According to turizmusonline.hu, Wizz Air’s recently received A321ceo (current engine option) is a milestone, as it was presented before the Romanian, Hungarian, Polish and British press in Birmingham on Tuesday.
Even if it is not a jumbo jet, Airbus A321 is already the size which appears as a large machine, in spite of the narrow fuselage, when you look at the aisle of the 44.5m-long machine, which is the broadest in the category. It is nearly 7m-longer than A320 which has made up the whole Wizz Air fleet so far. Wizz Air, as a low-cost airline, has densely-seated planes, which means 230 seats, compared to the 180 seats of the currently flying planes. Maybe it seems crowded, but some say legroom became even a couple of centimeters bigger.
The first airplane, which operates since November 20, will be followed by 25 another A321ceo-s. These will be taken over by the company until 2018. Wizz Air also ordered 110 Airbus A321neo-s, which will arrive between 2019 and 2024. Neo means New Engine Option, that means more efficient engines for the lower power consumption and costs per passenger, which will already be mitigated by 10% by the “old” A321, CEO Jozsef Varadi said. This will be particularly relevant in the price sensitive Central and Eastern European region, Vice President of Wizz Air John Stephenson said.
Wizz Air is not the first low-cost airline which gets 321-s. Among others, Vueling and Monarch already have, but they are hardly the airline’s competitors, against whom Wizz Air has to expand more aggressively as Jozsef Varadi said. Wizz Air is the first airline to operate this type with that amount of seats, turizmusonline.hu wrote.
By 2024, the fleet’s backbone will consist of A321s, while they are saying goodbye to the 320s. The current 63-piece fleet size will grow into 150. Owain Jones, director of corporate relations of the airline said that the company does not want to take passengers from other airlines, but they want to create demand. He is also confident in the Central and Eastern European region. As a proof, next 321s will operate in Warsaw and Bucharest in 2016.
based on the article of turizmusonline.hu
translated by BA
Photos: Arpad Foldhazi/ Wizz Air
Copy editor: bm