Hundreds Of Cancelled Flights: US Suspends Departure Of Aerial Refueling Aircraft From Israel

Israel's Transportation Minister, Miri Regev, announced that summer flights will not be canceled despite the presence of American military refueling aircraft at Ben Gurion International Airport. This follows a reported suspension by the US military of its aerial refueling aircraft's departure from Israel, which Israeli officials warned could significantly disrupt civilian air travel due to parking space shortages. Regev stated, "we promised that we would allow these flights and not cancel a single ticket because of American refueling planes," and instructed the Airports Authority to limit the landing of refueling planes to the agreed number of 20 at Ben Gurion, with others at Air Force bases. The Israel Airports Authority Director, Sharon Kedmi, had previously warned of a severe shortage of parking stands potentially forcing the cancellation of up to 10 commercial flights daily, affecting nearly 50,000 passenger bookings by the end of July.