Wizz Air sets sights on Gatwick base as rivals retreat

Bloomberg

Wizz Air Holdings Plc wants to expand its new base at London’s Gatwick airport from just one plane to 20 within a year if it can secure enough takeoff and landing slots.
While the hub will open with a lone Airbus SE A321 jet in October, Budapest-based Wizz sees scope to quickly expand it to employ 800 people, an operation that would support a further 4,000 jobs, Chief Executive Officer Jozsef Varadi said in an interview.
Wizz is seeking to leverage the European airline industry’s lowest cost base to grab market share in London as the coronavirus crisis pushes other carriers to trim their fleets. Varadi said the plan is being frustrated by the suspension during the pandemic of rules that usually force incumbents to relinquish slots the following year if they fail to use 80% of them.
“If airlines are unable to operate slots they should be returned to a pool so that carriers can access them, bring in revenue and contribute to the local economy,” Varadi said.
Wizz is lobbying authorities including regulators in both the UK and the European Union to drop the waiver as flying resumes, Varadi said. He said in a Bloomberg TV interview that Wizz would consider a transaction to obtain them. He added that the carrier seeks to rehire 1,000 staff in the coming months.
The European Commission has said the slot-rule suspension is temporary and aimed at protecting the industry, while also removing the need for airlines to fly empty planes just to keep flying rights. It is set to expire on October 24, though the EU has said it’s considering an extension. “It distorts the market should the slot waiver get extended into the winter period,” Varadi said. “We think it should firmly end at the end of October and the market should decide who gets those slots.”
While the measure applies across Europe, it’s a particular issue at Gatwick because British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Norwegian Air Shuttle all have suspended operations there, leaving a large number of slots at the south London facility in limbo, the CEO said. Gatwick is operating at about 30% of its year-ago capacity, compared with 70% at Luton airport, Wizz’s original UK hub north of London, according to Eurocontrol data.