Report: Air travel to, from Israel declines significantly due to war on Gaza

Air travel to and from Israel declined by an average of 75 per cent during the months of November and December 2023 amid the Israeli war on the besieged Gaza Strip, the Israeli Airports Authority (IAA) said in a report on Sunday.

According to the report, the number of international travellers increased by 19.2 per cent in 2023 to reach 21.1 million, up from 19.2 million in 2022. However, air travel to and from Israel declined 78 per cent in November and 71 per cent in December.

Over the first nine months of the year, before 7 October, passenger traffic increased by an annual 38.5 per cent, to 19.1 million, the report said.

With almost all foreign airlines halting flights to and from Israel as a result of the war, Israel’s national airline El Al benefited with the number of passengers it carried rising 32.5 per cent to 5.5 million in 2023, giving it a 26.3 per cent market share at Ben Gurion.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s Wizz Air was the second-largest airline last year with a more than a nine per cent share.

Airlines such as Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, and Aegean have resumed flights to Tel Aviv. Air France and Ryanair are scheduled to begin travel to Israel over the coming weeks.

Reports revealed that Israeli airline companies have lost about $155 million since the beginning of the war on Gaza, as a result of the cancellation of flights to and from Israel.

READ: 42 US, Canada airlines suspend flights to Israel