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Wizz Air suspends flights to Middle East for several months
Passengers planning to travel from Budapest to the Middle East with Wizz Air may need to reconsider their plans, as the airline has temporarily removed several routes from its booking system until late September.
Wizz Air to avoid Middle East until autumn
Utazómajom reported that one traveller recently noticed that his 1 April flight from Budapest to Dubai had been cancelled. Although he had not yet received an official email notification, the change was already visible in the airline’s mobile application. According to the information shown there, passengers affected by cancellations are being offered the usual options: rebooking or a full refund.
In case you missed it: Could the war in Iran sweep away Wizz Air? Shares could plummet, with a brutal slump in prospect.
Flights are not available until mid-September
A look at the airline’s updated schedule suggests wider changes. Flights from Budapest to Abu Dhabi and Dubai currently appear unavailable until 21 September. Services to Amman are missing until 22 September, while the route to Jeddah is not bookable until 27 September.
There were also temporary changes affecting Larnaca, although the destination has since reappeared in the booking system. Meanwhile, flights to Tel Aviv remain listed for now.
Stay up-to-date on the Iran conflict: latest updates, background and Hungary-related developments.
The airline may use the aircraft elsewhere
Industry observers believe the adjustments may be temporary. Aircraft previously assigned to affected routes could be redeployed to other destinations or used to increase flight frequencies elsewhere, partly due to ongoing instability in parts of the Middle East.
Passengers with existing bookings are advised to regularly check both their email accounts and the Wizz Air app for updates regarding potential changes or cancellations.
Featured image: depositphotos.com
Oh dear, this does rather suggest that Wizz Air are preparing for a prolonged airspace closure. Considering the global dependency on the transit hubs of Dubai, Doha and to a lesser extended, Abu Dhabi, this represents very bad news for anyone seeking to fly between Europe and Asia/Australia/NZ. I don’t know what percentage of traffic the ‘ME3’ carry on these routes but it must be approaching 50% or more to certain parts of these regions. If their hubs remain either closed or just unreliable (the market won’t tolerate another prolonged shutdown like the present one) we may see these carriers having to innovate by offering effectively direct flights but with a technical stop in Saudi or Oman to refuel and legally break the journey in order to comply with bilateral agreements.