Wizz Air Abu Dhabi slated to be UAE’s fifth budget carrier

Wizz air Abu Dhabi will become part of UAE’s budget ariline industry and is set to start operations in the second half of 2020. 

With Wizz Air UAE will have its seventh airline and its fifth budget carrier  alongside Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, SpiceJet, flydubai and Sharjah's Air Arabia.

It is expected to intensify competition in the established routes of Centra, Eastern and Western European routes in the short term and in the Indian Subcontinent, Middle East and Africa routes in the long term. 

Wizz Air is a Budapest based low-cost carrier that is expanding to the Middle East with the launch of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi in mid 2020. Photo Courtesy: Wizz Air/ Twitter
Wizz Air is a Budapest based low-cost carrier that is expanding to the Middle East with the launch of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi in mid 2020. Photo Courtesy: Wizz Air/ Twitter

The new carrier is also expected to give direct competition to Abu Dhabi-based airlines too, such as the flag carrier, Etihad Airways, as well as to another upcoming low-cost airline, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi Development Holding (ADDH) on Thursday signed a preliminary agreement with Wizz Air Holdings to launch the airline along with Air Arabia Abu Dhabi and SpiceJet in Ras Al Khaimahl in mid 2020.

With 750 small category aircraft and 980 medium and large aircraft serving the UAE market, the fleet size of operators serving the UAE from all the regions will nearly treble to around 1,730 aircraft by 2038 from around 630 in 2019.