Wizz Air expects response to India entry plans in six months

Wizz has ordered Airbus’s longest-range A321XLR jets which will allow the airline to expand its operations further east.

Wizz Air Holdings Plc expects to find out the status of its plans to start flights to the country in the next six months, around the time that the Hungarian low-cost carrier aims to take delivery of the first Airbus SE jets that can serve the route.

Budapest-based Wizz is in the process of negotiations with Indian authorities to be granted so-called designation which would throw the door open to the start of services to India, Chief Executive Officer Jozsef Varadi said at a press conference in Rome. He said the situation was “very difficult to predict.”

“The ball is on the Indian side, not on the European side,” he said.

India’s aviation market is booming with flagship carriers such as IndiGo and Air India Ltd placing mammoth aircraft orders, and carriers from around the world ramping up services into the country. Wizz has ordered Airbus’s longest-range A321XLR jets which will allow the airline to expand its operations further east.

The airline expects to receive its first XLR in February next year, Varadi said.