ISRAEL. Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport handled 1.9 million passengers in July and August combined, -5.5% fewer than in the corresponding months of 2005, and -16% fewer than the projected traffic of 2.25 million in the period.
However, because the Ministries of Transport and Tourism are granting more airlines landing rights, the number of flights to and from Israel rose by +8.2% in July and +5.4% in August.
Passenger traffic was +5.8% higher in January-August than in the corresponding period of last year, and the number of flights rose +9.9%. Israeli airlines carried half of the passengers at Ben Gurion Airport in July-August, -10% fewer than in the corresponding months of last year. El Al Israel Airlines and its subsidiary Sun D’Or International Airlines carried 39% of passengers, down -12% because of increasing competition from foreign airlines.
The heaviest passenger traffic was on Israel-US routes. Among airlines, Air France and Austrian Airlines had the largest increase in passengers on routes to Israel.
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