Ryanair said its Polish charter subsidiary operates with lower costs and can compete against low-cost peer Wizz Air, the de facto Hungarian flag carrier that has been expanding apace in recent years, according to various Hungarian media reports.

In seven years, Wizz Air aims to operate 300 aircraft and carry 100 million passengers a year, noted news site aerotelegraph.com, observing that even industry leader Ryanair has had a hard time competing against Wizz, hence the decision to close its base in Budapest at the end of November and hand over to Buzz.

The operational change will not affect the number of routes or flights Ryanair offers to and from Budapest, a spokesperson confirmed to aerotelegraph.com. The news portal recalled that a year ago, the Irish airline announced it would expand Buzz from five to 25 jets, adding that Buzz has big growth plans in all of Central and Eastern Europe.

Hungarian news portal index.hu reported that Ryanair would convene its staff in Budapest this week to outline its concept. In a presentation on Facebook, the company wrote that any employee who did not accept Buzzʼs offer would be offered a transfer to another Ryanair base.