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Data for February 2008 proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the operation in Gaza during January was only one of the factors contributing to the downward trend in air traffic.  Movements in International passenger traffic in the month stood at 518,207 passengers, a decline of 17.5 percent compared to February 2008.   In January there was a decrease in traffic of 15 percent.

International flight movements in February stood at 4,785 flights, a reduction of 8 percent on the previous year.  However internal flights registered an increase of 11 percent, with a total of 30,609 passengers using Ben Gurion Airport; much of this can be attributed to the increase in tourism to Eilat at the expense of traffic to Turkey which fell by 52 percent.

As far as traffic movements by airline were concerned, most recorded significant falls in movements.  This included Sun d’Or which had in recent months exhibited good increases; but in February recorded a 15 percent fall as a result of the reduction in inbound tourism to Israel.  El Al recorded an 18.5 percent fall in passenger traffic, while Arkia's declined 27 by percent. On the other hand Israir showed a massive increase of 160 percent thanks to the movement of pilgrims from Africa.

Figures from the foreign airlines all showed significant falls.  Lufthansa recording a decrease of 26 percent, Turkish Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines and British Airways all down by 30 percent, KLM down 36 percent, Air Canada a reduction of 40 percent, and Continental Airlines down by 10 percent. 

The main destination for takeoffs and landings was Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, used by 38,335 passengers, a fall of 16.75 percent compared to February 2008.  The country with the largest number of operations was the United States with 87,980 passengers, this constituted 16.97 percent of all flight operations.   Of the leading countries, Russia showed the largest increase in passenger traffic movements compared to last February.