Knesset panel delays vote on compensation policy changes to bring back foreign airlines

A heated debate about legal changes to compensation rights in the event of flight cancellations during wartime, intended to bring back foreign airlines to Israel, ended without a vote on Monday. MK David Bitan, who chairs the Knesset Economic Committee, said in the meeting that without an unequivocal commitment from foreign airlines to resume their flight operations, he will not bring to a vote a proposal to make temporary amendments to the 2012 Aviation Services Law that would partly limit consumer rights for full compensation or reimbursement of canceled flights. “I’m not willing to offer relief for [foreign] carriers or hurt consumers when I don’t see that the other side of the coin is on board,” said Bitan. “Israeli consumers are already grappling with [ticket] price hikes and are scrambling to find their way back home because of flight cancellations. On the one hand, the government is not doing what should be done to help lower prices and bring back foreign airlines, and on the other hand, all [the carriers] want are concessions, so we will not vote,” he said.<br/>