Wizz Air Targets Turkish Expansion
Originally published on Airways
Hungary-based low-cost carrier Wizz Air (W6) has announced that it will be increasing flights during the 2023 summer season.
These new flights will be to leisure destinations Antalya, Dalaman, and the Turkish capital Istanbul. Four new routes will be launched from the United Kingdom, three from Hungary, three from Romania, and one from the United Arab Emirates. W6 will operate flights to four airports across Turkey, providing over 800,000 seats to Turkey in 2023.
These new flights will be operated by the airline’s fleet of Airbus A321neos. Currently, the low-cost carrier operates 153 Airbus A320 family aircraft. This includes 59 Airbus A320-200s, 41 Airbus A321CEOs, and 47 Airbus A321NEOs.
Three of the four new routes from the United Kingdom will be from London Gatwick Airport (LGW). These include a four-times-weekly flight to Antalya beginning on March 26. Then, on March 28, W6 will begin daily service to Istanbul. Lastly, the low-cost carrier will start service to Dalaman on May 23 and will operate four times weekly. The other new route from the United Kingdom will be from London Luton Airport (LTN) to Istanbul, beginning on March 26. This will operate daily.
Two of the three new routes from Hungary will be from the capital, Budapest (BUD). The carrier will start a daily flight from BUD to Istanbul on March 31, and on May 24, the airline will start a three times weekly service to Antalya. Then on June 10, the carrier will start a twice-weekly service from Debrecen, in northern Hungary, to Antalya.
Romania will receive three new flights to Turkey. On April 4, the airline will start three weekly flights from Iasi, in eastern Romania, to Istanbul. Then on May 18, the airline will start three weekly flights from Cluj-Napoca, which is in northwest Romania, to Antalya. On May 19, the airline will begin three weekly flights from Bucharest, Romania, to Antalya, Turkey.
Lastly, starting on June 1, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi (5W) will operate its first flight to Turkey. These three weekly services will be between Abu Dhabi and Ankara.
These 11 new routes to Turkey will give the airline a total of 54 flights each week to destinations across Turkey during the peak summer travel season. These 54 routes are a major increase from summer 2022 when the carrier only operated four weekly flights.
The last time W6 served Istanbul was six years ago when it operated flights from its hub in Budapest to Sabiha Gokcen. Since W6 stopped operations in 2016, Istanbul has remained outside of W6’s network.
The airline’s new routes to Istanbul are a big achievement for the airport, which has been trying to get European low-cost carriers to start service from the airport. Currently, only one European low-cost carrier serves Istanbul: Transavia France.
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi Airbus 321Neo A6-WZD – Photo: Wizz Air Press
Comments from Wizz Air, Istanbul Officials
Wizz Air Network Officer, Evelin Jeckel, commented, “We’re excited to be finally returning to Istanbul with our point-to-point services and strengthening our presence in Türkiye with the new connections to Dalaman and Antalya, while bringing sustainable, low-cost aviation to Istanbul and to the pearls of the Turkish seaside.”
Majid Khan, Vice President Airport Development of iGA Istanbul Airport commented, “Today is an important milestone for Turkish aviation as Europe’s fastest growing airline has announced their entry into iGA Istanbul Airport and to our regional airport.”
He further added, “Wizz Air operates purely (P2P) Point-to-Point traffic without any transfer, which means all foreign passengers arriving in Istanbul and Türkiye with Wizz Air will have Istanbul, Dalaman, and Antalya as their final destinations. It will directly benefit Istanbul’s and Türkiye’s tourism industries. We welcome Wizz Air to Istanbul and to Türkiye and believe that this is a start for long-standing cooperation.”
