Transportation Minister Miri Regev on Tuesday evening approved a framework to restart operations at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport in a controlled and phased manner from Wednesday night as Israel seeks to bring home some 100,000 of its citizens stranded abroad.

The country’s airspace has been shut since Saturday, when Israel and the US launched a major joint military strike on Iran and the Islamic Republic responded with barrages of missile fire.

“Our mission is to bring back Israelis safely,” Regev said at a press conference. “According to the outline from the second day of the operation, we will be able to return about 10,000 passengers a day.”

Under the presented framework, Ben Gurion Airport will operate 24 hours a day and will open in a controlled manner. In the first 24 hours, one passenger aircraft per hour carrying about 200 people will be permitted. After that, the frequency will be increased to two narrow-body aircraft every hour, or one wide-body, if security and operational conditions permit.

“This means that at the peak of activity after 24 hours, if everything goes as it should and there are no security changes, we will be able to return about 10,000 passengers to Israel a day,” said Regev.

Israel Airports Authority CEO Sharon Kedmi said that assuming there are no interruptions, Israelis stranded abroad will be home within a week to 10 days.

As of now, no passengers will be allowed on planes that leave Ben Gurion Airport and are designated for the repatriation of Israelis abroad to prevent crowding, shorten the time spent at the terminal, and reduce risks. Regev said outgoing civilian air traffic will be assessed in accordance with security developments and situation assessments.

“We will consider humanitarian cases and ask the airlines to consider special cases, but we must remember that the safety of passengers is of utmost importance,” said Regev.

Passengers arriving on the inbound repatriation flights will spend no longer than an average of 25 to 30 minutes on the ground between picking up their luggage and leaving Ben Gurion Airport. A bus and Israel Railways transportation system will be in place to help those arriving leave the airport swiftly.

Israel’s flag carrier El Al said it has started to assign El Al and Sundor ticket holders stranded abroad to repatriation flights from 22 destinations back to Israel. Customers will be contacted automatically by the airline. The assignment will be carried out according to the date of the original flight ticket, and at no additional cost. Priority will be given to exceptional medical humanitarian cases, the airline added.

Once the country’s airspace gradually reopens, El Al plans to pick up Israelis from New York, Miami, and Los Angeles in the US, and Bangkok and Phuket in Southeast Asia. Across Europe, flights will be operated from Larnaca, Athens, Rome, Milan, Paris, Budapest, Tbilisi, Sofia, Warsaw, Bucharest, Madrid, London, Barcelona, ​​Geneva, Amsterdam, Munich, and Zurich.

Flights will be opened for sale to the general public only after all El Al and Sun Dor customers have been repatriated.

“I expect Israeli airlines to bring back passengers of foreign airlines, who decide not to travel through the Taba land border crossing with Egypt, or decide to reach another destination in Europe,” said Regev. “This is Israeli airlines’ opportunity to prove that in a time of crisis, they really understand the hardship and understand that they can profit but not to extort prices they charge.”

Smaller Israeli airline Arkia said it is working on a schedule for repatriation flights, which will be operated once the airspace gradually reopens. At the same time, the airline will continue to operate special flights from various European cities, including Athens, Greece, Rome, Italy, and Larnaca, Cyprus, to Egypt’s Taba International Airport to help stranded Israelis return home via land border crossings.

Arkia on Sunday launched flights using Electra Airways’ Airbus A320 aircraft to and from Taba airport. Travelers stuck in Israel left the country via this route. Since Sunday, 5,500 passengers passed through the border crossing with Egypt on these flights, the airline said.

Rival Israir said it plans to operate repatriation flights to bring back customers from various destinations in Europe to Ben Gurion Airport starting March 5. The first Israir flight selected to land at Ben Gurion Airport will depart from Rome. In the following days, additional flights to Tel Aviv are set to leave from Berlin, Batumi, Athens, Tbilisi, Barcelona, ​​Grenoble, Bergamo, Munich, and Rovaniemi.

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