Breaking free: Addressing Israel’s monopolistic air travel challenges – opinion

When I made aliyah 41 years ago, I worried a lot about not being able to leave Israel in case there was a really serious war, and I felt that my life was seriously threatened. 

Over the years, that fear was neutralized so that today, I would not think of leaving even if I did feel so threatened. After all, this is my home.

But I was never concerned about not being able to leave to celebrate a family event in America or anywhere else, or to simply go abroad for a vacation when I would choose to do so. 

Yet today, in the midst of a war of attrition, with only one airline flying regularly in and out of Israel – thereby limiting the number of available seats and discouraged by the resultant inflated fares – sometimes I actually do feel like a prisoner in my own country, unable to find a seat or to afford the price of a ticket even when I can book a seat. 

None of us should find ourselves in this position, and, if we analyze why this is the case, I believe there are solutions to address the challenges. I also believe that the Israeli government has an obligation to us, its citizens, to work on addressing this issue, which has reduced tourism to a trickle and is causing economic harm to the country.

Weighing the risks 

Foreign airlines that have eliminated their flights to Israel usually couch their objections on two issues. First, that the cost of insurance related to flying into and out of a war zone is prohibitive and cannot easily be absorbed into the cost of a ticket. 

Secondly, that crews do not feel safe staying overnight in Tel Aviv and going through potential air raids during their stay. Both reasons have merit and both can be addressed.

On the issue of insurance, Israel should look at the loss of income due to the drop in tourism and business travel and weigh that against the cost of subsidizing the increased costs to airlines to insure their flights against wartime risk. 

A CNN report on October 4 indicated that “Tourism has also taken a knock, with arrivals down sharply this year. Israel’s tourism ministry has estimated that the drop in foreign tourists has translated into NIS 18.7 billion ($4.9 b.) in lost revenue since the start of the war.” 

Whether that number is higher or lower than the actual does not really matter. Speak with hotel operators, restaurateurs, tour guides, and business people; every one of them will agree that it is very difficult right now to convince people to come here except for solidarity visits and some family events for those for whom price is no object. 

Given that, Israel should look seriously at either paying the air carrier’s increased insurance costs or “self-insuring” them against potential loss due to the war.

REGARDING STAYING overnight, we and the airlines also know how to solve that problem. Airline schedules can be adjusted so that flights land here in the morning and leave again before the end of the same day. 

For short-haul flights from Europe, for example, that would eliminate the overnight stay for the crew. They could simply do the turnaround flight as well.

For long-haul flights, while laws limit the number of hours a crew may be in the air and how much rest they need before they can fly again, there is no restriction as to where that rest has to occur. So, for example, airlines could, in cooperation with the Jordanian government, rest their crews on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea as opposed to Tel Aviv. 

Or a local charter airline could ferry crews two-to-three times a day between Tel Aviv and Larnaca, Cyprus so that the crews could rest there before beginning the return trips later in the week. No doubt the hotel operators in both locations would be happy to get the extra business, and the Israeli government could subsidize the additional cost once again.

The benefit of all of this would be to open up more seats to both tourists and locals while simultaneously bringing down the airfares to competitive levels similar to what they were before the war. 

We who live here and are committed to the long-term survival of our beloved country are making enough of a sacrifice sending our sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, and siblings off to war and dealing with the psychological and physical effects of doing so. 

We should also not be kept prisoners in our own country because of the monopolistic pricing policies of the only airline that is providing dependable service, especially when there are solutions to the problem that make good financial and practical sense.

All of us living here have committed ourselves to the long-term survival of the country. The government in power, therefore, has an obligation to do what it can to neutralize any obstacles to the normal flow of our day-to-day lives. 

They owe us nothing less than to at least make the attempt.

The writer has lived in Israel for almost 41 years, and is the founder and chair of Atid EDI Ltd., an international business development consultancy. He is also the founder and chair of the American State Offices Association, former national president of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel, and a past chairperson of the board of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies.