First Rescue Flights Bring Israelis Home as Ben Gurion Reopens

Ben Gurion Airport reopened to limited civilian flights Thursday morning as the first repatriation aircraft began returning Israelis stranded abroad after five days of wartime closure. The reopening marks the first stage of a tightly controlled repatriation operation coordinated by Israeli airlines, the Israel Airports Authority, and security agencies.

An El Al flight from Athens touched down at 6:05 a.m., followed minutes later by an Israir flight from Rome, marking the start of a coordinated national effort to bring Israelis home after the country shut its airspace at the start of the U.S.–Israeli air campaign against Iran.

“This is a significant and moving moment for all of us, after five days during which the country’s skies were closed to commercial flights. We are proud to bring you back to Israel,” the pilot told passengers before the flight departed for Tel Aviv.

Israeli officials estimate that roughly 100,000 Israelis were stranded abroad when the airspace closed, while El Al alone is working to bring back about 40,000 of its passengers whose flights were canceled during the conflict.

Flights resumed even as Iranian missile attacks continued Thursday morning. At one point, an approaching repatriation flight was forced to abort its landing when air-raid sirens sounded across central Israel, briefly halting airport operations before arrivals resumed.

Israeli airlines are now preparing dozens of rescue flights from cities across Europe, North America, and Asia as the recovery effort expands.

“El Al’s first recovery flight landed at Ben-Gurion Airport a short time ago, marking the official launch of the operation to return the airline’s customers to Israel,” the airline said in a statement.

“The recovery flights and EL AL’s operational readiness for this mission are made possible thanks to the company’s dedicated employees, its pilots, maintenance crews, and ground and cabin teams - who have been working around the clock since the war began.”

Under the current framework, only one passenger flight per hour is permitted to land during the initial stage of the reopening, with a maximum of 50 passengers on each plane and no checked luggage permitted. Authorities are planning to gradually increase the pace as security conditions allow.

Passengers arriving at Ben Gurion are required to leave the terminal quickly after passing security and collecting their luggage. Buses and Israel Railways services have been prepared to transport arrivals away from the airport rapidly due to the continuing threat of Iranian missile strikes.

In the coming days, El Al plans to operate recovery flights from 22 destinations worldwide, including New York, Miami, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Bangkok, and other major international hubs. Repatriation flights are expected to continue through the weekend as airlines work through the backlog of stranded travelers. El Al said it asked authorities coordinating the operation to schedule flights before and after Shabbat so the airline can operate its full fleet while maintaining its policy of not flying on Shabbat.

At the same time, Israel is preparing to gradually reopen outbound travel as the situation stabilizes. “After assessing the situation, we have made the decision to open the skies starting Sunday for outbound flights, subject to security developments,” Regev said in a statement.

Israel Airports Authority officials estimate that if the operation proceeds as planned, it may be possible to return all stranded Israelis within about 10 days.