Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline, today (28 Feb) called on Ben Gurion International Airport to reopen Terminal 1 to allow low fare air travel to resume to/from Tel Aviv. Ryanair, which resumed daily flights to Tel Aviv on 1^st Feb last, was forced by Ben Gurion International Airport to operate at the more expensive Terminal 3, which resulted in significantly higher costs and would have resulted in much higher air fares for Ryanair passengers travelling to/from Tel Aviv.

Ryanair requested Ben Gurion International Airport to apply its agreed Terminal 1 passenger charges to Ryanair flights on a temporary basis until they reopened Terminal 1, but Ben Gurion International Airport refused this request and insisted that Ryanair operate through the more expensive Terminal 3. As a result, Ryanair has suspended flights to/from Tel Aviv with effect from Tues, 27 Feb and these low fare flights will remain suspended until such time as Ben Gurion International Airport reopens its low-cost Terminal 1. Ryanair has written to Ben Gurion International Airport calling on them to confirm when Terminal 1 will reopen, which will allow Ryanair to resume selling low fare flights to and from Tel Aviv.

Ryanair DAC CEO, Eddie Wilson, said:

“We worked hard with the Israeli Govt and Ben Gurion International Airport to re-establish Ryanair’s low fare flights to/from Tel Aviv on 1^st Feb last. We were deeply disappointed by Ben Gurion International Airport’s refusal to reopen the low-cost Terminal 1 where Ryanair normally operates. We don’t mind if the airport forces us to put Ryanair flights through Terminal 3 on an interim basis because of the large decline in traffic to/from Tel Aviv, but this should be done on the agreed Terminal 1 prices, not Terminal 3 prices.

Ryanair wishes to support Ben Gurion International Airport and the recovery of air travel to/from Israel, but we cannot do so, or ask our passengers to pay higher air fares while Ben Gurion International Airport keep the low-cost Terminal 1 closed and force our flights into the high-cost Terminal 3, charging fees which were never agreed by Ryanair.

We call again on Ben Gurion International Airport to confirm a date when the lower cost Terminal 1 facility will be reopened, which will allow Ryanair to resume selling low fare flights to/from Tel Aviv which have done so much to grow air travel and tourism for Israel.”