Ben Gurion Airport Terminal 1 Reopens as Foreign Airlines Resume Flights for Summer

Starting July 1, 2026, Terminal 1 at Ben Gurion Airport will reopen to handle low-cost international flights, a move delayed several times due to security concerns and reduced traffic. The reopening aims to ease heavy congestion at Terminal 3 and reduce port tax costs for airlines, coinciding with the return of numerous foreign carriers ahead of the busy summer months of July and August. The Israel Airports Authority has completed logistical preparations, including duty-free shops and free shuttle services between terminals, advising passengers to verify their departure terminal in advance.

Several airlines are resuming or increasing flights to Israel this summer. Lufthansa restarts its Tel Aviv-Frankfurt route on July 1 with 14 weekly flights, expanding to 29 weekly flights in July and 54 in August. Austrian Airlines will add 11 weekly flights to Vienna in July, increasing to 14 in August. Eurowings returns on July 10 with flights to Hamburg and adds Düsseldorf flights from July 18. Swiss will operate daily flights to Zurich starting in August, and Brussels Airlines plans one weekly flight to Brussels.

Other airlines also resume service: Italy's ITA restarts Tel Aviv-Rome flights with two daily flights from July 1, Air Baltic returns with three weekly flights to Latvia, and Overseas begins weekly flights to Slovakia. Georgian low-cost carrier OneClick Airways resumes two weekly flights each to Batumi and Tbilisi from July 2. FlyOne restarts flights to Romania with 8-9 weekly flights from July 19. Air Seychelles will resume weekly direct flights to Seychelles in August.