At the airport, where people are routinely harassed, silent • "No country in the world is taking such steps", the few passengers complain

• "Not afraid." Travelers at Ben Gurion Airport // Photo: Yehuda Peretz

• Blank counters at Ben Gurion Airport // Photo: Yehuda Peretz

• Ben Gurion Airport // Photo: Yehuda Peretz

The day after the new directive that anyone returning from abroad will have to go into isolation, the picture at Ben Gurion Airport is clear - the vast majority of foreigners are people living abroad, whether they are Israelis or tourists. A small number of Israelis who chose to fly on vacation nevertheless were seen at Ben Gurion Airport. One of the busiest, happy and active places in the country - has become almost completely deserted.

Reporter: Shimon Yaish // Photo: Gil Kramer

Airports Authority (RSA) decided to take immediate action after Ministry of Health announcement. All terminal activity was moved to sleeves C and D only, and all other sleeves were closed. Some of the airport entrance gates were also closed, presumably to save on security expenses. The airports have been placed on vacation for free, and if the situation continues, a significant wave of layoffs is expected in the Israeli airline industry.

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Travelers who left the country back to their homes abroad told Israel Today that "the State of Israel is a little exaggerated, there is no reason for such panic. No country in the world is taking such extreme steps. We choose not to be afraid, and we will continue our lives as usual, everything is fine. "

However, the numbers speak for themselves: In early January, approximately 52,000 passengers passed through Ben Gurion Airport every day. Following the outbreak of the virus and the dramatic announcement by the Ministry of Health, only 21,000 passengers a day have registered in recent days, most of them tourists leaving the country. It is expected that the trend will continue and numbers will continue to decline as most airlines operate in Israel, with the airports having decided that Terminal 1 will continue to work for domestic flights only for the time being.

Meanwhile, the commerce division is working with the Ben Gurion franchisees - the owners of the shops and restaurants who pay high monthly rent for Ben Gurion Airport. Now there is an understanding that the GSS and the franchisees will have to come to new arrangements during the significant drop in passenger numbers.

In coordination with the Ministry of Finance and the committees, other workers in the PA are retiring early, the security division will analyze passenger traffic and down to a required operational level for shift workers, in addition to the 150 already cut jobs. This means hundreds of security workers who go on vacation without pay.

El Al updates the commercial policy for the benefit of the passengers, and will allow for change or freeze without changing fees and handling all booked air tickets by the end of April. El Al CEO Gonen Ussishkin: "We are in the midst of an unprecedented event in the global aviation industry. We will continue to be alert and attentive to the needs of the passenger public, and will enable the flexibility required for our customers while ensuring air connections to and from Israel. "

As announced last night, Israir will freeze all its international flights from 14.3 until the end of March. At this time, there is no change in the flight schedule for April. Special leased flights such as Skidill and Zhazov flights departed as planned, as did domestic operations.

The company announced today that it would allow anyone who booked flights or vacations abroad and who had to pay full cancellation fees, to convert 90 percent of the amount into vacation packages to Eilat or Aqaba.