Wizz Air expands service as Britons continue flying to Spain

Wizz Air is launching a new base in Doncaster Sheffield Airport and seven additional destinations, including Spain and Portugal, as demand has proved ‘extremely strong’ despite the pandemic. Owain Jones, managing director of Wizz Air UK said that since being the first carrier in Europe to relaunch flights post-lockdown, its routes to Spain and Portugal have proved “a runaway success”. After the Foreign Office (FCO) dropped Spain from its ‘green list’ of quarantine-exempt countries, demand did go down, Jones says, but it still continues to maintain fairly steady numbers for trips to the country. Wizz Air plans to fly at 80% capacity by the end of the year; a higher number than any other European airline has announced. The Hungarian-owned airline has switched its focus chiefly to the Greek islands as Britons flock there due to low numbers of local infections. Its first direct service to Santorini took off this week and the flight was close to full. Bookings to Greece have been “extremely strong,” Jones confirms. Not that trips to the country have been without problems. As we’ve reported, Greece’s requirement that passengers submit a PLF (passenger landing form) and obtain a QR code at least 24 hours before travel hasn’t been reaching all customers, leading to some being turned away from boarding. “One of the challenges has been the completely unjoined up approach we’re seeing to policy across Europe,” Jones states, adding that Wizz Air customers are warned about Greece’s requirement five and three days before travel.<br/>