Wizz Air strikes five-year deal at JLA

BUDGET airline Wizz Air has signed up for another five years at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

The Budapest-based airline has been operating flights to Poland from Liverpool since 2004. In 2006 it started services from Robin Hood Airport near Doncaster.

Since then it has carried 2.5 million passengers and says its services have been buoyed by the large number of Poles who moved to the UK after Poland joined the European Union in 2004 and events such as the Euro 2012 football championships co-hosted by Poland.

It now flies to four destinations in Poland from Liverpool – Gdansk, Katowice, Warsaw Chopin and Warsaw Modlin – and six from Doncaster – Gdansk, Katowice, Poznan, Wroclaw, Warsaw Chopin and Warsaw Modlin. It also flies to Vilnius in Lithuania from both airports.  

Daniel de Carvalho, corporate communications manager at Wizz Air, said: “We’ve been approached by Manchester but we’re very focused on working with Liverpool and Doncaster. We may increase frequencies and routes and we’re also looking to increase our presence in London – in Luton we’re the second airline.”

He added: “Over the next couple of years we’re aiming to fly 750,000 people from Liverpool and 1.3 million from Doncaster.”

Mr de Carvalho said the airline had seen a decrease in the number of expats using its service and an increase in tourism, a shift that will shape future route decisions.

Chris Harcombe, aviation development manager for Peel Airports, which owns both sites, said: “We have worked closely with Wizz Air since they launched services in the UK market and have been delighted with their performance at both Liverpool and Doncaster Sheffield since our partnership began.

“In recent months we’ve worked hard with the airline to understand how best to realise their ambitions for the North of England market. Our business model is focused on providing our airline partners with industry leading levels of operational efficiency, the lowest possible cost base and excellent customer service, whilst giving access to some of the UK’s most densely populated areas outside of London.”

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