Transport Min. committee recommends "Open Skies" policy

The committee’s second major recommendation is to open negotiations with the European Union in order to reach a bilateral "Open Skies" agreement
 
Transportation Ministry Director General Gideon Siterman said last week at a press conference that one of the main recommendations of the committee that examined Open Skies was that Israel should adopt an open sky policy allowing unlimited competition between Israeli airlines to any destination around the world.
 
The second major recommendation is to open negotiations with the European Union in order to reach a bilateral "Open Skies" agreement to be implemented gradually over three yeas.
 
The committee expected that such an "Open Skies" deal would cost Israeli airlines about US$50- US$75 million a year in lost revenues, but at the same time travelers would save US$70- US$105 million annually.
 
The committee also recommended that the state will underetake to pay for the security expenses of Israeli airlines. This is an additional US$50 million a year, however, the committee did not decide whether the funds will come from the state budget or from additional travel fees to be imposed on passengers.
 
In order to allow low cost flights the committee recommended the re-opening the old terminal at Ben-Gurion International Airport, Terminal 1, to low-cost flights for 24 hours a day. The idea is to offer lower landing and parking fees for airlines operatingout of Terminal 1 and enable low cost airlines to operate from Israel.