After bringing home 15,000 Israelis stranded abroad, Israel Group (TASE: ISRG) is close to completing the rescue operation. About 200 passengers are currently waiting for the airline’s flight and Israir CEO Uri Sirkis estimates that the rescue operation will be completed by the start of Shabbat on Friday. For Sirkis, managing complex logistics under fire is not an unusual event. In Israel’s aviation industry, which is used to severe disruptions and frequent closures of airspace, the experience gained in recent years allows the airline to maintain operational continuity, even when schedules change at a moment’s notice.
Rescue flights conducted like a military operation
“We already realized on the Friday before the war began that we were approaching the fateful day,” Sirkis tells “Globes.” “Unusually, we hold a management meeting in the afternoon but we decided to take preparations a step further and recruited teams to evacuate aircraft and refueled the entire fleet in advance, so as not to stand in line for refueling during the evacuation from Ben Gurion Airport.”
One of the biggest challenges for Sirkis was the rescue operation for Israelis that the company carried out from Dubai under attack. “We recognized that the Iranians were also prepared to fire at friendly or intermediary countries. The concern was that publicizing the airport would make it a target, so we operated ‘under the radar.’ We changed airports every day to maintain ambiguity,” says Sirkis.
Due to the security sensitivity, some passengers were evacuated using methods reminiscent of military operations. “In some cases, we did not provide the location of the airport in advance. The passengers were directed to collection points and from there they were taken to the airport. Everything was managed under strict risk management.”
How has the waiting list for the rescue flights been prioritized?
“The clear priority has been for Israir ticket holders,” explains Sirkis. “Beyond that, we operated in close coordination with the Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Transport, who manages the Exceptions Committee. In addition, we respond to individual requests – from soldiers to patients who need medicines that have run out.”
?”We learned from past experience and made a strategic change this time,” adds Sirkis. “We canceled future flights and stopped the sale until the end of the week, to prevent a situation in which people book a flight in vain and are disappointed. Currently, most of the seats on the flights that were allocated are already sold out due to the high demand. Opening additional flights is only carried out in close coordination with Ben Gurion Airport and receiving slot approvals in real time.”
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Along with the rescue efforts, passengers are criticizing the pricing of tickets: $290 for a flight from Larnaca, $495 from Prague and Budapest – these are not cheap fares, to say the least. This is while El Al, which has been severely criticized by the Competition Authority throughout the war, has in some cases offered lower prices.
Sirkis for his part dismisses the comparisons. “Each company has its own policy. The level of availability on El Al is currently very low, so a low fare without a vacant seat is irrelevant to a passenger who must return.” According to him, the fact that the Competition Authority did not sanction Israir is proof of its proper conduct. “The Competition Authority was in touch with El Al, not us. We maintain a fair price level in relation to the complex operating costs of such an operation.”
Prepare for a fare hike the day after the war
Sirkis fends off criticism about pricing. He explains that operating flights under current conditions is particularly expensive: “All our crews are staying abroad, in hotels, and maintenance is also carried out abroad by external parties.” According to him, security restrictions are also affecting the economics of flights: “There is a limit of one hundred passengers per flight, so in practice the planes depart at about half capacity and return full.”
Added to this are increases in insurance and fuel prices, along with much reduced activity than usual. “We’re used to operating dozens of flights a day, and now we’re only operating six or seven – without laying off employees or putting people on unpaid leave,” he says. “If anyone thinks we’re taking advantage of the situation, as all sorts of cynics write to me, or that we’re profiting from it – they’re wrong. We did not want this situation and did not ask for it.”
Did you also provide passengers with accommodation as required by law?
“We provided passengers with accommodation according to our capabilities, but the question of eligibility in such a situation is currently being discussed in the High Court of Justice. The ‘Tibi Law’ is intended to regulate customer rights while there is aviation; it does not address situations in which there is no regular aviation. As soon as the economy is working and there is a technical malfunction, the customer is entitled to compensation, but when there is a global crisis situation with attacks that surprised everyone – it is clearly a different event.
“It was important for us to operate flights not for profit,” Sirkis clarifies. “When we take an empty plane to Bergamo or return 120 passengers from Dubai on a detour via Aqaba, it is clear that we are losing money. But the goal was to strengthen and differentiate us from foreign companies, with an emphasis on Wizz Air. “While there was talk of setting up its hub in Israel, it promised to shoulder the burden in time of war and we argued that they did not have the capacity for that. There is a huge difference between Israeli teams for whom this is their home, and foreign teams for whom this is simply not their event and which scares them into not taking a risk.”
You’re talking about the crews – but they can’t fly because of the EU regulator. When the guidelines are lifted, maybe they’ll come back.
“This restriction was in place even during discussions about establishing the base, and it proved that once the EU regulator forbids flying here – they simply won’t fly. Despite their statements about dramatically increasing flights, we saw what happened in Sharm el-Sheikh. They announced more flights and ended up canceling a significant part of the activity, simply because the Europeans didn’t want to fly to an area that they perceived as a war zone.”
Isn’t it because Israelis simply preferred Taba and Aqaba over Sharm, and there was no justification for expanding these flights?
“The Ministry of Transport is leading an irresponsible discussion here, together with Wizz Air. We see in this situation how badly Israeli companies are being hurt by crises of this kind. For European companies, Israel is just another profitable route, but for us this space is our whole life. We were preparing for Passover with nearly 20 planes, everything is delayed. The government must take long-term responsibility; the foreign companies’ price cuts in the short term are intended to weaken Israeli rivals, with an emphasis on Israir and Arkia. I’m not saying this as an assessment – it’s a familiar strategy that they implemented in Larnaca, Portugal and Italy: weaken the local players, and then raise prices significantly. Wizz Air is not philanthropic.”
What will happen to fares the day after? Will you have to make up for the losses?
“Fares will certainly rise when there is a return to normality, not for reasons unrelated to Israir. The level of risk has increased, insurance premiums have increased, and fuel is more expensive. In addition, the scope of activity of foreign companies will decrease. Some companies have already made a decision to divert capacity from the Middle East, which will lead to a reduction in supply and an increase in fares.”
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on March 11, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
