Low-cost carrier Wizz Air will offer 1.5 million seats from Doncaster Sheffield airport next summer (April-October 2022) – one million more than it did in summer 2019.
Additional new routes are now on sale for next summer to destinations in Spain, Turkey, Portugal, Bulgaria and Crete.
The hike in capacity is part of a new deal between the airline and airport, which hope to further increase services to holiday destinations in future years.
Wizz Air will have 250,000 seats on sale for winter (November 2021-March 2022), with flights to the Canary Islands, Cyprus and cities in Latvia and Poland.
It said it is already seeing an increase in bookings for October half-term and summer 2022.
Marion Geoffroy, Wizz Air UK managing director, said: “Our intention is to further enhance our operations at DSA by growing a based operation of scale here in the coming years, providing even more ultra-low fares to local customers to an exciting range of destinations across western and eastern Europe, and perhaps beyond. This is great news for the local economy, both in terms of jobs and inward investment.
“Wizz Air has defied the industry-wide downturn with the expansion of operations in the UK, including the launch of two new bases in the past year.
“With the addition of a number of A321 neo aircraft to the fleet in summer 2022, we are focused on accelerating growth over the coming years.”
Kate Stow, director of aviation development and corporate affairs at Doncaster Sheffield, said: “This new deal with Wizz Air is wonderful news for our customers across Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Nottinghamshire, offering them a greater choice of ultra-low-cost flights to more destinations from one of the fastest growing airports in the UK, now and into the future.
“Our projected growth of +56% next year versus the trading period prior to the pandemic means we’ve bucked the industry trend.”
Picture: Shaun Flannery/shaunflanneryphotography.com