Wizz Air Makes Move to Malpensa

Central and Eastern European low-cost carrier Wizz Air has announced it will switch its flights from Budapest to the Italian city of Milan from Bergamo Orio al Serio Airport to Malpensa Airport from June 18, 2012; its first scheduled flight to the hub airport. From July 1, 2012 it will also introduce flights to Milan Malpensa from Bucharest although these flights will complement rather than replace its existing operation at Bergamo Orio al Serio.

Wizz Air will offer eleven flights per week on the Budapest - Milan Malpensa, a route that had been previously served by Malev Hungarian Airlines prior to its collapse earlier this year. The carrier has been serving the Milan market via Bergamo Orio al Serio since December 2004 and its move is part of a strategy to extend its reach in the northern Italian corridor and to offer product differentiation from the Hungarian city following Ryanair’s major expansion there.

The new three times weekly service to Milan Malpensa from Bucharest will complement the existing eleven weekly flights between the Romanian capital and Bergamo Orio al Serio and will bring double daily services to the wider Milan market.

“Wizz Air is thrilled to offer our low-fares to passengers traveling from Milan Malpensa to Central and Eastern Europe. These two routes are just the beginning of our presence. We hope to see rapid growth, similar to what we have achieved in other major metropolitan areas, such as London. We started with two routes and now fly over 20! Pink and purple will soon be trending on the runways of Milan!,” said György Abrán, Chief Commercial Officer, Wizz Air.

The low-cost carrier has also announced some further amendments to its network from Budapest’s Ferenc Liszt International Airport. It will introduce a new link to the Bulgarian Black Sea destination of Varna, a destination popular with Hungarian tourists, while a second weekly frequency will be introduced to Palma de Mallorca. This growth will be balanced by some cuts with the airline’s flight to Pisa due to end from April 15 due to low demand.

“We provide the best value for our passengers. The flight to Milan-Malpensa is an excellent example of this: we offer a better service for the same price. This is favorable for both Hungarian tourist travelling to Milan, but also for the incoming tourists and business travelers.

“With the addition of flights to Varna, the number of Wizz Air seashore destinations has increased to 15 in 2012. We have flights to Bulgaria, Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain. I still think that we will carry 2.3 million passengers in our Hungarian network this year, which would mean a 70 per cent increase of our business,” said József Váradi, Chief Executive Officer, Wizz Air.