decision making on adding more designated carriers to the New York route

In a letter sent last week to Minister of Tourism Avraham Hirchson, who is studying the question whether the government should permit another designated carrier on the Tel Aviv-New York route, El Al Israel Airlines argued that "Decision making has been stood on its head. First results are selected, then partial and biased data is gathered in an attempt to justify them".
 
The carrier is locked in battle with the Tourism Ministry, which is pushing for further liberalization of the market, in order to lower airfares and bring in a million more tourists in 2006. A government decision is expected in the next few weeks.
 
Low-cost airline Israir, modeled after airlines like JetBlue Airways and Raynair, has been seeking government approval to compete on the Tel Aviv-New York route. El Al is fighting hard to swat the threat.
 
Sources close to Minister of Tourism Abraham Hirchson claim that no decision had yet been taken however, aviation industry sources said last week that the decision had already been made, and that Hirchson will approve designated carrier status for Israir on the Tel Aviv-New York route.
 
It is also understood Hirchson will give his approval, because any other decision would contradict his ministry's campaign to open Israel's skies to competition, in order to bring down air fares, and of course to enable more and more tourists to come to Israel.
 
Hirchson promised the public, the hoteliers, and the travel agents, that he would raise the annual number of tourists visiting Israel to 3 million at first, with a target of 5 million.
The argument between the Ministries of Tourism and Transport and El Al is over interpretations of El Al’s privatization prospectus published in May 2003.
 
El Al claimed in its prospectus that another designated carrier should be permitted only when the number of passengers on all routes to Israel exceeds 10.7 million, and El Al’s share of this traffic falls below 30%.