According to the Israel Airport Authority (IAA), international passenger traffic passing through Ben Gurion Airport (BGA) in July totaled 1.8 million passengers, a decrease of 30% compared to July 2023. IAA counts the departure and arrival of each PAX, including tourists. Thus, the actual number of departing PAX is approx. 50% vs the number published by IAA.
Israeli airlines carried 62% of all travelers passing through BGA, compared to 53% last month or 93% during November 2023. Israeli monopoly increased during the last week of July since many global airlines stopped operating their routes to Tel Aviv due to the fear of an Iranian or Lebanese revenge attack. Out of the top ten airlines operating BGA, 5 global airlines (temporarily) canceled their flights. Israel is still far from pre-war competition when Israeli airlines operated only 30.5% of the total traffic at BGA.
Greece had the highest volume of activity at BGA during July, with 299k pax back and forth, an increase of 21% compared to July 2023. Traffic to/from Greece constitutes 17% of all activity at the airport.
Some interesting comparisons of PAX to/from BGA to some selected destinations during June 2024 compared to 06/23 (please note that IAA only registers the first destination to/from BGA. For example, PAX flying to BKK via UAE is counted as PAX to UAE.
| Destination | Dep/ Arrivals July 24+ | Compared to July 23 | Total change % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greece | 299k | +6% | -1% |
| USA | 159k | -25% | -39% |
| Cyprus | 150k | +10% | -5% |
| Italy | 118k | -32% | -53% |
| France | 95k | -27% | -37% |
| Germany | 87k | -27% | -42% |
| UAE | 71k | -10% | -48% |
| Georgia | 81k | +31% | +14% |
| Spain | 73k | -32% | -43% |
| UK | 71k | -44% | -57% |
| Hungary | 51k | -14% | -39% |
| Romania | 52k | -12% | -43% |
| Austria | 50k | -29% | -41% |
| Poland | 46k | -23% | -42% |
| Czechia | 38k | +23% | +34% |
| Thailand | 30k | +28% | +20% |
This list shows the big changes in Israeli travel trends: Turkey, with 217k PAX during 06/23, is entirely off the map (as are Morocco and Egypt). The biggest drops from January are to/from the USA, Italy, France, Germany, UAE, Spain and the UK. The destinations that are fast closing the gaps between incremental and July figures are the UAE, Hungary and Romania. Thailand, Czechia, and Georgia are the only destinations with a two-digit increase compared to July 2023.
Return of operation by international airlines
Before October 2023, some 120 airlines operated flights to Israel. In our previous report, we mentioned the 32 airlines that resumed flights to TLV, even though often with fewer seats. The following table shows the list of airlines that have either temporarily stopped operating flights to Ben Gurion Airport due to the current threats by Iran and its proxies, or permanently since the beginning of the war. The following list is updated on 9/8.
| Airline | Remarks |
|---|---|
| United Airlines (USA) | Has canceled all their flights to TLV until 31.8. |
| Delta Airlines (USA) | Lufthansa Group (including Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings) |
| Easyjet to multiple destinations | Was supposed to return on 27.10 but due to the current situation now cancelled until 29/3/25. Easyjet was #8 in 2023 of the most active airlines at BGA. 3.1% of all traffic at BGA in 2023. |
| Ryanair to multiple destinations | Ryanair cancelled its flights to TLV until 26.8. A total of 24 destinations were supposed to be operated. Until the war, Ryanair was the third most popular airline at BGA, with 5.5% of all PAX. |
| Air India | Has cancelled its 5 weekly flights to TLV until 24.10. This is the third suspension since the outbreak of the war. Since Israeli airlines have currently not rights to fly over Oman, El Al and Arkia will also not renew their flights to India. India is thus not reachable with direct flights. |
| Aegean Airlines (Greece) | Has cancelled their flights to TLV until 18.8. |
| Air Europe (Spain) | Has cancelled their flights to TLV until 18.8. |
| Iberia (Spain) | Has cancelled their flights to TLV until 19.8. |
| ITA (Italy) | Has cancelled their flights to TLV until 16.8. |
| Lufthansa group (including Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings) | Has cancelled their flights to TLV until 21.8. |
| LOT Polish Airlines | Has cancelled their flights to TLV until 27.8. |
| Tarom (Romania) | Has cancelled their flights to TLV until 18.8. |
| Vueling (Spain) | Has cancelled its 5 weekly flights to TLV until 24.10. This is the third suspension since the outbreak of the war. Since Israeli airlines have currently no rights to fly over Oman, El Al and Arkia will also not renew their flights to India. India is thus not reachable with direct flights. |
| Air Canada to Toronto | Has cancelled their flights from Barcelona to TLV until the end of October |
| Emirates to DXB | Has postponed its return to 30.3.25 |
| American Airlines | Is supposed to return on 26.10 |
| Gulf Air, Royal Air Moroc, Royal Jordanian | No update on their returns |
| Virgin Atlantic to LON | Is supposed to return on 5.9 |
| TAP Portugal | Is supposed to return on 1.1.25 |
| Turkish Airlines | Postponed to April 25. TK was the most popular non-Israeli national carrier in 2023 with 10 daily flights and 5.2% of all traffic at BGA. Istanbul was the most popular stopover for Israelis on connecting flights. We assume Turkish will not return in 2025. |
| Korean Airlines | Is supposed to return on 26.10 |
| Cathay Pacific | Is supposed to return on 26.10 |
Some airlines have already resumed operations, including Wizz Air and Ethiopian Airlines. Important to note that not all airlines closed their operations in Israel, e.g. Air France, Fly Dubai, and Etihad continued to fly except for some sporadic ones. To the best of our knowledge, Air Seychelles has been the only international airline that did not cancel even one flight during this current crisis.
The impact on aviation and tourism:
What highly disturbs the Israelis is that so many foreign airlines once again do not dare to operate their Tel Aviv routes, causing major inconvenience to Israelis who are stuck abroad or who cannot travel. Neither Ben Gurion Airport nor the Civil Aviation Authorities have announced any change or precautions, but many crew teams refuse to land in Israel.
The Israeli airlines (El Al, Israir, Arkia, Sundor) continue operating their scheduled routes and adding additional flights to “rescue” stranded Israelis. Israir has surpassed a historic record with 165k passengers during July. This is probably also the case for El Al and Arkia.
Tens of thousands of Israelis got stuck – either by not being able to leave Israel with an alternative airline or by not being able to return to Israel. Especially Israelis to/from the USA are in a tough situation since only El Al now operates flights on this route. Israelis booked on Delta or United have only very costly alternatives to return to Israel like purchasing a ticket to Greece or Cyprus from where they can try to get a seat on an Israeli airline or rescue flight.
If this current round of hostilities will not cause dramatic damage in Israel, then we may expect a very fast “return to normal” regarding the Israeli outbound traffic. We are in the middle of the summer vacation – we do not assume Israelis will cancel their long-awaited holidays. The same is true for the Jewish holidays in October which are expected to create massive outbound traffic of Israelis who require quality time and filling their batteries.
We expect Israeli airlines to gain a further boost in bookings since many foreign airlines have again proven unreliable in transporting Israelis to their destinations of choice and back home. On the other hand, there is growing anger and frustration regarding Israeli airlines charging outrageous fares. The (social) media are filled with examples of prices that may cause a boomerang effect against Israeli airlines. The last financial report of El Al (Q1) showed unprecedented profits (80M $) – most probably Q2 will be far higher.
