WIZZ AIR

'Wizz Air' is a Polish/Hungarian low-cost airline focusing on the markets of Central Europe. Its main base is Katowice International Airport (Poland). It also has bases at Budapest Ferihegy International Airport (Hungary) , Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport (Poland), Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (Poland). Poznań Ławica Airport (Poland), Aurel Vlaicu International Airport (Bucharest, Romania) and Sofia Airport (Bulgaria).

Contents

History

Services

Fleet

Wizz Air Bulgaria

Pricing

Accidents and Incidents

External links

References

History

The airline was established in September 2003. The lead investor is Indigo Partners, an American private equity firm specializing in transportation investments. The first flight was made on 19 May 2004 from Katowice
★ [1], 19 days after Poland and Hungary entered the European Union and the single European aviation market. The airline carried 250,000 passengers in its first three and a half months, almost 1.4 million passengers in the first year of operations and to date, 5 million passengers.
The airline's CEO and chairman is József Váradi, former CEO of Malév Hungarian Airlines. The company is registered in London with operating subsidiaries in Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. Wizz Air Bulgaria was established in September 2005 ^[1]. 2007, Wizz Air plan to establish a new operating base in Zagreb, Croatia.




Wizzair has been voted the best low-fare airline in Poland by the readers of pasazer.com, the largest travel news portal in Poland.
József Váradi, Chief Executive Officer of Wizz Air won the Ernst & Young award of the 'Brave Innovator' in 2007. The prize recognized the break through in the airline business in Hungary and the region, the business model and the business conduct of Wizz Air.

Services

Wizz Air recently announced the launch of new connections between Katowice and Gdansk in Poland to Cork in Ireland, Luebeck in Germany and Doncaster/Sheffield also Katowice to Bournemouth Airport in the UK. Summer destinations from Budapest include Rhodes, Corfu, Split, Burgas and Heraklion in Crete. The carrier is expected to launch flights from Budapest and Warsaw to Faro Airport, serving Faro, portuguese region Algarve's capital.

Fleet

As of August 2006 the Wizz Air fleet includes ^[2] :

★ 13^[3] Airbus A320-200 (plus 30 on order)
Twelve aircraft operate under Wizz Air Hungary and one for Wizz Air Bulgaria. It has committed to one further Airbus A320 lease and has firm orders for 32 Airbus A320s. ^[4] The airline intends to operate 25-30 aircraft in 3-5 years. The fleet is easily recognisable in airports due to its white, pink and purple colors. All its A320s are powered by IAE V2500 engines, even those to be leased from GECAS. The 99.5% technical dispatch reliability, which is well above the world average, is ensured by the Lufthansa Technik maintenance organization. ^[5]

Wizz Air Bulgaria

The Bulgarian division of Wizz Air has been awarded licences to begin new services to Germany, Greece, Turkey and Moldova. At the moment Wizz Air Bulgaria operates flights from Sofia to London and Rome, and seasonal services from the United Kingdom to Bourgas. 2 weekly flights to Dortmund will be launched starting 29th October 2007.

Pricing

Wizz Air is a low-cost airline, passengers pay the fare plus taxes and charges which can include a fuel surcharge, insurance and facility charge, air duty charge, passenger service charge, and security tax. These additional taxes and charges can equate to as much as 55 euros one-way. There is an additional 3 euro charge per flight per passenger for ordering via the web using a credit card and a 5 euro charge per booking for ordering over the phone.

Accidents and Incidents

30 May 2007 - Flight 290 from Bucharest to Budapest. At 6:20am, on the runway just before take-off, the engine caught on fire. Emergency personnel were called to evacuate passengers without injury.^[6]

External links

★ Official site

★ Fleet

★ General information about Wizz Air

★ Wizzair web page at Flightattitude.com

References

1. Airliner World January 2007
2. Flight International, 3-9 October 2006
3. http://book.wizzair.com/about_us/fleet/
4. Airbus orders
5. Wizz Air Sale and Lease Back with GECAS
6. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/30/europe/EU-GEN-Romania-Airplane-Fire.php