Ryanair customers who bought tickets for the Irish low-cost carrier's range of routes from Tel Aviv have been liable recently to find their flights being canceled. For example, an Israeli customer who bought a ticket for a Ryanair Tel Aviv - Budapest flight for the end of May was recently informed that the flight had been canceled. The airline offered a refund, as required by Israeli law, or the option of changing the ticket to an alternative destination. The customer was not the only one, more and more Ryanair customers have received similar cancellations of their flights.
Ryanair told "Globes" on the matter, "At a time when Ryanair continues to show a significant presence in its aviation activities in Tel Aviv, we have been forced to make some changes in our schedules as a result of the country's continual policies and restrictions for entry at Ben Gurion airport. Our customers from Israel can book flights to the more than 20 destinations to which the company operates from Tel Aviv and we hope we can expand their number after the government will decide to reopen Terminal 1 to activities. Opening Terminal 1 will allow and support the recovery of the local economy, including jobs in the tourist industry."
In regular times, Terminal 1 at Ben Gurion airport was dedicated to low-cost carriers flights with the cost of landing fees much lower there. Domestic flights to Ramon airport near Eilat also operate from Terminal 1. The terminal was shut down at the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020 and is currently serving as backup for airlines while temporary work is being carried out to upgrade the baggage checking systems at Terminal 3.
Ryanair is one of the busiest airlines operating in Israel. In 2021 it was the strongest foreign airline operating in Israel, flying 512,000 passengers, representing 8.5% of all passenger traffic at Ben Gurion airport. Israir had 363,000 passengers in 2021.
Ryanair operates flights to destinations throughout Europe and adds flights at weekends on holidays with both El Al unit Sun' D'Or and Israir no longer operating flights on Shabbat.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 3, 2022.
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