20 August 2026
Ben Gurion Airport was thrown into chaos on Thursday after a wildcat labor strike shut down both check-ins and arrivals for more than an hour on what had been shaping up to be the busiest travel day of the year.
Staff left check-in counters unmanned and incoming flights were halted, causing massive delays after the Israel Airports Authority said the wildcat strike was called over workers’ complaints of insufficient personnel to handle the influx of passengers during the August vacation rush.
But the country’s umbrella labor union, the Histadrut, denied calling a strike and blamed the turmoil on persistent staffing shortages.
Employees had fully returned by 4 p.m., the airport said, though delays and crowding in the main terminal continued hours later, affecting tens of thousands of passengers, according to Hebrew media reports.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighed in on the dramatic developments, issuing a statement Thursday afternoon that “Ben Gurion Airport will continue to be open and operate as usual. Anyone who stands in the way will be sent home.”
The stoppage went into full force at 2 p.m. on Thursday after large crowds had already endured delays and uncertainty for several hours. The airport had been plagued for weeks by flight delays, lengthy waits at baggage claim, and other issues caused by the annual travel surge that the summer months bring. The situation at the airport has been further compounded by the presence of US refueling tankers, which have been parked there due to the conflict with Iran, taking up space usually used by commercial jets.
At 12:30 p.m., the Israel Airports Authority said in a statement that it was dealing with worker disruptions that were affecting operational activity and threatened to appeal to the Labor Court to prevent further work stoppages. At 2 p.m., however, the IAA announced that all arrivals would be halted and that departures would be slowed down due to a strike ordered by the labor union.
“Shutting down operations at Ben Gurion Airport at the height of the summer season is an extreme, difficult and unnecessary step, which primarily harms the public,” the IAA wrote in a statement. “Thousands of passengers, including children and families who planned their summer vacations for months, may find themselves without the possibility of going abroad or returning to Israel.”
The IAA then announced that operations were slated to resume gradually beginning at 3 p.m. An hour later, the IAA said that employees had “returned fully to work” following a conversation between the IAA chairman and the worker’s labor union, noting that ongoing delays were still likely throughout the day.
In addition, the IAA and labor union “agreed that a significant effort will be made to increase the scope of the workforce and respond to operational needs,” the airports authority said.
Many airline companies informed passengers that most flights will take off without their checked baggage loaded on in order to make up for the delays on Thursday.
Thursday was expected to be the busiest travel day of the past 12 months, with some 107,000 passengers expected to flow through the airport, and more than 600 scheduled takeoffs and landings.
Would-be passengers interviewed on TV news talked about debating how much of their belongings they could stuff into carry-on bags.
Before the IAA announcement, Hebrew media reported that an Air France flight had turned back while en route to Israel, with dozens of other planes expected to follow suit.
Despite the shutdowns at the airport, the transportation division of the umbrella Histadrut labor union denied issuing a work stoppage directive at Ben Gurion Airport and sought to redirect attention to personnel shortages there.
“The attempt to present the chaos at Ben Gurion Airport as the result of a ‘surprise strike’ misses the truth and diverts attention from the real failure: the grave personnel crisis and lack of sufficient preparation for the summer,” the union said.
“The writing was on the wall, warnings went unheeded and now the public is paying the price,” it continued. “Ben Gurion Airport workers are doing their utmost to keep the system running, but you can’t make a national airport run on the unending burnout of its workers.”
Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who is in Morocco on a “private” seven-day trip with top ministry officials that started Wednesday, said in response to the work stoppage that she had instructed the Airports Authority to immediately petition the Labor Court against the workers’ union “to force them to stop the illegal, bullying strike.”
“Anyone who decides to take tens of thousands of Israeli citizens hostage will pay a heavy price,” she said.
Regev, Netanyahu and top ministry officials had been at the airport on Wednesday, where they met with workers and passengers and were briefed on the airport’s operations during the busy summer travel season.
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