Jay Jackson
14 Mar 2025

The principal terminal, Terminal 1, at Israel's largest airport will reopen at the end of this month, having largely been closed since the declaration of war on 7 October 2023, following the horrific Hamas-led attacks on the Gaza-Israel border.

Although the terminal reopened on 1 June last year, it closed again for major maintenance works in November.

Ben Gurion International Airport, named after David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, is situated 15 kilometres from Tel Aviv, and forty kilometres from Jerusalem. It was built in the 1930s when Palestine was governed by the British Mandate.

Air travel to and from Israel has been sharply reduced since October 2023, however as the scale of hostilities has reduced, largely due to ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon, flights and passenger levels are increasing rapidly.

The reopening of Terminal 1 at the end of March is timely, as demand over the Passover holiday season is as high as ever. Nearly 1,400 flights will depart from Terminal 1 in April, according to the Israel Airport Authority.

Whie a number of airlines suspended flights after 7 october 2023, most are now back flying to and from Israel. These include Aegean Airlines, the flag carrier of Greece, which operates extensively across Europe.  Other European carriers include Air Baltic, Air Europa, Air France, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Bulgaria Air, Cyprus Airways, Eurowings, Georgian Airways, ITA Airways, KLM, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Virgin Atlantic, and Wizz Air.

Air India and Hainan Airlines serve Asia, while Ethiopian Airlines connects Africa.

Middle Eastern airlines servicing Israel include Etihad Airways and FlyDubai, which offer regional and international flights.

Notably, Arkia introduced a new direct route between New York and Tel Aviv in February 2025.

Additional carriers operating across Europe and the Middle East that are back servicing Israel include Blue Bird, Biz Airlines, Corendon Airlines, Heisaki, Israir, Sun D'Or, and TUS Airways, and of course El-Al, which also serves North America, Asia, and Africa,