Jerusalem, 12 May, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israel’s Department of Economics and Aviation Relations published a new presentation reviewing the development of the air transport industry in Israel in the era of the “Open Skies” policy, between the years 2005 and 2025.
One of the most prominent trends appearing in the presentation is the impressive increase in international passenger traffic at Ben Gurion Airport from 8.5 million passengers in 2005 to a peak of 24 million passengers in 2019.
The implementation of the liberalization policy of aviation agreements by the Israel Civil Aviation Authority, which began in 2006, contributed significantly to the trend of increasing passenger traffic, with the most significant move in the implementation of this policy being the signing of the “Open Skies” agreement with the European Union in 2013. In addition to the agreement with the European Union, the implementation of the policy included updating a relatively large number of bilateral aviation agreements and signing new aviation agreements.
Among the new agreements is the aviation agreement with the United Arab Emirates, which was signed in 2020, and made a significant contribution to the trend of recovery in passenger traffic after the end of the Corona crisis.