Ben-Gurion Airport unlikely to welcome foreigners until mid-July
‘Social distancing alone will forbid us from increasing travel’
It is unlikely that Israel will open the country to foreign travelers in any significant number before at least mid-July, a senior official with Ben-Gurion Airport told Ynet.
“Social distancing alone will forbid us from increasing travel,” airport managing director Shmuel Zakai said. “If we keep up the current pace, we will see dozens of single flights to Ben-Gurion Airport starting in mid-July and not before. Maybe by then or in mid-September we will reach half a million passengers. As long as there is no coronavirus vaccine, and the virus can still spread across countries, there will be no significant change.”
He said that if the number of travelers to Israel in the next two years is one-third the amount of travelers in 2019, Israel will be doing well.
Zakai’s comments came in light of a visit by senior Health Ministry officials to the airport on Monday, which The Jerusalem Post confirmed with the Israel Airports Authority.
A spokeswoman told the Post that ministry deputy director-general Prof. Itamar Grotto and head of Public Health Prof. Sigal Sadetsky visited Israel’s airport, along with members of the Civil Aviation Authority, National Security Council and Home Front Command, to review a proposed “blue ribbon” plan for increasing commercial flights to Israel in hopes of further improving the economy.
Currently, Israelis who enter Israel from abroad must go into 14 days of home quarantine. Foreigners are still unable to enter the country, with few exceptions.
The spokeswoman said that the team reviewed the options for allowing foreigners to visit Israel, but did not come to any conclusions. She said that no date was agreed upon.
A senior health official and member of a Health Ministry committee that evaluates the coronavirus threat told the
Post that the ministry is expected to discuss changing Israel’s airport policies at an