US said to be moving 20% of its refuelers from Israel airport, easing travel pressure

Presence of 72 American aircraft in recent months is crowding out civilian planes at Tel Aviv’s international airport, threatening to ground 2.4 million summer travelers

By Sharon Wrobel

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Today, 9:04 pm

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Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel

Washington is reportedly preparing to start removing part of its refuelers parked at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport in recent months, following an emerging deal between the United States and Iran to end their war, Hebrew media reported Tuesday.

In the coming days, the US is expected to relocate about 20 percent of its 72 aircraft stationed at Ben Gurion Airport, according to reports in the Hebrew press, after the US agreed a deal to end the war with Iran.

The fleet of US planes is causing a parking shortage, threatening to severely limit flight operations of commercial airlines at Israel’s main international gateway, ahead of the peak summer holiday months.

Israel’s Defense Ministry was not available for comment when contacted by The Times of Israel. The Pentagon declined to comment.

On Sunday, Transportation Minister Miri Regev sent an urgent letter to warn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that unless many of the US aircraft parked at Ben Gurion Airport are relocated immediately, some 2.4 million plane tickets scheduled for the peak summer months and holiday season could be canceled.

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Regev demanded to immediately relocate about 30 US aircraft to airports outside of Israel, or move them to Israeli Air Force bases.

The Israel Airports Authority was expected on Tuesday to notify Israeli airlines that they need to prepare to cancel some of their flights scheduled for the summer peak season starting on July 1 and potentially the High Holidays season in September and October. For now, the Israel Airports Authority said it has held off sending a letter to local airlines in light of reports of progress on the relocation of part of the US aircraft.

Meanwhile, the Israel Airports Authority cautioned that additional US refueling tankers need to be removed to avert flight traffic disruptions and remove the risk of hundreds of thousands of cancellations during the peak summer travel season.

In recent months, a fleet of about 72 US refuelers and cargo planes was parked at Ben Gurion Airport as part of the US military buildup in the region due to the war with Iran. The congestion at Ben Gurion has been making operations more expensive for local airlines, due to parking costs at bases outside of Israel, while limiting the number of flights Israeli airlines can operate.

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