Most Arkia and Israir flights use planes and crews leased from foreign airlines, in arrangement okayed by PM

Most flights ostensibly operated by Israel’s Arkia and Israir airlines actually use aircraft leased, along with their crews, from foreign airlines, and their operations are not subject to all of the stringent Israeli security requirements and protections, Israeli television reported Monday.

The security procedures for such flights were approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israir told the outlet.

The arrangement is known as “wet leasing” and involves an airline renting an aircraft from another carrier, along with its crew, maintenance services, and insurance.

The report came as a stream of gaping flaws have emerged in Israel’s security arrangements for foreign airlines since Wednesday’s attempted terror attack on a flydubai airliner from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The Omani copilot tried to crash the plane, almost all of whose passengers were Israelis, but was thwarted by the captain and several passengers.

In July, 70 percent of Arkia’s flights and 56% of Israir flights were wet-leased, the report says. For Sun D’Or, the figure was 5%.

On these flights, the report said, there are no Israeli security personnel on the plane itself. On such flights originating overseas, it added, there is also no additional security check, and no additional passenger checks and passenger profiling, as required for all genuinely Israeli flights in and out of Israel.

Arkia’s CEO confirmed that the Shin Bet does not provide a security envelope for wet-leased flights originating abroad. Those flights are instead secured by the authorities at the overseas airport.

“Israeli planes receive a ‘security envelope’ provided by the Shin Bet, according to a decision by the State of Israel,” said Arkia CEO Oz Berlowitz. “For wet-leased flights [originating abroad], we do not get the Shin Bet security envelope. Instead, we use the security envelope at the overseas airport.”

In a statement, Israir said it operates aircraft on the “wet lease” arrangement in full accordance with all Israeli regulations and security requirements. Operating planes in this way “is part of a risk management policy in the aviation sector, which was presented to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and approved by him,” it added.

Arkia said wet-leasing is a widely accepted model in the aviation world and is operated by the firm under stringent requirements and in coordination with the authorized bodies in Israel.

Inbound flight security

Also Monday, Channel 12 revealed that a letter sent by the Transportation Ministry the day after the flydubai attack explicitly confirmed that “the Security Division of the Israeli Ministry of Transport bears the responsibility for the security of inbound flights to Israel.”

Underlining the recognition of a near-disaster averted on the flight a day earlier thanks to the actions of the Indian pilot and Israeli passengers who thwarted the terrorist, the letter stated that aircraft operators must not let citizens of enemy countries pilot, crew, or even travel on flights to Israel.

The letter, headed “Security Directive 2026: Security Measures for Foreign Flights Entering the Israeli FIR,” was signed by Avri Cohen, “Senior Head of Security Division,” and was sent to security managers at multiple foreign airlines.

It warned the operators that the ministry will be conducting recurring assessments to ensure that they are implementing the necessary programs, measures, and procedures to address the threats and risks associated with flights to Israel, and noted that it will conduct “on-site audits” to ensure this is the case.

It also stated, the TV network reported, that the operators are responsible for ensuring that no pilots or cockpit crew members on flights that enter Israel’s Flight Information Region, or even on board the aircraft, are citizens or dual nationals of a country that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. It instructed airline operators to refer to a separate list of such countries.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev has said in the wake of the attack that security for foreign flights is the responsibility of the security services. She said the Transportation Ministry is not an intelligence body, does not run checks, and has no access to the data that would enable them.

Opposition leaders have called for her resignation.

Also facing calls to resign is Shin Bet chief David Zini, who opposition Yisrael Beytenu party leader wrote on X Monday “must draw conclusions and go home.”

Liberman argued that the agency was responsible for security arrangements involving airlines and flights to and from Israel, asking how a pilot “who was fired from two airlines after undergoing religious radicalization, and who shared al-Qaeda posts on his social media, lands in Israel, conducts a preliminary tour, and enters the country as if nothing happened.”

Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot pushed back, saying a serious investigation must precede any demand for Zini’s resignation.

“A serious investigation has to be conducted first,” Eisenkot told Channel 12 at Reichman University’s World Summit on Counter-Terrorism. “If it turns out there was a Shin Bet failure, then it will be possible to call on the head of the organization to resign.”

“But long before that, I would expect Regev to submit a letter of resignation and resign,” along with the head of her ministry’s security division, Eisenkot added.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tapped the current head of the National Security Council to lead an investigation into the failures related to the Flight 1073 attack.

A former head of the NSC charged earlier Monday that a probe led by NSC head Shmuel Ben Ezra would be nothing more than a cover-up, given that the NSC is the body responsible for preventing situations like the flydubai attack by coordinating with the relevant bodies, which in this case include the Transportation Ministry, the Shin Bet, and the Mossad. The NSC is run out of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.