New european airline : WIZZ Air

Wizz Air has received its first aircraft, a leased Airbus A320, from debis AirFinance. The airline’s first flight is scheduled for 19 May 2004 and will operate between Katowice, Poland and London Luton. A further five A320s will be taken on operating leases from debis over the next two months. Lufthansa Technik will undertake maintenance of the leased aircraft.

The airline’s plan is to focus on opening routes from both Poland and Hungary to major cities in Western and Southern Europe.

“We’ve secured over six million euros for the company, and we’re just ahead of raising a further several tens of millions of euros,” said Jozsef Varadi, Chief Executive & former head of Hungarian national airline Malev,.

“In central and eastern Europe most of the traffic (for low cost airlines) will come from passengers who have never travelled by air before,” Varadi said. “We will target people who can afford to travel but have not afforded to fly so far.”

WIZZ Air will take off on May 19 from the southern Polish city of Katowice, initially flying to Budapest, London’s Luton airport, Rome, Milan, Venice and Berlin.

At a yet unspecified time, but soon after May, it will also fly from Budapest to the biggest urban areas as well as seasonal summer and winter resort destinations.

Unlike competitors, who prefer a gradual expansion in central Europe, WIZZ has opted for a sweeping start.

“Today the competition is so sharp that it does not tolerate a strategy of step-by-step expansion,” Varadi said.

WIZZ plans to price its tickets in the middle of the low-cost market, with an average of 50 euros for a one-way trip, Varadi said.

Their price will be above Ryanair’s 40-45 euros, but below EasyJet’s 65 euros, he said. Ryanair is not present in Hungary, while EasyJet’s first flight there is expected in May.

Varadi said earlier it had forecast initial annual passenger traffic of up to two million, compared to Malev’s 2.3 million last year, and expected to break even in 2004.