The low-cost carrier expects to begin with eight routes while adding a ninth in October
Wizz Air UK has announced that following the Welsh Government’s lifting of the ban on international travel, its new Cardiff Airport base will begin operations from June 17 with eight destinations on the timetable.
The company’s fourth UK site is set to offer routes to Larnaca, Corfu, Heraklion, Faro, Alicante, Lanzarote, Palma de Mallorca, and Tenerife, with flights to Sharm el-Sheikh expected to start in October.
Owain Jones, managing director of Wizz Air UK, said: “With the re-start of international travel from Wales, we’re excited to be planning the start of Wizz Air UK’s new base at Cardiff Airport in June, just in time for the holiday season. We’ve been busy recruiting new colleagues, with the first training course in Cardiff already completed, and Wizz Air UK’s Cardiff team is looking forward to welcoming customers on-board Wales’ new hometown airline.”
The company has based a single 231-seat Airbus A321 at the Welsh facility. Wizz Air hopes to capture the market of customers in South Wales who would usually cross the Severn and fly from Bristol.
This expansion is part of a fast-paced growth plan that the firm has been conducting over the past year. During this time, the Hungarian low-cost carrier’s footprint in the country has developed from a single base at London/Luton to three further sites including Doncaster/Sheffield, London/Gatwick and most recently, Cardiff.
In March, Key.Aero spoke with the carrier’s managing director, Owain Jones, about the development of the airline in the UK. He revealed why Wizz Air set up a UK subsidiary in the first place and explained its strategy for continued growth within the British market.