16 flights are scheduled to take off before midnight on Tuesday and another 16 are scheduled to take off between midnight and 1:40 a.m., according to a Monday evening announcement from Israel’s Airport Authority.
This came hours after an announcement saying there would be no flights leaving Ben-Gurion Airport until further notice as part of widespread strikes announced by the Workers’ Union on Monday morning in protest of the judicial reform.
The announcement of grounded flights was made by Israel’s Airport Authority Committee Chairman Pinhas Idan.
The strikes are being held in protest of the judicial reform and the firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after he called on the government to freeze the legislation of the judicial reform.
As for incoming flights, only flights that are already in the sky will be allowed to land.
Turkish Airlines and LOT Polish Airlines announced on Monday afternoon that, due to the situation in Israel, their flights to Tel Aviv would not be taking off at all, according to a report from KAN.
PASSENGERS AT Ben-Gurion Airport get ready to leave Israel. (credit: GILI YAARI/FLASH90)Passengers continued the check-in process after the announcement without knowing if their flights would actually depart. The flight board in the airport showed flights later on the day still intending on leaving but they won’t necessarily leave.
A member of the Workers’ Union said that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stops the judicial reform legislation, flights will return to functioning properly.
Nationwide strikes in multiple sectors
The strikes are also being held in universities, hospitals and other sectors.