Eritrean air traffic controllers almost caused a midair collision between an El Al plane with another plane over the Red Sea a month ago. The El Al plane, en route to the Far East, avoided a collision when its communications system warned pilots to change course. The Israeli plane was only 700 feet away from the other aircraft, a two-second distance from disaster.

Israeli flights en route to the Far East travel southward via the narrow Red Sea corridor before turning east, since they cannot fly over most Arab countries. El Al’s senior vice president of operations, Lior Yavor, told Haaretz, “The junction of the Red Sea flight corridor and the African air lanes is very problematic. El Al asked the Transportation Ministry to take care of the issue through official channels to reduce chances of a conflict.” Yavor added that the action has been taken by the Minister of Transportation and the incident is being handled by the chief air accident investigator, Yitzchak Raz.