The number of air passengers travelling from Germany to Israel has fallen by 54.0% in the period since conflict broke out in the region, data from the German statistics office (Destatis) has found.
According to the data, which runs from October 2023 to August 2024, some 251,800 passengers flew from Germany to Israel in that period, compared to 547,800 in the corresponding period a year earlier.
On a month-on-month basis, the biggest decline in passenger numbers came in the month directly following Hamas’ incursion into Israel on 7 October 2023, with numbers down 79.0% in November and 74.3% in December.
While passenger numbers have increased slightly in the months since, there were still notable declines recorded, particularly in the summer months – in August 2024 the number of passengers heading to Israel fell by 66.7% compared to the same month of the previous year.
Middle East destinations
It’s not just Israel that is seeing a drop off in passenger numbers either – during the period, some 666,700 passengers took off from Germany’s main airports with a destination in Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Iran or Lebanon, which is a 33.6% decrease on the previous year.
The conflict has led to the closure of airspace in some areas, while many airlines were forced to cancel flights – flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut were particularly affected by transport challenges, as well as flights to Amman, Tehran and Erbil.
Between October 2023 and August 2024, the number of passengers traveling from Germany to Lebanon dropped significantly, with a 30.4% decline, while air traffic to Jordan also saw a decrease, falling by 15.2% to 87,000.
However, travel to other countries in the Middle East region experienced an increase. Passenger traffic to Iran rose by 4.7%, while travel to Iraq saw a 40.2% increase from the previous year. In July 2024, 15,200 guests flew from Germany to Iraq, more than twice as many as in July 2023. Read more here.
