diff --git a/pyiceberg/catalog/sql.py b/pyiceberg/catalog/sql.py
index 9436e208ca..62a2dac54a 100644
--- a/pyiceberg/catalog/sql.py
+++ b/pyiceberg/catalog/sql.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
     union,
     update,
 )
-from sqlalchemy.exc import IntegrityError, NoResultFound, OperationalError
+from sqlalchemy.exc import IntegrityError, NoResultFound, OperationalError, ProgrammingError
 from sqlalchemy.orm import (
     DeclarativeBase,
     Mapped,
@@ -112,7 +112,10 @@ def _ensure_tables_exist(self) -> None:
                 stmt = select(1).select_from(table)
                 try:
                     session.scalar(stmt)
-                except OperationalError:
+                except (
+                    OperationalError,
+                    ProgrammingError,
+                ):  # sqlalchemy returns OperationalError in case of sqlite and ProgrammingError with postgres.
                     self.create_tables()
                     return