2.4 million passengers passed through Ben Gurion Airport in July (arriving and departing), 10.6% more than in July 2017. Although it is still in mid-August, it is already clear that this summer will set a record for passenger traffic on international flights. Estimates are that summer traffic through Ben Gurion Airport will reach 5.3 million passengers. Passenger traffic through Ben Gurion Airport totaled 12.3 million in January-July, 13% more than in the corresponding period in 2017.
15,000 flights landed in or took off from Ben Gurion Airport in July, 12% more than in July 2017. Almost 80,000 international flights passed through Israel's skies in January-July, plus 3,000 private airplanes carrying 10,400 passengers. Air traffic this year also includes 2,500 cargo planes.
Where Israelis flew in July and with which airlines
El Al was again the leading carrier, with 600,000 passengers, 25% of total passenger traffic at Ben Gurion Airport in July. The second busiest company was Arkia, with 112,000 passengers, followed by Israir, with 104,000 passengers. In fourth place in July was Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air with 102,000 passengers, 50% more than in July 2017, followed by Turkish Airlines in fifth place with almost 93,000 passengers, most of whom continued on to other destinations on connection flights. In sixth place was easyJet with 81,300 passengers in July 24%, more than in July 2017. Ryanair transported 46,500 passengers, a 312% increase.
The leading airlines in passenger traffic in January-July were El Al, with 3.3 million passengers, Turkish Airlines (600,000), Wizz Air (593,000), easyJet (567,000) and Aeroflot (424,000 passengers, mainly continuing on to other destinations via Moscow).
Distribution by country shows that the leading destinations in July were Greece (223,000 passengers), followed closely by Turkey (most of these passengers continued on to other destinations, such as the US and the Far East, from Istanbul). The US was in third place with 156,000 passengers, followed by Italy, France, Russia, Germany, and the UK. One interesting figure was the leading destinations in January-July: Turkey was in first place, mostly as an intermediate destination, mainly because of Turkish Airlines, which will soon operate 10 daily flights from Ben Gurion Airport to Istanbul. The second most popular destination in January-July was the US, followed by Germany, Italy, France, and Russia.
The leading airports in which Israelis landed in July were Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, followed by De Gaulle Airport in Paris. Antalya Airport was third (most of the vacationers there are Israeli Arabs), followed by Moscow, Fiumicino in Rome, Heathrow Airport in London, and Newark Airport in New Jersey.