Article from BTNews 25 NOVEMBER 2019
Wizz Air joins the Southend family
Southend Airport greeted its latest airline last week as Wizz Air celebrated the start of operations to four destinations – Vilnius (Lithuania), and Bucharest, Sibiu and Iași (Romania).
The expansion of the carrier’s UK network at Southend will see the creation of more than 100 indirect jobs in the area and means Wizz Air now operates from three London airports including Luton and Gatwick.
The airline has added 27 new routes to its UK network this year alone, meaning it now offers 103 routes to 27 countries from 12 UK airports, representing 23% growth year on year.
Wizz Air UK managing director Owain Jones praised Southend Airport’s easy accessibility via London’s public transport network which he said enabled the airline to connect passengers with the new destinations in a matter of hours.
Passengers would also benefit from flying with one of the youngest fleets, currently consisting of 120 aircraft with an average age of 4.7 years, making Wizz the greenest airline in Europe reporting only 56.8 grams CO2 emissions per passenger per km.
The airline was welcomed to Southend by Glyn Jones, CEO of airport owner Stobart Aviation, who said the partnership between the two companies was another significant milestone in the airport’s development.
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Allan Schoenherr, Prague, CZ
Came through Southend earlier this year on Easyjet and it was a breeze, so quick through check-in, security etc. Then a second time once Ryanair had joined and it was already a different story, security queues backed right out and down the stairs. I fear that in a rush to take on some extra capacity we\'ll end up with another airport like Stansted which is over-crowded to the point that any trip through is to be endured rather than enjoyed as you trip over poeple sitting on the floor, fight your way through the shopping funnel and search for a water fountain...