The low-cost European carrier Wizz Air is eyeing bum numbingly long flights to India on new ultra-long range single-aisle aircraft in an all Economy Class configuration with just 28″ of leg room.
Jozsef Varadi, the often outspoken of the Hungarian-based carrier who has blasted airlines that offer Business and First Class seats, is hopeful that the first flights could take off between Europe and India within the next year.
Wizz Air is currently in talks with India’s aviation regulator in a bid to win the necessary approvals, with the aim to initially connect as many as six to seven European cities with destinations such as Delhi and Mumbai in India.
The flight times for the new flights would dwarf Wizz Air’s current longest flight between Budapest and Dubai, which clocks in at 2,505 miles and takes around six hours.
Non-stop low-cost flights between Europe and India will only be made possible by the arrival of the new Airbus A321XLR – an updated version of the A321neo, which Wizz Air already operates but with additional fuel tanks and other improvements to increase its range up to 4,700 nautical miles.
In 2019, Wizz Air placed an initial order for just 20 A321XLR aircraft, and at the time, the airline confirmed that it planned to cram 239 seats into the 44.5-metre-long fuselage.
That’s the exact same number of seats as Wizz Air has on its A321neo aircraft which operate much shorter flights around Europe but the airline wants to ensure “full fleet commonality” so that the XLRs can be used on any route within the Wizz Air network.
That will be important as since that initial order, Wizz Air has more than doubled its commitment, with the carrier now expecting 47 A321XLRs.
Wizz Air had hoped to take delivery of its first A321XLR last year, but certification and manufacturing issues delayed the project. Spanish flag carrier Iberia is set to become the launch customer of the A321XLR in the coming months, and other airlines will start taking deliveries of the highly anticipated aircraft.
There is a huge demand for international flights to Europe from India, although traditionally, airlines have focused on competing for passengers by differentiating themselves with the onboard service they offer – especially considering that Indian passengers can be very discerning.
Wizz Air will offer a stripped-back, no-frills offering, although at a fraction of the cost of other carriers flying between India and Europe. It’s a proposition that has done them no harm on flights to the Middle East, where consumers have snapped up Wizz Air’s bargain basement tickets.
As well as offering a cheaper product, Varadi also argues that Wizz Air is much further ahead in offering a sustainable way to fly because the fuel burn per passenger is lower when you cram more passengers in a single-cabin configuration on a plane.
