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Miri Regev says her ministry and the airlines are now calibrated for “any scenario, both in defense and attack.”
By Shmuli Volkin, Jewish Breaking News
Israeli airlines have quietly dusted off their wartime playbook: if Iran launches missiles at Israel, the country’s carriers are prepared to empty Ben-Gurion Airport of planes within hours and scatter them to safe hubs abroad, Transportation Minister Miri Regev has confirmed in a radio interview.
El Al, Arkia, Israir, Air Haifa and Challenge together operate nearly 85 passenger and cargo aircraft. According to a senior airline official, operations are currently running as normal, but detailed evacuation plans are in place and rehearsed. The carriers have already proven they can execute them “in the shortest possible time,” the official said, pointing to their experience during the Israel–Iran war in June.
Under those plans, aircraft can be redeployed on short notice to airports in Cyprus, Athens, Thailand, the United States and other European destinations. In June, when Iranian missiles targeted Israel, Israeli airlines flew their fleets out of the country with no passengers on board, while Ben-Gurion temporarily shut down and Israel was effectively cut off from international air travel until emergency routes and rescue flights were organized.
That crisis came on the heels of a ballistic missile strike by Iran-backed Houthi terrorists on the perimeter of Ben-Gurion, which injured several people and forced a temporary suspension of flights, prompting major foreign airlines such as British Airways to halt service to Tel Aviv for months. The incident underscored that Israel’s main airport is viewed as a prime strategic target in the wider Iran-led campaign.
Regev says her ministry and the airlines are now calibrated for “any scenario, both in defense and attack,” including rapidly shifting entire fleets to Larnaca, Athens and farther afield to both shield the aircraft from missile fire and keep them available to bring Israelis home when the security situation permits. “The most important thing to tell Israeli citizens is that we are prepared for any scenario,” she stressed.
For travelers, the message is twofold: flights are operating as usual for now, but the industry is primed for another rapid evacuation if Iran escalates again. The goal this time is to avoid the paralysis and chaos of last summer’s airspace shutdown while still denying Tehran any chance to cripple Israel’s aviation lifeline or strand tens of thousands of Israelis without a way home.
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