Transportation Ministry said to tighten rules on foreign aircrews after years of lax regulations

The Transportation Ministry has tightened rules for foreign airlines flying to Israel, following the terror attack by the Omani copilot on flydubai Flight 1073 last week, barring crew members who hold citizenship in countries without formal diplomatic relations with Israel from operating or traveling aboard Israel-bound flights, Channel 12 reports, noting that, until now, it had failed to effectively enforce such regulations.

Pilots and other aircrew holding citizenship from countries including Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Pakistan have been easily able to fly into Israel in recent years, according to the network.

In recordings of a conversation between senior officials in the transportation and interior ministries aired by Channel 12, an Interior Ministry official tells a Transport ministry official that they routinely receive the passenger and flight crew lists from the country where the flight originates for security review — “but, in fact, [these lists arrive] only after the plane has taken off.”

Only in the last few hours, the report says, has the ministry sent a notice to foreign carriers, including US airlines, stating that citizens of 27 countries are not only barred from piloting planes to or from Israel, but are also barred from being on board flights to and from Israel. The 27 countries covered in the notice include Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, according to an image of the notice shared by the network.

The notice also says that crew members holding single or dual citizenship from any of these countries who have already been assigned to an Israel flight should contact their airline’s crew scheduling department as soon as possible.