Budget airline Wizz Air, commonly ranked as Europe’s worst airline, is banking on its customers enduring the rigours of grueling long-haul budget flights because it introduces a brand new fleet of Airbus aircraft that may enable journeys of over eight hours.
At the launch of the brand new Airbus A321 XLR light aircraft, Wizz Air CEO József Váradi expressed confidence that passengers would have the ability to secure reasonably priced seats on flights that would cover record distances for the airline.
The latest Airbus aircraft will enable Wizz Air to extend its maximum flight time from six to eight hours. The aircraft’s first route will start next March from London Gatwick to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Prices start at just £134.99 for UK passengers, and it’s even cheaper from Jeddah as a consequence of UK Air Passenger Tax. Flights from London to Jeddah are expected to take seven hours, while flights in the opposite direction take just over seven hours.
Wizz Air expects so as to add 250,000 additional seats from London on the brand new aircraft next 12 months.
The seating arrangement is equivalent to that on Wizz’s short-haul flights, meaning passengers won’t have the choice to sit down back on their arduous flight to Saudi Arabia.
The idea of sitting on a Wizz Air flight for over seven hours shouldn’t be for the faint-hearted. The budget airline was founded by Which? In two consecutive years, the corporate received just one star each for seat comfort and cabin climate, but two stars in all other categories.
The airline was also more prone to split up groups of passengers who had not paid for seat selection. An eight-hour flight is a substantial period of time to be separated out of your flight attendant.
Around 44% of Wizz Air passengers surveyed by Which? reported problems with their journey.
Wizz boss Váradi dismissed the concept passengers may be delay by the prospect of spending an eight-hour flight in his airline’s narrow-aisle seats without reclining functionality.
“When I think back 15 to 20 years, I thought three hours would be a test of passengers’ tolerance,” Váradi told reporters at a press conference.
“I just think that economics is so critical for people who if you take a light-weight aircraft of any kind and you select economy class, you are giving up a certain level of comfort in comparison with what most individuals do.
“You are not sitting on a flatbed truck. You have to endure the pain if you want to reap the economic benefits you get from the transaction,” he added.
Váradi said Wizz had no intention of offering low-cost flights across the Atlantic to the US with its latest aircraft within the West.
“We do not want to be intimidated on the ocean,” said Váradi, pointing to an absence of competitiveness within the transatlantic market.
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