The Israel Airports Authority (IAA) opens its new Concourse 4 at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport Terminal 3 today (18 March).

The Concourse itself (Wing E) officially opened on February 15 when a ribbon-cutting ceremony took place, but it has only been used for a few flights since to ensure everything runs smoothly.

It will be able to handle up to 1,800 more passengers per hour once fully operational (today) and facilitate the simultaneous departure of 32 aircraft on international flights.

The new passenger wing includes telescopic glass pathways, eight plane exit gates, shops, restaurants and a VIP lounge.

It will be able to accommodate many more arriving and departing flights.

LARGER DUTY FREE STORE

Israel Airports Authority Deputy Director General Commerce Business Development Yoram Shapira told TRBusiness: “We have increased the size of the last-minute duty free shop operated by JR Duty Free from 100sq m to 200sq m.”

He added: “Ideally, we want passengers to stay in the duty free area until the last minute. We only call them to the gates shortly before departure and don’t want them to sit there and do nothing.”

Last year around 20.8m passenger transited through Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport, a sharp increase from the 17.9m the previous year.

With Tel Aviv Ben Gurion expecting to handle 23m passengers in 2018 and set to be categorised among the world’s ‘large airports’ next year – this category includes airports with passenger traffic in excess of 25 million pax – the need for such new infrastructure is clear.

Shapira said: “The reason we have this new Concourse is because of the growth in traffic. We need even more openings like this. Infrastructure is always behind passenger growth.

“To build this kind of pier takes three years and traffic during this period has increased almost 35%. We need this pier and will need another [pier] no doubt about it.”

See the May edition of TRBusiness for the full interview with Israel Airports Authority Deputy Director General Commerce Business Development Yoram Shapira.