The Ryanair Group has announced that it will return to Israel's largest airport, Tel Aviv (Ben Gurion), from June 3, 2024. However, to a very greatly reduced extent.

After Hamas' military attack against Israel, Ryanair initially suspended all flight connections to/from Tel Aviv and Eilat for security reasons. Subsequently, flights to neighboring Jordan (Aqaba and Amman) were also canceled. gradually suspended or greatly reduced. In the case of Aqaba and Amman, the reason is said to be that demand has plummeted.

Just a few weeks ago Ryanair Tel Aviv flights reactivated, but shortly afterwards rehired. The reason this time: Terminal 1 of the airport, which is mainly used by low-cost airlines, has been temporarily taken offline. All flights are currently operated in T3. However, there are higher fees for using this system Ryanair doesn't want to pay. Negotiations with the management of Tel Aviv Airport did not bring the desired result, so the Irish company decided to cut all connections. The competitor Wizz Air also asks its passengers to checkout in Terminal 3, which is pointed out during the booking process without specifying any specific amounts.

From June 3, 2024, Ryanair wants to offer flights to/from Tel Aviv again from Terminal 1, which is to be put back into operation. However, the offer is initially very thin, as the low-cost airline will initially only offer 40 flights per week. For the time being, flights to Tel Aviv are only planned from Athens, Bari, Berlin, Budapest, Malta, Milan and Paphos. This also means that Ryanair will not serve Israel flights from Vienna-Schwechat until further notice.

Not only the continued weak demand plays a role, but also the fact that the group of companies has now allocated capacity elsewhere. In addition, there will be fewer aircraft available in the summer of 2024 than originally planned. Boeing becomes essential Deliver fewer B737-Max-200s than contractually agreed, so Ryanair has to make cuts. This obviously also affects the Tel Aviv flight offer.

“It is great news that Ben Gurion Airport is reopening Terminal 1, allowing Ryanair to resume operations to Tel Aviv from Monday 3 June, with 40 weekly flights to/from key markets such as Cyprus, Germany , Greece and Italy, which can now be booked on ryanair.com,” said a Ryanair spokesman.