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Low-cost airline Wizz Air will launch services between Europe and the Middle East next year, betting that passengers will trade premium seats and on-board entertainment for no-frills flights lasting some seven hours.
The London-listed carrier on Tuesday announced a new route between London Gatwick and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from March next year, as well as flights from Milan to Abu Dhabi from June.
The airline will use new long-range single-aisle A321XLR planes on the routes, on order from Airbus.
The A321XLR has a range of 8,700km and can fly for up to 8 hours when configured with Wizz’s all-economy set-up, opening up routes traditionally served by large and less fuel efficient wide-body planes to low cost operators.
“The Airbus A321XLR is the most cost-efficient aircraft in its class. Its enhanced range capability allows Wizz Air to connect the farthest destinations in its network, while also providing opportunities for further expansion,” said József Váradi, Wizz Air’s chief executive.
Several airlines already operate low-cost long-haul routes, including Singapore’s Scoot and Norse Atlantic Airways, which offers transatlantic flights.
But unlike those airlines, which offer some of the facilities associated with long-haul flying such as premium cabins and on-board entertainment, Wizz Air’s Middle East flights will compare to its short-haul services in Europe: all economy seats and without frills.
“This will really test the power of pricing,” said Andrew Charlton, managing director of consultancy Aviation Advocacy.
“Can Wizz fly long-haul efficiently enough to offer seats so cheap that it overcomes the need for some sort of level of comfort on these flights?”
He added that the low-cost model of having crew and aircraft on multiple flights a day and flying from smaller, cheaper airports was harder to apply to longer flights.
