Wizz Air to open first UK airport base operation at Luton

Eastern European budget airline Wizz Air is to open its first UK airport base operation at Luton airport in June, creating over 30 direct jobs.

The FTSE 250 company will open its 28th base on 18 June at Luton, which has operated Wizz Air flights for over a decade, with one new Airbus A320 plane in order to increase the number of routes serviced from the airport to 42.

Wizz Air will connect Luton with Tel Aviv in Israel, Kosovan capital Prishtina and Kutaisi in Georgia, which is the only direct connection between Georgia and the UK.

The frequency on some of Wizz Air's popular routes to Romania will also increase with the arrival of new aircraft, the route to Suceava will run five times a week, Constanta four times and Iasi flights will operate daily.

The new base at Luton will create 36 direct jobs and the company already supports about 5,900 local jobs in associated industries.

Last year, Wizz Air carried more than 6.6m passengers on its UK routes, a 30% growth year-on-year and in 2017, the company said that it will have almost 6.3m seats on sale on the Luton routes, a 13% rise year-on-year.

Chief executive József Váradi, said: "By establishing base operations at London Luton, where Wizz is already the second largest operator and an important supporter of local jobs with our business partners, we are also creating direct local jobs with one of Europe's fastest-growing airlines for the first time.”