Wizz Air, a Hungarian airline whose main base is in Poland, is to add Gatwick to its route network from early next year.
On Thursday 31 January the south London airport joins both Luton and Stansted with daily flights to its hub at Katowice. Wizz Air is the only airline to serve Katowice from London.
Established in 2004, Wizz Air now flies from ten UK airports (plus Cork in Ireland) all of which serve Katowice. Luton is its largest British base with 12 continental destinations including Tirgu Mures (Transylvania ” Romania), Bourgas (Bulgaria) and Split (Croatia).
The airline carried 3m passengers last year and currently operates a fleet of 16 Airbus A320s with a further 16 on order.
In another move Wizz Air has followed other budget airlines by charging for bags. It previously imposed a fee for more than one piece and for items that were overweight. It now adds a fee of ”2.50 ($5) per bag at the time of the initial booking or ”5 per bag if paid later. The policy change is effective for travel from 27 October unless already booked. Wizz Air will continue to charge ”6 for each kg over the 20kg allowance.
Katowice is a city of 300,000 plus in the far south of Poland, not far from the Czech and Slovakian borders. A coal mining centre in the years of the industrial revolution it is now a very modern city described as rather like London”s south bank, all concrete and glass.