Terminal 1 at Ben Gurion airport will reopen in the last week of March for domestic flights after renovation and maintenance work that begun last November has been completed. Low cost international flights will start using the terminal from the end of the month. Israel Airports Authority estimates that 25% of all flights at Ben Gurion Airport will use Terminal 1, totaling about 1,377 flights during April.
In the first stage El Al is expected to operate 80 weekly flights from Terminal 1. Wizz Air will operate 110 weekly flights; Ryanair 86 weekly flights; Arkia 40 weekly flights; and Israir over 30 weekly flights. easyJet will not resume flights to Israel until June.
Over the past year, Terminal 1 has been closed twice due to the decline in airline activity to and from Israel because of the war and the absence of foreign airlines. The first closure of Terminal 1 came immediately the start of the war until it was reopened at the start of June 2024. In November 2024, Terminal 1 was again closed by the Israel Airports Authority in order to carry out renovations.
Terminal 1 is important for airlines wanting to cut operating costs because it charges lower taxes than Terminal 3 because it provides more basic services, with less choice of duty-free stores and smaller passenger lounges. Overall Terminal 1 works out about $20 cheaper per passenger.
Will the reopening of Terminal 1 affect fares? A senior executive at a low-cost airline that operates routinely at Ben Gurion airport explains that even after returning to Terminal 1, no immediate fare reductions are expected due to the costs of moving between the terminals.
Many European companies are increasing their range of destinations and frequencies
Meanwhile, the Lufthansa Group continues to increase the frequency of its flights to and from Tel Aviv, almost doubling the number of weekly flights. Starting this week, the number of weekly flights of the group’s companies, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings has increased from 35 to 60.
In addition, Wizz Air’s head of communications, András Rado, announced the resumption of the company’s routes from Tel Aviv to the Greek islands – Rhodes and Crete – starting this summer, as well as the expansion of activity from March and April on the other routes.
Earlier this week, Air Europa expanded the number of weekly flights to Israel from 5 to 6 and Aviation Links also announced that it will resume the direct flights from Tel Aviv to Zadar in Croatia, on Romanian airline FLYYO, this summer.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on March 6, 2025.
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