Israel debates security rules for wet-leased flights after Flydubai incident

A debate over security requirements and oversight for foreign airlines serving Israel has widened to cover wet-leased flights, after the Flydubai flight FZ1073 episode.

According to reporting by Times of Israel, citing research by Israeli television, not all of the strict Israeli security requirements and protective measures applied to Israeli carriers apply to flights operated under wet lease for Israeli airlines. Under a wet lease, one airline leases an aircraft together with its crew from another carrier.

The report said 70 percent of Arkia's flights and 56 percent of Israir's flights in July were carried out under wet lease. On those flights, according to the report, there were no Israeli security personnel on board. For such flights departing from abroad, the report said, there was also no additional security check, no additional screening of passengers and no passenger profiling. Lithuanian carrier Heston Airlines is among Arkia's wet-lease partners.

Both airlines said their procedures comply with all Israeli regulations and requirements and are coordinated with the authorities. Arkia chief Oz Berlowitz said Israeli aircraft receive a security envelope provided by Shin Bet, the Israeli domestic intelligence service, and that wet-lease flights departing from abroad do not receive it.

The discussion also concerns which authorities are responsible for checking the crews of foreign airlines flying to Israel, since different rules and responsibilities apply to carriers from other countries than to domestic airlines, which operate under very high security standards. The report notes that these are not the only two categories.