Israel flies under rockets — but can Ukraine replicate this experience?

The issue of restoring civil air traffic in Ukraine has returned to public discussion. Against the backdrop of a full-scale war, such conversations are cautious but persistent: the Ukrainian aviation system is preparing for the future, and experts increasingly compare the possible Ukrainian scenario with Israel’s experience.

At first glance, Israel’s example indeed seems convincing. The country has lived under the threat of rocket attacks for decades, periodically facing escalations, yet Ben Gurion International Airport continues to be the country’s most important air gateway.

However, a direct comparison between Israel and Ukraine regarding civil aviation during wartime is much more complex than it seems. The Ukrainian case involves not only the threat of missile attacks but also a full-scale war against a state that uses cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, drones, aviation, and long-range weapons.

Why Israel’s example is important but not automatically replicable

Civil aviation expert, Ukrainian-American entrepreneur Mikhail Kurachenko explains on May 27, 2026: the mere fact that Israel continues to operate international flights during military crises does not mean that such a model can simply be transferred to Ukraine.

According to him, Israel demonstrates that civil aviation can operate even under constant threats. But this is only possible with several conditions simultaneously: multi-layered air defense, rapid threat response, clear coordination between military and civilian structures, and international carriers’ trust in the security system.

For Israel, this is not theory but long-standing practice. Ben Gurion Airport operates in a country where aviation security has long been part of the national infrastructure, not a separate crisis measure for escalations.

What Ben Gurion’s experience shows

Even after massive attacks by Hamas in 2023 and strikes by Yemeni Houthis in 2024–2025, Israel did not completely abandon international air traffic. Flights were reduced, some airlines temporarily canceled flights, pauses occurred after dangerous incidents, but the system continued to return to operation.

In May 2025, a strike near Ben Gurion Airport’s territory led to a brief halt in flights and the cancellation of some international flights. However, the airport’s operations were quickly restored.

This episode is often cited by proponents of gradually opening Ukraine’s skies. They see Israel as an example of a country that does not allow war to completely paralyze civil aviation.

But there is a fundamental difference here. Israel lives under high-risk conditions, but Ukraine’s skies are closed due to a war of a completely different scale. Ukraine faces not only the threat of isolated missile strikes but regular attacks across the entire country, including infrastructure, energy, logistics, and cities.

The main barrier for Ukraine is not only airports but also insurance

Kurachenko emphasizes: even if Ukraine technically prepares certain airports to receive passengers, that will not be enough. The decisive factor will be not only the safety of runways, terminals, and routes but also the insurance market’s willingness to take on risks.

An aircraft can be operational. An airport can undergo all preparation procedures. Air traffic control services can be ready to work.

But if international insurance companies do not agree to cover such flights, regular air traffic will not start. For an airline, flying into a high military risk zone is not only a matter of route but also a matter of legal, financial, and reputational responsibility.

That is why, in Ukraine’s case, security and insurance effectively become one knot. The skies cannot be opened by a political decision alone if airlines and insurers do not see a clear protection model.

Why Ukraine differs from Israel in the eyes of the aviation market

For international carriers and insurers, it is important not only to have air defense but also the nature of the threat. Israel has a unique protection system, established procedures, and long experience working under periodic escalations.

Ukraine, however, is in a state of full-scale war with Russia. This means a different level of uncertainty: the range of strikes, the scale of attacks, the intensity of drone and missile use, the risk of sudden changes in the situation.

For the Israeli audience, this nuance is especially understandable. Israelis know well that even a strong security system does not eliminate risk completely. It only makes it manageable — if the state, army, airports, airlines, and international partners act in one logic.

Ukraine must prove precisely this: that a certain air corridor or specific airport can be protected not just in words but in a real operational model.

Ukraine is preparing for an aviation future now

Despite closed skies, the Ukrainian aviation system is not on pause. One of the important signs of preparation for future flight restoration is the participation of ‘Ukraerorukh’ in the European Flight Centric ATC project within the SESAR program, related to the ‘Single European Sky’ concept.

The essence of the approach is to move away from the classical model, where airspace is divided into rigid sectors. Instead, a dispatcher accompanies a specific flight regardless of the sector’s geographical boundaries.

Such a system helps distribute the load between dispatchers more efficiently, build routes more flexibly, and reduce fuel consumption. For Ukraine, this does not mean the immediate opening of airspace, but it creates a basis for faster integration into the European aviation system after the active phase of the war ends.

In this context, НАновости — Новости Израиля | Nikk.Agency views Israel’s experience not as a ready-made instruction for Kyiv but as an important guideline: aviation during threats is possible only where security is turned into a system understandable not only to the state but also to external partners.

Which scenario looks most realistic

Most specialists cautiously assess the prospects for the rapid restoration of flights in Ukraine. The most discussed scenario remains the launch of a limited number of international flights from the western regions of the country.

This option theoretically looks more realistic because western Ukraine is further from the front line and closer to European transport infrastructure. But even in this case, a combination of several factors will be required: military guarantees, technical readiness of airports, coordination with international regulators, support from airlines, and insurance coverage.

Without this, the opening of the skies may remain a political statement rather than a working model.

At the same time, the preparation itself already matters. The deeper Ukraine integrates into European air traffic management standards now, the faster it will be able to restore full-fledged air traffic once safe conditions emerge.

What Israel can offer Ukraine as an example

Israel’s experience shows the main thing: civil aviation in wartime is possible, but only if the state can convince the market that the risk is controlled. For a passenger, this looks like a ticket, boarding, flight, and arrival. For the system, it is air defense, intelligence, dispatchers, crisis protocols, insurers, airlines, and trust in every link.

Ukraine can use this experience but not mechanically copy it. Different scales of territory, different types of threats, different intensities of war, and different geography of airspace make Ukraine’s task much more complex.

Nevertheless, the very fact that Kyiv continues to prepare for an aviation future is important. It indicates that Ukraine is thinking not only about surviving the war but also about returning to a normal economy, international mobility, and connection with the world.

For Israel, this topic is also not abstract. There is a direct interest: Ukrainian skies, the safety of international flights, connections between Israel and Ukraine, trips of repatriates, business, humanitarian routes, families on both sides of the border.

That is why the question is not a technical aviation detail but part of a broader picture: can Ukraine, while fighting Russia, create such a system of trust that international flights become possible again.