Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) took delivery of its first 186-seat A320-200neo, HA-LJA (msn 9586), on May 29, 2020, and deployed the aircraft into revenue service on May 30 between Budapest and London Luton. Since then, it has been flying on a variety of European routes from the Hungarian capital.
According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Wizz Air has a further sixty-four A320neo on firm order from Airbus. The Hungarian low-cost carrier operates sixty-nine A320-200s, thirty-four A321-200s, and eight A321-200neo, while its subsidiary Wizz Air UK (W9, London Luton) operates three A320s and seven A321s. Besides the A320neo, the airline also has 203 A321neo on order, including twenty A321neo(XLR)s.
"We have maintained our commitment to taking deliveries of our order book with Airbus. I think we must be probably the only airline, but certainly one of the very few on the planet that continues to honour the contractual commitment with Airbus. We do it because we have been saying that the following market consolidation will spring significant opportunities for Wizz Air, and we have already acted on some of those," Chief Executive József Váradi said during an investor call.
Meanwhile, the carrier disclosed its revised fleeting plan in its annual report, signalling a slight slow-down in growth and changes in delivery and retirement dates.
Wizz Air Holdings now plans to operate 131 aircraft at the end of March 2021 across all of its AOCs, down from 134 in the previous plan, deferring deliveries of one A320neo and two A321neo. At the end of March 2022, it plans to operate 150 aircraft compared to the previously anticipated 163. It intends to have 22 fewer A321neo than in its original strategy but will instead take seven more A320neo while retiring two less A320-200s than planned.
Wizz Air wants to reach 295 aircraft by the end of March 2027, as previously planned, although the target composition of the fleet has changed with five A320neo replaced by A321neo.
The carrier continues to work on the launch of its newest subsidiary Wizz Air Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi Int'l).
"Before the end of June, we are planning on launching the airline commercially. We would still expect the airline to become operational sometime in October. And as a matter of fact, we have been upping our game in Abu Dhabi, increasing the initial fleet size from three aircraft to six aircraft in the first six months," Váradi said.
He added that Wizz Air Abu Dhabi plans to grow to 50 aircraft over the next 10 years. In a webinar during the virtual edition of the Arabian Travel Market, he said that within the next 15 years, the airline could have up to 100 aircraft serving the wider Gulf area.
"You should be looking at our platform, not necessarily just Abu Dhabi, we want to serve the UAE and possibly the broader GCC markets," Váradi said.