Ryanair has announced the addition of three new routes serving Malta in its winter schedule, serving Tel Aviv in Israel, Lisbon in Portugal and Parma in Italy.

The routes were announced on Thursday morning and will be operated by Ryanair’s Malta-based subsidiary airline, Malta Air.

Announcing the connections at a press conference also addressed by Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo and attended by Malta Tourism Authority CEO Johann Buttigieg, Malta Air’s CEO David O’Brien explained the new routes in this winter’s schedule will mean the airline has its most ever Malta routes.

The Tel Aviv route, which Mr O’Brien said was a highlight of the offerings, is expected to strengthen “business, tourism and cultural links” between Israel and Malta, serving as the only direct route between the destinations.

Ryanair is said to be expecting to serve its most ever Malta routes this winter – 62 – and most of which will be operated by Malta Air.

This equates to 12 new routes, and 155 weekly flights.

Tickets for the Tel Aviv route, Mr O’Brien said, will be available from under €20.