Turkish Airlines becomes the top foreign carrier in Tel Aviv airport

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) captured the top seat among foreign carriers flying to Tel Aviv airport. DHA photo

Turkey’s national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) captured the top seat among foreign carriers flying to Tel Aviv airport by raising the number of passengers it served by more than 42 percent, according to Israel Airports Authority data reported by Israeli daily Hareetz.

The national airlines’ passengers that it flew in and out of Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport reached 103,700 with the increase in the first three months of the year.

The impressive numbers are stemmed from the fact that most of the Israeli passengers flying with THY were using Istanbul as a transit point to destinations in the Far East and North America rather than to visit Turkey Hareetz reported aviation sources as saying.

Tel Aviv airport has been the top transfer airport for THY as well, as many Israeli passengers choose to travel with Turkish Airlines even during the four year-long sour Israeli-Turkish relations that have been thawing after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netahyahu’s official apology over 2010 Marmara killings.

The same data showed number of passengers flying with EasyJet and British Airways also rose sharply, by 44.8 percent and 19.3 percent, respectively. The big losers were Lufthansa and Alitalia, whose passenger loads each declined by about 18 percent.

Israel’s national carrier, El Al carried 835,000 passengers in the first quarter keeping its flight volume at the airport almost the same.