The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is considering a ban on flights by US airlines to Israel, Channel 2 News reports this evening. The possible move comes after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a house in the Israeli town of Yehud, which is close to Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main international airport near Tel Aviv.
According to the report, the FAA is waiting for a response from Israel's Ministry of Transport concerning fragments of the rocket that fell close to the airport. It will decide in the coming hours whether to order a halt to flights to Israel because of the security situation.
Meanwhile, a Delta Airlines flight from New York that was scheduled to land at Ben Gurion Airport today landed instead at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, after the airline's management decided to suspend flights to Israel until further notice.
The FAA has already halted flights to other conflict zones, such as Iraq and Syria, and also now to Ukraine, after pro-Russian rebels in East Ukraine shot down a Malaysian Airlines plane last Thursday.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 22, 2014
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