Ministry of Health: Close Ben Gurion Airport | Israel Today

Closed Sky, Chapter Two?

The tourism industry is concerned and warns: "We have suffered a severe blow, heavy damage will be caused" • The decision: today or tomorrow

• Passengers at Ben Gurion Airport // Photo: Yehoshua Yosef

Passengers in suspense: One of the difficult decisions to be made as part of the closure conditions that will begin towards the end of the week is with regard to Ben-Gurion Airport.

Hundreds of flights are scheduled to land and take off at Ben Gurion Airport over the next month, and the Ministry of Health is pushing to close the airport and not allow entry and exit except in extreme emergencies.

The expected decision has quite a few implications, including the fact that some 20,000 Israelis who have already booked their holiday vacations to Greece, Bulgaria and Croatia will probably not be able to leave the country.

Those same Israelis also booked hotels and attractions, that if the airport does close, there is a high chance that they will not get their money back and suffer considerable economic damage.

Sources in the tourism industry strongly criticize the conduct of the Ministry of Health, which intends to close the possibility of flying with a few days' notice, and say in a conversation with Israel Today that "everything is ready, there are flights, there are tickets, there are hotels, how can such a reckless decision be made "Everyone goes through corona tests before the flight and flies to a green country, why cause such damage to people? It's just awful, this industry has suffered a very severe blow anyway and there is no logic behind such a decision."

The person who is trying to block the closure of the airport is Transport Minister Miri Regev, but senior officials in the Ministry of Health want to go for "everything or nothing" and claim that this is a decision aimed at curbing the alarming rate of infection in Israel.

Airlines and travel agencies are closely monitoring the decision and hope it will not be accepted.

The decision should also apply to those entering Israel and, of course, to those going on vacation.

Among the options discussed is the cancellation of flights to certain vacation destinations, which will most likely be the green countries that receive Israelis.

Such a decision would allow Israelis to fly without a few other destinations accepting them, and would have to return to isolation, and holders of foreign passports to fly to one of the dozens of green countries around the world.

Another option that has been discussed is to allow those who have purchased plane tickets to leave the country, but there are also quite a few opponents to this move.

The official decision is expected to be made today or tomorrow, and is likely to take effect towards the end of the week.

Meanwhile, many Israelis are trying to get ahead of their flights to avoid the closure of the sky and the expected closure, and to spend the next few weeks in one of the green countries.