A major disruption to summer air travel has been avoided after Israel and the U.S. military reached an agreement to accelerate the relocation of dozens of American aircraft parked at Ben Gurion Airport, clearing the way for hundreds of thousands of additional commercial flights.

The Transportation Ministry announced Friday that the new understandings with the U.S. military will eliminate the remaining threat to more than 200,000 airline tickets scheduled for July and August. The agreement follows an earlier breakthrough about a week and a half ago that already prevented the cancellation of more than 2.4 million tickets.

Since June 16, when the first agreement was reached to ease the crisis, 15 American military aircraft have already been moved out of Ben Gurion Airport. Under the latest arrangement, another 30 aircraft will be gradually transferred to Israeli Air Force bases by next Tuesday, with an additional phase to follow that will relocate 20 more aircraft.

As part of the agreement, Israel committed that, should the security situation deteriorate, the American aircraft will be permitted to return to Ben Gurion Airport within approximately 72 hours.

The crisis developed after dozens of U.S. Air Force refueling and transport aircraft were stationed at Ben Gurion, occupying a substantial portion of the airport’s available parking space for civilian aircraft. In recent weeks, the Israel Airports Authority warned that unless the military aircraft were relocated, airlines would likely be forced to reduce their summer and Tishrei Yom Tov schedules. Initial estimates indicated that more than 2.4 million airline tickets could ultimately have been canceled if the congestion was not resolved.

{Matzav.com}