The Israeli government has proceeded with allowing foreign operators to park their aircraft overnight at Israeli airports, including Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV), which will pave the way for Wizz Air to open a base at TLV. The low-cost carrier previously expressed hope it would be able to do so in March or April 2026.

Foreign bases in Israel

The Israeli government confirmed the decision to allow foreign carriers to base their aircraft in the country on February 12. According to Ynet, representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, several ministries, and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA, רשות התעופה האזרחית) attended the meeting, where the measure was approved.

Now, “technical and registration procedure remains to be completed,” Ynet reported.

In November 2025, during a visit to the country, József Váradi, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Wizz Air, told The Times of Israel that the low-cost carrier hopes to establish a base at TLV in March or April 2026.

Already in 2025, Wizz Air was the fourth-largest airline by passengers carried to/from TLV, welcoming over 1.2 million travelers, compared to just over 640,000 in 2024, according to IAA data.

In 2026, Wizz Air will offer 1.7 million departing seats from TLV, making it the second-largest airline at the airport, per Cirium’s Diio Mi.

Undoubtedly, having the ability to operate early morning departures from TLV will improve Wizz Air’s competitiveness against local carriers, including the country’s flag carrier, EL AL.

In September 2025, Ryanair confirmed that it would not fly from/to TLV during the winter 2024/2025 season, after the IAA refused to confirm the airline’s historic summer 2026 season slots, as well as affirm that during any disruptions, Ryanair’s flights would continue operating from the low-cost Terminal 1, and not Terminal 3.

“Low-fare seats that were sold by Ryanair on the basis of low-cost T1 facilities were rendered loss-making, due to the high costs in T3.”

Cirium’s Diio Mi shows that Ryanair has not scheduled any flights from/to TLV in 2026 and had only flights from the airport in March, April, and May 2025, carrying 118,500 passengers, despite scheduling over 197,000 seats from/to the airport during the three-month period.

Opposition to Wizz Air's base at TLV

However, not everybody is happy about the decision. In a meeting on February 16, 2026, representatives from Arkia, EL AL, and Israir, as well as the Israel Airports Authority (IAA), conferred with officials from Histadrut, the General Federation of Labour in Israel, raising concerns about Wizz Air’s expansion plans in the country.

According to a report by Davar, an Israeli media outlet focused on labor issues, Roy Yaakov, the Acting Chairman of Histradut, said that the move to allow foreign airlines to establish bases in the country “will significantly harm the national interests of the State of Israel.”

Yaakov added that while he wants to promote competition, it should be fair, and not hide behind slogans. Eyal Yadin, the Chairman of the Transport and Seaports Workers Union, continued that a foreign airline establishing a base in Israel “is an attempt to bypass the rules and create unfair competition at the expense of the public, the workers, and the Israeli companies.”

“The unprofessional decision to favor a Hungarian company, without any security standard, that will employ only foreign workers and pay taxes in a country other than Israel, certainly will not lead to lower flight prices.”

Yadin added that the union will take action to ensure that Israeli airlines remain the priority, since in a crisis, they can be relied upon, with the labor organizations expressing disdain that the move to allow non-domestic carriers to base aircraft in Israel disregards the efforts of Israeli airlines’ employees who kept the country connected during the pandemic and after the breakout of the war in Gaza.