Israeli finance and foreign ministries, together with the National Security Council, reached an agreement yesterday to cover the financial costs of airline security. Airlines in the country were preparing to pull scheduled flights during the Passover holiday and summer season due to the lack of security when the Foreign Ministry said it didn’t have the funds to pay for the additional staff. Security costs are paid for by the government, but El Al Airlines operates the program for itself and for two smaller carriers, Israir and Arkia.
The agreement calls for increasing funding for 1,200 security personnel – up from 950 – stationed at foreign airports to supervise boarding. The Finance Ministry agreed to allocate the funds to the Foreign Ministry to cover the added costs. But this agreement is only for 2018, which means negotiations over funding costs will continue for 2019.