El Al nixes Eilat night flights over safety worries

Decision attributed to new flight path regulations; follows move to cancel day flights in September

By ToI Staff 6 November 2013, 2:54 pm

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Illustrative photo of an El Al flight taking off. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

El Al will cancel its night flights to Eilat, the company announced Tuesday, two months after it canceled its daytime flights from Tel Aviv to the southern resort town over a decision by the Civil Aviation Authority to set a new flight route for the planes.

The company’s announcement that it was canceling its night flights to Eilat followed a decision that will require night flights to adhere to the new route as well.

El Al says it does not think the new flight route allows it to maintain safety standards.

The decision means that El Al, which had been outsourcing the night flights to Israir, will no longer be offering transportation to Eilat.

“The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced that it is changing the route of night flights as of November 18 to a route which El Al has already announced does not adhere to accepted safety standards for day flights, and even more so for night flights,” El Al said in a statement Tuesday.

The changes have to do with both the flight route and the takeoff and landing procedures at the Eilat airport. In September El Al CEO Eliezer Shkedy said the company did not believe the new regulations would allow it to operate at the highest safety standards.