Wizz Air’s UK Managing Director, Marion Geoffroy, anticipates that introducing Airbus A321XLR aircraft into the airline’s fleet will substantially reduce air travel costs between the United Kingdom and the Middle East.
The Airbus A321XLR, equipped with advanced fuel capacity, boasts a maximum range of up to 11 hours. It also reduces fuel consumption by up to 30% per seat compared to earlier models, according to Airbus.
Wizz Air UK currently has 47 Airbus A321XLR on order, with deliveries set to begin in February 2025.Therefore, the airline projects that flight prices could drop to a quarter of their current levels once these new aircraft are in service.
Introducing the A321XLR could allow Wizz Air UK to launch new routes between the UK and Middle Eastern countries. If this happens, Wizz Air UK could emerge as a competitor to Emirates and Etihad. These airlines currently operate flights between the UK and Middle Eastern airports that Wizz Air is considering targeting.
“We will be looking at connecting the UK with the Gulf Cooperation Council region, the Middle East, where we have a strong brand already and where we do have a sister airline, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi. This is a very important region for us,” Marion Geoffroy told the PA news agency on July 20, 2024.
“From the UK, that would be a potential network that we would explore because it makes a lot of sense to be connecting places where we do have a brand, we do have a presence, we do have customers,” Geoffroy concluded.