Wizz Air has announced a new Cardiff airport base, launching nine new routes from March 2021.
This is the airline’s fourth base in the UK alongside London Luton and the recently-announced Gatwick and Doncaster Sheffield.
The low-cost carrier will offer year-round routes to destinations including Alicante, Faro, Larnaca and Tenerife, with fares starting from £27.99. New seasonal flights from Cardiff will include connections to Corfu, Heraklion and Palma de Mallorca in the summer, and routes to Lanzarote and Sharm El Sheikh in the winter. See the full schedule below.
The base will be home to one of its A320 aircraft, and will increase the annual capacity of Cardiff airport by over 350,000 seats. The creation of the base also promises to create over 40 direct jobs and 250 indirect jobs.
Owain Jones, Managing Director of Wizz Air UK, said:
“This is an extremely exciting time for Wizz Air as we increase our footprint in the UK even further. The creation of our fourth UK base at Cardiff Airport reflects Wizz Air’s continued commitment to serving the UK market and generating economic growth, as we create local jobs, stimulate the tourism and hospitality industries and deliver on our promise of providing affordable, direct flights to exciting holiday destinations.
“Today’s expansion into Wales brings increased connectivity to the region, so passengers can take advantage of Wizz Air’s ultra-low fares to travel to their favourite sunny holiday spots on-board our young and green aircraft fleet. With the launch of 47 new routes from the UK this year alone, we’re making sure that passengers can make up for lost time in creating amazing travel memories.”
Spencer Birns, interim CEO of Cardiff Airport, added:
“We know many people living in Wales are craving a well-deserved holiday after such a challenging year and these new flights going on sale today from Cardiff, will give so many more opportunities for holidays to be planned now that will give us all something to look forward to for next year. We look forward to working closely with Wizz Air UK ahead of the launch of their Cardiff base in time for operations starting next Spring and building on this exciting opportunity for Wales.”
The addition of these new routes means the airline now operates a total of 132 routes from 11 UK airports, with a fleet of 18 aircraft.
The airline recently launched a partnership with laboratory Confirm Testing to offer passengers a discounted rate on rapid Covid-19 tests and ‘Fit to Fly’ certificates.
