Wizz Air to open London Gatwick base in 4Q20

Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) has announced that its British subsidiary Wizz Air UK (W9, London Luton) will open a new base at London Gatwick airport on October 22, 2020, with a single A321-200 stationed at the airport. The low-cost carrier will launch routes from Gatwick to Malta Int’l, Lanzarote (3x weekly each), Athens Int’l, and Naples Capodichino (4x weekly each). Gatwick will be its third base in the United Kingdom and second in the capital, after London Luton and the recently announced Doncaster/Sheffield base (which is also due to open on October 22, 2020). Wizz Air currently serves Gatwick from its existing bases at Bucharest Otopeni, Budapest, Cluj-Napoca, Gdansk, Kraków, and Sofia, the ch-aviation schedules module shows. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Wizz Air UK operates three A320-200s and seven A321-200s. London Gatwick is the largest base of rival LCC easyJet (U2, London Luton). The airport is also a hub for British Airways (BA, London Heathrow), although the carrier’s commitment to Gatwick is uncertain in the long-term, and for Norwegian Group carriers. Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int’l) does not have a base at Gatwick and maintains a relatively limited presence at the airport with a 3.3% market share by capacity in the week starting on August 24.