By Andy Pasztor and Susan Carey
The Federal Aviation Administration's move on Wednesday to
temporarily extend the ban on U.S. airline flights to Israel is a
prelude to a broad international effort stressing the
responsibility of all countries to safeguard carriers from
hostilities around the globe.
The extension of the FAA's ban for at least a second day, said
people familiar with the details, comes as the International Civil
Aviation Organization prepares to distribute a high-priority
directive urging governments world-wide to warn airlines about the
potential dangers of flying over war zones.
The impending ICAO message, formally called a state letter, is
intended to ensure that countries issue timely and comprehensive
alerts when hostilities threaten aircraft safety, these people
said. ICAO is the air-safety arm of the United Nations.
International air-safety rules and the treaty that created ICAO
require national aviation regulators to fence off airspace if
carriers are threatened by hostilities. But each government retains
the authority to conduct its own risk analysis and decide when to
act, with Montreal-based ICAO basically serving as a clearinghouse
for "notices to airmen," known in the industry as Notams.
The downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 has sparked a wider
controversy over an array of international carriers continuing to
fly over regions where fighting is under way. As a result, the
long-standing notification system faces extensive scrutiny from
safety experts, passengers and even some airline officials.
ICAO is acting because the leadership sees "more conflict zones
and emerging-risk zones, and more attention clearly needs to be
paid" to mitigating dangers, said a person familiar with the
details. An ICAO spokesman wasn't available to comment.
ICAO released a statement signaling the initiative, saying it
was consulting with industry representatives and regional aviation
groups about "the respective roles of states, airlines and
international organizations for assessing the risk of airspace
affected by armed conflict."
The organization's critics, however, say the latest move is
self-serving and too late. They contend ICAO should have been more
assertive in making that case before Flight 17 went down.
"ICAO is under as much of a microscope as everyone else," said
Mark Dombroff, a former FAA lawyer and high-ranking Justice
Department official who is now a partner with the law firm of
McKenna Long & Aldridge in McLean, Va.
"It should be stepping out on a more proactive basis," Mr.
Dombroff said, adding that instead of clarifying matters, the
anticipated letter "is going to fuel so much more speculation and
concern" over the safety of certain airways.
Late Wednesday, FAA officials were engaged in extensive
discussions with Israeli civilian and military officials about the
criteria for potentially removing the ban, said people close to the
talks. Tel Aviv has pushed hard for a speedy resolution.
On CNN late Wednesday, Rep. Michael McCaul, the Texas Republican
who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said the status
of flights to and from Israel "could change in the next day or
two."
In addition to ICAO, the non-profit Flight Safety Foundation has
called for a reassessment to establish more-objective standards for
determining dangers to airways, as well as how such warnings can be
most effectively disseminated.
The International Air Transport Association, the industry's
biggest global trade group, also has urged such a review.
James Hogan, president and chief executive of Etihad Airways,
said in an email that the focus should be on airlines having the
appropriate information. "Each conflict zone is different with
different risks," he said, "and we have different procedures to
deal with them."
The FAA's ban covers Delta Air Lines Inc., United Continental
Holdings Inc. and the US Airways unit of American Airlines Group
Inc., which together accounted for about 53% of the passengers
carried nonstop between the U.S. and Israel last year. El Al Israel
Airlines Ltd., with 46% of the traffic, is continuing to fly as
scheduled.
A number of European carriers canceled flights this week after
the European Aviation Safety Agency issued a notice, short of a
ban, that strongly recommended halting flights for an unspecified
period.
Richard Anderson, Delta's chief executive, said on Wednesday
during an earnings call that his company's decision to divert a Tel
Aviv-bound flight to Paris on Tuesday was made prior to, and
independent of, the FAA's initial ban. But once the FAA banned
flights to Tel Aviv, Mr. Anderson said Delta naturally would
refrain from restarting service until regulators give the green
light.
Yet even if the FAA lifts the ban, he said, Delta may not decide
to go back in, depending on the circumstances and the information
it receives from Washington and governments around the world. "We
have an obligation to make our own risk assessments," he said. "We
have security directors who work for Delta in all regions of the
world."
Until recently, Delta was routing some of its Atlanta-Dubai
flights over Iraq and Syria, depending on the weather, and its
Amsterdam-Mumbai flights often went over Ukraine. During an
appearance on CNBC on Wednesday, Mr. Anderson said the airline
voluntarily imposes "no-fly zones" over certain countries, and he
listed Iran, Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan.
Asked about the shift, Mr. Anderson said Delta "makes those
kinds of changes regularly" on its own. "Just like yesterday
morning we decided to turn the Tel Aviv flight around because of
the rocket," he said.
US Airways flies a daily round trip between Philadelphia and Tel
Aviv with a 258-seat Airbus A330-200. When the Notam went into
effect on Tuesday, American said, the FAA wouldn't allow the plane
to depart with passengers, so it was ferried out by the crew.
American said it hoped to restart the flights, if the FAA lifts
the ban, starting on Thursday with a Philadelphia-to-Tel Aviv
flight and to operate the return flight on Friday. It said it
remains in contact with the FAA.
United runs two daily flights between Newark, N.J., and Tel
Aviv, each flown by Boeing 777s that can carry 267 passengers.
United also had to ferry one of its planes out of Tel Aviv without
passengers, returning the widebody jet to Newark early Wednesday,
the company said.
Until recently, United tended to fly over Ukraine on its flights
between Newark and India, and between Washington and two Middle
East destinations. But in the wake of Flight 17, United opted, on
its own, to no longer fly over any portion of Ukraine.
Deutsche Lufthansa AG said on Wednesday that it will suspend 20
scheduled flights from six European airports to Tel Aviv on
Thursday. The German carrier said that "at the present time, no
adequate authoritative new information is available that would
justify a resumption of flights." The company said that "in close
coordination with the responsible authorities, Lufthansa is
continually evaluating the safety situation for its total flight
network."
Rory Jones contributed to this article.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com and Susan Carey at
susan.carey@wsj.com
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