Hungarian ultra-low-cost carrier Wizz Air is continuing its expansion across Europe. The airline has decided to further strengthen its capacity across Italy, which it says will make it become the third largest air carrier in the country.
The expansion in Italy was unveiled on September 23, 2022. Wizz Air said it will add two Airbus A321neo passenger planes to fly out of its base at Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO), while an additional single A321neo will boost the airline’s capacity at Milan Malpensa (MXP).
The additional aircraft for Rome and Milan are being deployed from the Palermo base, which Wizz said it had taken the “difficult decision” to close from November 3, 2022.
Meanwhile, Wizz will launch 12 new routes from FCO and MXP, which the airline will start offering in October 2022. The planes will also help to increase flight frequency on five routes from FCO as well as on three from MXP.
“The allocation of two more aircraft to Wizz Air’s Rome Fiumicino base will grow the base to seven aircraft. The move brings the number of routes from the base to 65, including the launch of seven new routes from Italy’s capital city,” Wizz said in the statement.
The airline continued: “Passengers will now be able to fly to Barcelona (BCN), Gothenburg (GOT), Malaga (AGP), Paris Orly (ORY), Porto (OPO), Seville (SVQ), and Valencia (VLC). Furthermore, the additional capacity allows Wizz Air to increase the frequency of its flights from the base to Eindhoven (EIN), Hurghada (HRG), Paris Orly (ORY), Tel Aviv (TLV), and Yerevan (EVN).”
Wizz Air’s base at Milan Malpensa (MXP) will therefore comprise a total of six planes. The carrier said it will launch five new routes, including Cardiff (CWL), Jeddah (JED), Marsa Alam (RMF), Riyadh (RUH), and Yerevan (EVN) in October 2022. Once all five new destinations are launched, Wizz Air will serve a total of 43 routes from the MXP airport.
According to the airline’s president Robert Carey, the expansion reflects the carrier’s commitment to growing its presence in the Italian market. He outlined that the move would make Wizz Air “[Italy]’s third largest airline”.