Three days after Ben Gurion Airport was paralyzed when contaminated jet fuel was found, all domestic Israeli flights were cancelled this morning amid additional fears regarding the same problem.
International flights are operating normally with carriers aware of the problem and refueling in neighboring countries where necessary.
At this stage it is not possible to estimate the financial damage to Israeli airlines, nor to Paz Oil Company Ltd. (TASE:PZOL) whose units Paz Aviation Assets Ltd. and Paz Aviation Services Ltd. have the aviation fuel services contract.
Meanwhile, “IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal) reports that Paz has not received any definitive results from the samples of the contaminated fuel that it sent to a German laboratory. The German laboratory, which was supposed to sent the results today, has refused to examine the samples for reasons which are not yet clear.
On the TASE this morning, Paz's share price was down 2.42% at NIS 605.10, giving a market cap of NIS 6.29 billion.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 8, 2011
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