Ben Gurion International Airport

Ben Gurion International Airport sits in the coastal plain of central Israel, roughly 15 kilometers southeast of Tel Aviv and approximately 40 kilometers from Jerusalem.[1] It serves Israeli citizens traveling abroad and international visitors arriving in the country.[1]

The airport operates two main passenger terminals. Terminal 3, which opened in the early 2000s, functions as Israel's primary terminal for international flights.[2] Terminal 1 handles domestic flights as well as low-cost international services.[1] A 1996 notice recorded that the airport then had a Terminal 2 designated for international flights and attached to the domestic terminal. It began operations on March 31 of that year, illustrating how the terminal configuration evolved before the current layout was established.[9]

The airport's operational structure is organized under a director overseeing four main divisions: Ground Operations, Maintenance, Passenger Service, and Security. Ground Operations encompasses departments for ground services, cargo handling, equipment operation, and baggage handling. The Passenger Service division manages arriving and departing passenger services, terminal facilities, passenger information, signs, taxi services, and shuttle services. The Security Division is responsible for passenger and visitor safety, including hand-luggage and checked-baggage screening, perimeter protection, and security inside the terminals.[1]

The airport's origins trace to the British Mandate period, when construction began in the mid-1930s on territory associated with a German agricultural colony called Wilhelma, near Lod, then commonly known as Lydda. The airport was initially called Wilhelma Airport before becoming known as Lydda Airport after the nearby town.[3] A 1945–1946 Survey of Palestine listed Lydda and Haifa among the territory's civil airports, administered by a Director of Civil Aviation responsible for ground organization, meteorological services, and wireless services.[10] A historical overview shows Lydda Airport under construction in 1935.[11]

After Israel's establishment, the airport became the young state's chief international gateway. A 1963 archival account called Lydda Israel's chief airport and described a delegation witnessing the arrival there of 169 immigrants from North Africa.[12] Passenger traffic grew from approximately 115,000 passengers in 1950 to more than one million by 1970 and five million by 2004.[2] The Israeli government expanded the facility, completing new passenger sections in 1970. The airport served passengers and freight, became El Al Israel Airlines' home base, and provided employment for Lod alongside Israel Aircraft Industries.[2]

The airport underwent a major expansion under the Israel Airports Authority, established as a statutory corporation in the late 1970s. In the 1990s, IAA management and Transportation Minister Israel Keisar concluded that Terminal 1 could no longer accommodate rising passenger volumes and decided to build Terminal 3, intended to help the airport handle annual volumes above 25 million passengers.[1] The expansion was described as “one of the biggest government-funded infrastructure projects ever undertaken.”[4]

By 2005, Terminal 3 had opened and become the airport's main international terminal.[2] Its centerpiece was a 270,000-square-meter passenger terminal designed for annual capacity of 16 million passengers, with improved rail and road links, as part of a $600 million expansion project.[4] Previously known as Lydda or Lod Airport, the facility was renamed Ben-Gurion International in 1974 in honor of David Ben-Gurion.[4]

The Israel Airports Authority has been responsible since June 1978 for operating and developing Ben Gurion Airport and other Israeli airports. Its mandate includes maintaining, operating, developing, and planning airports; providing airport-related services; and overseeing airport security and the safety of people, goods, aircraft, structures, installations, and equipment in accordance with the transport minister's directives.[8]

Around 10 million travelers passed through the airport in 2000.[4] Traffic climbed to a record 24,821,601 passengers on 167,886 international and domestic flights in 2019.[13] That year, the airport offered flights to 180 destinations in 56 countries; 10 new airlines began operating there, joining approximately 100 airlines already providing service, and six new destinations were added.[13]

Israeli airlines carried 7,362,702 passengers in 2019, representing 30.63% of the total. The airlines contributing most to the increase in passenger traffic were El Al, Wizz Air, and easyJet.[13] International passenger traffic reached 24,035,865, an increase of 7.51% over 2018, while domestic passenger traffic rose 32.73% to 785,736.[13]

More than 2.4 million international passengers completed departing-flight procedures through the renovated Terminal 1 in 2019.[13] Plans in the airport's annual report called for expanding Terminal 3 with 86 additional check-in counters, a fifth departure concourse, and a new baggage-sorting system.[13]

In 2025, the airport handled 19,160,160 passengers across 140,736 international and domestic flights. International traffic accounted for 18,470,531 passengers and 134,214 aircraft movements, while domestic traffic accounted for 689,629 passengers and 6,522 aircraft movements.[7] Compared with 2024, total passenger traffic increased by 31.84%, international passenger traffic by 33.07%, and total aircraft movements by 29.63%. The annual report described continued war-related cancellations, disruptions, and suspensions alongside rapid recovery.[7]

