Years of Israeli failure to deal with civil aviation safety issues led directly to the US Federal Aviation Administration's January 2009 downgrading of the country from Category 1 safety status to Category 2 (fail).
In a special report, the Israel's state comptroller Judge Micha Lindenstrauss says: "It is clear that despite the deficiencies mentioned in many reports issued by Israeli and foreign experts, the relevant government ministries did not act to improve the situation. This is grave in my view as lives of passengers can be in danger."
Lindenstrauss found that relevant ministries and the civil aviation authority did not act in accordance with Israel's commitment to international standards as a signatory to the Chicago Convention and in light of international warnings in recent years.
He concluded that until recently the civil aviation authority did not have the proper tools to deal with the increased traffic and that it could not function properly due to poor organisational structure.
However, that situation began to change in 2008 when the civil aviation authority, the airport authority, the transport ministry and finance ministry began to correct the deficiencies raised in reports by the FAA and the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Israel is preparing legislation to change its safety oversight system structure in a bid to regain Category 1 next year. Anachronistic aviation laws are partly to blame for the FAA's downgrade.
Source: Flight International
