Wizz Air CEO: Plan to Establish Base in Israel by April

The CEO of Wizz Air arrived in Israel today and met with the Minister of Transportation and her professional team to promote the establishment of a local base for the Hungarian airline.

At a press conference held by Minister Regev, alongside Joseph Vardi, CEO of Wizz Air, Regev said, 'We just finished a very good meeting with my friend, the CEO of global low-cost giant Wizz Air, Joseph Vardi, and the professional teams. As you know, Israel is grappling with the high cost of living, and we are working through all channels to reduce the cost of living in the transportation sector in general, and this includes the aviation sector. The way to lower prices is through competition and creativity. This is what Israel did with the Open Skies reform, a move that proved itself successful and maintained the resilience of the Israeli companies, led to lower prices, and added destinations for the Israeli public. I respect and appreciate very much the Israeli companies that operate and operated during the crisis and provide a response to the citizens of the State of Israel and our security interests.'

Minister Regev continued, 'It's no secret that Israeli airlines have raised prices at the hardest moments for Israeli society, and this is a reality that cannot be accepted. We are committed to lowering prices, increasing seat supply, and improving service. I am in constant contact with the Israeli airlines. I am aware of the concerns of the workers' committees. We have had several meetings with the Histadrut, with the workers' committees, with the CEOs of the companies, and I promised that we will act on the one hand to increase competition, and on the other hand, we will do everything to protect the Israeli companies and the workers. During the meeting, various issues arose around promoting the establishment of the base, including renewing and increasing activity at Ben Gurion and Ramon airports. We have a great interest in turning Ramon into a lively and vibrant field - a field that will provide a solution for the citizens of the State of Israel living in the south, and I believe we can find a solution for this in the future.'

Minister Regev concluded, 'It was agreed that the professional teams will continue to bridge the gaps in the regulatory field, and towards the end of January, we will hold another meeting to summarize things, with the intention that Wizz will operate in Israel as soon as possible. I want to thank the CEO of Wizz and his team for their faith in the Israeli market. It's not self-evident in this period.'

Wizz Air CEO, Mr. Joseph Vardi, said: 'We are absolutely committed to implementing the idea of the base here in Israel, and we agreed to work between the two teams over the next two months, to try to finish our discussions and start solving some of the problems we face by the end of January, with the aim of starting to implement this idea in practice as soon as possible, and hopefully much sooner. Therefore, we are committed, we want to be perceived as your business partners. We strongly support your aspirations, we think you are doing the right thing and we think we can add value to this in the future. Thank you and your team for the support and trust you give us.'