Ryanair Shuns Tel Aviv Return As Rival Wizz Air Doubles Down

European low-cost giant Ryanair will not resume its flights to Tel Aviv, Israel, this winter, unless Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) provides the carrier with assurances regarding the terminal and historic slot retention. Meanwhile, rival airline Wizz Air plans to capitalize on Ryanair’s absence and boost its presence in Israel’s largest city by offering one million seats for the 2025/26 winter season.

Ryanair’s services to Tel Aviv were repeatedly disrupted over the summer due to security concerns regarding the country’s airspace in the wake of the Israel-Gaza war. The low-cost carrier is now unwilling to restart what it describes as “loss-making flights” to the city without assurances that it will retain its historic slots and continue operating from low-cost Terminal 1 rather than the higher-cost Terminal 3.

Tel Aviv Will Lose Ryanair’s 22 Routes This Winter

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Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) is set to lose Ryanair’s 22 planned routes for winter, as the carrier has confirmed it will not resume operations from Tel Aviv. The Irish budget airline said in a statement that the airport’s decision to close low-fare Terminal 1 and “force Ryanair into high-cost” Terminal 3 has rendered the routes loss-making, since low-fare seats had been sold based on operating from Terminal 1.

Ryanair has plans to resume flights to Tel Aviv in summer 2026, with schedules for that season already on sale. However, the airline says it cannot operate during the winter without guarantees over its historic slots. Despite Ryanair maintaining these slots through the pandemic and past security disruptions, TLV has refused to confirm them for summer 2026 or guarantee that Terminal 1 will remain open, the carrier said. Commenting on the situation, a spokesperson for Ryanair said:

“We are not willing to restart loss-making flights to/from Tel Aviv for the winter season, without the certainty that our summer 2026 historic slots have been confirmed. It is also unacceptable to Ryanair and our low-fare, price sensitive passengers, that our growth at Tel Aviv Airport is dependent upon the availability of the low-cost T1 facility. Should Ben Gurion wish to confirm our summer 2026 slots and confirm that they will honour our low-cost T1 agreement, then we will look forward to returning to Tel Aviv with Ryanair’s services.”

Wizz Air Boosts Tel Aviv Capacity By 240%

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Unlike Ryanair, Hungary’s Wizz Air will expand its presence in Tel Aviv during the 2025/26 winter season. The low-cost carrier plans to offer one million seats across 18 direct routes to and from the city. This will result in a capacity increase of 240% compared to the previous winter season.

Tel Aviv will be connected with many European cities, including Budapest, Bucharest, Iași, Cluj-Napoca, Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, Naples, Venice, Sofia, Varna, Larnaca, Athens, Thessaloniki, London Luton, Vienna, Warsaw, Kraków, and Vilnius.

Wizz Air services were also disrupted over the summer due to security concerns. However, the budget carrier resumed operations on August 8, 2025. Like Ryanair, Wizz Air was forced to operate some flights from Terminal 3 instead of Terminal 1. This shift was caused by the drop in international flights following the events of October 7, 2023, which made it less viable to keep Terminal 1 open.

The Latest With Plans To Open A Base

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The news about increasing winter capacity at TLV comes as Wizz Air aims to open a new operating base in Israel. The plan to open a new base in the region could make sense, as Wizz Air is likely looking for other Middle East growth opportunities after shutting down the Abu Dhabi base. Wizz Air aims to establish a base at Ben Gurion and significantly expand its Israel operations, with sources indicating that this could involve up to 30 daily flights.

While Israel’s Transport Ministry is in favor of the move, the country’s Civil Aviation Authority and its national airlines have voiced their opposition. Indeed, these plans came under fire from Israeli-based airlines El Al, Israir, and Arkia Airlines. The three airlines believe that this will cause ‘substantial harm’ to both Israeli airlines and the country itself, with El Al sending a letter to Israeli authorities.

It argued that allowing Wizz to establish a base in Tel Aviv would have a detrimental impact on ‘national resilience’ and the general safety of the public. El Al also cited the fact that only Israeli airlines maintained operations in and out of the country during recent outbreaks of conflict, whereas foreign carriers had abandoned their services. It also said that Israel’s carriers have to bear the cost of stricter security requirements, an overhead that most foreign airlines do not have to meet.