• Three aircraft and a network of 25 routes in 2020
• 15 new destinations to eight countries to and from Tirana International Airport

Tirana, 29 May 2020: Wizz Air, the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe, announced today the new base in Tirana. The airline will base 3 Airbus A320 aircraft at Tirana International Airport in July 2020. Along with the establishment of the new base and complementing the already operated ten routes, Wizz Air announced 15 new routes to eight countries from Tirana starting from July 2020, bringing the total to 25 destinations from Tirana International Airport.

The 3 Airbus A320 aircraft will support the operations of fifteen new routes to Beauvais (Paris), Charleroi (Brussels), Eindhoven, Mulhouse Euroairport, Karlsruhe/Baden-baden, Hamburg, Berlin Schönefeld, Frankfurt Hahn, Prague, Heraklion, Rhodes, Bari, Catania, Milan Malpensa and  Torino, totalling in  over 800 thousand seats on sale to 25 destinations from Tirana in 2020. Wizz Air’s growing Albanian network will support local tourism, bring more capital to the region as well as connect Tirana with new and exciting destinations.

“Wizz Air started flying to Tirana in 2017, and since then has carried almost half a million passengers to and from the Albanian capital. We are very happy to welcome the establishment of the new base of Wizz Air in Tirana. This means fair competition between airlines, more passengers when our borders will be open, affordable ticket prices and travel opportunities for the passengers. With the experience of providing low fare but high quality services in the past years in Tirana, the airline is confident that with the establishment of its newest, 30^th base, WIZZ will bring more economic growth to the region, connect Albania with other European countries”, said in the press conference the Chief Executive Officer of Tirana International Airport, Dr. Constantin von Alvensleben.

Speaking also at the press conference in Tirana today, József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air Group said:”We are delighted to announce the opening of our base in Tirana today. Just after three years of successful operations we are dedicated to bringing more affordable travel options to our Albanian customers while helping ramp up the local tourism sector. Our long term commitment to Albania by bringing further connectivity to Tirana and Albania, will create over hundred new jobs and will help strengthen economic ties with other countries. Opening our base and allocating three state-of-the-art modern aircraft is a step forward to strengthening our long term presence in Albania. We are delighted to add fifteen new exciting routes today and keep ourselves to the highest standards of our sanitizing protocols. Our enhanced protective measures will ensure the most sanitary conditions possible on Europe’s greenest fleet. We are confident that Wizz Air’s ultra-low fares and great route network will make travel affordable to ever more passengers.” 

The airline recently announced a range of enhanced hygiene measures, to ensure the health and safety of its customers and crew. As part of these new protocols, throughout the flight, both cabin crew and passengers are required to wear facemasks, with cabin crew also required to wear gloves.

Since the middle of March, after COVID-19, TIA traffic was strongly reduced.  The airport currently remains open for emergency, humanitarian or repatriation flights. The number of repatriation flights is at least one per day. In addition, TIA has one or two cargo flights per day. Still, the month of June hopefully will be the time of opening the air borders and starting again to fly from and to Tirana International Airport.