Bagatz Decision on Petition is postponed while the Disinformation by the Municipality continues

Yesterday, June 6th, the Supreme Court held a hearing on the Modiin Municipality demand to amend the Ben Gurion TAMA due to the addition of the flight path over Modiin. The purpose of this demand is to pose strict limitations on the use of the landing path over Modiin after the works on the runways are over (expected September 2013). A detailed report of the court proceedings is available here (in Hebrew).

After hearing both sides the court decided to postpone decision on the matter pending review. This means that there is no timetable for a court decision, and a decision can take weeks or months. There is no urgency as the decision pertains to the use of the landing path over Modiin after the runway works in Ben Gurion Airport are completed, some two years from now.

Prior to the Supreme court hearing the Modiin Municipality distributed a press release which addressed the end of the works of runway 26, on which we reported in detail last weekend. This press release is another brick in the wall of the disinformation spread by the Modiin Municipality headed by Bibas.

Clear Skies analyzed this press release and it found that except two sentences, all of the sentences in the Modiin Municipality press release contain disinformation/are misleading. Our analysis of the Modiin Municipality press release is available here (in Hebrew).

The works on Runway 26 are over – what does it mean to us?

On June 1st the Israel Airport Authority (IAA) announced that works on runway 26-08 are now complete and that runway 26 has been reopened – three months earlier than the schedule. This is a success of the prize-reward contract system that the IAA devised with the contract in order to minimize the length of time that Ben Gurion Airport will operate on a one runway system.

Runway 30 on which the planes over Modiin land on is due next for works. The IAA has decided to keep runway 30 open together with runway 26 until June 15th, and then to close runway 30 down until August 1st. Runway 30 will be used together with runway 26 during the month of August, which is the peak of the tourist season. On September 1st 2011 runway 30 will close down for works, and it is planned to reopen on September 1st 2013.

This means that the intensive period of  use of the landing path over Modiin is essentially behind us. Until June 15th and during the month of August we will still experience flights over Modiin, mainly when there are western winds over 10 knots. Since during the summer there are rarely western winds during the night, this summer we are likely to have few aircraft noise disturbances during the night. Ultimately it all depends on the decisions made by the IAA Air Traffic Control in routing incoming aircraft.

On September 1st 2011 flights will cease over Modiin until the completion of the works on runway 30, which are due for September 2013.

The main question that remains to be decided by the Supreme Court this coming Monday is whether there any limitations will be placed on the use of the landing path over Modiin in the future, and whether the TAMA plan of Ben Gurion Airport needs to be updated due to the new landing path over Modiin. The aviation authorities made it abundantly clear that the landing path over Modiin is a permanent landing path and an important part of their toolbox for running Ben Gurion Airport.

Clear Skies will post an update after the Supreme Court decision is announced.

For more details see the post on the Clear Skies Hebrew website.

What the Modiin Municipality “forgot” to tell us

On Monday next week, June 6th at 9AM, the Supreme Court in Jerusalem will conduct a follow up session to discuss the Modiin Municipality petition regarding the flights. The previous session was held some seven months ago, on November 1st 2010, in which the Supreme court instructed the State to submit a written response to address several claims made by the Modiin Municipality.

The intensive use of the landing path over Modiin is scheduled to end on September 2011, when runway 26 will be reopened after the works on it are completed. The contractor doing the work on the runways is entitled according to his contract to a bonus if he finishes the work early, and will be required to pay a fine if he is late. Runway 30 on which the flights from Modiin are landing on will be then closed down for works for a period of two years, during which there will be no flights over Modiin.

Clear Skies has recently obtained the document of the State’s answer to Bagatz which was submitted over three months ago. We are publishing to the public this document and the important findings included within it.

An analysis of the State’s answer to Bagatz reveals some very interesting facts, which the Modiin Municipality as usual did not share with the public.

These findings include:

1. The State’s answer makes it vividly clear that the main reason for the decline in the flights over the city during the winter months was due to the seasonal decline in the demand for long distance flights. Ever since Passover we are experiencing a significant increase in the number of flights over Modiin, and this number is expected to peak during the summer, the high season of tourism. Only two months ago the Modiin Municipality unabashedly claimed that the reason for the decline of the number of flights over the city was supposedly due to its relentless legal efforts…
2. The State’s answer reveals how careless the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was when it decided that flights will take off on runway 30 towards the east. The breadth of the CAA safety study was to ask the airlines if they think they will be OK with it. The airlines said “no problem”, but after runway 26 was closed down and planes began to take off on runway 30 to the east, the airlines said that the heavy planes (for long distance flights with a lot of fuel, people & cargo) are at risk of crashing on the mountains east of Ben Gurion Airport, unless the plane load is lightened. Regarding lightening the load, the airlines argued that in such a case it would not be economical for them to operate these flights. The CAA accepted the airlines position, and that is how the landing of flights over Modiin at night came about.
3. The State’s answer reveals that despite all the hype at the time, Minister  of the Defense of the Environment Gilad Erdan did not issue a warrant forbidding the flights which generate over 75 decibel noise levels.  The State’s response states that this because in the eyes of the Ministry of Defense of Environment this is not considered excessive noise, and that because contrary to the claims made by the Modiin Municipality, the regulations which govern noise hazards do not apply to noise made by planes.
4. The State claims that the Airport Authority is handing flights which generate over 75 decibels as exceptions, but the reality is that Airport Authority does not even threaten the airlines with a fine or any other sanctions, and the head of the CAA Giora Rom states clearly that it is not feasible not to have some of the flights over Modiin exceeding the 75 decibels noise levels.
5. The State makes it clear that contrary to the Municipality’s claim there is no need to update the Ben Gurion Airport Area plan (TAMA) in order to include the landing path over Modiin, since the TAMA is not updated every time a landing path is changed, and since the TAMA for Ben Gurion Airport only refers to the areas which experience over 60 decibel average - while the noise levels experienced in Modiin due the flights are well below this threshold.
6. The State’s answer reveals that the Aviation Authorities adamantly refuse to give up the use of the landing path over Modiin even after the works on the runway will be completed, and they emphasize its importance in the future too. The Aviation Authorities also adamantly refuse to impose any limitations on their future use of the landing path over Modiin.
7. The State’s answer includes a reprimand of the Modiin Municipality for its personal attacks included within their legal briefs on the State Attorney, in which the Modiin Municipality attorneys accused the State Attorney of lack of integrity and used language that was deemed as befitting internet talkbacks, not court legal briefs.

For a more detailed analysis, including access to the State’s entire response, please see the post on the Clear Skies Hebrew website.