Ben Gurion Airport to reopen extremely limited Monday; 150,000 stranded

Ben Gurion Airport said on its WhatsApp channel it "expects to reopen as early as Monday evening in an 'extremely limited format'." The announcement came as Israeli authorities signaled a phased return of operations after a weekend closure of the country’s airspace that left more than 150,000 Israelis stranded abroad.

The closure began on Saturday after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran prompted retaliatory missile salvos targeting Israel. The military has been monitoring missile activity and wider regional risks as it weighs whether and when to expand civilian flights. The IDF Home Front Command said there was "a leaning toward reopening Ben-Gurion Airport and Israeli airspace late Monday evening or Tuesday morning," but warned that "the situation is dynamic and could evolve depending on threats from Iran and Hezbollah, and also whether the Yemen's Houthis get involved, though they have not yet."

Authorities cautioned that any restart will be tightly constrained by security assessments. Starting Tuesday, "flight operations will gradually expand depending on the security situation, and initially only Israeli carriers are expected to operate." Transportation Minister Miri Regev said she had directed Civil Aviation Authority head Shmuel Zakay to meet with Israeli airlines so they are prepared for a phased return of service. "I have instructed Civil Aviation Authority head Shmuel Zakay to meet with Israeli airlines so that they are prepared for the opening of the skies in a phased manner starting next week — all of this, of course, in accordance with security developments."

Airlines and border operators have already mobilized contingency plans to bring citizens home. Israel’s flag carrier is preparing to operate flights from 22 destinations across Europe, the United States and Asia to repatriate tens of thousands of passengers. Smaller carriers have opened alternative routes: Arkia launched flights using an Electra Airways Airbus A320 between Athens and Egypt’s Taba Airport, and will add Taba services in response to demand from Rome, Larnaca, Bucharest and Sofia. Israir and other carriers are likewise running shuttle services to the Egyptian border.

Ground logistics have also been arranged to move returning passengers across the land border into Israel. The Taba border crossing will be open 24 hours, crossings to and from Jordan will operate during day and evening hours, and Egged buses are waiting at the Taba terminal to transport travelers to central bus stations in Eilat and Beersheba, to the Ben Gurion parking lot, and to Tel Aviv.

The security backdrop remains volatile. The military has reported that recent missile salvos were more synchronized than earlier strikes, with "most of the salvos" ranging "between nine to 30 missiles at a time," a pattern the IDF compared to the later days of the June 2025 Israel-Iran war. An initial probe into a missile strike in Beit Shemesh on March 2 found that the projectile's trajectory may have changed or suffered a defect that caused it to hit earlier than air-defense projections indicated.

Officials say passenger safety is the guiding metric for reopening and for any subsequent expansion of flights. Authorities are monitoring conditions closely "to ensure the safety of passengers and air traffic," and have made clear that operational plans will be adjusted in real time as the security picture evolves.