Wizz Air, the largest low-fare low-cost airline based in Central and Eastern Europe announced at a press conference yesterday that it would open its 10th operating base in Timisoara, Romania in March 2009. The airline plans to deploy three new A320 aircraft and employ over 100 staff in Timisoara in the next three years, representing an investment of well over €100 million. Timisoara will be the airline’s 3rd operating base in Romania after Bucharest and Cluj.

Already in December the airline will launch flights to London, Rome and Dortmund 3 times a week each, going up to 4 from 11 March 2009. Also, there will be 5 new routes introduced concurrently with the new base opening in March 2009.

To	Frequencies	Launch date
London Luton	3 flights/week	17 December 2008
Rome Fiumicino	3 flights/week	17 December 2008
Dortmund	3 flights/week	17 December 2008
Milan Bergamo	3 flights/week	11 March 2009
Barcelona	3 flights/week	11 March 2009
Paris Beauvais	2 times/week	11 March 2009
Valencia	2 times/week	11 March 2009
Venice Treviso	3 times/week	11 March 2009

"Timisoara will become Wizz Air's third operating base in Romania. With 22 weekly flights we will become the largest low cost airline offering the most routes and the biggest capacity to passengers travelling to/from the Banat region. Wizz Air has been proving its commitment to the Romanian market by opening new bases, routes, and basing new aircraft in the market. We are well on track to become the leading low cost airline in the country shortly” - said John Stephenson, Chief Commercial Officer of Wizz Air.”

Marian Chivu, Operational Director of Timisoara Airport added: “One of the objectives of the AIT board is the continuous development. Our aim is the constant growth in terms of passenger number, and route development inside and also outside the
European Union, according to the market’s demand. We want to get more and more airline companies to operate from the largest regional airport in Romania that is one of the most modern airports in the country benefiting from the latest infrastructure of the airline industry.

The presence of a low cost company that operates in Timisoara is an attractive feature, both for passengers and travel agencies as there is a huge demand for that. Timisoara International Airport is open to any company interested in starting collaboration, if it rises up to the necessary standards.

Our opinion is that the presence of Wizz Air in Timisoara will be a good alternative not only for the community but also for the airport commercially, economically and financially as well.”

Concurrently with the new base opening the airline announced that effective from 25 August it will suspend its Cluj-Bucharest flights for the winter season and will re-open it next summer.