Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost airline, said on Thursday that it intends to resume flights to and from Israel beginning February 1 after it swiftly suspended operations in the country following the deadly Hamas terrorist attack in southern Israel last October.
Like other European carriers that have already resumed flights to Israel, Ryanair does not immediately plan to operate its full 2023 schedule and will initially only fly from five European cities to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport.
The reduced schedule will see Ryanair fly to Israel from Karlsruhe/Baden Baden, Marseilles, Memmingen, Milan, and Vienna, with more routes to be announced at a later date.
Germany’s Lufthansa Group was the first European airline company to announce its return to Israel following the October 7 terrorist attacks. Lufthansa, Austrian and SWISS have been flying to Israel since January 8 but total capacity remains at just 30% of 2023 levels.
Athens-based Aegean has also already restarted flights to Israel, while the Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air says it is planning to resume Israel flights on March 1. Air France will resume its flights from January 24 but its sister company, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, hasn’t yet announced a restart date.
Ryanair cited the latest advice from European air safety regulators for its decision to resume flights to Israel. The European Air Safety Agency (EASA) said last month that it was satisfied that Israel was “actively managing the risks to civil aviation in its airspace and at its main airport”.
“It is therefore considered that those risks are, for the time being, effectively managed and mitigated by the Israeli State authorities,” the agency explained.
EASA did, however, warn of the “potential for escalation in armed clashes” which could impact air safety throughout the region.
Airlines that have or are planning to resume operations in Israel are able to operate ‘turnaround’ flights in which the aircraft remains on the ground in Tel Aviv for only a short period with crew remaining onboard.
