Ryanair plans to fly full summer schedule from Tel Aviv

By Klaus Lauer

BERLIN (Reuters) - Ryanair plans to operate a full schedule of flights from Tel Aviv this summer and is hopeful that Ben Gurion Airport will reopen its shuttered Terminal 1, senior executive Eddie Wilson said in an interview on Thursday.

Ryanair is one of a number of airlines to have withdrawn from Israel due to war in Gaza and Lebanon. It restarted flights from neighbouring Jordan in December.

"We rely on (European aviation regulator) EASA guidance ... but our view is that we will be back," said Wilson, chief executive of Ryanair DAC, the largest of five subsidiary airlines operated by the Ryanair Group.

"We've got a full schedule I think for Tel Aviv...so we will be back in there for the summer as I think most of the other airlines will be," Wilson said.

Asked about the reopening of Ben Gurion's Terminal 1, which is used by low-cost operators, Wilson said: "We would hope that they would take the sensible decision to open that."

Wilson, who was speaking in Berlin, said Ryanair planned to deploy two additional aircraft to regional airports in Germany this summer, offering 800,000 more seats.

But he said it would not reverse cuts of 1.8 million seats announced at bigger airports like Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig due to high airport charges.

"We will grow in Germany - it is just a question of when. And if it is not under this government, then it is under the next government," Wilson said, adding that Ryanair's German traffic could double to 34 million passengers in the medium term if access costs are cut.

Wilson declined to comment on current trading ahead of results on Jan. 27, but described European consumers as "remarkably resilient".

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer; Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Catarina Demony, Kirsten Donovan)