Amid the large decrease in flights this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wizz Air is doing the opposite: It will start flights to Abu Dhabi later this year, according to multiple sources.

Earlier this year, in March, Wizz Air launched a joint venture with ADQ, an Abu Dhabi holding company with a diversified portfolio consisting mainly of industries like tourism.  With their joint venture, they will form a new subdivision of Wizz Air known as Wizz Air Abu Dhabi.

Barring any government restrictions, Wizz Air plans to start flights to Bucharest, Romania, and Budapest, Hungary on June 3rd, 2020.  These flights are scheduled to operate 2x weekly and increased to operate 3x weekly at the start of October.  Additionally, the Eastern European carrier will launch flights to Katowice, Poland, Sofia, Bulgaria, and Cluj-Napoca, Romania in mid-September.  Wizz Air will face no direct competition on all of these routes.  Below is a table that describes Wizz Air's planned routes.

The intention of this "base" is to expand through Europe where Wizz Air is successful, and other areas like India, Africa, and the Middle East.  With these flights, Wizz Air will be the first low-cost European carrier to start flights to Abu Dhabi. 

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Wizz Air has found new ways to use its aircraft mainly via repatriation flights for European governments.  For example, Wizz Air recently repatriated U.S. citizens by flying to New York City and Los Angeles via Reykjavik.  Additionally, recently, Wizz Air has relaunched flights to the U.K.(specifically London-Luton) to Eastern European countries like Bulgaria.  This prompted Wizz Air to implement new measures due to the pandemic, like wearing a mask on flights.

The CEO of Wizz Air Holdings, Jozsef Varadi, states, "Today's announcement underpins our long term dedication to bringing low fares combined with a high quality onboard experience to ever more customers in Abu Dhabi. I am delighted that our operations at Abu Dhabi International Airport will begin in June, subject to lifting the travel bans, connecting the capital of the United Arab Emirates with five major cities of Central and Eastern Europe as Budapest, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Katowice and Sofia. We are convinced that our passengers will appreciate the convenient flight schedules, the easy online booking system and the wide range of tailor-made travel options Wizz Air offers. Wizz Air's mission feeds into Abu Dhabi's diversified economic strategy as we continue to stimulate traffic by creating demand to the benefit of growing Abu Dhabi's touristic and economic diversity. We look forward to welcoming passengers on board our young, green and ultra-efficient fleet, while we pay extra attention to the health and well-being of our passengers and crew."

What are your thoughts on Wizz Air's expansion?  Do you think these routes will be successful?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below.