Wizz Air opens a new hub in Abu Dhabi with cheap flights from Europe

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• The Original David says:

  10 May10 May 07:01

  I can’t help thinking that calling the A321XLR a “short-haul plane” is a mistake – its range will be 4,700 miles…

  • Rhys says:

    10 May10 May 08:27

    I think the point Rob is trying to make is that it *looks* like a shorthaul plane!

    • flyforfun says:

      10 May10 May 09:33

      Short haul looks and features, long haul pain.

      One of the things that makes long haul flying are the little creature comforts that you don’t get in short haul European flights. IFE, slightly more room (maybe!), a tiny 3 course meal and drinks, blanket and pillows, snacks (maybe again!) and maybe an amenity kit if you are really lucky.

      Don’t know much about Wizz Air but do they offer anything like that on their lh fights?

      • Rhys says:

        10 May10 May 09:45

        I doubt Wizz will but plenty of other airlines venturing into the longhaul market with these aircraft, which come with classic amenities. Bigger problem is the single aisle, which makes moving round the aircraft much more of a pain on longhaul flights.

        • mike says:

          10 May10 May 11:19

          I see this as an absolute game changer, but not for most readers of this site. The A321XLR allegedly has a range of 8700km so even working on 7500km this map shows the wide choice of destinations.
          http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?R=7500km%40auh

          Whilst some of these cities have some direct flights from London, people from all over Africa are all over Europe, so being able to fly from say Stockholm to Juba or Liverpool to Ahmedabad will never be direct, but may work out much more possible for passengers, and lucrative for Wizz who will be able to bring their ultra low costs to these routes.
          I’ve flown wizz to Belgrade, Budapest and Brno and the only difference from the Ryanair service was the colour of the seats, so it’s safe to say flying up to 7 hours will not be comfortable, but for people wanting to visit friends and relatives cheaply it will add lots of new options.

      • ADS says:

        11 May11 May 15:17

        one of my most uncomfortable and unpleasant flights was a DOH-BKK sector last year with Qatar in the window seat of a 10 abreast 777

        if you’ve got a large person beside you in Economy it’s almost always going to be grim

  • TGLoyalty says:

    10 May10 May 08:43

    Single aisle planes are rarely associated with long haul flights.

    • Marcw says:

      10 May10 May 09:27

      What about the 757?

      • Doug M says:

        10 May10 May 09:34

        Indeed. I think the smaller of the 757 variants is very similar in size to the A321.

    • Doug M says:

      10 May10 May 09:30

      I think this will become the more common definition, single aisle versus two aisle.

      • jc says:

        10 May10 May 10:16

        Haven’t we had this distinction for years as wide-body and narrow-body?

      • Lady London says:

        10 May10 May 13:14

        Are these little aircraft safe over water? Not sure how much extra fuel they can carry and they only have 2 engines, right?

        • marcw says:

          10 May10 May 14:16

          In which world do you live? 4 engine planes are now the least common crossing “water”. 777, 330, 350, 787 all have 2 engines.
          And def 32X family or aircraft can cross the Atlantic. For many years, Air Canada used to fly the 319 between LHR and Halifax (I think the shortest trans -Atlantic flights), Qatar Airways used to fly to many cities in Europe with their 319, S7 flies Canary Islands – Moscow with 320 airplanes, Finnair flies Canary Islands – Helsinki with 321 family aircraft. Many 757 used to cross the atantic. TAP Portugal has been flying for almost a year now 321-neo on the LIS-EWR route…
          Single aisle aircraft are capable of flying 5-8h flights, without problems.

        • David S says:

          10 May10 May 16:52

          HI Lady London
          The newer aircraft have more fuel efficient engines, so potentially longer range. The twin engine planes all have to have ETOPS rating (which shows how far they have to be from an airport if one engine fails) if flying over large unpopulated areas or water. The normal A320/321 group of planes have 3 hours ETOPS already. So they are pretty safe.
          Have flown on AA from Hawaii to LAX on an A321 and it was pretty uncomfortable. Prefer larger aircraft (wide body) for long haul from a personal point of view.

        • Rhys says:

          10 May10 May 16:57

          Yes, there are no safety concerns when choosing one or the other. As David says it is all regulated by ETOPS. The four engined jet is not long for this world.

        • Chrisasaurus says:

          10 May10 May 19:32

          I would strongly avoid trying BA1 then!

    • Rob says:

      10 May10 May 10:26

      We really need a new term for these aircraft. ‘Single Aisle’ is a more accurate term but it is easier to understand if you call them a ‘short haul’ plane, given that the dimensions are virtually identical.

    • Andrew says:

      10 May10 May 13:03

      I’ve only ever flown to the USA on a single aisle from Edinburgh or Glasgow.

      Indeed, before they were retired, I’m sure I did a twin aisle 767 from LHR to GLA before connecting with a single Aisle AA flight from GLA to PHL the next morning.

  • TimM says:

    10 May10 May 11:26

    I wonder what the economics of an all-business class, social-distancing-friendly, A321XLR would be? With record low oil rices, and Covid not going away any time soon, it could be the ideal time to try it. There could be quite a market.

    • Lady London says:

      10 May10 May 13:02

      Looks to me like an airline targeting those destinations with the current market positioning of Wizz is relying on COVID distancing requirements disappearing within 18 minths-max 3 years.

      The way these routes look is that if you’re wealthy and want to fly in Business you’d still choose Qatar. However less wealthy people get Wizz. So QR Y loses some passengers. Also note that routes have started from Eastern Europe to do this. Western Europe had better take a note of where business is going.

