Israel's national airline El Al pilots left Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, high and dry after no one volunteered to fly Israel's first couple out to Rome for a state visit to Italy scheduled later this week, El Al Airlines said on Sunday.
The deadline of a tender issued by Israel's national airline, as is required when the prime minister is set to depart on a commercial airline, expired at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday and was met with indifference by El Al pilots and flight attendants, who refused to take up the opportunity.
Later on Sunday evening, El Al announced that it had finally found a crew to fly the Netanyahu couple out to Italy.
El Al: Shortage of qualified pilots for Netanyahus' flight to Rome
In a statement issued following the deadline's passing, El Al said that "the issue of manning the prime minister's flight is yet to be resolved due to a shortage of qualified pilots in our Boeing 777 squadron, among other reasons.
"We are working to man this flight...in accordance with company procedures, as we have done countless times before," El Al wrote. "Since its establishment, El Al has flown heads of state for important national missions and will continue to do so in the future, as it is required."
As per El Al protocol, the squadron's commissioner is obliged to pilot the prime minister's flight. However, it was unclear where the airline found a cabin crew and a co-pilot as El Al's staff appeared unwilling to fly Netanyahu out.
Netanyahu is expected to fly out on Thursday to meet with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who last publically spoke with her Israeli counterpart in November to send her congratulations for his election victory.
Thank you-Grazie, Prime Minister @GiorgiaMeloni. I look forward to continue to strengthen the close friendship between Israel and Italy https://t.co/Zy7qAi9SXL
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) November 3, 2022
Following reports of the lack of volunteers in El Al, Transportation Minister Miri Regev announced she intends to open the flight tenders to other Israeli airlines such as Arkia and Israir, according to Israeli media.
Israeli pilots protest government's judicial reform
The refusal by the pilots to man the prime minister's flight joins an earlier statement by 37 out of the 40 reserve pilots in the Israeli Air Force's 69th fighter squadron, who announced they will not attend a pre-scheduled training session this coming Wednesday in protest of the government's judicial reform.
The reserve pilots announced their decision Sunday to the heads of the airforce and their squadron commander. Instead of training, they have said they will hold a dialogue regarding the issue under debate outside of government offices.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.