Big mistake.unless European airlines have banned Muslim pilots.
B http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/world/middleeast/17israel.html?_r=1 <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/world/middleeast/17israel.html?_r=1&partn er=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=print> &partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=print November 16, 2010 Israel Exempts E.U. Pilots From Security Program By CHRISTINE NEGRONI <http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=CHRISTINE%20NEGRONI&fdq= 19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=CHRISTINE%20NEGRONI&inline=nyt-per> An Israeli security program that requires commercial pilots on airlines from some countries, including the United States, to transmit special identification clearance codes before entering Israel <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/is rael/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> 's airspace will not be enforced on pilots with airlines based in the European Union <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/europea n_union/index.html?inline=nyt-org> , aviation officials say. The exemption granted to European Union airlines by Israel's civil aviation director, Giora Romm, comes as Israel is negotiating an air transport agreement with the European Union that could significantly expand air travel between Israel and Europe. Israeli officials have not announced the exemption publicly and have offered no explanation for what critics say amounts to a double standard on security clearances for European Union airline pilots versus others. The Israeli security program began last year as an experiment with some foreign carriers and was intended to eventually apply to all foreign carriers that fly to Israel. Airlines from the European Union have not been part of the program. It has become an irritating issue in the commercial aviation industry because of a few documented episodes in which pilots of incoming planes that transmitted the wrong codes were intercepted by Israeli warplanes or diverted. "No other country has a similar requirement," Giovanni Bisignani, the director general of the International Air Transport Association, an industry trade group, told reporters last week. "The logistics are complex and difficult to keep secure," he said in urging Israel to abolish the program. Israel, known for its extraordinarily strict security, is presumably worried that airliners could be used by its enemies as flying bombs, like those used by Al Qaeda <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaed a/index.html?inline=nyt-org> in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Under the aviation security program, pilots from the three United States carriers with flights to Israel - Delta, Continental and US Airways - must transmit a unique personal identification code to Israeli aviation authorities before they are cleared to enter Israeli airspace and land. The requirement also applies to pilots for Ethiopian Airlines and Air Canada. Two of the five airlines have experienced problems. In April 2009, a Delta flight was intercepted by an Israeli fighter jet, according to a letter from Delta's managing director of corporate security, Randy L. Harrison. This summer, an Ethiopian Airlines plane got a fighter jet escort <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/world/middleeast/28pilots.html> after the pilot had difficulty in transmitting the security code. In his letter, Mr. Harrison said he had logistical and safety concerns about the system. None of the American carriers would comment publicly about the Israeli decision to exempt European airlines, out of concern that it would annoy the Israelis. But an executive of one of the affected airlines, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue's delicacy, said, "It does appear we're not being held to the standard of other carriers." Others expressed concern about the safety risks when a civilian airliner is intercepted by fighter jets. "A fighter on my tail is personal - I have problems with it," said an American airline security expert familiar with the program, who asked not to be identified. "Anything that could put a fighter on the tail of an airplane is not a good thing, not for the people and the crews on the airplane." According to one of the people present at the European Union-Israel aviation talks, European negotiators had made clear that the Israeli security program "could be a detriment to developing the market." Flight diversions like those experienced by Delta and others are expensive and could "jeopardize traffic between Europe and Israel," this person said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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