Wizz Air to bring 800,000 passengers this year

Budget carrier Wizz Air expects to fly up to 800,000 passengers to Cyprus by the end of the year, said company official Evelyn Jeckel.

“We actually have around 400,000 passengers here in Cyprus this summer, and overall, we expect between 700,000 to 800,000 by the end of the year”, she told CNA.

The Hungarian airline, founded in 2004, operates across Europe and the Middle East with over 1000 routes and 160 aircraft based in 40 different places. Larnaca is the company’s base in Cyprus.

“We have been flying to Larnaca since 2005, but we only became a base a bit later.

“We now have two aircraft based here.”

The airliner serves 18 countries and over 30 routes with 80 weekly flights in the peak season.

“We fly equally from Romania, Israel, Armenia, Bulgaria, from Hungary.

“So, there are a lot of countries in the network that we fly to Cyprus from.”

Regarding passenger traffic, she said: “It is actually a pretty decent operation.

“But there are also challenges with the cost and supply chain side.

“So, I would say the summer was good, but overall, for airlines, obviously this environment is still very challenging”.

Jeckel said Wizz does not operate flights to Paphos, but they are open to the idea.

On the company’s future plans for Cyprus, she said they have a very decent route network, but it can always get better.

Wizz Air recently announced three flights from Larnaca to Saudi Arabia, flying from April to Riyadh and from July to Jeddah.

“This is actually a very new development and part of a development package that we have in Saudi Arabia”.

As for future plans, she said that “the majority of the growth will come probably from the Middle East.”

Jeckel said that Larnaca has been resilient, noting its good geographical location.

“People like to come here, for obvious reasons.

“I know this country has relied heavily on Russian traffic, but I think it will come back eventually.

“But until then, I think you have more than enough markets to work with demand from London, Warsaw, Sofia and many other places.”