Wizz Air boss says new base at London Luton Airport underlines airline's "commitment to the UK"

Low-cost airline Wizz Air has announced plans to open a UK base at London Luton Airport. The new base in Britain, its 28th in total, will open on 18 June this year with a new Airbus A320 aircraft. The carrier also plans to bolster its presence at Luton, where it is currently the second largest carrier, and increase the number of routes being served from the airport to 42. The three new routes will fly from London to Tel Aviv in Israel, Prishtina in Kosovo and Kutaisi in Georgia. Wizz Air is also upping the frequency of other routes; Suceava will run five times a week, Constanta four per week and Iasi flights will operate daily from June too. Last year the airline carried more than 5m passengers and this year it will have nearly 6.3m seats on sale across its Luton routes, marking a 13% growth year-on-year. The move comes after the airline warned UK growth would be tempered after the Brexit vote. In July last year, the Hungarian carrier said it was halving UK growth projections “as a direct result of Brexit” and would reallocate two additional aircraft marked for the UK to continental Europe. CE Jozsef Varadi said that while there had not been a change in passenger demand since the vote, the sterling slide had diminished the euro value of its sales. <br/>