In 2025, Terminal 3 handled 17,326,465 international passengers, a 31.62% increase from 2024, while Terminal 1 handled 1,144,066 international passengers, a 59.75% increase.[7] Cargo operations totaled 380,780 tons, an increase of 9.51% over 2024. Passenger aircraft carried 102,167 tons, while dedicated cargo aircraft carried 278,613 tons.[7]

In 2015, the Israeli Ministry of Interior maintained a voluntary biometric passport-control system for Israeli passport holders over age 18. Eligible users passed a background check and provided a scan of the back of their hand, enabling entry to and exit from Israel through an automated kiosk.[14]

Ben Gurion Airport has served not only as a commercial transit hub but also as a gateway through which waves of Jewish immigrants have arrived in Israel.[12][6]

In 1963, visitors described Lydda Airport as Israel's chief airport and witnessed the arrival of 169 immigrants from North Africa. Their account characterized the arrival of immigrants by ship or plane as a central recurring experience of the young state.[12]

The airport played a major role during Operation Solomon, an airlift conducted over 36 hours on May 24 and 25, 1991. The operation rescued more than 14,300 Ethiopian Jews, with hundreds of Israel Defense Forces soldiers helping transport them from Addis Ababa to Israel. A former Jewish Agency official stated that more than 14,000 arrived through air shuttles within 24 hours.[6] One Boeing 747 carried 1,000 passengers on a single flight, setting a world record for the most people carried on one aircraft.[6]

A separate archival account from 1985 documents how Ethiopian Jewish arrivals were received at Ben Gurion Airport during an earlier wave of aliyah. Jewish Agency personnel, health workers, and government ministries coordinated initial transportation, medical care, food, clothing, and housing.[15] Buses took the arrivals from the airport to designated absorption centers. Some had never previously seen a bus or used modern sanitary facilities, and the account described the airport tarmac as the beginning of a second journey toward adaptation to contemporary Israeli society.[15]

On November 19, 1977, Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat arrived at Ben Gurion Airport for the first visit to Israel by an Arab head of state since Israel's founding in 1948.[16] The Israeli government accorded Sadat and his entourage a formal reception featuring a 21-gun salute and the Egyptian and Israeli national anthems. At the airport, Sadat greeted Prime Minister Menachem Begin, President Ephraim Katzir, and former Prime Minister Golda Meir before beginning a 36-hour visit that included a historic speech in Arabic to the Knesset.[16]

On May 30, 1972, the airport, then known as Lod Airport, was the scene of a major terrorist attack. Three members of the Japanese Red Army recruited by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine entered the terminal's baggage-claim area and opened fire on passengers with automatic rifles while throwing hand grenades into the crowd.[5][17]

The attack killed 26 people and injured 80 others.[5] Among the dead were 17 Christian pilgrims from Puerto Rico, one Canadian, and eight Israelis.[5] U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission records document individual victims in detail. Miguel Enrique Martinez Rivera, a Puerto Rican high-school teacher traveling with his pregnant wife as part of a group of religious pilgrims, used his body as a shield to protect her and was killed instantly by a grenade blast.[17] Carmen Enid Crespo Martinez, a 20-year-old member of the same pilgr group, was killed by machine-gun fire and grenade blasts at the scene.[18]

The PFLP claimed responsibility for the attack. A U.S. State Department historical record states that it was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and was described as retaliation for an earlier Israeli operation.[19] The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center places the massacre within the PFLP's broader international terrorism campaign, which included aircraft hijackings and other attacks.[20]

Security at the airport was significantly upgraded after the massacre, with responsibilities divided between the police and Shin Bet.[5] The facility was renamed Ben-Gurion International Airport in 1974.[4]

Ben Gurion Airport is often cited as one of the most secure airports in the world. Its security model relies on close observation and intensive questioning of passengers about their identities and destinations.[21] Reported procedures include referring military-aged males traveling alone with backpacks for secondary screening regardless of nationality or skin color.[21]

The airport's Security Division is responsible for passenger and visitor safety, including hand-luggage and checked-baggage screening, perimeter protection, and security inside the terminals.[1] The Israel Airports Authority's broader mandate includes responsibility for airport security and the protection of people, goods, aircraft, structures, installations, and equipment in accordance with the transport minister's directives.[8]