      Wizz is right the cheaper Europe-further than AbuDhabi market is underserved. These routes at Wizz-type pricing are going to get people on planes to and especially from these destinations that didn’t travel before – sort of like a mid-haul Ryanair. Any West European based LCC should watch carefully as this is a new market and they’re not in it.

      Reluctantly, I’ve got to admit this is a very good use of the British Government’s money by Wizz.

    • S says:

      10 May10 May 14:43

      “Social Distancing” is a moot point on planes. The air is recirculated.

      • Secret Squirrel says:

        10 May10 May 17:39

        Not supposed to be an issue i have read recently!

    • Nick_C says:

      10 May10 May 14:44

      I had thought that BA might have moved the A318 to LHR to cater for a small number of essential journeys. It often used to fly half full, which would give the social distancing needed. However, as has been mentioned before, the air circulation within a plane means normal social distancing rules do not apply.

      • Lady London says:

        10 May10 May 16:42

        Do not apply, or don’t work? Airlines say aircraft have good enough filters for the air supply.

        Where can we see airflow direction and vent maps for the various aircraft alongside seat maps?

        • Rhys says:

          10 May10 May 16:58

          Air comes from the top of the cabin and flows downward toward your feet.

          With HEPA filters and fresh air every 2-3 mins being inside an airplane is a lot safer than a cinema, theatre or other indoor venue!

        • Lady London says:

          10 May10 May 17:35

          Hum. I’ve often felt I have to shrug off a cold that someone a number of rows ahead of me had on a Transatlantic flight. Not on A350/A380 but on older aircraft. Usually my body wins after 24-72 hours fighting it off from installing itself.

  • the_real_a says:

    10 May10 May 16:07

    Am i the only one that thinks Wizz is anything but “cheap”? Once you add the bag fee, the cabin holdall fee and anything else you might need for a long haul flight… the price is generally at the level of a legacy airline in economy. I dont think i have even had Wizz price out cheaper, except on some obscure ex-soviet destinations that few airlines served.

    • Rhys says:

      10 May10 May 17:00

      That’s generally always been true if “low cost” airlines. If you can forego the extras it’s cheaper but if you need baggage, food etc you’re often better off going with a legacy airline

      • marcw says:

        10 May10 May 17:18

        But on SH, who offers free luggage? None. Free meal? Do you consider that disgusting butter sandwich i was served on SWISS any good? No, I´d rather pay for something i want to eat.

        • J says:

          11 May11 May 13:46

          Aegean still serve a free hot meal in short haul economy (and I’ve always enjoyed it!)

• Tyra says:

  10 May10 May 07:40

  Spoke to someone in the U.K. yesterday and still no luck on the retention points. I even asked them to check what offers were available. Advice was to drop to Gold but again no points offered. They did confirm “discussions” were happening to see what could be done for Platinum members. Let’s see what happens on Monday.

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    10 May10 May 07:54

    Try again Tyra, this happens a lot with Amex CS.

  • Rob says:

    10 May10 May 08:17

    Nothing.

• Heathrow Flyer says:

  10 May10 May 08:21

  These are the 5 destinations that Wizz currently operate to Dubai World Central.

  Understand that the DWC and AUH aren’t that far apart, and clearly there is a bigger picture with the involvement of Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company, but I fail to see how flying to Abu Dhabi over Dubai will help passenger numbers.

  • Rhys says:

    10 May10 May 08:29

    It probably won’t at the moment, but once it can set up a base at the airport they’ll be able to offer long haul connections. That’ll be sure to attract a price sensitive crowd.

• letBAgonesbe says:

  10 May10 May 10:32

  Just out of curiosity I looked at their onboard offering to see what one can purchase on a 5+ hours flight.

  In terms of actual food (not snacks), they have 2 different meat sandwiches. Full stop.

  When BOB returns to BA, maybe I stop complaining about their offering.

• Peter says:

  10 May10 May 11:06

  I flew with Wizzair twice to Dubai World Central, once via Sofia and once via Bucharest. On each trip all flights together came to less than £125 including the flights from London. The flights were absolutely fine, and DWC is such a cool airport, very modern and big, but dead – there are only like 1 or 2 airlines operating.
  Looking forward to the expansion, should finally enable cheap flights to Asia!
  Breaking up the journey was also nice, the flights were nice and short and Sofia and Bucharest are worth visiting!

• TimM says:

  10 May10 May 11:44

  Most countries have government-staffed passport control checking travellers out of their country before they can pass to the airside. The check at the gate in more lax countries is by local airport ground staff merely to make sure ticket name matches the person travelling. If there is pressure of time, e.g. to meet performance targets or avoid delay compensation, things slip.

  • John says:

    10 May10 May 16:46

    The purpose of the airline checking passports is to make sure their passengers can enter the destination. Outbound immigration officers (which I’m sure you know the UK doesn’t routinely use) are generally not bothered with that, unless they are tasked with enforcing their country’s ban on multiple citizenship.

• Aston100 says:

  10 May10 May 12:51

  Will these proposed long haul destinations require one stop (Abu Dhabi) or two (Eastern Europe + Abu Dhabi)?
  Not sure I understood the plan properly.

  • Peter K says:

    10 May10 May 14:15

    As Abu Dhabi will be a hub, I imagine it will be one stop to from Western Europe to the far East.

• marcw says:

  10 May10 May 14:17

  WizzAir is also launching some Greek Islands destinations from LTN, i believe, july onwards.

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