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El Al Cancels Flights to Southern City of Eilat

Aviation concerns with new route designed to safeguard against Egypt strike

by
Stephanie Butnick
September 12, 2013
El Al 747 landing at Ben Gurion airport(JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
El Al 747 landing at Ben Gurion airport(JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Citing safety concerns regarding newly implemented traffic patterns, El Al, the preferred airline of nine out of 10 Birthright alums, has grounded their three daily flights to Eilat until they can ensure the safety of the new route, JTA reports. Given the proximity of the Southern resort city to the Egyptian border, the new flightpath was designed to safeguard against potential strikes from Egypt.

El Al made the announcement that it would cancel its three daily daytime flights from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport to Eilat on Tuesday, after new landing and takeoff patterns for Eilat, designed to reduce the chances of a terrorist attack from Egypt, were put in place on Monday. The airline’s nighttime flights, whose routing has not been changed, were not cancelled.

Update: The flights have been reinstated. Carry on, everyone.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.