Busiest August ever at BG Airport

Last month marked the busiest August in the history of Ben-Gurion Airport, the airport's managing director, Zeev Sarig, announced Sunday. The record numbers were driven by international passenger traffic, which rose 29.5 percent over the previous August, when incoming tourism suffered a heavy hit during the final weeks of the Second Lebanon War.

In total, some 1,300,131 international travelers passed through Ben-Gurion on 8,136 flights last month. Domestic travel was down 7.85% for the month in comparison to the previous year, with 31,358 passengers traveling to and from Israeli destinations via Ben-Gurion.

Israeli airlines delivered 45% of Ben-Gurion's travelers to their destinations, an increase of 14.43% over the previous August. Turkey was the most common destination for passengers flying through Ben-Gurion, with just over 194,000 - or 15% of all travelers - departing to or from the popular summer vacation spot. Anatalya, the southern Turkish resort town, processed 128,804 travelers flying to and from Ben-Gurion, an increase of 72.9% over August 2006.

Jerusalem Post, Israel