- How many flights were impacted due to the protests on the TARMAC
- What the signs carried by protestors read, and how long the protests went on for
Flights out of Ben Gurion Airport were halted for two hours Thursday as more than a thousand aviation workers blocked the runways. The workers were blocking the runways because they thought the government applied COVID-19 travel restrictions without properly addressing the impact on their industry and livelihood. Flights from 10 A.M until midday were halted during the protest while demonstrators gathered on the runway.
Signs carried by the protesters said: “We are being thrown out of the plane without a parachute,” “If there is no Israeli aviation foreign companies also won’t land here,” and “The government is abandoning Israeli aviation.” 11 flights were impacted that were scheduled for takeoff and landing during these hours. Under the new restrictions, there are only 10 countries from which vaccinated or COVID-19 recovered. Israelis are able to return without having to quarantine fully and instead only isolate until receipt of a negative test result. Those countries are: Austria, Australia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Taiwan, Moldova, New Zealand, China, Singapore and the Czech Republic. Most of those locations are not allowing tourists to enter.
