Wizz Air is to close its Cardiff base

Wizz Air is to close its base at Cardiff Airport less than a year after opening it.

The shock announcement will see the budget airline’s two remaining routes from the airport – to Milan and Bucharest – cease on 25 January.

Wizz Air announced the opening of its Cardiff base in April 2022, with plans to offer nine routes including Tenerife, Lanzarote and Corfu. It revealed intentions to create 40 jobs directly and 250 indirectly.

The airline was to have offered more than 330,000 seats, but then announced in November that it would suspend operations over the winter, while stressing its commitment to Cardiff.

Wizz Air UK manging director Marion Geoffroy said then the carrier was “prepared to build up operations at Cardiff over the long term”.

However, the carrier has confirmed its operations at Cardiff will cease permanently later this month.

Cardiff is the second airport to fall victim to Wizz Air’s change of business plan. In June 2022 the carrier abruptly pulled out of Doncaster Sheffield airport, precipitating its closure.

Cardiff customers will be contacted via e-mail and can opt for either a 120% refund of the original fare in airline credit, a 100% cash refund, or an alternative flight via Birmingham, Bristol, Gatwick, Leeds, Liverpool or Luton.

The carrier added all Cardiff-based employees will be offered redeployment opportunities at other Wizz Air bases in the UK.

Geoffroy said:

“The challenging macro-economic environment and high operational costs including fuel mean that unfortunately we are unable to continue operating from Cardiff Airport. We sincerely apologise to our customers in Wales and the Southwest of England for the disruption and inconvenience that this will cause.

“Our priority now is to ensure that all affected customers are contacted directly with clear advice on their options, and to look after our Cardiff-based colleagues and crew.”