Wizz Air announced today that it will base an additional Airbus A321 aircraft at its Budapest base.
From April 2017 the airline will operate four new services to such attractive holiday destinations as Faro in Portugal, Hanover in Lower Saxony, Bergen in Norway and Lamezia Terme in the South of Italy. With the new routes, Wizz Air will have over 4 million seats on sale on Budapest routes in 2017, representing an 8% growth year over year.
Wizz Air also celebrated today the official handover of the Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) registration certificate, the global benchmark in airline safety recognition, by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Since it started flying in 2004, Wizz Air has devoted significant time and resources to ensure that its safety culture, safety procedures and training and development of its staff are world-class.
Today during the celebratory reception the certificate was handed over to Wizz Air by Anca Apahidean, Area Manager, Eastern Europe at IATA. The IOSA program is the worldwide standard in airline safety evaluation and assesses an airline’s safety management and control systems and processes. Wizz Air’s evaluation was carried out by AQS, one of the six IATA-approved audit organizations
Being de facto the national airline of Hungary, Wizz Air has constantly expanded its operations in Hungary.
The airline currently operates two Hungarian bases in Budapest and Debrecen with a total of 11 aircraft in the country, employing more than 1,000 people in flight crew, cabin crew, office and supporting functions. In 2015, Wizz Air carried 2.9 million passengers on its Budapest routes.
This year the airline has grown its seat capacity by 27% versus 2015 translating into over four million seats on Budapest routes. With today’s announcement, Wizz Air has a total of ten new routes from Budapest in 2016, and four more in 2017 including such attractive destinations still to be launched like Bucharest, Fuerteventura, Sofia, Lanzarote, Faro, Hanover, Bergen and Lamezia Terme.
The new aircraft represents an investment of further $98 million by Wizz Air in Budapest, creating 36 additional direct jobs with the airline and will allow Wizz Air to increase the number of weekly flights on the existing routes from Budapest to Liverpool and Nice.
Speaking at a Press Conference in Budapest József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air said:
“Today we have reached another important milestone for the company with its roots in Hungary. The IOSA registration, which reaffirms the safety culture we have established within the company, underlines our commitment to achieving the highest standards in all areas of our operation. We continue to grow capacity and expand our route network in Hungary”.
“Budapest was the first operating base of the airline to receive the first four brand new state-of–the–art 230 seater A321 aircraft and bringing the 11th aircraft in Budapest in April 2017 will further strengthen Wizz Air’s leadership in the country. Since 2004 when the airline took off for the first time we have earned the loyalty and trust of close to 18.5 million passengers on our Hungarian route network and this year we will achieve a record number of passengers per year ever carried by an airline to and from”.
“We continue to enhance our customer experience while offering lowest possible fares to the market.”