Wizz Air plans to launch services on 14 new routes from Gatwick following its acquisition of former Norwegian Air slots at the airport announced yesterday.
UK-based Wizz Air UK will fly from Gatwick to Faro, Palma, Funchal and Tel Aviv from late March and to Larnaca, Chania, Mykonos, Catania and Podgorica from early April.
At the same time, Wizz Air Hungary will launch services to Gatwick from Milan, Rome, Vienna, Bari and Naples – all starting in late March.
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Wizz confirmed on December 22 that it had acquired 15 daily slot pairs at Gatwick for an undisclosed amount and would base an additional four A321neo aircraft at the airport, expanding its Gatwick-based fleet to five.
The carrier is also challenging the pandemic-related waiver of use-it-or-lose-it slot rules at Gatwick and other regulated airports in Europe.
The Gatwick slots became available after Norwegian Air closed its base at the airport and slimmed down drastically to avoid collapse.
Wizz already operates to Malaga and Athens from Gatwick, but Luton remains the carrier’s principal UK base.
Marion Geoffroy, Wizz air UK managing director, said: “We’re delighted to be launching a host of new routes from Gatwick, following our acquisition of new slots at the airport.
“These new routes are evidence of our commitment to providing low-fare connectivity to our UK customers.”
Gatwick Airport vice president of aviation development Stephanie Wear said: “Wizz Air is one of Europe’s largest airlines and has seen the benefits of expanding at the airport for some time.
“I’m delighted that five Gatwick-based aircraft will fly routes to popular destinations across Europe this summer.
“Despite the current situation, we’re looking forward to a better summer.”
Wizz Air only launched from Gatwick in October 2020. Its expansion will mark an intensification of low-cost competition at the airport which is easyJet’s main base and where British Airways will launch a new, standalone low-cost operation for summer 2022.