Wizz Air UK has launched its new base at Cardiff International Airport (CWL). The Welsh capital’s airport thus becomes its fourth hub in the UK, in addition to London-Luton, London-Gatwick and Doncaster-Sheffield. From there, it will offer flights to nine international destinations, four of them in Spain.
The arrival of Wizz Air’s British subsidiary, formed to retain full access to the UK market after Brexit, will create 40 direct jobs and another 250 indirect jobs. The company will hold an open recruitment day on April 14th in order to select flight and cabin crew to be based in the city.
The boost to the local transport, tourism and hospitality sectors will be important for the airport, which handles around 1.5 million passengers a year under normal conditions. The company expects to offer more than 330,000 seats from Cardiff every year.
Marion Geoffroy, Managing Director of Wizz Air UK, said that the new base “will bring further connectivity to the region” and highlighted that passengers from Wales and the South West of England will enjoy greater availability of affordable fares.
In a statement, the airline highlighted the offer of services to popular holiday destinations in southern Europe, very popular among British citizens during the summer holidays. Services to Alicante, Lanzarote, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife South, Faro, Heraklion and Larnaca will be progressively available from April. In June, it will launch a route to Corfu and from November it will fly to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Routes
Cardiff (CWL) – Tenerife South (TFS): started April 8th.
Cardiff (CWL) – Lanzarote (ACE): started April 8th.
Cardiff (CWL) – Alicante (ALC): started April 9th.
Cardiff (CWL) – Faro (FAO): started April 9th.
Cardiff (CWL) – Palma de Mallorca (PMI): started April 9th.
Cardiff (CWL) – Larnaca (LCA): started April 10th.
Cardiff (CWL) – Heraklion (HER): starts April 13th.
Cardiff (CWL) – Corfu (CFU): starts June 16th.
Cardiff (CWL) – Sharm el-Sheik (SSH): starts November 1st.
