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During the recent holyday period, 884,000 passengers passed through Ben Gurion Airport. This figure was contrary to the estimate of 842,000 passengers. The number of aircraft movements also recorded an impressive increase: 12 percent up on the holyday period of 2008.

884,000 passengers passed through Ben Gurion Airport during the recent holyday period, covering the period from 17th September through until 11th October, on a total of 5,744 aircraft movements.  This is based on the data from the Israel Airports Authority.  The data reflects an increase of about 5 percent in passenger traffic and a 12 percent increase in aircraft movement, compared to the corresponding period last year.

It also transpired from the data that the leading destinations during this period were Turkey with about 125,000 passengers, the United States with 88,000 passengers, Germany with 71,000 passengers, Italy with 64,000 passengers, the United Kingdom with 58,000 passengers, France with 50,000 passengers and Greece with 44,000 passengers.

The peak days recorded were 17th September with 53,375 passengers on 329 passenger flights, the 1st October with 53,777 passengers on 324 flights and the 11th October when more than 50,000 passengers were expected to pass through Ben Gurion Airport on 313 passenger flights.

During the same period a total of 66,800 passengers passed through the airport in Eilat on a total of 1,128 passenger flights, representing a 10 percent increase in passenger traffic and a 7 percent increase in aircraft movement compared to the same period last year.