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European discounter Wizz Air wants to begin transatlantic flights.
Ian Malin, chief financial officer of the Hungary-based budget airline, said Thursday that it had applied to fly to the U.S. from the U.K. “for charter rights for the World Cup flights.”
And, while Malin said no scheduled flights are planned at the moment, Wizz in its application to the Department of Transportation on Jan. 23 sought the “flexibility to commence scheduled service in the future.”
Milan appeared to dial down expectations for U.S. flying on the company’s Thursday earnings call.
“We do not have plans for scheduled service to the United States,” he’s quoted as saying by trade publication FlightGlobal.
“The application allows you to select a check box for scheduled [flights] and that check box was selected, but I think somebody has taken that far out of proportion,” Malin added, according to FlightGlobal. “So there’s no change to the business model other than opportunistic charters based upon the mission that aircraft can fly.”
Wizz was the third-largest airline in Europe by seats last year, but, unlike its competitors Ryanair and EasyJet, it is little known on this side of the Atlantic. The airline lacks a brash chief like Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary, who recently took on Elon Musk, or the brand recognition of EasyJet, which Americans have seen on European vacations since the 1990s.
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Despite that, Wizz has some deep American roots. Launched in 2004, it is the European airline brand of Phoenix-based private equity shop Indigo Partners, which also owns significant stakes in Frontier Airlines in the U.S., JetSmart in South America and Volaris in Mexico.
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If Wizz were to someday begin transatlantic flights, the airline currently has only one aircraft type that could fly them: the long-range single-aisle Airbus A321XLR that, in a tight 239-seat all-economy layout, might not be the most comfortable for longer flights.
Wizz Air UK has three XLRs and another 18 A321neos, according to its DOT application.
The XLR could fly routes to destinations in the northeastern U.S. from either of Wizz’s U.K. bases at London Gatwick Airport (LGW) and London Luton Airport (LTN).
That Wizz isn’t rushing to add regularly scheduled U.S. flights shouldn’t be a huge surprise.
Past attempts to launch budget flights with a single-aisle plane between the U.S. and Europe have failed. Icelandic discounter Play Airlines shut down in September after attempting to connect the two continents via Keflavik Airport (KEF). And before the COVID-19 pandemic, European budget airlines Norwegian Air and Wow Air both briefly offered cheap flights — only to either cancel them or close up shop entirely.
However, a new budget airline between the U.S. and Europe could provide new competition at a time when Europe’s major airline groups are acquiring many of their last independent rivals. Air France-KLM is taking control of SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Lufthansa Group recently bought Italy’s ITA Airways and International Airlines Group, the owner of British Airways and Iberia, has its eye on TAP Air Portugal.
Wizz, despite its size, also faces challenges. It recently closed its subsidiary in Abu Dhabi, a high-profile expansion into the Middle East. And Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan issues have grounded dozens of its planes; 35 of its 240 Airbus A320-family fleet were parked at the end of September.
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