Against the background of the increase in morbidity in the country, it was decided to leave the flight restrictions until at least the beginning of September, instead of on August 1. • Assessment: It will be decided to postpone further

• Ben Gurion Airport in the days of the Corona

  Photo: 

  Yossi Zeliger

Another postponement: Israel's skies will be closed to tourists at least until September 1. This was announced today (Monday) by the Airports Authority to the airlines.

According to the announcement, all restrictions that include isolation for every Israeli who enters Israel and a ban on entry for an Israeli to a non-Israeli citizen are extended for another month from the current date, August 1. 

Ben Gurion Airport the day after - returnees from abroad will go into isolation // Reporter: Shimon Yaish, Photo: Gil Kramer

In May, Zakai, CEO of Ben Gurion Airport, announced that the sky is expected to open as early as July 1. Since that announcement, the morbidity situation in Israel has worsened significantly, infection rates in Israel are among the highest in the world and most countries in the world are not willing to accept the Israeli tourist.

The significance is very clear - a loss of most of the current year to workers in the tourism and aviation industry. The strongest months of the year are April, July and August and all these months in 2020 have been completely wiped out. It is clear to everyone that the date set yesterday after the fourth postponement is not the final date, the sky will probably not open on September 1 and we will probably see another postponement.

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The State of Israel is extending the restrictions while most countries in the world have already returned to flying. The flight schedules at the various airports in Europe are busy, although they are not as full as on the same date last year, but there are very large amounts of flights in Europe.

The chances of Israel joining the circle of green countries depend mainly on the plan to rehabilitate the industry. Establishment of laboratories, an organized infrastructure for operating tourism and responding to workers in the industry can promote the opening of the sky, of course, along with a significant decrease in the rate of infection in Israel. 

Meanwhile, quite a few airlines are canceling flights that are already much less lucrative for them. Initially, a large part of the airlines operated flights with which Israelis flew from abroad back to Israel and those who hold foreign passports and are towed abroad, left the country. Now, after about two months since the first airlines returned, there are more and more airline flights being canceled due to the very low demand from passengers.