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The heads of regional councils have called on the Ministers of Transport and the Ministry of Environmental Protection to oppose the bill which proposes arrangements for night time departures from Ben Gurion Airport, contrary to the decision of the government back in 1997.  Gil Livneh, the head of the council for the town of Shoham commented that Ben Gurion Airport is open 20 hours a day, with noise pollution that disturbs the local population.  This nuisance should be balanced and there should be at least 4 hours of quiet during the night.

Among the proposals for the new economic plan is the opening of Ben Gurion Airport for nighttime departures.  This follows requests from a panel of airlines to the Israel Airports Authority to handle this matter.  The head of the council for Shoham sent an urgent letter to Minister of Transport, Yisrael Katz and the Minister of Environmental Protection, Gilad Erdan, demanding that they oppose this proposal and act to have it removed.

Livneh indicated that since the decision of the Israeli government in 1997 to close Ben Gurion Airport to nighttime departures, the issue to resume flights has been raised from time to time and rejected by successive governments.  He added it inappropriate that previous economic plans be proposed without consultations with the heads of the councils affected.

According to Livneh, the opening up of Ben Gurion Airport to nighttime departures would cause considerable noise pollution to as many as a million citizens in the areas surrounding the airport; including Tel Aviv, Holon, Bat Yam, Rishon Lezion, Azor, Or Yehuda, Bet Dagan, Yehud, Lod, the Lod valley, the Modiin region and Shoham.  He added that it is the norm in most western countries to close airports close to civilian populations for the nighttime period.