According to figures released by the Israel Airports Authority (IAA), last month was the busiest July ever for passenger traffic through Ben Gurion Airport, with a 15% rise being recorded.  In the course of the full calendar month the airport had to process around 1.365 million passengers (this figure is inclusive of incoming and outbound travellers).  Busiest day was Thursday 28 July, when 373 incoming flights brought a total of 61,091 passengers — a little over 2,500 an hour. Predictions for the rest of the summer are high too.

The moral of this story is that, if you are a business traveller, it’s more important than ever to leave plenty of time to clear check-in, security and passport control.  Expect refreshment, bathroom facilities and duty-free shops to be more congested than usual and be prepared for that precious human resource — the friendly cooperation and good humour of overstretched groundstaff — to be rationed out a bit more thinly than usual.  Whatever you can do before you get to Ben Gurion, or after your flight departs — do it! And if you have arranged to be met, make sure your arrangements are clear and unambiguous.