Israel slow on aviation reform
expanding capacity in the U.S. market or carrying code-share passengers from U.S. airlines.
“It is a costly situation for the country’s reputation and it is damaging Israel’s airlines,” Bisignani said at the time.
His office refused AP’s interview requests.
Israel has never experienced an airport crash, but experts say civil aviation here was neglected for decades, with authorities slow to renovate runways and introduce state-of-the-art instrument landing and radar technology. Crowded airspace shared by civil and military flights further complicates matters.
A near-crash between El Al and Iberia carriers in 2007 at Ben-Gurion shook things up and a panel, headed by a former air force commander, was formed to review safety and recommend changes.
Upgrades are under way, including newer radars and instrument landing systems, the extension of one of the airport’s three runways and construction of a new air control tower. State comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss said in a September report that the changes are not happening fast enough.
“Despite the safety deficiencies noted in critiques by commissions and professionals in Israel and abroad, government ministries unfortunately did not do enough to improve aviation safety in Israel,” he wrote, adding that “the lives of civil aviation passengers are liable to be at risk.”
He criticized parliament for not passing an updated aviation law. The existing law dates back to 1927, when Britain ruled prestate Palestine.
Since the downgrade, Israel has been working with the FAA to meet top-category standards, said the Transportation Ministry, which oversees the Israeli civil administration authority and operations at the airport.
The Israeli aviation official says Israel is well on the way to addressing outstanding concerns, mostly updates to antiquated laws, and that he expected an updated aviation law to be ready for parliament in February.
Capt. Boaz Hativa, chairman of the Israel Pilots Association, is worried by some of the provisions in the bill, especially concerning accident investigation.
Under the proposed law, the Israeli agency charged with investigating aviation accidents and other mishaps would no longer be the sole arbiter, and its autonomy would be compromised, Hativa said. Investigative material would no longer be confidential, making people less willing to testify, he added.
“We are afraid that if the institution of accident investigation is impaired, flight safety will suffer,” he said.
He and Bisignani also criticized a security program being tested by the Transportation Ministry that requires pilots to submit a security code confirming their identity before they are authorized to land.
The program — still in a test phase — is meant to make sure incoming aircraft do not pose security threats. But at least two planes — in April 2009 and July 2010 — have been intercepted by Israeli fighter jets as they approached Israeli air space after submitting incorrect identity codes.
“We think this code can set off a sequence of events that could lead to the shootdown of an innocent carrier,” Hativa said. “Of course, that’s an extreme scenario, but it could happen.”
Bisignani said no other country has a similar requirement. He said he has encouraged Israel to scrap the program.
The ministry did not respond to an AP e-mail seeking comment on its plans for the program.