Central European low-cost carrier Wizz Air is continuing its expansion in Italy by launching an operation at Naples, the latest in a series of bases it has added in the country since the pandemic hit.
Wizz will locate a pair of Airbus A321s in Naples and open 18 new routes, in addition the eight it already serves from the southern Italian city. It will open the base in August.
The new routes include five domestic links, as well as predominantly leisure destinations in Europe and North Africa.
Low-cost carriers already have a strong presence in Naples: EasyJet and Ryanair were the two biggest operators by seat capacity in August 2019, before the pandemic hit, followed by Volotea.
Wizz has notably been stepping its operations in Italy since the crisis hit, a market in which low-cost carriers are already well established and where national carrier Alitalia remains in limbo while a revamped operation is established and the country’s second biggest operator, Air Italy, collapsed in early 2020.
Naples will be Wizz’s sixth base in Italy, all of which it has added over the past year. The carrier opened bases in Catania and Milan Malpensa last year, as well as Bari in March. This month it opens a base at Palermo and a four-aircraft operation at Rome Fiumicino will follow in July.
