Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) could enter the Russian market after Jozsef Varadi confirmed rumours his airline was in talks with Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a USD10billion state-backed private equity fund that partners foreign investors in making equity investments in high-growth sectors of the Russian economy.

While the CEO gave no exact details of the talks, said to be at an "advanced" stage, Varadi did state that Wizz Air could offer Russia a business model ideally suited to its market.

"We have been in talks for years on various levels in Russia about how Wizz Air could be part of Russian aviation more efficiently, on a different order of magnitude," Varadi told Reuters at a Russian-Hungarian business forum.

With US-based investment firm, Indigo Partners LLC, among its backers, Wizz Air is Eastern Europe's largest budget carrier operating a fleet of fifty-one A320-200s on flights to 96 destinations in 35 countries located throughout Europe. Indigo's interest in Russia is well known with it having invested in the now defunct Russian LCC, Avia Nova (Russian Federation) (Moscow Sheremetyevo), in 2011.