Ben Gurion Airport
Ben-Gurion International Airport, located in Lod, near Jaffa, Palestine, is the largest international airport in present day Israel. For a long time it was the country's only airport, but recently, airport facilities have been opened in Beer-Sheba, Jerusalem, and Eilat. The airport's 3-letter IATA airport code is TLV.
Ben Gurion is the hub of El Al Israel Airlines.
Because of the political situation regarding Israel and Palestine, Ben Gurion has long been a target of terrorist groups, and so among the many terrorist attempts, in 1985, a TWA Boeing 727 flying from Tel-Aviv to Rome was hijacked and forced to fly to Beirut. The plane carried many American and Israeli passengers, and one marine died, when the Delta Force stormed the plane.
In 1972 a group of 20 Puerto Rican tourists who had just arrived in Israel died at Ben Gurion airport as a result of an attack in the passenger arrival area by a terrorist group. Aharon Katzir, a prominent protein biophysicist, was also killed.
Airlines flying to Ben-Gurion International Airport include:
- Adria Airways
- Aegean Cronus Airlines
- Aeris
- Aeroflot
- Air Adriatic
- Air Alfa
- Air Anatoylia
- Air Canada
- Air France
- Air Kazakhstan
- Air Sinai
- Air Slovakia
- Airzena Georgian Airlines
- Alitalia
- Arkia Israelian Airlines
- Aero Sweet
- Atlas International Airlines
- Austrian Airlines
- Azerbaijan Airlines
- Balkan Bulgarian Airlines
- Belavia
- BH Air
- Blue Panorama
- Bosphorus Airlines
- British Airways
- Bulgarian Air Charter
- Continental Airlines
- Croatia Airlines
- Cyprus Airways
- CSA Czech Airlines
- Dalavia-Far East Airways
- Delta Airlines
- Dutch Bird
- El Al
- Ethiopian Airlines
- Eurofly
- Finnair
- Fischer Air
- Free Bird Airlines
- Futura
- Helios Airlines
- Hemus Air
- Iberia
- Israair
- JAT Yugoslavian
- Kavmindvodyavia
- KLM
- Latpass Airlines
- Lithuanian Airlines
- LOT Polish Airlines
- Lufthansa
- Malev
- MNG Airlines
- Monarch Airlines
- Northwest Airlines
- Olympic Airways
- Onurair
- Pulkovo Aviation
- Royal Jordanian
- Saratov Airlines
- Siberia Airlines
- Sky Airlines
- South African Airways
- Spanair
- Sun Dor International Airlines
- Sun Express
- Swiss International Air Lines
- Tandem Aereo
- Tarom Romanian
- Thai Airways
- Transaero
- Transavia
- Travel Service Budapest
- Travel Servis
- Turkish
- Ural Air
- Uzbekistan Air