The FAA Just Extended Ban On American Air Carriers For Israel's Major International Airport

The Federal Aviation Administration has extended its ban on U.S. airlines' use of Ben Gurion International Airport outside of Tel Aviv, Israel, for an additional 24 hours. Zeke Miller of Time Magazine tweeted a copy of the latest FAA notice:

The FAA suspended American air travel to and from Israel's major international airport yesterday after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip - where Israeli forces are currently fighting the Islamist militant group Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization - landed just outside the airport's perimeter.

In response to increased government and carrier restrictions at Ben Gurion, Israel's transportation ministry is opening the Ovda airport, about 40 miles north of the Red Sea city of Eilat and deep inside Israel's Negev desert, as an alternative for airlines that don't want to fly to Ben Gurion.

Most of Ovda's current air traffic comes from international charter flights involving planes that are too large to land on the relatively short runway at the airport in Eilat,. Yet according to Ha'aretz, "No airline that operates at Ben-Gurion Airport has given its approval or agreement to move its flights to Ovda Airport as yet."