Portuguese national carrier TAP Air Portugal announced it will resume flights to Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport starting March 29, 2026, marking its return to the Israeli market for the first time since the outbreak of war in October 2023.
TAP, represented in Israel by Open Sky, will operate five weekly flights between Lisbon and Tel Aviv using modern Airbus A320neo aircraft.
The airline’s comeback introduces significant competition on the Lisbon route, particularly in pricing. One-way fares on TAP start at $176 — substantially lower than Israel’s El Al, where a one-way ticket on March 29 in the “Lite” class, including a carry-on bag, starts at $522.
A round-trip ticket departing March 31 and returning April 5, including the Passover holiday, is priced at $373 on TAP (excluding carry-on), while El Al charges $1,458 for the same dates — nearly four times more, though the fare includes a carry-on.
Even toward the end of April, between April 20 and 26, TAP offers round-trip fares from $353 (excluding carry-on), compared to El Al’s starting price of $695 with a carry-on — nearly double.
During the summer schedule, TAP’s flights from Lisbon will depart at 8:45 p.m. and land in Tel Aviv at 4:05 a.m. Return flights from Tel Aviv will depart at 5:05 a.m., arriving in Lisbon at 9:10 a.m. In the winter schedule, beginning in late October, departure times shift slightly, with flights from Lisbon at 8:10 p.m. landing in Tel Aviv at 3:30 a.m., and return flights departing Tel Aviv at 4:30 a.m. and landing in Lisbon at 8:40 a.m.
Flight time from Tel Aviv to Lisbon is approximately six hours, with the return trip slightly shorter.
Meanwhile, the Israel Airports Authority released its annual report Monday, showing a strong recovery in air travel during 2025, with nearly 19 million passengers recorded on international flights.
According to the report, around 60 international airlines resumed operations in Israel over the past year. The country saw approximately 18.6 million passengers on international routes, 832,000 on domestic flights and around 5.25 million people crossing through land border terminals.
Israeli carriers continued to dominate operations at Ben Gurion International Airport. El Al led with a 38% market share, followed by Israir and Arkia. Together, the three Israeli airlines accounted for 58% of total passenger traffic through Ben Gurion. Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air ranked fourth.
Top travel destinations for Israeli passengers in 2025 included:
- Greece: 2.2 million passengers
- United States: 1.6 million
- United Arab Emirates: 1.5 million
- Italy: 1.2 million
- Cyprus: 1.2 million
Haifa International Airport recorded a notable increase in activity, driven in part by the full-scale launch of operations by Air Haifa. The airport handled 280,757 passengers in 2025, including about 198,000 on international flights and 82,000 on domestic routes.
At Ramon Airport in southern Israel, passenger traffic rose by roughly 13% to about 750,000. Of those, 742,000 were on domestic flights, while international flights accounted for approximately 7,500 passengers.