Ben Gurion Airport

Ben Gurion International Airport was established in 1937 on the lands of the depopulated Palestinian village of Al-‘Abbasiyya, located in the Jaffa district. It is the primary international airport of the Israeli occupation and is situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Lydda (Lod), approximately 45 km northwest of Jerusalem and 20 km southeast of Tel Aviv. Originally named Lydda Airport, it was renamed in 1973 after David Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel.

The airport serves as the main operational hub for Israeli airlines. It is managed by the Israel Airports Authority, a government-owned entity responsible for all public airports in Israel.

In 2019, Ben Gurion Airport handled 24.8 million passengers. It is considered among the top five airports in the Middle East due to its passenger handling efficiency and high security standards. The airport has been a target for multiple attacks by Palestinian resistance groups, although no aircraft departing from Ben Gurion Airport has ever been successfully hijacked.

Ben Gurion Airport holds critical strategic importance for Israel, serving as one of the few main entry points into the country for the majority of travelers.

Due to repeated targeting by Palestinian resistance, Israeli authorities have implemented stringent security measures to prevent hijackings of outbound flights. However, hijacked aircraft from other countries have landed at Ben Gurion, leading to two major incidents in the airport’s history:

• The first incident, on 8 May 1972, involved the hijacking of Sabena Flight 571by four Palestinian individuals en route from Vienna. The plane was forced to land at Ben Gurion Airport, where Israeli forces stormed the aircraft, killing two of the hijackers and capturing the other two. One passenger was also killed during the operation.
• Later that same month, on 30 May 1972, the airport witnessed a deadly attack known as the Lod Airport Massacre. Three Japanese nationals, supporters of the Palestinian cause, opened fire in the airport’s arrival hall, killing 24 peopleand injuring 80 others.

Over the years, new terminals and runways were added. However, by the 1980s and 1990s, following mass immigration from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union, along with the global increase in international business travel, the airport’s facilities became inadequate. This prompted the design of a state-of-the-art new terminal to accommodate the anticipated increase in tourism.

In January 1994, a decision was made to move forward with the construction of Terminal 3, which officially opened on 2 November 2004.

In 2019, Ramon Airport was inaugurated as an alternative to Ben Gurion Airport, intended to serve in situations where security concerns or weather conditions prevent flights from landing or taking off at Ben Gurion.

On 13 May 2021, Israeli occupation authorities diverted all incoming flights from Ben Gurion Airport to Ramon Airport in the south due to an increased barrage of rockets launched by Palestinian resistance groups targeting Tel Aviv, posing a significant threat to air traffic.