Low-cost Irish airline Ryanair will operate flights to 16 more destinations from Israel in October, according to the schedule on its website, in addition to the seven routes it is currently operating. This will make it the foreign airline in Israel with routes to the most destinations.
From October, Ryanair is set to offer flights from Tel Aviv to Brussels, Rome, Bologna, Naples, Venice, Turin, Marseilles, Baden Baden, Menningen, Vienna, Warsaw, Cracow, Poznan, Vilnius, Sofia and Thessaloniki.
Halting and relaunching flights
Ryanair halted flights from Israel after October 7 and resumed flights to selected destinations in February, only to halt them again several weeks later after Ben Gurion airport's refusal to reopen Terminal 1, which charges lower landing fees. Ryanair relaunched flights at the beginning of June when Terminal 1 was reopened with flights to Paphos, Athens, Bari, Milan, Berlin, Budapest and Malta.
In its latest financial results, published yesterday, Ryanair said that traffic is up 10% and airfares are down 15% from last year. "This summer, we're operating our largest-ever schedule with over 200 new routes (and five new bases) as we deliver as much low-fare growth as possible.
Ryanair said its fleet of 156 Boeing 737 Gamechangers would increase to 160 at the end of July.