Virgin Australia’s new seasonal flights to Launceston, Wizz Air adding connections from Hungary and Romania and Saudia returning to Manchester are among the latest new route announcements and services resuming.
The decision follows the findings of the Global Travel Taskforce, set up by the UK government to examine how non-essential travel could be reopened safely after lockdown.
After opening two new bases in the UK in recent days, Wizz Air UK’s MD Owain Jones discusses the rationale behind the airline’s increased focus on leisure routes to points in Western Europe.
Wizz Air has put the brakes on plans to increase capacity to 80% in the next quarter amid heightened travel restrictions across Europe. However, the Hungarian carrier’s UK subsidiary has signaled its intention to expand from Doncaster Sheffield, just weeks after announcing a new base at the airport.
The new route, flown using an Airbus A330-300, will be operate within the carrier’s joint business on transatlantic traffic with fellow oneworld alliance partners British Airways, Iberia, American Airlines and American’s merger partner US Airways. Chicago is a hub for US major American Airlines and will allow travellers codeshare connections to destinations throughout the United States.
This is the first start-up aid scheme that the European Commission has assessed under its new guidelines on state aid to airports and airlines which came into force on April 4, 2014. The guidelines have simplified the rules on public support granted by Member States for the start-up of new air transport routes.
