Wizz Air has announced a huge expansion out of Naples. The airline will make the city its sixth Italian base and will launch 18 new routes. In total, Wizz will now serve 26 international and domestic destinations from Naples. As usual, the airline is offering special €9.99 ($12) tickets for the new routes for those booking early.

Huge

In a statement today, Wizz Air announced a major expansion out of Naples Airport. The European low-cost airline will add 18 new routes ranging from Milan Linate to Tel Aviv in length. Naples will become Wizz Air's sixth base in Italy, behind Bari, Catania, Milan Malpensa, Palermo, and Rome Fiumicino. The carrier will base two A321s out of the city in August and September of this year to serve these routes.

In total, this will quadruple the current capacity Wizz Air offers in Naples, reaching 1.5 million seats annually. The move will also add 30 new jobs directly with Wizz and an estimated 1,100 jobs in associated industries. This will be a huge boost for the region considering the challenging year for tourism.

Wizz A321
The A321ceo/neo has over half of the Group's September seats. Photo: Getty Images.

The 18 news routes being added are: Casablanca, Crete, Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Lampedusa London Luton, Milan Linate, Mykonos, Olbia, Prague, Reykjavik, Santorini, Sharm el Sheikh, Tallinn, Tel Aviv, Tenerife, Turin, and Verona. Previously, Wizz served eight routes from Naples, namely, Bucharest, Budapest, Kyiv, Lviv, Milan Malpensa, Sofia, Vienna, and Warsaw Chopin.

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Kicking off in September

Most of the new routes will begin operating in mid-September. However, busier routes to Greece (Crete, Mykonos, and Santorini) will begin from July 30th-August 1st. Similarly, Lampedusa, Olbia, Milan Linate, and Ibiza will also begin in late July to serve the busy summer season.

This will ensure that Wizz Air can capture a slice of the summer traffic from Naples this season while deferring non-EU travel to September when borders reopen and vaccination rates pick up.

Wizz Air is hoping for a substantial summer recovery as borders reopen and travel appetite bounces back. Photo: Wizz Air

To boost the newly announced routes, travelers can book tickets for as low as €9.99 ($12) for base fares starting today. Inventory will be limited to be sure to head over and book fast if you're looking to fly to or from Naples this summer!

The Wizz strategy

Wizz Air has challenged the conventional airline decision to hunker down and weather the pandemic. Instead, the low-cost carrier has stepped out of its home turf and added an impressive 25 new airports to its network in 2021 alone. Indeed, all six of its Italian bases have been added since May 2020 alone, showing the airline's rapid growth.

As the summer draws closer, Wizz is hoping to deploy all of this accumulated capacity and offer passengers the most choice for their plans. While the green shoots of a recovery are there, things remain up in the air currently. For now, keep an eye out for Europe's fast-growing airline in the coming months.

What do you think about Wizz Air's expansion strategy? Let us know in the comments!