Israel and U.S. Reach Deal to Clear Ben Gurion Parking Crisis

Israel’s Transportation Ministry said Friday morning that it has reached understandings with the U.S. military to speed up the removal of American aircraft parked at Ben Gurion Airport, easing a threat of mass flight cancellations this summer. The agreement is meant to eliminate the remaining risk to more than 200,000 airline tickets for July and August, after an earlier concern over 2.4 million tickets had already been lifted about a week and a half ago.

Since June 16, when the first breakthrough in the dispute was reached, 15 American planes have already been moved out of Ben Gurion Airport. Under the new arrangement, 30 more aircraft will be transferred gradually by Tuesday to Israel Air Force bases around the country, followed later by another phase in which 20 additional planes will be removed.

As part of the deal, Israel committed that if security conditions worsen, the American planes will be able to return to Ben Gurion within about 72 hours. The crisis began because dozens of U.S. tanker and transport aircraft were stationed at the airport and took up a significant share of the parking capacity needed for civilian flights.

The Israel Airports Authority had warned in recent weeks that without the aircraft being cleared, airlines would have to cut summer and High Holiday schedules. Initially, it estimated that more than 2.4 million tickets could be canceled.