Airline says new flight path to Eilat implemented by
Aviation Authority does not offer the proper safety level for civil
aviation.
El Al Airlines will again suspend its daytime Tel Aviv-Eilat flight
from Thursday, September 26. Passengers who were planning to spend the
weekend in the resort town, or return from it, will have to go by bus
and obtain a refund from the airline. El Al will continue to make its
nighttime flight to Eilat, using the current flight path.
Two weeks ago, El Al suspended its daytime flight to Eilat, citing
changes in the landing path by the Israel Civil Aviation Authority,
which the airline called hazardous to passenger safety. Following
intensive talks between El Al and the Civil Aviation Authority, the
latter allowed the airline to continue using the previous flight path
for two weeks, until conclusions were drawn over the new flight path.
The deadline expires on Thursday, and the Civil Aviation Authority has
not granted El Al another extension.
“We will not compromise the safety of our passengers. The new flight
path to Eilat does not offer the proper safety level for civil
aviation,” said El Al in a statement.
“El Al’s experts, headed by its chief pilot and Boeing 737 fleet
manager, carried out additional meticulous tests in the past few days on
the flight path proposed by the Civil Aviation Authority. In view of
the analysis and the answers received from the Civil Aviation Authority
to El Al’s questions, the expert opinion is that the new flight path
does not allow a proper safety of civil aviation flights that is
acceptable to El Al and at airports around the world.”
Original article: http://www.jpost.com