Wizz Air boosts Italian focus with new Catania base

Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) has announced it would open a base in Catania on October 8, 2020, basing two A321-200s out of the Sicilian airport. Following the opening of the base, Wizz Air will open five new routes from Catania throughout October 2020 – to Bologna (2x daily), Rome Fiumicino (3x daily), Venice Marco Polo (daily), London Luton (2x weekly), and Memmingen (2x weekly). The Hungarian low-cost carrier has been serving Catania since 2009. Currently, it operates eight routes to the Sicilian airport, predominantly from its Central-Eastern Europe traditional markets (Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania), as well as from Vienna. Catania is the eighth-largest airport in terms of Wizz Air’s capacity in Italy and is set to become the airline’s second base after Milan Malpensa. The opening of three domestic routes from Catania underlines Wizz Air’s focus on the Italian market. The LCC recently announced plans to operate from Malpensa to Catania and Palermo as of October 1, 2020, its first domestic routes in any country it serves. Following the launch of the routes from Catania, Wizz Air will operate a total of 70 weekly domestic round trips.