Wizz Air is rebuilding its Middle East network with 12 routes returning during the winter 2026-27 season, including eight services to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The ultra-low-cost carrier plans to operate 32X-weekly flights to the UAE from Oct. 25, including 20 to Abu Dhabi and 12 to Dubai. The routes form part of a wider restoration of 49X-weekly flights across 12 airport pairs linking Europe with the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Six routes will operate to Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport (AUH). Flights from Budapest, Hungary; and Katowice, Poland, will begin on Oct. 25, operating 4X-weekly and 5X-weekly, respectively.
Wizz will add four more AUH routes on Oct. 27, serving Larnaca, Cyprus; Sofia, Bulgaria; and Krakow, Poland; 3X-weekly and Cluj, Romania; 2X-weekly. Dubai International Airport will receive daily service from Bucharest, Romania, and 5X-weekly flights from Budapest from Oct. 25.
The four other routes comprise daily Milan-Jeddah and 4X-weekly Rome-Jeddah services, which resumed earlier this month, alongside Budapest-Amman, Jordan; at 3X-weekly and Budapest-Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at 3X-weekly.
Wizz suspended services to the UAE and other parts of the Middle East in late February following an escalation in regional conflict and widespread airspace disruption. The airline says the phased restoration follows revised conflict-zone recommendations from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, alongside its own security and operational assessments.
The October return will diversify a Middle East network that has become heavily concentrated on Israel. OAG Schedules Analyser data shows Tel Aviv accounts for about 134,400 departure seats, or 95.1% of Wizz’s Middle East capacity, in September 2026. The remaining capacity comprises approximately 6,200 seats to Jeddah and limited service to Amman.
Wizz’s overall Middle East network remains 32.8% smaller by capacity than three years earlier, when it offered approximately 210,300 seats across 65 airport pairs and had a subsidiary in Abu Dhabi. Before closing, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi operated 12 aircraft—eight Airbus A321ceos and four A321neos—and accounted for about 9% of capacity at AUH.
At the time, Wizz attributed its withdrawal to engine reliability issues, supply chain constraints, geopolitical instability and restrictions on market access that made it “increasingly difficult to sustain our original ambitions.”
CEO József Váradi also highlighted the effect of operating A320neo-family aircraft in “hot and harsh environments,” saying Wizz would redirect capacity toward “benign network opportunities” in its core European markets.
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