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Eli Ovadia, Chairman of the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) and Kobi Mor, the director general of the IAA met at Ben Gurion Airport with a panel of representatives from the foreign airlines in order to understand the extent of the damage caused by existing policies.

In a meeting designed to strengthen and improve relations between airlines and the Israel Airports Authority, Chairman of the IAA, Ovadia Eli said that allowing the operation of night time departures from Ben Gurion Airport was the sole responsibility of the Minister of Transportation.  Eli promised that he would raise the issues discussed in the meeting with the new Minister of Transport.

During the meeting the IAA and the panel looked at the major projects to improve safety, security and infrastructure as well as increasing the capacity of Ben Gurion Airport and to see how the projects were progressing.  Eli expressed his worries about the current economic situation in Israel and in the world as a whole, something affecting both the Airports Authority and the airlines.  He added the importance of working efficiently, while at the same time maintaining the very best possible service to travelers.

According to the Chairman of the panel of foreign airlines, Avi Friedman, the management of the IAA has promised to do the maximum to open up Ben Gurion Airport to night time departures.  Friedman added that given the slowdown in passenger traffic at Ben Gurion Airport, he understood the hardships that the Authority had with its commitment to invest in safety measures.

Last year the Israel Airports Authority allocated 3.7 billion shekels to advance safety and service.  According to Eli, the council of the Airports Authority have guaranteed that all finance received from the updated fees would be allocated solely for the purpose of upgrading safety and improvements to the infrastructure and would not be used for any purpose.