Wizz Air to exit Abu Dhabi operations citing geopolitical developments

Low-cost carrier Wizz Air said on Monday it would exit its Abu Dhabi operations and suspend all locally based flights from September due to operational challenges and geopolitical developments in the Middle East.

Wizz Air will focus on its core Central and Eastern European markets, as well as countries such as Austria, Italy and the UK, it said.

“Supply chain constraints, geopolitical instability, and limited market access have made it increasingly difficult to sustain our original ambitions,” Wizz Air CEO József Váradi said in a statement.

“While this was a difficult decision, it is the right one given the circumstances,” he added.

Váradi told Reuters that the airline is in talks with Airbus about scaling back its order for 47 A321XLR, a longer range aircraft, and converting some of them to regular A321 jets.

“We have 47 XLRs on order. We are going to scale that back,” Váradi said after the airline said it was exiting its Abu Dhabi operations, where most of the XLRs were going to be used.

“We have conversion rights for the majority of that of that aircraft order. So we are talking to the manufacturer.”