Wizz Air's A321neos are its longest-range aircraft, but the A321XLR will better them when the new fleet starts to arrive in 2025.
LONDON—Wizz Air will spread its incoming fleet of Airbus A321XLRs around Europe and the Middle East as it develops a suitable route network for the long-range narrowbody, the ULCC's CEO said Sept. 10.
The airline has 47 A321XLRs on order, with the first scheduled to arrive in February or early March 2025. József Váradi said that the intention was to position the incoming fleet at six to eight operating bases, with three to five aircraft at each.
“We need to be at some scale at each of the places, so you have some kind of mass,” Váradi said. “You need to think of operational back-up if something goes wrong.”
Asked about the delivery schedule for the new sub-fleet, Váradi said: “We’re shooting at a moving target here. We’re at the mercy of Airbus. That number keeps changing all the time.”
The Budapest-based carrier has 233 aircraft in its fleet at present, with “30 to 35” expected to join over the next year. However, “There’s a lot of internal dynamics within the fleet structure,” Váradi added, with numbers affected by the arrival of new aircraft, retention of older examples and a fluctuating tally of aircraft grounded by engine-related problems.
Wizz last week made its first announcement of an A321XLR route, Milan Malpensa to Abu Dhabi. However, Varadi said at a London press briefing on Set. 10 that the first XLR route to become operational will be London Gatwick to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which will start on March 31 next year.
The CEO said that the XLR opened up the prospect of new routes that could utilize the aircraft’s 4,700-nm range.
Western European cities to India are of particular interest, he said, although negotiations with the Indian authorities remain ongoing. “There’s no news to break [on this],” Váradi said. “We’re working on it. India is India, and I can’t predict a time when it will happen.”
Winning slots at Indian airports has been difficult for foreign carriers, with the Indian authorities keen to protect the newly privatized national carrier, Air India, from foreign competition as it slowly gains strength.
While the XLR’s range opens up the possibility of many new sectors, particularly from the UK, one area in which Wizz has no interest is transatlantic services, Váradi said.
Many airlines have tried and failed to break into the transatlantic market. With British Airways alone having 34 daily flights between the UK and North America—either with its own aircraft or via codeshares—together with the three main airline alliances already having heavy presences on Atlantic routes, Váradi does not believe the world’s busiest oceanic sector held much promise for Wizz.
Váradi was asked about U.S. ULCC Frontier’s recent decision to scrap its planned purchase of A321XLRs over concerns that the aircraft would not meet its specified range.
“We talked to Frontier, as we consider them a brother airline. I don’t think range maximization was ever our objective—it was about extension of our footprint,” Váradi said. “Frontier has different issues; they were looking at possibly coming over the Atlantic to Europe. We feel quite comfortable.”
There was another reason behind not pushing the A321XLR to its maximum edge of its range, he added. “Should you be flying the XLR beyond 8 hr., you would be losing rotations of the aircraft,” Váradi said. For this reason, Wizz would alternate long and shorter sectors in the aircraft’s schedule, to ensure the airline got two rotations a day out of it.
Wizz will operate the A321XLR in a 239-seat, single-class configuration, with non-reclining seats and 28-in. pitch. Váradi was asked if this would test passengers’ tolerance to its limits.
“Fifteen years ago, I thought three hours would test their tolerance,” Váradi said. “Then we pushed it to six hours.” Passengers were prepared to sacrifice comfort for cost, he said.
The London-Jeddah flight will be roughly 7 hr. outbound and slightly longer on the return leg, given prevailing winds. Wizz anticipates picking up a significant amount of religious tourism traffic, with Muslims heading to Mecca, close to Jeddah, for the Hajj and umrah pilgrimages.
Jeddah is also relatively close to the large number of tourist resorts now starting to appear on Saudi Arabia’s northwest coast.
Váradi described Jeddah as a “rising star” among Wizz’s destinations, with the airline already flying there from Budapest, Milan and Rome.
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