El Al, Israel's national airline, would shift operations to a military air base in an event of war with Iran, the Ma'ariv daily reported on Monday.

The company's senior executives were recently summoned to an urgent discussion in which they presented plans for dealing with a host of wartime scenarios, the report said.

One scenario that is likely to happen if Israel and Iran were to clash involves missile and rocket barrages paralyzing Ben Gurion International Airport southeast of Tel Aviv, with international and domestic flights suspended.

According to Ma'ariv, the state-owned carrier would then deploy at Nevatim, a desert air force base in southern Israel with runways that can accommodate large commercial jet aircraft. The base is already equipped with instrument landing systems for guiding aircraft, and El Al is said to be capable of setting up computerized and telecom systems elsewhere within a short time.

However, An El Al spokesman dismissed the report as "baseless," saying "no such discussion was held and we, of course, would not comment if one will be held," the spokesman said.