Wizz Air wants to expand Gatwick base with more slots

Wizz Air wants to expand its new base at Gatwick airport to 20 planes from a starting point of one within a year if it can obtain enough takeoff and landing slots, the company's boss said.

Jozsef Varadi, Wizz's chief executive, told Bloomberg he could expand the Gatwick operation quickly to employ 800 people and support another 4,000 jobs. He said his ambitions were being frustrated by the suspension of rules that force airlines to relinquish underused slots.

“If airlines are unable to operate slots they should be returned to a pool so that carriers can access them, bring in revenue and contribute to the local economy,” Varadi said.

The rule has been waived during the Covid-19 crisis but Wizz is lobbying authorities in the UK and the EU to drop it as flying returns, Varadi said. The European commission introduced the waiver to protect the industry and take pressure off carriers to fly empty planes to keep their slots.

The commission is considering an extension past the 24 October deadline but Varadi said that would distort the market. He said the waiver affected Gatwick particularly because IAG's British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Norwegian Air had suspended operations and easyJet had restarted services more slowly than Wizz.

“We think it should firmly end at the end of October and the market should decide who gets those slots," he told Bloomberg. The Budapest-based airline is seeking to use its low cost base to nab market share while rivals cut their fleets.

The company's shares rose 3% to £37.68 at 12:03 BST.