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After Turkey was almost completely removed from the list of Israeli vacation spots for 2016, and after hope that the reconciliation agreement would see more Israelis travel to Turkey, the numbers show that not only are Israeli travelers staying away, they're even avoiding flying on connecting flights through the country.According to data obtained by the website Smartair, there have been almost no connecting flights via Turkey registered by travelers originating in Israel over the past several weeks.
However, in all of 2015 and the first half of 2016, Turkey was the leading destination for connecting flights between Israel to the entire rest of the world. In all, there have been a 65 percent reduction in travelers compared to 2015 and the first half of 2016.
These are exceptional figures, especially when one considers that there was little to no effect on the number of people connecting through Istanbul even during the height of the impasse between Jerusalem and Ankara. This is even in spite of the low price and amount of comfort on Turkish Airlines flights, considered to be one of the best airlines in the world.
Smartair also noted that there has been no decrease in the amount of Israelis flying to France or Germany – two other locations which have been hit by terror attacks. Actually, the opposite is true – there has actually been a rise in the number of Israelis flying to Berlin. There has even been a rise in the number of people flying to Munich, despite the terror attack there.