The ending Gregorian year has been a record-breaking one at Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport, with over 20 million passengers passing through, showing an increase of 3 million passengers from 2016. Officials predict that by 2022, that number will reach 30 million per year.

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz adds the current reality is 50% higher than 2013, when there were 13 million passengers. There has also been a significant increase in the number of airlines servicing the airport, an increase of 30% to 140.

Billions of shekels are being allocated to future improvements and infrastructure to keep up with the growing number of passengers. Top overseas destinations in the outgoing year include Istanbul, Paris, New York, Moscow, London, Rome and Kiev.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)