Israel Grounds Air Traffic Due To Tainted Fuel

Contaminated jet fuel at airports throughout Israel forced the shutdown of all airplane refueling at Ben-Gurion Airport Thursday, causing the cancellation of scores of departing and refueling flights and forcing airlines to refuel in Larnaca, Cyprus, before boarding passengers at Ben-Gurion Airport.

Sabotage is not suspected, according to media reports.

The fuel contamination also forced El Al Airlines to order an abrupt delay of its 10 a.m. flight from John F. Kennedy Airport to Tel Aviv just as the plane was taxing for take-off.

“We started to taxi and then the plane stopped and we were told there was a slight problem that would delay the take-off,” said Judith Schwev, a passenger on the Boeing 747. “Then they told us that the fuel might be infected because this plane had just come from Israel and there was still petrol on the plane from Israel.”

A half-hour later, the pilot announced that the fuel check would take longer than expected and the plane returned to the gate, said Schwev, a development director at Amit.

As of 2:30 p.m., passengers were still in the lounge.

Sheryl Stein, an El Al spokeswoman, said the fuel contamination had forced El Al to cancel its flight 011 that was to have arrived at 8:30 p.m. Thursday. As a result, El Al’s flight 008 that was to have flown at midnight from Kennedy to Ben-Gurion Airport was canceled.

Stein said, however, that Friday’s 12:10 a.m. flight 027 from Tel Aviv to Newark was still scheduled to leave. It will be delayed on arrival, however, because the plane must stop to refuel in Larnaca. And she said flight 001 that leaves Tel Aviv at 1 a.m. Friday is expected to arrive at Kennedy at 7:10 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. because of the Larnaca refueling.

The cause of the fuel contamination is unknown and the Israel Airport Authority has launched an investigation. A ministerial commission of inquiry has been established to investigate.

Stewart Ain