Over 107,000 travelers cram through Ben Gurion Airport for High Holiday flights
Most popular destinations are New York, Thailand's Bangkok, and the grave of Rabbi Nachman in Ukraine
Over 107,000 people traveled through Ben Gurion Airport on Thursday on the year’s busiest day for travel, ahead of the coming High Holidays, Hadashot TV news reported.
Holiday-makers took off and arrived on around 650 flights, according to Israel Airport Authority (IAA) figures.
The network reported some 2.2 million people were expected to pass through Ben Gurion during the month of September, which this year includes the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot.
Of those flying from the airport Thursday, 18 percent were headed to Bangkok, 16% to New York, and 12% to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.
Uman, Ukraine, contains the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, an 18th-century Hasidic leader, whose burial site is a focal point of celebration at the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah.
The IAA on Tuesday warned of possible disruptions in flights to and from the country through the weekend due to a Russian military exercise in the eastern Mediterranean region.
However, no delays were reported in the days that followed. The Russian naval exercise is set to end on Saturday, according to Hebrew media reports.