Wizz Air CEO József Váradi, is expected to land in Israel Thursday for a meeting with Transportation Minister Miri Regev and the Ministry's Director General Moshe Ben Zaken.
Váradi will be accompanied by senior company officials, including Communications head Andras Rado, who is coordinating a full media strategy for all possible scenarios.
The purpose of the meeting is to explore the possibility of Hungary's Wizz Air expanding into permanent and broad operations in Israel. During the talks, the company’s demands from Israel will be discussed, as well as what it offers in return.
However, the Transport and Port Workers Union of the Histadrut, Israel's leading labor federation, called on Minister Regev Thursday to cancel the meeting. According to the union, the move could severely harm local airlines and jeopardize the livelihoods of thousands of workers.
Attorney Eyal Yadin, who heads the union, stated, “Aviation workers will not stand idly by while their livelihoods and families' futures are thrown under the bus in a hasty, reckless move carried out with questionable timing and process.”
He further warned that advancing such a move with a foreign company without prior coordination with workers' representatives “may face obstacles,” and urged that the meeting be postponed until arrangements are made with the Histadrut.
In his letter, Yadin noted that Israeli airlines operate from Israel both in routine and emergency times and maintain vital routes regardless of profitability. He added, “The import of foreign labor and unfair competition capable of destroying them would be a disaster for generations.”
“This is not merely an economic issue but a fundamental component of national aviation security... Weakening these companies could reduce Israel’s independence in times of emergency and harm the country’s ability to function in extreme situations.”