Wizz Air Abu Dhabi receives AOC

Wizz Air Abu Dhabi (WAZ, Abu Dhabi Int’l) has completed its certification and received the Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) from the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), although its launch remains hindered by the prevailing border restrictions. In a statement, the carrier said that the certification proceeded efficiently despite complications caused by the pandemic. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi initially planned to launch with two A321-200NXs on October 1, 2020. Although the aircraft were delivered to the carrier ahead of that deadline, the LCC decided to delay its launch first to October 16 and then to mid-November 2020 because UAE’s borders remain closed to most foreigners. The carrier plans to connect Abu Dhabi Int’l with Alexandria Borg el Arab, Larnaca, Athens Int’l, Yerevan, Odesa, and Kutaisi. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is the third AOC for Wizz Air Holdings, following Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) in Hungary and Wizz Air UK (W9, London Luton) in the United Kingdom. The group also used to own Wizz Air Ukraine (WU, Kyiv Igor Sikorsky) but closed it in 2015. Pre-COVID, the Ukrainian government was seeking to lure Wizz Air into operating domestic flights in the country, presumably through the reactivated Ukrainian subsidiary.