Wizz Air to add 28 weekly flights to Romania, W. Europe cities

Wizz Air Ltd., a low-cost carrier in eastern Europe, said it will add 28 flights a week between three Romanian cities and five western European destinations including London and Rome next month and in January 2007. Closely held Wizz Air, which has bases in Hungary and Poland, will inaugurate its first Romanian destination July 14, with three weekly flights between Budapest and Tirgu Mures (Marosvásárhely) in central Romania, the company said today in an e-mailed statement. Wizz Air will introduce most of its flights to and from Bucharest and Arad, Romania, as well as Tirgu Mures, on Jan. 15, 2007. Romania is hoping to join the European Union that month. Romania is becoming increasingly attractive to low-cost airlines as hundreds of thousands of its workers are seeking fast and cheap transportation to EU-member countries such as Spain, Italy and Germany. Romania, a nation of 22 million, will have to fully comply with European Union airline industry competition rules once it joins the EU. The other destinations Wizz Air plans to add are Barcelona, Spain, Rome, Milan, London and Dortmund, Germany. Most destinations are served by three flights a week, while there will be four flights a week between Bucharest and Rome, Wizz Air said. In Romania, Wizz Air's main competitors besides Romanian national carrier Tarom SA and other international airlines flying to the country are low-cost carriers such as closely held Romanian carrier Blue Air and SkyEurope Airlines AS. MALÉV for example started flights to some Romanian destinations this year, such as Tirgu Mures and Cluj Napoca (Kolozsvár), but they have also got flights to Bucharest and Constanta. (Bloomberg, MALÉV)