Posted on 02/18/22
| News Source: Arutz-7
An unpleasant incident developed between former President of Israel Reuven Rivlin and El Al flight attendants who refused to allow him to sit with his wife on a flight from Dubai to Israel due to the ticket he had purchased.
The incident was caused by recent tensions between Israel and the UAE regarding flight security, which led to some flights being canceled and others being condensed into a single plane. Neither Rivlin nor El Al responded to requests for comment.
El Al CEO Avigal Soreq, Israir CEO Uri Sirkis, and Arkia CEO Gadi Tepper have sent a joint letter to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, and Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli regarding Israel's aviation crisis with Dubai. As of March, Israeli flights will not be able to land and take off for Dubai save for Abu Dhabi.
"We were thrilled with the signing of the Abraham Accords and the options they produced," the three CEOs wrote. "Unfortunately, there seems to be a big gap between our hopes and reality. We have been experiencing difficulties implementing flight schedules of Israeli companies to Dubai for a long time."
They also said that "In talks with officials, the option arose that Israeli companies would fly to Abu Dhabi while the companies from Dubai would continue to operate normally. This situation is not acceptable. The interim solution according to which Israeli companies will make three daily flights from Dubai has cost us thousands of cancellations while UAE airlines are functioning as normal."