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2 An missile interception of the Iron Dome system across the skies of Tel Aviv . // ISRAEL NATIONAL PHOTO COLLECTION
3 An Iron Dome system battery , near Tel Aviv . // ISRAEL NATIONAL PHOTO COLLECTION
4 Raytheon teamed with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to defend populated areas and critical assets with the Iron Dome Weapon System . It ’ s the world ’ s mostused system , intercepting more than 1,500 incoming targets with a success rate exceeding 90 % since being fielded in 2011 . // RTX
5 A view of Ben Gurion Airport Terminal 3 building . // ISRAEL NATIONAL PHOTO COLLECTION
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vital that people can leave , soldiers can return , and necessary goods and supplies can enter .
The question is , how does Israel keep an airport open in a warzone ?
SPECIFIC ROUTING
To ensure safety for civilian aircraft , the first and foremost mitigation measure taken by the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel ( CAA ) was to implement specific routing — especially the route planes take to approach Ben Gurion . After October 7 , airlines flying into Tel Aviv have had to follow a specific route pattern from the north to ensure they stay away from the area of the conflict .
The new routes are more northern than before , with aircraft flying just 10 miles ( 16km ) south of the Israeli port city of Haifa . On arrival , aircraft begin their approaches at waypoint
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IVONA , at 9,000ft just off the coast of Israel . Planes maintain that altitude for 19 miles ( 30km ), heading east before turning south and descending to 4,000ft for the approach to runway 21 . The departure route follows a similar pattern , with aircraft taking off from runway 08 before banking left while quickly climbing to 10,000ft . The aircraft then head north before turning west near Haifa and out over the Mediterranean Sea .
Operations did not even come to a halt on the morning of October 9 , when fragments from a Hamas missile landed less than a mile from Ben Gurion , sending passengers scrambling to shelters . In the skies above , a Ryanair Boeing 737 was diverted on approach ; however , normal operations were resumed within 10 minutes . On October 11 , British Airways Flight BA165 made an abrupt U-turn while approaching Tel Aviv , as the air raid sirens had begun
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sounding around the airport . After receiving orders from the airline , the Captain flew the aircraft back to the United Kingdom . After it had touched down at London Heathrow , the airline officially halted all flights to Israel .
The CAA has advised planes inbound for Tel Aviv to carry additional fuel to take into account the unpredictability of rocket attacks . In November and December , there were many instances of planes flying on approach over the Mediterranean Sea having to reroute and circle in a holding pattern due to incoming rocket fire on Israel from Gaza .
The CAA and the Israel Defense Force ( IDF ) are working closely together , with civilian and military air traffic controllers frequently sitting in the same buildings and looking at the same aerial pictures . “ With a lot of hard work and
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