Flying to Tel-aviv on a budget
Tel-aviv is a large city served by 2 airports in Israel. Across the city's airports, around 20 airlines operate roughly 139 documented route pairings, connecting Tel-aviv to approximately 26 direct destinations worldwide. For budget travellers, having multiple airports in one city is usually good news. Secondary airports tend to host the lowest-cost carriers and the cheapest fares, but the trade-off is a slower (and sometimes pricier) ground transfer to the city centre.
The cheapest combination of base fare plus ground transport almost never lives at the same airport. As a rule of thumb, fly into the most-served airport when you have luggage, late arrival times, or a fixed work meeting. Fly into the cheapest secondary airport when you are travelling light, have flexible plans, and are arriving mid-day with the buses still running. We break down the airports below in order of route volume, so you can quickly see which carriers and destinations each one specialises in.
Airports serving Tel-aviv
Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV)
Israel · 136 routes · 25 destinations
Sde Dov Airport (SDV)
Israel · 3 routes · 2 destinations
Tips for landing in Tel-aviv cheap
- Compare airports before booking. The headline-cheapest fare into the secondary airport is sometimes wiped out by a EUR 20+ ground transfer to the city centre.
- Check the last public-transport time. Late arrivals can force a pricey taxi if you miss the bus or train; verify against the inbound landing time, not the scheduled.
- Pre-book ground transport for arrival. A pre-paid bus ticket bought online is usually the cheapest predictable option; airport-counter taxi rates can run two to three times the metered fare.
- If you have multiple airports, fly in and out of different ones. Use Google Flights' multi-city search to capture the cheapest combination of one-ways across two airports.
- Watch for currency exchange traps. The airport bureaux are the worst place to change money; withdraw from a major-bank ATM in arrivals instead.
Top destinations from Tel-aviv
| Code | City | Country |
|---|---|---|
| ETH | Elat | Israel |
| FCO | Rome | Italy |
| AMS | Amsterdam | Netherlands |
| BCN | Barcelona | Spain |
| PRG | Prague | Czech Republic |
| SXF | Berlin | Germany |
| TBS | Tbilisi | Georgia |
| MUC | Munich | Germany |
| CDG | Paris | France |
| LCA | Larnaca | Cyprus |
| VIE | Vienna | Austria |
| MXP | Milano | Italy |
| WAW | Warsaw | Poland |
| GVA | Geneva | Switzerland |
| OTP | Bucharest | Romania |
| NCE | Nice | France |
| ATH | Athens | Greece |
| PHL | Philadelphia | United States |
| TXL | Berlin | Germany |
| YYZ | Toronto | Canada |
Airlines flying from Tel-aviv
United Feeder Service (U2)
United States · Budget
Air France (AF)
France
Lufthansa Cargo (LH)
Germany
Iberia Airlines (IB)
Spain
Air Berlin (AB)
Germany
Air Canada (AC)
Canada
Turkish Airlines (TK)
Turkey
Norwegian Air Shuttle (DY)
Norway · Budget
Aeroflot Russian Airlines (SU)
Russia
Wizz Air (W6)
Hungary · Budget
Transaero Airlines (UN)
Russia
Swiss International Air Lines (LX)
Switzerland
Aegean Airlines (A3)
Greece
Meridiana (IG)
Italy
Ukraine International Airlines (PS)
Ukraine
Tarom (RO)
Romania
Aircompany Yakutia (R3)
Russia
El Al Israel Airlines (LY)
Israel