One day after Ukraine and the European Union signed an open skies agreement, Wizz Air expressly announced a massive expansion in Ukraine. This includes the launch of 26 new routes and the stationing of seven extra aircraft in the country.
Wizz Air reacts to EU-Ukraine Open Skies
Yesterday, 12th October 2021, Ukraine and the European Union signed an open skies agreement during a summit in Kyiv. Ukraine has been working on this since 1999, but it wasn’t until Brexit that the process was considerably sped up.
Not even one day later, Wizz Air reacted with a major expansion of its operations between Ukraine and the European Union.
The Hungarian pan-European airline reacted straight away, scheduling today’s conference less than 24 hours in advance. And what an incredible conference it was.
Wizz Air will base an additional seven aircraft in Ukraine by the summer of 2022, and it will launch an incredible 26 new routes from the country.
This is a major expansion, but not unusual for Wizz Air. In May, for example, the airline announced 32 new routes out of Rome Fiumicino and four extra aircraft stationed there.
26 new routes
The largest expansion will, expectedly, take place in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv. Wizz Air serves the city via Igor Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport (IEV) in Zhuliany.
From IEV, the new destinations are as follows:
- Alicante (Spain)
- Barcelona (Spain)
- Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg Airport (Switzerland-France-Germany)
- Brussels (Charleroi Airport) (Belgium)
- Chania (Greece)
- Eindhoven (Netherlands)
- Madrid (Spain)
- Malaga (Spain)
- Nice (France)
- Palma de Mallorca (Spain)
- Paris (Beauvais Airport) (France)
- Porto (Portugal)
Paris, Eindhoven, and Brussels will launch in mid-December. Barcelona will start in March 2022. Malaga, Madrid, and Nice will start in May 2022, Porto and Alicante in July, and Basel, Palma, and Chania in August 2022.
Wizz Air already has a base in Kyiv, with three aircraft stationed there. To serve these new routes, the base will grow by five aircraft to a total of eight.
With these new route announcements, Wizz Air is also entering brand new country markets out of Ukraine, serving Spain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands for the first time from the country.
New flights across the country
Other airports in Ukraine will see new routes too.
From the airport serving the city of Lviv, Danylo Halytskyi International Airport (LWO), the new routes are:
- Athens (Greece)
- Barcelona (Spain)
- Brussels (Charleroi Airport) (Belgium)
- Eindhoven (Netherlands)
- Madrid (Spain)
- Nice (France)
- Paris (Beauvais Airport) (France)
- Thessaloniki (Greece)
- Venice (Treviso Airport) (Italy)
Madrid, Eindhoven, and Paris will start in March 2022, and all others will launch in June 2022.
To support this expansion, Wizz Air will base an additional two aircraft in Lviv for a total of three.
From Odessa International Airport (ODS):
- Athens (Greece)
- London (Luton Airport) (Great Britain)
- Pardubice (Czech Republic)
London starts in March 2022, the other two in July 2022.
From Kharkiv International Airport (HRK):
- Pardubice (Czech Republic) starting in June 2022
- Thessaloniki (Greece) starting in March 2022.
What do you think of Wizz Air’s major expansion in four Ukrainian airports just one day after an open skies agreement was signed? Let us know what you think of this story in the comments below.