Budget airline Ryanair announces new Tel-Aviv-Rome route

Published: JULY 27, 2017 17:47

Updated: JULY 27, 2017 23:11

A Ryanair airplane (photo credit: REUTERS) — A Ryanair airplane

(photo credit: REUTERS)

The low-cost airline will add the flights to its winter schedule.

Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair will add flights connecting Ben-Gurion Airport and Rome to its winter 2017 schedule, the company announced on Thursday.

With the addition of daily flights from Rome, Ryanair will be flying between Tel Aviv and eight Europe destinations this winter: Baden Baden (twice weekly), Gdansk (twice weekly), Krakow (twice weekly), Milan Bergamo (four times weekly), Paphos, Cyprus (daily), Poznan (twice weekly), Rome (daily) and Wroclaw (twice weekly). The company projects serving some 330,000 customers each year on these 28 weekly flights.

Ryanair is opening the new route to Rome with the support of the Tourism Ministry.

“I am pleased that the collaboration between the Israel Tourism Ministry and the giant airline company Ryanair has intensified,” said Tourism Minister Yariv Levin. “Ryanair – which has identified the upward trend in incoming tourism to Israel – has expressed a great vote of confidence in the Israeli tourism product and is continuing to open new routes into Israel.”

Thursday’s announcement follows the company’s decision in May to add two routes to Eilat’s Uvda Airport for winter 2017, from the German cities of Bremen and Düsseldorf. Ryanair will connect Eilat with 14 European cities this winter.

Ryanair’s increased presence “serves as testament to the substantial improvement in Israel’s attractiveness as a tourism destination,” Levin said.

“This improvement finds its expression in the 28% increase in tourist entries from Italy to Israel, and in the record number of tourists visiting Israel from round the world that we have seen in recent months,” the minister said.

Israeli consumers and visitors to Israel are now also being included in Ryanair’s “Always Getting Better” program, which enables travelers to purchase connecting flights and long haul Air Europa flights through Ryanair’s website, said David O’Brien, the company’s chief commercial officer.

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“We look forward to continuing to work with Minister Levin and his team to bring even more new routes to Israel in the coming years,” O’Brien said.

To celebrate the launch of the Tel Aviv-Rome route, Ryanair is now releasing tickets from €16.99, available for booking until midnight on Sunday, July 30.