Conducting business aviation in Israel is exceptionally challenging. Flightpath restrictions combined with a lack of infrastructure in the country's airport facilities pose consistent problems for AOC holders and private owners. Israeli operators do their utmost to survive these obstacles, and types such as the Beech Baron, Piper Cheyenne, small Cessnas, Partenavia, Citations, Hawker, Gulfstreams and Challengers all feature. Long range jets are popular as many clients require intercontinental travel. Though much of the Israeli fleet is over ten years old, operators have refurbished several aircraft in the past few years.

The pitfalls in infrastructure and security however, cannot be ignored. So says Zur Banner, ceo of Israeli broker and aircraft management company LynxJet-Private Flights, who explains that it is not possible for Israeli aircraft or passengers to pass over Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Syria or Morocco. “To travel east it is necessary to fly over the Red Sea as far down as Djibouti before heading out to the Indian Ocean or to the African continent.” The vast majority of traffic passes through Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, while Sde Dov, Tel Aviv's smaller airport, and Herzlia, Israel's main domestic GA airport, also handle flights. The latter two, however, are planned to be shut down in the next five years and the land used for housing. Eilat airport in the south, located close to Israel's most popular tourist town, is also in use but is currently restricted for business aviation due to security issues; only a few operators may fly there with Israeli CAA approval. This leaves Ben Gurion as the only general aviation hub in the centre of the country.

There are several ground handling companies but no FBO. Most passengers and air crew convene at the Metzada vip lounge in terminal one, and though Ben Gurion is considered a 24/7 airport, this does not apply to general aviation. NOTAMs imposed limitations on the departure and arrival of business jets when the airport started substantial work on the runways, yet even after the opening of a second runway a few weeks ago, it is unclear whether or not these restrictions will be lifted. Passenger and crew clearance into Israeli airspace is another concern. Says Banner: “It is always better to use crews that have visited Israel before and are 'pre-cleared'. It is the same with passengers; finding a good point of contact for the passengers in Israel, that know them well enough, is important.

“LynxJet has helped various operators in these procedures. The official request is submitted by the ground handler.”

Banner adds that due to the lower price of chartering Israeli business jets when compared to Europe, LynxJet uses an Israeli fleet on most flights inbound to or outbound from Tel Aviv.

As to the operators, it seems that they are finding ways around the stifling restrictions, and several companies are doing so with some success. A.A. Aviation operates a G-IVSP for charter and manages three further aircraft privately: a Challenger 300, a Hawker 800 and a Global 5000. Ceo Yaniv Solomon says that all business aviation in the region is long range. “There are no local routes so each journey is usually thousands of miles,” he says. “The G-IV covers Africa, Europe, the Middle East and sometimes the US.”

The company is constantly on the look out for more aircraft to manage, and Solomon prides himself on his ability to personally handle each of the four aircraft's activities: “We are the only Israeli company that can manage four aircraft under the guidance of just one person. With the other companies the pilot is usually the manager.

“At A.A. Aviation I employ cleaning services and flight attendants for the aircraft and I issue pilots. But all of the administration is undertaken by me.

“If we need to fly to India we cannot make overflights so the alternative is the 'long way' via Egypt or Djibouti. I don't feel that this affects our business in any way.”

Russian clientele are at the forefront of A.A.'s planning. There are many aircraft owners in Russia and the CIS region and to address this the operator has built a new website to promote its services there. “At EBACE and NBAA I will start to push with all the brokers, informing them about our market in Israel,” continues Solomon. “If somebody needs a flight from Moscow to Europe, he will not use Israeli aircraft because there will be a four-hour empty leg. On the other hand, I know that a lot of Russians are coming into our operating area, to places such as Greece, Turkey and Cyprus. I really want to do all I can to expand this market.”

Captain Zvika Dannenberg is ceo of Aviation Bridge. The operator has a Citation II, a Citation III and a Challenger 600 in its fleet, the most recent of which was the Challenger 600, acquired two years ago. Dannenberg comments: “Since we have had it, it has performed very well. It is a very reliable aircraft and there is strong demand for it.

“The long range market is definitely the busiest market in Israel in the last year or so, although the Citations are still fairly busy.”

He highlights his dependence on Ben Gurion as the main and only international airport. “All of our operations are in and out of here, and it cannot really accommodate general aviation in my opinion. It has an extremely old and small vip lounge, which would not be called 'vip' in any other country, I don't think.

“I cannot accommodate and give proper service to our clients in the way we would like to.”

There were several plans to create a second vip building at the airport, which would have had the knock-on effect of creating competition and raising standards, but none of the plans came to fruition. Ben Gurion remains a slot airport, and business aviation is the last in line. “On many occasions we have had customers that want to fly at certain hours, and the earliest departure or arrival we can find for them is two or three hours later. People who use private aviation like to come and depart when they want, not when the airport wants.”

Around 90 per cent of Aviation Bridge's flights are vip and ten per cent are air ambulance. Dannenberg says he is contemplating adding another Challenger, either a 601 or a 604.

The final operator we spoke to was Arrow Aviation, which has a Hawker 800SP and a Citation S-II. Arrow also has a Cessna 414 which flies domestic routes. But ceo and chief pilot Zvika Ozer says that his client base is no longer happy to fly in piston aircraft: “People these days do not like to see props and they don't like pistons either. They don't even like turboprops. Propellers of any kind are undesirable because their safety is questioned, and that is why we are now flying jets.”

Ozer does not have a positive view about the convenience of Israel's location: “Israel is not the best of places. We are stuck on the east side of the Mediterranean, therefore every flight for us is a long range flight.

“We simply can't fly eastbound; we can fly to Jordan which is a ten-minute flight, but that's it, we can't fly to Saudi Arabia, we can't fly to Iraq, there are many places we can't fly to.”

He echoes the sentiments of other operators by saying that popular destinations in Asia can only be reached via a refuelling stop in Djibouti. Flying over north Africa is not permitted, so to reach west Africa the company must either take the Djibouti route or fly all the way to Gibraltar over the Mediterranean. “The situation has always been like that,” he states.

Arrow often uses partners in Jordan and Turkey to carry out its eastbound missions. It is considering the acquisition of a G550 in the next 12 to 18 months, and Ozer says that this aircraft will fly solely vip. His Citation and Hawker are conducting a combination of vip and ambulance flights, and the operator is the only one in Israel with a purpose-built aviation incubator. “We are dealing with a lot of prematurely-born babies. I would say that 50 per cent of our flights are ambulance flights. Out of that 50 per cent, half are emergency ambulance flights, for crashes, strokes, heart and brain problems. In the holiday season we deal with many ski accidents and road accidents.”

The other 50 per cent he says comes through medical tourism. “People are coming to Israel because our medicine here is very well developed with good doctors and well-known hospitals. Lots of people from the ex-Russian territories are coming to Israel to get medical treatment.”

A very small proportion of the flights, roughly three to four per cent, are special cargo flights for dangerous goods. Says Ozer: “Israel is known throughout the world for its security and defence, and this starts with the parts. It is a small number of flights but each of them is very lucrative.”