Tel Aviv airport traffic plunged in last three months of 2023

Air travel to and from Israel plunged in the last three months of 2023 amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, but the number of passengers travelling through Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv still rose 10% in 2023. The number of international travellers reached 21.1m in 2023, up from 19.2m in 2022, the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) said in a report on Sunday. Over the first 9 months of the year, before the Oct. 7 attacks by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, passenger traffic surged by an annual 38.5%, to 19.1m. But since then, traffic has plunged, culminating in a 78% drop in November and 71% dive in December, the IAA said. With almost all foreign carriers having halted flights to and from Israel as a result of heavy rocket attacks from Gaza and the war, flag carrier El Al Israel Airlines benefited, with the number of passengers rising 32.5% to 5.5m in 2023 for a 26.3% market share at Ben Gurion.<br/>