After quite a few rumors and speculations regarding the establishment of a base of the low cost company Wizz Air in Israel, today the CEO of the Hungarian company, Joseph Varadi, arrived for a meeting with the heads of the Ministry of Transport and RTA. In the CEO’s statement after the meeting, he says: “Our plan is to establish a base in Israel in April.”
In a meeting with the Ministry of Transportation and the Civil Aviation Authority, Veradi announced that the company plans to invest about one billion dollars in Israel over the next three years, ten new and advanced aircraft will be installed, and the move is expected to create about 4,000 direct jobs and about 500 workers who will be absorbed directly by the Hungarian company, while the rest will be indirectly included in the Israeli economy. In addition, Varadi noted that the move will increase the number of passengers from three million a year to seven million in Israel.
At the same time, the Minister of Transportation, Miri Regev, exerts pressure on the operation of flights to Ramon Airport and offers significant concessions in the operating fees, up to an almost complete exemption, in order to encourage the company’s activity from the southern field. However, Varadi made it clear that “the main interest is the Natabh airport,” but he also noted that they are “very open to operating at Ramon Airport” and added: “There are almost two million citizens in the southern region that we want to bring into our aviation market.”
As a reminder, Wizz Air, the largest low-cost company operating in Israel these days (after Ryanair and EasyJet have not yet returned), looked into the possibility of establishing a (parent) base in Israel, so that it would be able to operate more flights from the country to many destinations in Europe and even to Dubai as it wanted. The meaning of the father in Israel means that the company’s planes will park here and the crews that operate the flights will also be here. In this way, the operation will be more convenient. Wizz Air has a number of such hubs in the world, such as in Malta for example, and recently they closed their hub in Abu Dhabi.
The visit takes place after months of discussions between the company, the Ministry of Transportation and the RTA, which led to a decision in principle to advance the construction of the base, but without a final agreement. Varadi is expected to issue an official statement later today.
Throughout the recent period, the move was accompanied by overwhelming opposition from the Israeli airlines, arguing that if Wizz Air were to open a parent in Israel, it would cause unfair competition since it would not be subject to strict security procedures like the other Israeli companies, which would give it a significant advantage in setting prices and routing its flights to various destinations. In addition, it will not be subject to committee agreements, which led to strong opposition from the Histadrut as well.
Attorney Eyal Yadin, chairman of the Histadrut Transport and Sea Ports Workers’ Union, appealed to the Minister of Transport and called for a halt to the promotion of the agreement until negotiations with the workers’ representatives are held. In his letter, Yedin warned that competitive benefits to a foreign company could damage the stability of Israeli companies and endanger thousands of their employees: “Employees of the aviation industry will not stand by while their livelihood and the future of their family is thrown into the basket in a hasty and hasty move,” he wrote. The Histadrut demand that the negotiations be conducted transparently with the workers, and warn that the promotion of the move without agreement may encounter difficulties.
In a letter sent by El Al to the Minister of Transportation at the time, it was stated that the move “carries a risk of substantial damage to Israeli airlines in particular and the State of Israel in general – and may entail negative consequences for national resilience and the safety of the Israeli public on flights to and from Israel.”
It should be noted that the idea of establishing a Wizz Air base in Israel came up several times in the past and each time it fell through.