Wizz Air victory for BTN *

Hungarian airline’s Wizz Air 49% owned subsidiary Wizz Air Abu Dhabi has cancelled a proposed return of flights to Moscow.   

BTN can proudly say it campaigned for this decision, as did others in the international media, calling for a boycott of the carrier.  See BTN 15 August COMMENT: Wizz Air and Moscow.

The reintroduction of the air services caused an awkward situation for Wizz Air and its Chief Executive József Váradi. 

Soon after the Abu Dhabi suspension announcement he issued a statement making clear his commitment to Ukraine.

“Wizz Air is Ukraine's home town airline and we are here to continue to support in any way we can during these difficult times. Our aim is to alleviate the hardships of Ukrainian citizens".

In a statement to Reuters the Abu Dhabi airline said it has ‘deferred’ the flights until further notice, due to ‘industry supply-chain limitations’ but at the same time announced new services to the Maldives and Kuwait on the very days (3 October) that the Russian flights were due to return.

Whether other airlines, particularly those in the Middle East, decide to stop their Moscow flights remains to be seen.  As one senior aviation expert put it “there is little commercial value in flying to Moscow as most of the traffic seems to be people trying to escape the Moscow tyranny.  One way traffic does not help the bottom line and is being used for propaganda purposes by the Russian dictator!”

https://wizzair.com

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OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

Simon Grigor, United Kingdom

First, this is a good news story, well done Malcolm for your part in it. But, re.the last para., there is still plenty of business to be had by the airlines who are still flying to Russia. Half an hour in a beach hotel in Antalya, for instance, will demonstrate that Russian holidaymaker levels there are little different to what they were before February.

Jill Smith, Sheffield

Now that Moscow has been sorted out, and well done BTN, I still think that the airline should be boycotted after the way Doncaster has been treated.