15th Dec 2016 12:11
LONDON (Alliance News) - Central and Eastern European-focused budget airline Wizz Air Holdings PLC on Thursday said it will launch new routes from Budapest to five West Balkan countries in April.
Under the deal with the Hungarian government, Wizz Air will fly from Budapest to Skopje in Macedonia, Podgorica in Montenegro, Titana in Albania, Prishtina in Kosovo and Sarajevo in Bosia & Herzegovina.
Earlier this year, the Hungarian National Ministry of Development announced a public procurement tender for operating the routes connecting Hungary with "important economic routes" in the Balkan region.
After applying, Wizz Air was awarded the concession for four years.
Wizz Air said the new routes will boost bi-directional tourism and establish an important link for trade and business between those countries.
"Today's announcement is the result of a first ever example of imposing a public service obligation in aviation industry in Hungary. We believe that this unprecedented example will help stimulate economic and business relations between the countries as well as further improve accessibility to Budapest where Wizz has the most diverse network, offering 59 routes to 28 countries," Chief Executive Jozsef Varadi said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Wizz Air announced that it will open a new base in Varna, Bulgaria in July, with one new Airbus A320 aircraft. This will be Wizz Air's 27th base, at an investment of USD98 million.
The new aircraft will increase the number of routes served from Varna to seven, with the newest services connecting the city with Dortmund and Munich Memmingen in Germany, Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Larnaca in Cyprus and Milan Bergamo in Italy.
The frequency of the London Luton service will also increase to ten weekly flights.
Shares in Wizz Air were trading up 0.6% at 1,847.00 pence on Thursday.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected]; @KarolinaAllNews
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