Washington – The Federal Aviation Administration lifted its ban Wednesday on U.S. flights in and out of Israel, which the agency had imposed out of concern for the risk of planes being hit by Hamas rockets.
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The decision was effective at 11:45 p.m. EDT.
“Before making this decision, the FAA worked with its U.S. 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 FAA said. “The agency will continue to closely monitor the very fluid situation around Ben Gurion Airport and will take additional actions as necessary.”
The FAA instituted a 24-hour prohibition Tuesday in response to a rocket strike that landed about a mile from the airport.
The directive, which was extended Wednesday, applied only to U.S. carriers. The FAA has no authority over foreign airlines operating in Israel.
The FAA’s flight ban was criticized by the Israeli government and by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who questioned whether President Barack Obama used a federal agency to impose an economic boycott on Israel.
Delta Air Lines, which diverted a jumbo jet away from Tel Aviv before Tuesday’s ban by the FAA, will not necessarily resume flights to Israel even if U.S. authorities declare the area safe, the airline’s CEO said before the FAA lifted the ban.
CEO Richard Anderson said Delta would of course obey FAA orders but would continue to make its own decisions about safety.
“We appreciate the advice and consent and the intelligence we get, but we have a duty and an obligation above and beyond that to independently make the right decisions for our employees and passengers,” Anderson said on a conference call with reporters. “Even if they lift” the prohibition on flying in and out of Ben-Gurion Airport, “we still may not go in depending on what the facts and circumstances are.”
Anderson declined to discuss specifically how the airline would make the decision to resume the flights and spoke only in general terms. He said the airline decides whether flights are safe to operate “on an independent basis, so we will evaluate the information we have and we will make the judgment that our passengers and employees rely on us to make for them every day.”
The CEO of Middle East carrier Emirates said after the shoot-down in Ukraine of a Malaysia Airlines jet last week that global airlines need better risk-assessment from international aviation authorities. Delta, however, seems more inclined to go it alone.
“We have a broad and deep security network around the world,” Anderson said. “We have security directors that work for Delta in all the regions of the world, and we have a very sophisticated capability and methodology to manage these kinds of risks, whether it’s this or a volcano or a hurricane.”
why not boycott delta airlines entirely?
they anyway have terrible service and are never on time !!
Wait a minute, I thought this was all a plot by Obama to pressure Israel — or at least that’s what so many of the embarrassingly ignorant comments here have alleged over the past two days. The hysteria among elements of the frum velt over this issue and, for that matter, anything having to do with Obama, indicates an inability to think with even the slightest bit of nuance; an abysmal lack of historical knowledge and perspective; and a refusal to even consider another side of an argument. Whenever anyone here cites incident after incident and fact after fact debunking the false notion that Obama is a Muslim or an anti-Semite or that his administration has been “anti-Israel,” the Obama haters respond not with any facts supporting their case but with a barrage of insults and talking points they’ve picked up from talk radio and conspiracy-theory morons. You can tell them time and again that Obama backed Israel during Operation Cast Lead, and over the Gaza flotilla incident, and over the Goldstone Report, and over the Palestinian attempt to have the UN declare a Palestinian state, and they just ignore any of that and resume their name calling.
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, and again. The FAA cannot be trusted pertaining to safety decisions. For years, it has ignored many safety recommendations which the National Transportation Safety Board recommended, after years of research. The FAA takes years to make a decision, regarding airline safety, and then, only after many airline accidents. It was only quite recently, that the FAA was going to lift the ban regarding passengers carrying small knives on aircraft. It was only when flight crews objected, that it changed its mind. Therefore, for it to make a snap decision the other day, regarding Ben Gurion Airport, somehow does not pass the smell test.
Michoel #2 must be a Muslim or Neuturei Karta. SHAME ON YOU