Low cost airline Wizz Air has opened its first UK base at London Luton Airport, despite fears that Brexit will dampen business in the aviation industry.
The airline called the move a “major investment in the UK by Wizz”, basing one of its Airbus A320 aircraft at the UK’s fifth busiest airport.
The investment is projected to create up to 36 new jobs and enable new services to Tel Aviv, Pristina in Kososvo, and Kutaisi in Georgia. This will increase Wizz Air’s routes from London to 42.
The airline’s chief corporate officer Owain Jones said: “In terms of our strategy, I'm afraid to say we’re a bit of a boring company. We’ve found something that works and that’s generating traffic in Central and Eastern Europe.
“It's empirically proven that GDP growth fuels demand for air travel. We are in a region which is historically underserved by air travel and what air travel there has been has been very expensive,” he added.
During its annual results last month, Wizz Air said that the UK’s decision to leave the EU had created significant uncertainty for the airline and that a liberalized market had many benefits from the UK and EU aviation industries.
Wizz Air said the plummeting of the Pound after the referendum had cost the company value of revenue €17m. This, despite demand for the airline’s routes remaining steady.
Luton Airport is also set to get a new railway station to allow trains to run directly to the terminal. A 1.4 mile rail line will be built at the existing Luton Airport Parkway station, meant to replace the current bus shuttle service.
Luton Borough Council has approved the £200m plans, set to be completed by the end of 2020.
This is hoped to reduce journey time between the airport and London to less than 30 minutes.
It is hoped that passengers will be able to travel between the airport and London in under half an hour.