Wizz Air announced new destinations for the summer: Ukraine is among them! – UPDATED

The coronavirus pandemic has slowed down the trend of travelling abroad. Now that we seem to be coming out of it, it is the war that is a negative factor. This summer, however, Wizz Air will be launching more new flights from Hungary, and even the Ukrainian capital will be back on the list, among some new destinations.

Back to Ukraine?

As we have reported before, at the beginning of April, Wizz Air cancelled all its flights to and from Ukraine and Russia until the end of October, that is, the end of the summer timetable. Now, according to hvg.hu, Wizz Air is flying to Kyiv again this summer.

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Flights to Kyiv are full for the first week of July, tickets are no longer available.

Apart from the flights to Kyiv, more destinations are added to the timetable for the summer. However, it will take some time for the airline industry to get back to 2019 levels, that is, the pre-pandemic levels. The executive vice president (henceforth: EVP) of Wizz Air told pénzcentrum.hu that he expects it to happen by 2024-25.

Expectations

Wizz Air EVP Jourik Hooghe said that “people’s need for mobility will restore the appetite for travel”, but the airline is more confident in the long-term recovery than the short-term. They believe the airline industry may be back to 2019 levels by 2024-25.

“In 2020, at the start of the pandemic, our turnover fell by more than 70 per cent. Initially, we put the airline into hibernation to minimise losses, while continuing to invest in our network and fleet to be stronger by the time the industry rebounds,”

Hooghe told pénzcentrum.hu.

“The last two years have proven once again that the ultra-low-cost model is the fastest way to respond in the aviation industry, and we were able to open new bases and launch new routes during the pandemic, while several airlines were in a state of near-bankruptcy,”

the EVP added.

Read also: Is there a way for Hungary to reduce its dependency on Russian energy?

New destinations

As Wizz Air reported back in January, the capital of Moldova, Chișinău, will soon be accessible from Hungary. What is more, from this summer, it will also be possible to fly from Debrecen to Corfu and Burgas, Bulgaria.

“One of Hungary’s most popular resorts, Hévíz, will soon be connected to Dortmund in Germany, while the winter schedule will see passengers flying from Budapest to Hurghada in Egypt and Aqaba in Jordan,”

Hooghe reported the good news.

UPDATE (04.24.)

Following our article, Wizz Air emailed us, emphasising that, based on their early-April announcement, they cancelled all flights to Russia until October 30. In the case of Ukraine, that cancellation was only until the end of June. However, even though there are bookable flights from July on their website, there are no real travel opportunities behind these. Therefore,

currently, nobody can travel to Kyiv.

They added that they keep monitoring the ongoing war in Ukraine. Once the authorities abolish the airspace closure, and travelling becomes safe again, Wizz Air is ready to launch flights to Ukraine.