Wizz Air Holdings Plc’s Persian Gulf venture plans to double its fleet and boost hiring as demand for low-cost flights surges following a slow start during the pandemic.
(Bloomberg) — Wizz Air Holdings Plc’s Persian Gulf venture plans to double its fleet and boost hiring as demand for low-cost flights surges following a slow start during the pandemic.
The new airline is seeing “very strong demand” and expects traffic to almost double over the next 12 months from the 1.2 million passengers flown over the past year, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi Managing Director Johan Eidhagen said in an interview.
The fleet will expand to 15 aircraft by March 2024 from eight currently, as the airline adds new destinations to cities within about a six-hour radius from its Abu Dhabi base. The venture is also hiring, with plans to double staff to 800 in the capital of oil-rich United Arab Emirates, Eidhagen said.
For a country with some of the world’s most high-end carriers, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is offering an alternative that’s proving popular with blue-collar workers, a growing middle class and the region’s traditionally large families. A 500 dirham ($136) difference in fare price can add up for a traveling family of six, Eidhagen said.
Demand Surge
“There’s been a gap in the market and nobody has actually been providing an ultra-low cost offering or a low cost offering in this market,” Eidhagen said.
The Abu Dhabi venture is at the heart of an eastward push for Budapest-based Wizz, which is also building its presence in Western European markets like the UK and Italy. Wizz also signed a deal last year to explore plans for a joint venture in Saudi Arabia.
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While the Abu Dhabi venture’s first year of operation was impacted by tough Covid restrictions, load factor has reached 85% and is expected to rise to 90% this summer, Eidhagen said.
Destinations to be added this summer will include Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan as well as Santorini and Larnaca.
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is majority owned by Abu Dhabi’s state-backed holding company ADQ, while Wizz Air holds a 49% stake.
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