Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) is considering establishing a carrier in Saudi Arabia with its own Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) as its network to the country expands rapidly, Reuters has reported.
"The scope of exploring opportunities in the country may go beyond being an inbound carrier and may also involve making direct investments," Chief Executive Jozsef Varadi said. He did not specify a timeline for a decision.
Varadi made the comment shortly after Wizz Air's announcement of 20 new routes between Europe and Saudi Arabia. The LCC plans to launch the following routes during the Winter 2022/23 and Summer 2024 seasons:
- to Dammam from Budapest (starting on April 20, 2023), Larnaca (July 4), and Tirana (April 17), in addition to previously announced routes from Rome Fiumicino, Vienna, and Abu Dhabi International due to begin in September and November 2022,
- to Jeddah International from Budapest (April 20), Bucharest Henri Coanda (January 10), Larnaca (July 8), Milan Malpensa (December 3, 2022), Rome (January 11), Venice Marco Polo (April 18), and Vienna (December 13), and
- to Riyadh from Budapest (January 9), Bucharest (January 9), Catania (April 18), Larnaca (April 17), Milan (April 20), Naples Capodichino (April 18), Rome (December 6), Sofia (April 20), Venice (April 20), and Vienna (December 19).
"Today's announcement follows the Memorandum of Understanding we recently signed with the government enabling us to contribute to Saudi tourism's growth and its entire ecosystem. I see the Kingdom as a long-term strategic market for Wizz Air where we will continue to innovate and carry the flag of low-cost flying for the benefit of Saudi residents and visitors as well as the country's diversifying economy," Varadi added.
"This is already an exceptional partnership and today is just the start," CEO and Member of the Board at Saudi Tourism Authority Fahd Hamidaddin added.
A Saudi AOC would grant Wizz Air access to additional markets, including non-European ones, which are governed by bilateral air services agreements between the Kingdom and the respective governments. It could also potentially lead to the LCC launching domestic Saudi routes where it would compete with incumbents Saudia as well as low-cost carriers flynas and flyadeal.
Besides the legacy Hungarian AOC, Wizz Air has units in the United Kingdom (Wizz Air UK (W9, London Luton)) and the United Arab Emirates where Wizz Air Abu Dhabi (5W, Abu Dhabi International) operates as a 51/49 joint venture with the Emirati sovereign wealth fund ADQ. It is also in the process of certifying Wizz Air Malta with a standardised European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AOC.
