Wizz Air has rejected accusations from rivals that the airline is “moving the deckchairs around” when it claims to be expanding and reported it is “already back” at its pre-Covid capacity from the UK.
Owain Jones, Wizz Air UK managing director, told Travel Weekly: “Wizz Air UK is at 100% of its pre-Covid capacity from London. Every aircraft is in the air.”
His comments came as the airline confirmed Gatwick as a new UK base with four new routes from the winter.
He said Wizz was maintaining services to Spain from Luton despite the travel restrictions, having begun UK-Spain flights for the first time since the restart of flying. However, Wizz has halted plans to expand on the routes.
Jones said: “We put capacity into Spain for the first time. We saw an extremely strong start and had extra capacity planned. But demand for Spain has been affected.
“We’re maintaining the services, but the planned growth has gone elsewhere. We diverted it to places you can travel – for example, to the Greek islands.”
The carrier’s chief executive Jozsef Varadi reported Wizz was operating “more than 70% of pre-Covid capacity” at the end of July when other airlines in Europe had recovered to just 40%.
However, Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary hit back this month, claiming: “Wizz talks a lot about expansion, but does not talk about where it has reduced [capacity].
“Beneath the noise they are moving deckchairs around to get away from competing with us.”
Jones rejected that, insisting: “This is real growth. We’re way ahead of Ryanair and easyJet in getting back in the air.
“By the end of the year we estimate we’ll have 80% of capacity in the air. We have lots of opportunities to expand.
“We haven’t cut back on any new aircraft deliveries. We’re not moving deckchairs around.”
He also dismissed a suggestion that Wizz Air has been cancelling more flights than its rivals, having put on more capacity since the restart.
Jones said: “We’re keeping cancellations to a minimum. Flying has to be contribution positive, but it’s important you don’t disappoint customers when they are expecting to fly.”
The carrier announced last week it will open a second UK base at Doncaster Sheffield and start services to holiday destinations Alicante, Malaga, Faro and Larnaca from the airport in late October.
Wizz has previously flown to holiday destinations only from Luton, although it has operated from Doncaster Sheffield for the last 14 years.
Jones said: “Doncaster Sheffield will be our first base in the UK regions.” It is already the biggest carrier at the airport, operating services to central and eastern Europe.
Varadi has acknowledged Wizz has “trimmed 20%-25% of our existing network [and] moved 22 aircraft”.
Jones confirmed the network and schedule is kept under “constant daily review”.