Wizz orders 50 additional A320's and 25options!
 

Central European budget carrier Wizz Air has placed an order for 50 additional Airbus A320s, increasing its firm commitments to 82 of the type.

Hungarian-headquartered Wizz Air, which currently operates 13 Airbus A320s, will use the additional aircraft to add frequencies and open new routes.

The aircraft will be configured in a 180-seat, all-economy layout.


Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi says: “Wizz Air has demonstrated its ability for sustainable growth, where cost efficiency is the key to generate market and win competition. Our choice of aircraft plays a big part in this cost efficiency.

“The A320 continues to deliver low operating costs, high operational reliability and customer satisfaction whilst enabling us to remain environmentally conscious. The new aircraft order will make Wizz Air the largest fleet operator in the region.”

An Airbus spokeswoman says Wizz Air is yet to disclose its engine selection, but the airline’s existing A320s are all International Aero Engines V2500-powered.

Airbus says: “The contract represents the largest ever order in the region for a single Airbus type, and will enable Wizz Air to become one of the biggest airlines in central and Eastern Europe within the next decade. Wizz Air has already ordered 32 new A320s from Airbus, and operates several additional A320s on lease.”

Wizz Air placed an order for 12 A320s plus 12 options in 2005 and signed a follow-on deal for 20 of the type in 2006. The status of the 12 options is not immediately clear following the announcement on 10 October.

Since beginning operations in 2003, it has taken delivery of nine leased A320s and four aircraft from the 2005 direct-purchase deal. The airline has US aviation investment house Indigo Partners as a major shareholder, but has been talking about a possible London flotation.
SOURCE:Flightglobal.com

Looks like the new Ryanair of the east!

And indeed Wizz is a winner here - at present much stronger than its rival Sky Europe (the latter one is atually retreating from CE Europe).
Concerning Ryanair, their competition has been fierce, but on some routes Wizz has survived better (it applies mostly to the destinations outside of the UK/Ireland). For example, Wizz Air has been dominant on the routes from the eastern EU to Germany, Scandinavia, France, Benelux (not a single route operated by FR yet/ any more). Not to mention that FR didn't manage to create even a single base to the East from the Stockholm-Hamburg-Frankfurt-Milan BGY line. Nevertheless, I doubt in their peaceful co-existance in this area for the years to come.

Hopefully this will mean more routes to Durham Tees Valley :)

WIZZ at Newcastle
 

More likely to operate and extend through Newcastle..this is the big rumour up there amongst the huge Polish community!!!
Maybe this was discussed at the recent routes conference. Did we hear anything about new routes from DTV BTW ??

Remember Wizz are cutting flights through DTV,I know for a short period..but if they were broken..why not try and fix it?

Hmm, we'll see, let's get back on point...Wizz order 50 A320...

where else could they expand from? new airports in easter europe maybe prague and other places?

I'd expect them to look at secondary airports in Eastern Europe, places like Kosice and Balaton. Also outside the capitals, international aviation in Romania and Bulgaria is open to substantial future expansion; Wizz could be a major beneficiary there.

Great notice!

Specially for those who are waiting the call for start with Wizz :D

For Tirgu Mures read Cluj
 

Wizz have announced that all of their Transylvania flights will operate from Cluj, rather than Tirgu Mures, with effect from 13th November 2007. The reason is cited as frequent adverse weather conditions at TM, affecting reliability.

Wizzair to open the 2nd base in Romania
 

It seems Wizzair will open a new base in Cluj-Napoca, after Bucharest.Any lights from wizz pilots?

Wizz are to fly from Cluj to Dortmund I believe. This was a route that was originally announced at Tirgu Mures to Dortmund. How this fits into their schedules and whether there are to be other routes, I do not know.

Very interesting, but why not stick to the rules and use the Wizzair thread, which already has 6 pages?

Hi

This is just a change of airport for Wizz - flights originally operating or due to operate from Tirgu Mures will now operate from this airport. Wizz Air has operated out of Tirgu Mures since July 2006.

Wizz will operate all of its flights serving Transylvania in Romania from Cluj-Napoca International Airport and would cease flying from Tirgu Mures Airport at the same time. The effective move of the current Tirgu Mures flights to Cluj to and from Budapest, Rome and Barcelona as well as the new London Luton route will take place on 13 November 2007. The already announced Tirgu Mures-Dortmund service will be launched from Cluj on 28 February as planned.

Wizz Air started flying from Tirgu Mures in July 2006 and since then severe weather conditions combined with the airport's inability to improve low visibility operations has been continuously jeopardizing the airline's on-time performance causing delays and forced cancellations. On the contrary Cluj Airport has already got more advanced operational capabilities as well as adequate development plans in place to accommodate Wizz Air's growth by ensuring a smooth operating environment.

No, this is a change of airport and the announcement of a base at that newly-transfered-to airport.

All of Cluj-Napoca's Christmas' have come at once, while Tirgu Mures must be really kicking themselves for having lost Wizz.

Wizzair domestic flights
 

Is it true Wizzair will operate domestic flights within Romania?

At the moment just one route - Bucharest-Cluj

Ok, long shot here because of commercial sensitivity et al.

Could anyone "in the know" please give an idea as to when the full WizzAir Summer 2008 programme will be released? The drop downs on the booking engine do include Summer 2008 months, however when I have looked on the timetable or tried to book flights I can only book until 30 March...this includes the popular LTN-KTW route

I appreciate that some routes may have already been released for Summer 2008.

Alternatively, what is the likelihood of CVT-KTW and CVT-GDN continuing through Summer 2008, or even a third route as has been rumoured on the Coventry thread (Budapest? Warsaw? Poznan?)?

Regards

Wizz at Coventry
 

Wizz are doing really well at CVT and I understand Poznan will be next.

BHX5DME

How are they doing at MME? Rumour a while ago was the route is very successful but they've somehow got it into their heads that most of the pax are from the Newcastle area (which is complete b:mad:cks), which in turn started a rumour that the flights might be moved up there.