The significant presence of US military aircraft at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport is preventing a full return to normal commercial flight operations at Israel’s main international gateway, while also driving up operational costs for local airlines — expenses that aviation and industry officials warn will ultimately be passed on to travelers.
Amid continued regional tensions with Iran, Civil Aviation Authority head Shmuel Zakai warned defense and government officials that turning Ben Gurion Airport into a “US military base with limited commercial aircraft operations” is threatening the return of foreign airlines and harming the economic stability of Israeli airlines — a situation that is bound to lead to an increase in already-high airfares — according to a letter obtained by Israeli financial daily Calcalist.
In the letter, Zakai urged Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who is also a member of the security cabinet, to take action to evacuate some US military planes from Ben Gurion and move them to military airbases to free up parking space for commercial planes.
“It appears the defense establishment lacks sufficient understanding of the severity of the damage to civil aviation and the effect flight supply has on prices and on all citizens in the country,” Zakai wrote.
The Transportation Ministry was not available for comment when contacted by The Times of Israel.
The warning comes more than a month after a volatile US-Israel ceasefire with Iran came into effect and the country’s airspace was fully reopened. While Israeli airlines have been working to speed up the resumption of flight operations, most European airlines have continued their suspension of all flight services to and from Israel into May, and US carriers have pushed back their return to as far as September.
Illustrative: An El Al airplanes departs from the Ben Gurion International Airport during the US-Israel war with Iran. March 16, 2026. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)The delay in the return of foreign airlines is already reducing the supply of available flights and pushing up ticket prices in the runup to the peak summer season.
Ahead of the US-Israel war with Iran, which broke out on February 28 and led to the closure of Israeli airspace, local airlines moved their fleets out of the country to prevent them from being targeted by the Islamic Republic. Meanwhile, American refueling tankers arrived at Ben Gurion Airport as part of the US’s massive buildup of military forces in the Middle East.
At least 14 US refuelers have been deployed at Ben Gurion. In addition, another fleet of American refuelers and cargo planes is parked at Ovda Airbase in southern Israel.
Since the ceasefire announcement in early April and the reopening of Ben Gurion to normal civilian air traffic, local airlines – El Al, Arkia, and Israir – have not been able to bring back their entire fleet to the airport because of parking congestion caused by the presence of the US refueling tankers.
Speaking at a session of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee on Sunday, Israir CEO Uri Sirkis said the situation is making operations more expensive because of parking costs at airports outside of the country and is limiting the number of flights Israeli airlines can operate.
An American aircraft takes off from Ben Gurion Airport, during the Israel-US war with Iran, March 4, 2026. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)“We are currently allowed to have four overnight parking spaces at Ben Gurion airport because of the US planes and we were supposed to keep 17 planes in Israel,” said Sirkis. “This has a critical impact on our overall ability to operate flights.”
Sirkis explained that the situation affects the cost and logistical ability of operating, especially early-morning flights.
“If we have a scheduled a flight taking off from Tel Aviv to Rome at 5 a.m. and we don’t have an overnight parking space at Ben Gurion Airport, we need to park the plane in Rome, and carry out the schedule in reverse, meaning we need to take off from Rome to Tel Aviv,” Sirkis said.
Similarly, El Al has been forced to park some planes at nearby destinations in Greece and Cyprus on Fridays before Shabbat to keep the aircraft close enough to return to Ben Gurion Airport after Shabbat for long-haul Saturday-night departures to the US and Far East.
“There are still American planes that occupy parking spaces at Ben Gurion Airport,” said Shlomi Zafrany, El Al’s vice president for commercial and international relations. “There are operational and economic implications if an Israeli airline that has its base in Israel needs to operate from bases abroad, without any coordination with foreign authorities, and without matching slots.”