Antalya airport, Turkey
צילום: אורן אגמון
Airport Authority: August 2009 busiest ever
Israel Airport Authority sums up August's passenger traffic through Ben Gurion Airport, notes near 7% rise in incoming, outgoing international flights traffic. Turkey loses top spot as favorite summer destination to Greece
The Israel Airport Authority (IAA) said Wednesday that August 2009 was the busiest month ever recorded, with 1,462,225 passengers traveling through Ben Gurion International Airport, on 9,906 domestic and international flights.
The number of passengers using international flights was up 6% from August 2008 and the number of international flights arriving at Ben Gurion Airport increased nearly 7%.
August this year marked the largest volume of air travel activity of all times, overturning the downward trend of recent months.
According to the IAA, domestic flights saw an increase of 38.48%, from 28,801 passengers last year to 39,884 this year.
Israeli airlines flew 600,485 passengers during August, 42.24% of which traveled through Ben Gurion Airport – a 7.8% increase from last August.
Lufthanza, Alitalia and Sky Airlines were among the airlines which reported the largest increase in activity, compared with August 2008.
The IAA also noted that while Turkey was still among the most popular travel destinations in August, coming to 12.6% of overall travel activity, the number of Ankara-bound flights dropped 13.76% compared to last summer.
The most popular destination for passengers in August was Greece.
