Air Canada resumes flights after FAA lifts Israel ban

Air Canada had cancelled flights for two straight days.

UPDATE: Air Canada is resuming its flights to Israel, the carrier told The CJN

"We are resuming operations to Tel Aviv beginning with tonight’s flight as scheduled (AC84 YYZ-TLV 24/07, AC85 TLV-YYZ 25/07)," spokesperson Isabelle Arthur said in an email.

"This decision is based on our own assessment and that of regulators of the situation and in consultation with others in the airline community. The safety of our passengers and crew is our first priority and we will continue to monitor developments very closely."

Arthur said Friday's flight would be on a 349-seat Boeing 777 airliner, which has 138 more seats than the route's usual 211-seat 767 aircraft, in order to accommodate passengers affected by recent cancellations.

Air Canada's move came following the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's decision Wednesday night to lift its ban on flights to Israel after reviewing Israeli measures to keep flights safe from rockets.

“Before making this decision, the FAA worked with its U.S. government counterparts to assess the security situation in Israel and carefully reviewed both significant new information and measures the Government of Israel is taking to mitigate potential risks to civil aviation,” the agency said in a statement just before midnight on Wednesday, saying the ban was lifted effective immediately.

The agency had come under fire from the Israeli government, pro-Israel groups and a leading Republican senator for the ban, instituted Tuesday at noon after a Hamas rocket landed in a town about a mile from Ben-Gurion International Airport. Its statement appeared to allude to claims that the ban was a means of pressuring Israel into a ceasefire.

“The FAA’s primary mission and interest are the protection of people traveling on U.S. airlines,” the FAA statement said. “The agency will continue to closely monitor the very fluid situation around Ben Gurion Airport and will take additional actions, as necessary.”

On July 23, Air Canada, Air Canada has cancelled its daily flight to Israel for the second straight day. El Al, Israel's national carrier, continued to fly in and out of Israel all week.

A  US Airways’ representative in Israel told Ha'aretz Thursday morning that the airline will begin flying to and  from Ben-Gurion Airport on Friday. Other U.S. airlines have not yet indicated if and when they will restart flights.

A notice on the Delta website continued to read as of Thursday morning: “Delta has suspended service until further notice to and from Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv (TLV) and its New York-JFK hub.”

Early Wednesday, AIPAC had called the FAA ban “harsh and excessive.”

“For the past two weeks, Israel has endured hundreds of rockets launched by Hamas terrorists from Gaza. Yet, air travel to Israel has been safe and unhindered,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee said in a statement.

“Safety is an important consideration, but this decision appears overly harsh and excessive,” the statement said. “Moreover, we are concerned that it could have the unintended effect of encouraging terrorists to become even more committed to make civil aviation a target.”

The FAA announced a 24 hour ban on Tuesday, after a rocket hit Yehud, adjacent to the airport, and after a number of commercial airlines had suspended flights because of the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip on Israel since the latest Israel-Hamas started on July 8. It extended the ban for another 24 hours on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said the ban is a “mistake” and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg flew to Israel to protest the ban. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also has objected to the ban.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Wednesday suggested the ban was politically motivated and a means to pressure Israel to accept the terms of a cease-fire being sought by Secretary of State John Kerry. Cruz pledged to block State Department nominees until the Obama administration answered his questions about the ban.

Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman, called Cruz’s allegation “offensive and ridiculous.”

The FAA makes “these decisions based solely on the security and safety of American citizens,” she said.

In response, Cruz said, “The only thing ‘offensive’ about this situation is how the Obama Administration is spurning our allies to embolden our enemies; the only thing ‘ridiculous’ is the administration’s response to basic questions.”

Cruz in his releases does not present direct evidence that Kerry or Obama influenced the FAA, a regulatory agency.

He asks why the Obama administration has not banned flights to Ukraine in the wake of a the downing earlier this month of a civilian airliner or to Afghanistan, Yemen or Pakistan, where guerrilla wars are being waged.

In fact, the FAA has banned flights over eastern Ukraine and has imposed restrictions on air travel to Afghanistan and Yemen.

In a reply to a JTA query, Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for Cruz, did not address the anomalies, but said the ban was “unprecedented” and comes just as Kerry announced $47 million in humanitarian assistance for the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is the controlling authority.

“We want this administration to answer who made this decision, where it came from,” Frazier said in an email.