93% of Ben Gurion Airport flights delayed an average of 90 minutes
After last week’s chaos, another wave of more than 100,000 passengers is expected to pass through Ben Gurion Airport today. Arkia recorded an average delay of 116 minutes this week, and Bluebird led with two hours and 40 minutes; in Terminal 3 the average delay reached 94 minutes
A week after the chaos at Ben Gurion Airport, today is expected to be another record day with over 100,000 passengers passing through. However, this time it seems that the mood has calmed down and it seems that everyone, including the administrative employees who helped the porters this week, are doing everything they can to ensure that the difficult scenes of tens of thousands of Israelis stuck in endless lines do not repeat themselves. As you may recall, last Thursday there was a 3-hour gap between the porters' shifts. Takeoffs and landings almost stopped completely and the entire airport was not functioning. The Israeli Air Force claimed that the workers were on strike, and they, in turn, claimed a severe shortage of manpower.
As mentioned, although the day opened without any problems, last week's incident continues to reverberate, and throughout the past week, activity data at Ben Gurion Airport illustrates the extent of the disruptions at the airport. According to the Ben Gurion Airport load meter, between August 19 and 25, 1,850 takeoffs were recorded, but only 6.7% of the flights departed up to 15 minutes late from the scheduled time (which is not considered late). The congestion is particularly noticeable in Terminal 3, where 1,465 takeoffs were recorded, compared to 385 in Terminal 1. The average delay in Terminal 3 was 94 minutes, compared to 75 minutes in Terminal 1. In other words, it was precisely in the terminal where most of the activity is concentrated that the highest level of delays was recorded.
As always, Israeli airlines are the most active at Ben Gurion Airport. El Al recorded 610 takeoffs from Ben Gurion Airport this week and an average delay of 69 minutes, followed by Israir with 284 takeoffs and an average delay of 80 minutes, followed by Arkia with 266 takeoffs and an average delay of 116 minutes, which placed it in second place on the list of airlines with the most delays at Ben Gurion Airport. However, Bluebird Airways still tops the list of airlines with the most delays, partly because it flies to Greece, where there is unusual air traffic congestion. The company operated 183 takeoffs this week and recorded an unusual average delay of two hours and 40 minutes. In third place, TUS Airways recorded an average delay of 108 minutes. Ethiopian Airlines was the most punctual airline this week, with an average delay of 33 minutes on 25 takeoffs, followed by Air Baltic with an average delay of 42 minutes and Austrian with an average delay of 43 minutes.
Larnaca was the most preferred destination last week for those flying from Ben Gurion Airport, with 130 departures from Ben Gurion Airport, about 7% of all departures. In terms of punctuality, Addis Ababa was the leading destination, with an average delay of 33 minutes, followed by Dubai and Abu Dhabi with 47 minutes. On the other hand, Tbilisi was the destination with the highest average delay - 149 minutes, followed by Heraklion with 142 minutes, Barcelona with 134 minutes, Corfu with 127 minutes and Mykonos with 115 minutes.
