Radio transmissions Thursday from the West Bank city of Ramallah rattled controllers at Ben-Gurion Airport, causing minor delays on one of the busiest days of the year of Israel’s main air terminus.
Airport officials added extra time between flights taking off and landing as a precautionary move, after the Communications Ministry said broadcasts from Ramallah could interfere with transmissions between pilots and the control tower.
The delays rippled through the packed flight schedule, delaying several takeoffs and landings for a number of hours Thursday morning, ahead of the busy Passover travel season.
By Thursday afternoon, the transmissions had ceased and the airport returned to normal operation.
With the Passover festival set to start on Friday evening, some 70,000 passengers were expected to pass through the airport on Thursday.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the
terms
The Israel Airports Authority said that during the course of the holiday season 1.1 million people would go through Ben-Gurion airport, a 14% increase compared to last year.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Support our work
Support our work
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
