Ahead of the departure of the first passengers to Uman this coming Sunday: The travel industry is in turmoil, as many passengers claim that charter flights whose tickets have already been sold, mainly to destinations in Romania and Poland, have not yet received confirmation of takeoff and landing times (slots) at Ben-Gurion Airport.
According to a report by Assaf Vaknin on the 'Mako' website, the delay in takeoff and landing permits for foreign airlines operating charter flights, including Albastar, HiSky, and FlyOne, could lead to a wave of last-minute cancellations of the trip of thousands of Breslov Hasidim.
The bulk of the traffic is expected to be concentrated on flights departing from Ben Gurion Airport between September 7 and 10, and on flights returning to Israel between September 14 and 16.
Many passengers have already contacted the chairman of the Breslav Union in Uman, Rabbi Natan Ben Nun, with a request that he put pressure on the Airports Authority to settle the issue.
A source in the Haredi travel industry told the Mako website: "If the issue is not resolved in the next 24 hours, some flights will be canceled and passengers will lose thousands of shekels on accommodations and services that have already been paid for in advance. This is a known event and we cannot continue to operate in a firefighting manner. Operation Uman should be defined as a permanent project and prepared for in advance.".
