In Wizz Air’s October schedule, the airline suspended more than 270 weekly flights to Israel, affecting 14 flights from Hungary.
Wizz Air announced on 7 October that it had suspended its flights between Budapest, Debrecen and Tel Aviv due to the Israeli air attacks, in coordination with local and international authorities.
According to Wizz Air, in case of flight cancellations, affected passengers can choose between free rescheduling, a 100 per cent refund of the ticket purchase price, or a 120 per cent WIZZ credit on the original fare.
Passengers with valid reservations who have not yet received information about flight cancellations can proactively request ticket cancellations, allowing them to receive a 100 per cent refund according to the original payment method or WIZZ credit. Wizz Air currently cancelled flights to Israel until 15 November but is continuously reviewing the situation. The airline is in constant contact with Israeli, Hungarian, and international authorities, monitoring the events in Israel.
The airline emphasized that the safety of passengers, crew, and aircraft remains the top priority for Wizz Air.
Wizz Air will resume flights when they deem flying to be safe.
As Hungarian Conservative previously reported, due to the recent outbreak of violence in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, European airlines have been forced to cancel or suspend their flights to Israel. This development has triggered a drop in airline stock prices and raised concerns among investors. Notably, Wizz Air, among others, has halted its flights to Tel Aviv, significantly impacting its operations to and from Israel. However, some airlines, like Ryanair and El Al, are still operating flights to Israel amid the ongoing conflict.
At a press conference held on 25 October, CEO of Debrecen International Airport Tamás Király mentioned that the suspension of Wizz Air’s flights to Tel Aviv affects a considerable number of passengers. According to the winter schedule, there were flights departing from Debrecen to Tel Aviv three times a week, each with 180 passengers. These flights were almost always fully booked. In November, flights from Debrecen to Tel Aviv will not operate for certain, but the airport and the airline hope that regular traffic between the two cities can be restored as early as December.
The Mayor of Debrecen emphasized the need for local airport development to accommodate the increasing number of passengers. László Papp announced that recent enhancements include the deployment of two new dual-view hand luggage X-ray scanning devices, which have increased throughput capacity at security checkpoints by 30 per cent. Baggage screening improvements using modern equipment will also yield a 50 per cent capacity expansion in this area.
Mayor Papp also revealed that the tender for expanding the passenger terminal was published in the EU Official Journal on Tuesday. The expansion project will incorporate the current terminal’s atriums and introduce two additional hand luggage scanning lines similar to the existing ones.
Additionally, Tamás Király announced that Wizz Air will launch new flights from Debrecen to Hurghada from Sunday and to Rome from 13 December, offering twice-weekly services. These flights will further contribute to this year’s approximately 300,000 passengers, representing nearly a 50 per cent growth compared to the previous year.
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Sources: Hungarian Conservative/Wizz Air/MTI
