Prime minister’s private jet flying over-budget

An aircraft specially dedicated to ferrying the prime minister around the world is still grounded and in need of a cash infusion to prepare it for takeoff, the Knesset Finance Committee heard on Tuesday.

The project, dubbed “Israel’s Air Force One” after the plane used by the president of the United States, has already cost NIS 360 million (about $100 million).

The plane arrived in Israel in 2016 and was expected to be ready a year later, but it is now likely to only enter service by the end of next year. Full details of the plane are barred from publication by the military censor.

President Reuven Rivlin will also have use of the advanced aircraft, which is to be fitted with specialized equipment to give it a long range, various defensive capabilities, and the ability to maintain communications with Israel at all times. Rivlin has stated that he is happy to continue traveling on commercial passenger airline flights as he has done in the past.

The Ynet news site reported Wednesday that the installation of customized systems on the aircraft is taking longer than expected.

According to the report, various sources said the budget for installing communications and defense systems is insufficient.

During its Tuesday meeting, the Knesset Finance Committee retroactively approved NIS 60 million ($17 million) to cover the costs of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s travels abroad during the year and another NIS 5 million ($1.43 million) for his and other ministers’ trips during 2016.

Lawmakers led by committee chair MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism), criticized the Finance Ministry for bringing a retroactive budget request. Some of the committee members suggested that the move was made to obfuscate the actual cost of the prime minister’s travels. However, Finance Ministry representatives at the meeting said the additional costs were accrued from unplanned trips to other countries.

Gafni warned that in the future the committee will not separately approve budgeting for the prime minister’s travels abroad.

The prime minister’s plane was first approved in 2014 by the Goldberg Committee, which also approved the construction of a new residence and office for the prime minister.

At the time, a report in The Marker financial daily indicated that Treasury officials believed the plane’s purchase was not economically worthwhile but the committee declared that the decision was not to be based solely on financial considerations.

The decision also followed public outcry at the time after it was revealed that the government had spent NIS 450,000 ($127,000) outfitting an El Al plane with a bed for the prime minister during a five-hour flight to the UK.

Rivlin chooses to fly on regular commercial flights including, on occasion, flying coach or even on economy airlines.

Currently, a tender is issued to Israeli airlines when the prime minister travels. The system works well for mid-range destinations such as Europe, when all three Israeli airlines are able to compete, but for longer-range trips — such as to the US — only El Al has aircraft capable of nonstop flights.

According to a Channel 2 report in August 2016, El Al took advantage of the lack of competition, charging very high prices for such flights and on one occasion demanding $4,700 to place an oxygen tank on a flight for then-president Shimon Peres, who ended up flying Air Canada instead.