Wizz Air Expands Israeli Operations With 45 New Weekly Flights

Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air announced a significant expansion of its operations in Israel, adding 45 weekly flights from Ben Gurion Airport. The airline is relaunching five routes and increasing the frequency on 11 existing routes, aiming to boost seat capacity to European destinations and intensify competition.

The newly reinstated routes include Catania, Sicily, with four weekly flights; London Gatwick with five; Venice with three; and Cluj and Iasi in Romania, each with two weekly flights. Additionally, Wizz Air is increasing flight frequencies on popular routes: Budapest will see flights rise from 14 to 21 per week, Rome from 12 to 14, Milan from 7 to 14, and Bucharest from 11 to 14.

Further frequency increases are planned for Bratislava and Naples, both rising from 5 to 7 weekly flights. Sofia will go from 6 to 7 weekly flights, Varna from 2 to 3, Athens from 5 to 7, Vilnius from 2 to 4, and Warsaw from 4 to 5. These adjustments represent a total of 30 additional weekly flights across the 11 existing routes, plus 16 weekly flights on the five relaunched routes.

This expansion comes at a time when flight availability from Ben Gurion Airport has been impacted by the security situation and decisions by foreign airlines to scale back or suspend operations in Israel. Wizz Air's strengthened presence could help mitigate the reduced seat capacity to Europe caused by other carriers' cutbacks, offering passengers more flight options and increased frequency on popular routes. For airlines, this means heightened competition, particularly on routes where Wizz Air is significantly increasing its service.