News

FAA lifts Israel flight ban

24 Jul 2014 by GrahamSmith

The Federal Aviation Administration has lifted a ban on US carriers from flying in and out of Israel.

The agency had implemented the ban on Tuesday after a rocket hit an area less than a mile away from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel's main entry port (see news, July 23).

The move was criticised by the Israeli government.

The FAA said in a statement: "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 agency will continue to closely monitor the very fluid situation around Ben Gurion Airport and will take additional actions as necessary."

It added: "The FAA's primary mission and interest are the protection of people travelling on US airlines."

However, some European airlines have continued there suspension of flights to Tel Aviv.

Lufthansa has confirmed that it will continue its suspension for a further 24 hours. This also applies to its subsidiaries - Germanwings, Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines.

Air France issues a statement that it was suspending flights "until further notice".

Easyjet has extended the suspension of its services into Thursday, confirming it would not operate flights from airports including Luton, Gatwick and Manchester.

British Airways, however, has said it will continue scheduled flights into the region with no current plans to suspend service.

There has been no further notice from the European safety regulator EASA, which yesterday stopped short of a ban but "strongly recommended" against flying to Israel.

faa.gov

Graham Smith

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