Until October 7 Turkish Airlines operated more than 10 daily flights on the Tel Aviv - Istanbul route. Shortly after the outbreak of the war, the Turkish carrier announced that it would not renew flights to Israel until October 2024. But now, although it has made no official announcement, "Globes" has found that all Istanbul - Tel Aviv flights on Turkish Airlines website that were previously open for booking, have been canceled until March 2025.
The decision by Turkish Airlines' decision to cancel flights to Israel is having a major impact on flight patterns to and from Ben Gurion airport. Because Turkish Airlines operates flights to 340 destinations across four continents, and is the world's leader in the field of connections, Istanbul was a popular stopover for Israeli passengers seeking budget fares for flights throughout the world.
According to data from the Israel Airports Authority, in the summer of 2023, Turkish Airlines was one of the carriers operating the largest number of flights to and from Ben Gurion airport. In July and August 2023, over 5% of passengers on flights arriving and departing from Tel Aviv flew Turkish Airlines, ranking the airline fourth in the number of passengers flown to and from Ben Gurion airport.
The decision by the airline not to resume operations at Ben Gurion airport comes amid rising diplomatic tensions between Israel and Turkey. Turkish Airlines is a government-owned company, which serves the political interests of Turkey, which has expressed enmity to Israel since the outbreak of the war.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 3, 2024.
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