Procedures for boarding flights from Ben Gurion airport will look very different when the coronavirus crisis is over. The Israel Airports Authority said today, "The national task is to find the platform for medical testing as part of the passenger's journey on flights from Israel and entering Israel by producing a medical visa or personal medical passport."
In the more immediate term passengers are likely to be asked to come to Ben Gurion airport four hours prior to their flight - a huge inconvenience especially for shorter haul flights to Europe. Another change is that only passengers will be allowed into the departure terminal with no entry for family and friends.
At the entrance to the terminal, passengers will have their temperature taken and those with a fever will not be allowed to enter and the airline they were flying with will be informed accordingly that they cannot travel. Within the terminal masks will be compulsory.
Passengers must get their boarding cards on line or at special machines in the airport. Check in counters at the airport will be for baggage only. All lines for security checks before and after passport control will require two meters between each separate group of passengers. The floors at the airport have already been marked.
Duty free stores will gradually reopen with limits on the number of people allowed in stores according to its size.
Only Terminal 3 will operate for the time being with Terminal 1 remaining closed.
Yesterday, the Israel Airports Authority announced that the ban on non-Israeli passport holders entering the country will be extended to May 30 while Israelis returning from abroad will be required to self-isolate either at home or in state run hotels - also until at least May 30.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 13, 2020
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