Israel reopens airport with limited flights to bring home 100,000 stranded citizens

Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv has resumed limited operations on Thursday (today) after being closed for five days due to the war with Iran. The first repatriation flights began arriving this morning, bringing back Israelis who had been stranded overseas since the start of the war last weekend. The current plan is to accommodate one inbound flight per hour, eventually increasing to two, with the airport operating 24/7.

The government also announced on Thursday that outbound flights would gradually resume starting this Sunday.

At 6:05 a.m., a plane from Athens, operated by Israel’s national airline El Al, landed at the airport. Shortly after, an Israir charter flight arrived from Rome, with additional flights from local carriers Arkia and Haifa Air scheduled to arrive later in the day.

“Our mission is to bring back Israelis safely,” Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev announced during a media conference on Tuesday. “According to the outline from the second day of the operation, we will be able to return about 10,000 passengers a day." The airport will initially permit only narrow-body aircraft capable of carrying about 200 passengers.

The flights have been established to help roughly 100,000 Israelis who have been unable to return home since Israel closed its airspace on Saturday, following the launch of a joint air campaign with the United States against Iran.

Iran has retaliated with ballistic missile attacks targeting Israel, as well as countries in the Middle East that host U.S. military bases.

Regev spoke over the radio with the pilot of the El Al plane, telling him, “We wish you a safe landing and with God’s help, we will bring all the Israelis home.”

According to the Times of Israel, as the aircraft prepared for departure, the pilot informed passengers that it would be the first repatriation flight to arrive in Tel Aviv, saying, “This is a significant and moving moment for all of us, after five days during which the country’s skies were closed to commercial flights. We are proud to bring you back to Israel.”

Landings were temporarily put on hold during another missile attack from Iran, but were able to continue when given the all-clear. One missile struck an open area in the center of the country but did not result in any injuries or fatalities, according to rescue forces.

The Israel Airports Authority has said that passengers arriving at Ben Gurion Airport will need to move through the terminal quickly after clearing security and collecting their baggage. To speed up departures from the airport, buses and trains operated by Israel Railways will be available, as officials remain concerned about the risk of Iranian missile strikes.

Over the next several days, El Al intends to operate flights bringing Israelis back from 22 locations worldwide, including New York, Miami, and Los Angeles in the United States, as well as Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand.

El Al has announced that it will not operate flights on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, and has requested that flight arrivals and departures be accommodated according to that schedule.

Regarding outbound flights, if approved, they will be limited to one per hour, according to a Channel 12 report that did not name its sources. Each flight will be restricted to 50 passengers and travelers will not be allowed to check bags.

Passengers will also need to complete early check-in and arrive at the airport about 90 minutes before departure. Access to the terminal will be limited strictly to ticketed passengers. The number of outbound flights will also depend on how many repatriation flights land in Israel.

According to the Times of Israel, El Al has decided to suspend ticket sales until March 21 in order to prioritize customers whose flights were canceled and place them on repatriation flights as the country’s airspace gradually reopens. Israir has similarly paused ticket sales through March 18.