Israeli Airline Says ‘Foul Play’ Likely Responsible For Third Damaged Plane at London Airport in Less Than a Year

The Israeli airline Israir believes that its aircraft have been deliberately targeted by vandals at London Luton Airport, with ground service vehicles colliding with the carrier’s planes on three occasions in less than a year.

The latest incident occurred on Friday, July 17, when a tug vehicle, which pushes planes back from the gate, struck the Airbus A320 aircraft that was due to operate the five and a half hour flight to Tel Aviv.

Passengers were stuck on the aircraft for about an hour without air conditioning during a heatwave while engineers assessed whether the damage caused to the aircraft was a quick fix. In the end, however, the flight had to be cancelled.

Senior Israeli aviation officials have since told news channel N12 that they suspect ‘foul play’ could be responsible and have demanded local authorities in England take action to prevent a repeat occurrence.

Of course, airport ground vehicles do occasionally collide with aircraft despite strict rules that are meant to prevent this from happening. In one case, a water tanker even managed to get wedged underneath an Emirates A380 superjumbo at a Moscow Airport.

But Israir believes it’s too much of a coincidence that three of its planes would be struck by ground vehicles at one airport in less than 12 months.

This isn’t the only time that Israir claims it has been targeted just because it is an Israeli airline. Last month, the airline’s chief executive claimed that authorities in Slovenia refused permission for one of its planes to land in the capital, Ljubljana, for political reasons.

Israir flight 6H-755 departed Tel Aviv at around 9:20 am on June 3 for the three-hour flight to Ljubljana, but as the Airbus A320 approached the Slovenian border, the pilots were reportedly told they would not be permitted to land in Ljubljana as planned.

Instead, the plane ended up diverting to Zagreb in neighboring Croatia, where passengers had to complete their journeys by road.

Israir may, however, face even bigger challenges in the weeks ahead. On Monday, aviation authorities in Israel held crisis talks about the need to accommodate U.S. Air Force refuelling planes at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

With the U.S. stepping up attacks on Iran, more and more refuelling planes are headed to Israel, and space at military bases is quickly filling up. As a result, Ben Gurion will be required to once again host these aircraft.

Should Ben Gurion be required to serve as a parking lot for U.S. military aircraft, authorities may have to impose mass cancellations for civilian flights.