Ben Gurion International Airport: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

David Ben-Gurion International Airport, located near Lod, 15 km southeast of Tel Aviv, is the largest international airport in Israel. The airport's IATA airport code is TLV, and its ICAO airport code is LLBG.

The airport, named after Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion, is the hub of El Al Israel Airlines. During the 1980s and 1990s, it was a focus city of the now-defunct Tower Air.

The current terminal (Terminal 1) and runways were built by the administration of the British Mandate of Palestine from 1935 to 1939. Since then, the terminal building was constantly extended by the Israel Airports Authority. On November 12th 2004, a new ultra modern terminal (Terminal 3) is due to open. The new terminal has been under construction since 1997 and is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Israel. It is built to increase capacity from 9 million passagers a year to 16 million.

Ben Gurion has long been a target of Palestinian terrorist groups, and so among the many terrorist attempts, in 1985, a TWA Boeing 727 flying from Tel-Aviv to Rome was hijacked and forced to fly to Beirut. The plane carried many American and Israeli passengers, and one US Marine died, when the Delta Force stormed the plane.

On May 30, 1972, 26 people (including 2 terrorists) were killed and 80 injured in an attack by the Japanese Red Army in the passenger arrival area. The victims included Aharon Katzir, a prominent protein biophysicist, and a group of 20 Puerto Rican tourists who had just arrived in Israel

Airlines flying to Ben-Gurion International Airport include:

• Adria Airways
• Aegean Cronus Airlines
• Aeris
• Aeroflot
• Air Adriatic
• Air Alfa
• Air Anatoylia
• Air Canada
• Air France
• Air Kazakhstan
• Air Sinai
• Air Slovakia
• Airzena Georgian Airlines
• Alitalia
• Arkia Israel Airlines
• Aero Sweet
• Atlas International Airlines
• Austrian Airlines
• Azerbaijan Airlines
• Balkan Bulgarian Airlines
• Belavia
• BH Air
• Blue Panorama
• Bosphorus Airlines
• British Airways
• Bulgarian Air Charter
• Continental Airlines
• Croatia Airlines
• Cyprus Airways
• CSA Czech Airlines
• Dalavia-Far East Airways
• Dutch Bird
• El Al
• Ethiopian Airlines
• Eurofly
• Finnair
• Fischer Air
• Free Bird Airlines
• Futura
• Helios Airlines
• Hemus Air
• Iberia
• Israir
• Jat Airways
• Kavmindvodyavia
• KLM
• Latpass Airlines
• Lithuanian Airlines
• LOT Polish Airlines
• Lufthansa
• Malev
• MNG Airlines
• Monarch Airlines
• Northwest Airlines
• Olympic Airways
• Onurair
• Pulkovo Aviation
• Royal Jordanian
• Saratov Airlines
• Siberia Airlines
• Sky Airlines
• South African Airways
• Spanair
• Sun Dor International Airlines
• Sun Express
• Swiss International Air Lines
• Tandem Aereo
• Tarom Romanian
• Thai Airways
• Transaero
• Transavia
• Travel Service Budapest
• Travel Servis
• Turkish Airlines
• Ural Air
• Uzbekistan Air

Geography and Location

Aerial map