Black January for Ben Gurion airport

There were 5,486 international flights during January – a reduction of 2% over the corresponding period last year.  A total of 25,907 passengers passed through Ben Gurion airport in January on internal flights, compared to 31,008 in 2008, a reduction of 16.45%.  The figures show that Israeli airlines flew 262,782 passengers during January, which comprises 47% of all passengers using Ben Gurion airport, this was a reduction of 18.25% compared to January 2008.

With the military conflict in Gaza during the month and the global economic crisis resulting in a severe slowdown in passenger traffic, the estimates of a dramatic reduction in traffic to Israel became a reality.  Based on the data, most of the airlines flying to and from Israel sensed with trepidation the devastating effects and recorded double digit falls.
El Al the largest carrier in Israel, recorded a fall of 20% in traffic, Continental Airlines 20%, Lufthansa 22%, Turkish Airlines 20%, Brussels Airlines 33%, Air Canada 37%, British Airways 26%, Air France 26%, Alitalia 47% and Austrian Airlines 36%.   The manager of one of the foreign airlines said in frustration "Results like these haven't been experienced for many years.  At the moment we are talking about a global crisis of which Israel is just a small part.  But this may raise question marks about the future."
Against this, Sun D'Or recorded a increase of 36%, Delta Airlines the best performer up by 54%,  while Swiss fell 11%, Ethiopian Airlines down 10%, Transaero up by 8% and Aerosvit  an increase of 10% all managed to maintain their passenger traffic as close to average, considering the situation.
Tal Muskal, spokesman for Lufthansa responded to the company's results by saying that the deep recession is affecting the entire aviation industry.  "Even though the January data is bad, we are hoping for a better summer season with the resumption of flights to Munich."   El Al spokesman: "the market share against foreign airlines has not been damaged".