The chairman of the Israel Airports Authority, Maj. Gen. (retd.) Yiftach Ron-Tal, was asked today (Thursday) in an interview on the Be'er Sheva network about the heavy traffic at Ben Gurion Airport, the flight delays and the long waiting times for baggage collection that many Israelis have been experiencing in recent weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And what did he reply? "Waiting two and a half hours for a suitcase is not okay, but an hour in the summer rush is definitely possible. Not everything is under our control, Europe is very busy.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ron-Tal described the situation at Ben Gurion Airport in recent weeks: "In all the last few days, there have been more than 100,000 passengers coming in and out. These are numbers that have never been to Ben Gurion Airport before. There are over 600 flights. This is an airport that four months ago all it had were rescue flights, and the employees were at home. Now we are bringing them back and recruiting them all the time in huge numbers.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also blamed the American refueling planes that are stationed at the civilian airport: "They also take up parking spaces and create waiting times, and they also fly whenever they want, land whenever they want, and in fact air congestion has increased specifically for the State of Israel and Ben-Gurion Airport.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ron-Tal also placed the responsibility on the European aviation authorities: "Flight delays - 80% of which are according to Eurocontrol. This is because the skies are too crowded, mainly in Europe, and 20% because of the airports. However, it is our duty to continue to improve the service.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said: "Yesterday, your faithful servant rolled up his sleeves to see the real picture and loaded up his suitcases. This is mainly for personal example and to understand more deeply the difficulties in this activity, in order to know how to provide the right solutions. We learned from the army, that's fine.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ron-Tal was asked why no advance preparation was made for the summer crowds, which arrive every year, and insisted: "Almost a quarter of the parking lots are occupied by American planes. Don't tell me the war is over.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked about the extreme waiting times for baggage claim, he replied: "There could be many reasons. For example, yesterday one of the conveyor belts simply got stuck, and it took a while for them to fix it. It's not high-tech, but the operation is complex. I don't justify it, but in the overall picture, Israel has a huge volume of activity, and I'm happy with that. It's summer and that's natural at airports.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to him, Ben Gurion Airport is preparing to increase its capacity and is promoting a project that, according to him, "will actually almost double the size of Ben Gurion Airport, in order to accommodate up to 40 million passengers in the next 10 years. That's where we'll get to. If we don't open another, complementary airport, Ben Gurion Airport won't be able to accommodate it. Ramon Airport doesn't provide this cargo, unfortunately. There will be a deep-rooted problem that the State of Israel must solve.".<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u05d9\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1 \u05e8\u05d0\u05e9 \u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea \u05e9\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05ea\u05e2\u05d5\u05e4\u05d4, \u05d4\u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e3 \u05d1\u05de\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05e4\u05ea\u05d7 \u05e8\u05d5\u05df-\u05d8\u05dc, \u05e0\u05e9\u05d0\u05dc \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd (\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05e9\u05d9) \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1' \u05e2\u05dc \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05de\u05e1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05db\u05d1\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05e0\u05de\u05dc \u05d4\u05ea\u05e2\u05d5\u05e4\u05d4 \u05d1\u05df \u05d2\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05d5\u05df, \u05e2\u05d9\u05db\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d8\u05d9\u05e1\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05d6\u05de\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d4\u05de\u05ea\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d0\u05e8\u05d5\u05db\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0\u05d9\u05e1\u05d5\u05e3 \u05db\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05e9\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05e8\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d7\u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05e9\u05d1\u05d5\u05e2\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd. \u05d5\u05de\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d4\u05e9\u05d9\u05d1? \"\u05dc\u05d4\u05de\u05ea\u05d9\u05df \u05e9\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d7\u05e6\u05d9 \u05dc\u05de\u05d6\u05d5\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05d6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e1\u05d3\u05e8, \u05d0\u05d1\u05dc \u05e9\u05e2\u05d4 \u05d1\u05e6\u05e4\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05ea \u05e9\u05dc \u05d4\u05e7\u05d9\u05e5 \u05d6\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d4\u05d7\u05dc\u05d8 \u05d0\u05e4\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9. \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05db\u05dc \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05d8\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5, […]","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":1050487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[55432,7041,1525,3751],"class_list":["post-1062149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-4","tag-55432","tag-7041","tag-1525","tag-3751"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n