Wizz Air granted UK licence as Brexit contingencies take off

Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air has been granted an Air Operator's Certificate and an Operating Licence by Britain's Civil Aviation Authority for its Luton-based subsidiary.

Wizz Air UK, the carrier's wholly-owned subsidiary, which set off on its first flight from London to Bucharest earlier on Thursday, will have eight brand new Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 aircraft in service by the end of 2018, representing an investment of $860m, and will create 300 new direct jobs with Wizz Air UK for management, pilots and cabin crew.

With the addition of Wizz Air UK, the group will have roughly 9m seats on sale on its low fare routes to and from the UK in 2018, a 14% growth in capacity year-on-year.

Chief executive József Váradi said: "While Wizz Air UK is a key part of our Brexit contingency plan, it is also the first genuine ultra-low-cost carrier licensed in the UK and the natural next step in the development of our UK business, putting us in a strong position to take advantage of opportunities that may arise in what remains Europe's largest travel market.

"Wizz Air has been committed to the UK ever since our very first flight landed at London Luton in 2004 and our continued expansion will mean additional investment and jobs in the UK as we build our current position as the 8th largest airline operating in the UK."

In a separate announcement, Wizz detailed its investment into a brand new state-of-the-art crew training centre in Budapest, with an initial daily training capacity of over 125 pilots and cabin crew.

It also said that capacity in April increased 18.2% to 3.04m seats after its continued network expansion, with six new routes announced across the Ukraine, Austria and Romania, while the addition of three brand new Airbus A320 family aircraft allowed it to carry 19.2% more passengers year-on-year.

As of 0820 BST, Wizz shares had ticked up 0.12% to 3,229p.