumstances, Israel has no international airport capable of operating efficiently. Ben Gurion Airport has become a military airfield with limited civilian activity.”

Zakay also warned of the damage to smaller Israeli carriers — including Isair, Arkia, and Air Haifa—explaining that they face a genuine threat to their financial stability because of the evacuation of Israeli planes from Ben Gurion, forcing them to operate abroad under expensive and difficult conditions, including high jet fuel costs and overseas aircraft and crew parking expenses.

Zakay requested that Regev, who is a member of the security cabinet, demand that the United States relocate its aircraft from Ben Gurion Airport to Israeli Air Force bases and to Ramon Airport. “Ben Gurion Airport is the main civilian airport of the State of Israel; turning it into a military base harms not only the airlines but all citizens of the country,” he wrote.

Zakay also requested financial assistance for Israeli airlines. It should be noted that the current aid does not include compensation for loss of income, but rather reimbursement for the millions of shekels that the companies pay for parking crews and planes abroad, costs that an average airline does not pay when operating from its home base.

“This is not compensation for lost revenue,” Zakay wrote. “It is reimbursement for the additional expenses incurred — and still being incurred — as a result of the security restrictions imposed throughout the war, including the closure of airspace, restrictions on flight numbers, and limits on passenger capacity.”

Zakay warned that without such measures, “it will not be possible to ensure the survival of the airlines.”

Zakay further warned that the reduced availability of parking space at Ben Gurion Airport prevents foreign carriers from resuming flights to Israel, shrinking overall flight supply and driving prices upward for consumers.

The state of Israel’s aviation sector also came up yesterday in a meeting of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, which discussed compensation for passengers stranded abroad—another financial burden on the airlines. According to Sirkis, as long as a state of emergency is in effect on the home front, the Tibi Law, which is supposed to define compensation for passengers stranded abroad, is irrelevant because it does not apply when regular aviation services are not operating. Sirkis added that the situation also undermines the motivation of foreign airlines to return to Israel.

El Al’s Vice President for Commerce and Aviation Relations, Shlomi Zafrani, also spoke at the committee, saying, “People need to understand what it means for an Israeli airline to operate from abroad rather than from Israel, without coordination with foreign authorities. It has many economic and operational implications.”

Senior Transportation Ministry official Or Livis said that following meetings with airline executives, the ministry had instructed officials to work with the Finance Ministry on a possible support framework for the airlines.

Channel 12 reported that Regev has already demanded that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir relocate the American aircraft to Ramon Airport and Air Force bases within 14 days, warning that otherwise Israel would struggle to bring foreign airlines back to the country.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)