Airbus Updates No.4458

 

Wizz Air UK defers A321XLR debut amid delivery delay

Wizz Air UK (W9, London Luton) will postpone the entry into service of the A321-200NY(XLR) due to the delayed delivery of the first aircraft. The low-cost carrier now expects to receive the first one on April 10 instead of the originally planned March arrival, it told the aviation news site Rynek Lotniczy.

The airline will still go ahead with its new London Gatwick-Jeddah International service, scheduled for March 31, but initially with an A321-200NX. Wizz Air UK will limit the jet's passenger capacity in order to reduce its weight and allow for nonstop operations between two airports without the need for refuelling.

ch-aviation reached out to Wizz Air for comment on the matter.

According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Wizz Air UK currently operates eighteen A321-200NX. Wizz Air has forty-seven A321XLRs on order across its four AOCs, also including Wizz Air Malta and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi. The first of the type, msn 11631, was recently seen at Hamburg Finkenwerder performing rejected takeoff tests. Once delivered to Wizz Air UK, it will be registered as G-XLRA.

Airbus Updates No.4079

 

Wizz Air orders 75 incremental A321neo

Wizz Air Airbus A321-200NX© Wizz Air

04.08.2023 - 11:03 UTC

Wizz Air Holdings has firmed 75 incremental A321-200neo options with Airbus with deliveries due in 2028-2029.

The order confirms a decision to firm 75 purchase rights approved by the carrier's shareholders already in September 2022, which until now remained tentative.

The holding did not disclose whether the aircraft will be placed with its European units (Wizz Air, Wizz Air UK, and Wizz Air Malta) or also with Wizz Air Abu Dhabi or its prospective Saudi Arabian joint venture.

The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows that Wizz Air currently operates forty-five A320-200s, six A320-200Ns, thirty-seven A321-200s, and eighty-nine A321-200NX across its European AOCs, while the Emirati AOC operates four A321-200s and seven A321-200NX. Excluding this new commitment, the group has outstanding orders for 276 A320neo Family aircraft, comprising thirteen A320neo, 216 A321neo, and forty-seven A321-200NY(XLR)s, albeit the airline retains flexibility regarding converting the variants.

Airbus Updates No.4044

 

Wizz Air Abu Dhabi to move to A321ceo for engine "derisking"

Wizz Air Abu Dhabi Airbus A321-200NX© AviaSolutionsGroup

21.06.2023 - 06:06 UTC

Wizz Air Abu Dhabi (5W, Abu Dhabi International) will replace "most" of its current A321-200NX with A321-200s to minimise any potential issues Pratt & Whitney PW1133G-JM Geared Turbofan (GTF) engines may have in the Middle East, Wizz Air Holdings Chief Executive József Váradi said during the group's annual investor call.

"The GTF has performance problems mainly in a hot temperature, severe operating environment like the Middle East. And as a result, we decided that most of the Wizz Air Abu Dhabi fleet will get replaced with classic A321s. So we are derisking the GTF performance issues with that. Now that doesn't mean that the International Aero Engines V2500 engine operates the same way in Abu Dhabi as in Europe, which is considered to be a benign environment, but it means that it is a mature technology. So it is a lot less subject to unexpected breakdowns," Váradi said.

The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows the Hungarian LCC's Emirati joint venture currently operates eight A321-200NX and a single A321-200, which it added from Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) at the end of May 2023.

The group plans to increase its Abu Dhabi International-based fleet to 15 aircraft in the near term.

Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer Ian O. Malin underlined that while the UAE is an important market for the group, in terms of the fleet size, it has a limited share in the greater scheme of things.

Váradi conceded that while the PW1133 engines has had teething problems, they are "manageable" on a group level.

"Maybe the manufacturers were too eager to come to market, and they should have done more testing and more maturity themselves. They kind of outsourced all these diseases to the industry, but that's what it is... In terms of GTF operation in Europe, I think it's not perfect, but it is manageable. We are probably the one airline in the world that has not been grounding aircraft because of engines. I think everyone has started grounding because of running out of spares, but we have stocked up on spares on the one hand. And I think the way we have been allocating and operating the engines, maybe with some luck, we have been able to maintain operational integrity without grounding aircraft, and I hope we can maintain it that way," the CEO said.

The airline's European AOCs in Hungary, Malta, and the United Kingdom operate eighty A321-200NX with PW1133 GTF engines and six A320-200Ns with PW1127 powerplants, as well as a total of eighty-six A320ceo (A320-200s and A321-200s) with IAE V2500 engines.