Hungary’s Wizz Air aims to be the dominant passenger carrier for the Qatar FIFA World Cup

Qatar’s airports are not suitable to welcome millions of guests for this year’s football world cup. Therefore, they will need help from nearby airports. One is the Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, or DWC, where the number of airlines buying extra slots is rising. One of those companies is Hungary’s Wizz Air, which aims to have its share of the increasing passenger traffic.

If you search Qatar on the maps of the Persian Gulf, it becomes clear that the gulf state is on a peninsula and is only reachable from Saudi Arabia. During the football world cup this autumn/winter, millions of guests are expected to arrive to watch the matches in Qatar. Of course, the small state’s airports are not suitable to welcome that many people, so they will need help from nearby cities and countries.

One of the possible airports in the neighbourhood is the Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central or DWC. Not surprisingly, the number of airlines buying extra slots at the DWC is rising. One of those companies is Hungary’s Wizz Air, which they call Europe’s fastest-growing airline. Now it seems they would like to have their share of the increasing passenger traffic in the gulf region.

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According to marketwatch.com, the number of passengers at the Dubai International Airport surged in the first six months of 2022. They expect that the coming football world cup will further boost traffic there. Over the past six months, 28 million people travelled through the airport. That is 70 percent of the airport’s pre-pandemic levels, even though China is still closed due to the severe pandemic restrictions Beijing introduced.