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs argues that the airport's runways and approaches are potential targets for hostile fire or attempts to shoot down civilian aircraft, and that even a failed attack could significantly reduce international civil-aviation traffic by deterring travelers.[22] It identifies threats including high-trajectory weapons, precision-guided weapons fired from elevated terrain in Palestinian territory, and shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles aimed at civilian airliners during takeoff or landing. The center connects these concerns to broader questions about Israel's control and coordination of territorial airspace.[22]

The same analysis states that recurring interference with the airport's control-tower frequencies has generally been caused by unlicensed local radio stations. At times, the airport has had to close to landings while the interference continued.[22]

Ben Gurion Airport's status as Israel's principal international gateway makes it vulnerable to disruption during regional conflicts, when hostile fire or warnings about potential attacks may prompt suspensions of international service.[1]

During Operation Protective Edge in July 2014, a rocket landed in Yehud, approximately two kilometers from the airport, without causing casualties. An American aircraft turned around and landed in Europe, while another departed empty and left 300 passengers behind. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration suspended flights to Israel for 24 hours, and the European aviation authority issued a serious warning that prompted European and other airlines to halt service.[23]

Contemporary reporting stated that on July 23 foreign carriers suspended flights to and from Ben Gurion Airport, while El Al, Arkia, and Israir continued operations and Ovda Airport near Eilat was designated as a temporary replacement.[24] Israeli officials characterized the flight bans as rewarding terrorism. The same report said that the previous comparable suspension by major international carriers occurred in 1991, during the First Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein fired Scud missiles toward Israel.[24]

In 1982, workers at the airport authority, customs, cargo-handling services, and the refueling company planned to close the airport from late afternoon until the following night to protest the cabinet's decision to ground El Al flights on Saturdays and Jewish holidays. The planned closure would have severed Israel's principal air links with the world; only small airports such as Eilat and Sde Dov remained open for international flights, with Sde Dov able to accommodate six light aircraft.[25]

El Al had 15 flights scheduled for the Saturday in question: 10 were canceled, two were rescheduled to depart after the Sabbath, two charter flights were moved to Sunday, and one cargo flight was set to depart after the Sabbath. Sabena, Lufthansa, and TWA also adjusted their schedules.[25]

During an emergency period in March 2026, the airport remained open for limited commercial flights operated by El Al, Israir, Arkia, and Air Haifa, while the United States and Israel arranged departure and return options for American citizens.[26] Terminal 1 was temporarily closed during a 2026 conflict; domestic flights were scheduled to resume there on June 28 and international flights on July 1, with traffic operating from Terminal 3 during the closure.[27]

Ben Gurion Airport's position as Israel's principal international gateway has generated debate about aviation vulnerability and the need for additional capacity. Academic analysis identifies congestion at the airport as a central factor behind proposals to construct a second international airport.[28]

The location of a proposed second airport became the subject of a prolonged controversy involving local residents, environmentalists, military authorities, and competing development interests.[28] The debate included anticipated environmental and health effects, such as noise pollution and bird-strike hazards, as well as tensions between civilian aviation needs and Israel's military establishment.[28] One academic study favored locating a new airport on an artificial island in the Mediterranean as a response to Israel's long-term air-traffic constraints.[28]

A 2017 Institute for National Security Studies analysis identified Ben Gurion as Israel's only international airport at the time and characterized closure risk as a strategic vulnerability. It noted that a single rocket landing near the airport during Operation Protective Edge prompted a 24-hour FAA suspension and European warnings that halted service by foreign airlines.[23] The incident illustrated Israel's heavy dependence on the facility for international connectivity.

Reference sources give both 1936 and 1937 as the airport's opening year.[4][2] Sources also give different casualty figures for the 1972 Lod Airport massacre: one records 26 killed and 80 wounded, while a U.S. Department of State historical document gives 25 killed and 72 wounded.[5][19]

Airport access and asylum procedures have also drawn scrutiny. The U.S. Department of State reported that the Israeli government did not give the UN High Commissioner for Refugees regular access to the detention facility at Ben Gurion Airport and did not accept initial asylum claims at airports.[29]

The airport's passenger-profiling and security-screening practices have been disputed. BBC coverage alleged racial discrimination in airport screening, while CAMERA rejected that characterization and cited a reported procedure under which military-aged males traveling alone with backpacks could be referred for secondary screening regardless of nationality or skin color.[21]

The planned 1982 labor action arose from a dispute over the cabinet's decision to ground El Al flights on Saturdays and Jewish holidays, reflecting tensions between religious observance and commercial aviation.[25]