Israel’s aviation industry says the parking shortage at Ben Gurion Airport is still unresolved, and if no fix is found in the coming days, about 100,000 summer tickets could be canceled. The warning comes as the airport prepares for decisions that may affect hundreds of thousands of passengers during the busy season.
As part of an effort to free aircraft parking stands, about 20 planes are expected to leave Ben Gurion on Sunday and be moved to other bases. Even after that step, the airport is expected to have only about 65 available parking positions, while about 80 are needed to operate the planned summer schedule without cancellations, leaving a shortage of roughly 15 stands.
The Israel Airports Authority is due to hold a decisive discussion and situation assessment on Monday, where officials will examine whether to reduce summer flight activity. One option under consideration is instructing Israeli and foreign airlines to cut planned operations, a move that could trigger the cancellation of around 100,000 already scheduled tickets. Industry sources said the final decision could still be delayed by several days to allow other alternatives to be exhausted.
Transport Minister Miri Regev is also working with the relevant bodies to expand the removal of aircraft from Ben Gurion and transfer additional planes to Israeli Air Force bases. The goal is to create more parking space and prevent disruption as foreign airlines resume flights to Israel and passenger traffic continues recovering. Without a significant increase in parking capacity, the sector warns it will be very difficult to absorb the expected growth and operate the full 2026 summer timetable.
