Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is closely monitoring the improving geopolitical developments in Syria as the ultra-low cost airline weighs up the potential demand for flights into the country after the fall of the Assad regime.
A decision on whether to start flights to Syria would depend on Damascus International Airport's operational reliability, safety and security, and sufficient passenger demand to fill its narrow-body jets, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi's managing director Johan Eidhagen told The National.
"We want to satisfy demand and ensure there is a high level of point-to-point traffic, this is our key point," he said on Thursday. "So we need to be able to operate, fill the plane with 230 passengers per round trip who want to come to the UAE.
"Without a doubt, if Syria continues its trajectory of improving, then I think that we will be moving into Syria at some point. But right now, you have a limited amount of resources and you always have to weigh your options, and there's quite a lot of options available in the region."
While the airline is closely watching the situation in Syria, it is also focusing on adding seat capacity in markets it already serves such as Egypt, Jordan and Israel.
"In terms of markets, Syria would be an interesting market for us. We're probably not going to be the first movers in Syria. We have such a dense configuration of our aircraft that we need to unlock a huge number of passengers compared to say, Qatar [Airways], that is doing transit passengers."
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi stands to benefit from flying directly over Syria, avoiding the longer and more costly flight reroutes around the country during times of conflict.
"In the very short term, how it would affect us is that Syria would open up the airspace so that we would be able to overfly, which would shorten some of our loops," Mr Eidhagen said. Currently the airline is not flying over Syria but may revise its approach in "future if circumstances allow", it said.
After rebels toppled Syrian president Bashar Al Assad last month, ending more than a decade of civil war, a couple of international airlines have announced plans to resume flights to the country. Turkish Airlines said it would start flights to the capital Damascus on January 23 with three flights per week, while Qatar Airways said it would resume flights to the city on January 7.
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is also monitoring developments in geopolitical hotspots such as Ukraine for improvements that would allow the airline to move seat capacity into these markets once they stabilise, Mr Eidhagen said.
The airline resumed flights to Tel Aviv on January 16. It currently operates four flights per week, with plans to increase to daily flights from the end next month. Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire deal that will take effect on January 19, following 15 months of war that has destroyed most of Gaza and displaced 90 per cent of its 2.3 million people.
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is also keen on starting flights to India and Pakistan but is working on bilateral rights to get seat allocations to these markets, Mr Eidhagen said.
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, a joint venture between Hungary's Wizz Air Holding and Abu Dhabi state holding company ADQ, has an air operator certificate in the UAE and launched operations in 2021 during the pandemic.
The airline's network spans 34 destinations served by a fleet of 12 Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft.
All-you-can-fly pass
In 2024, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi carried more than 3.5 million passengers, up 20 per cent year-on-year, on 19,000 flights that offered 4.4 million seats. Load factor, a measure of how well an airline fills available seats, stood above 80 per cent last year.
The expansion was driven by inbound tourists from Europe, particularly western Europe, and strong growth in markets such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Georgia, Mr Eidhagen said.
The airline contributed 25 per cent of the traffic at its home base of Zayed International Airport and carried more than 1.2 million international visitors to Abu Dhabi in 2024.
Abu Dhabi is "one of the strongest bases" in Wizz Air's network, which also operates bases in Europe including Budapest and Warsaw.
Wizz Air last year launched an all-you-can-fly subscription service, with a round of 10,000 passes sold out within 24 hours.
"The highest demand for these have been out of the UAE and the region ... the top destinations where people are flying to with their 'All you can fly' passes is the region. So it's driving inbound tourism to the UAE," Mr Eidhagen said.
The UAE made up between 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the total passes sold, according to the airline.
Outlook for year ahead
By the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026, Wizz Air also plans to base some of its new Airbus extra long-range narrow-body jets in Abu Dhabi, helping to unlock new markets within an eight-hour flight from the UAE capital.
This will allow it to reach potential destinations in western Europe such as the UK and the Netherlands, and routes in the east such as Thailand and cities in eastern China, which are options it is exploring, Mr Eidhagen said, noting that the A321XLR (Xtra Long Range) could plat its part.
"The UAE is probably the largest market in terms of potential for the XLR, the distances are by nature longer in this region than they are in Europe, so it requires more extensive travel. The XLR moves the dial from 4,700km to 8700km, so it's quite a huge leap but still allows for the same cost savings and fuel efficiencies," he said.
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi does not plan to add any more new jets to its fleet in the first half of this year as it focuses on improving aircraft utilisation and consolidating its presence in existing markets.
"We will grow our current markets, so we're looking at more airports within Egypt, Uzbekistan and Europe. We want to grow where we're already strong but at the same time we're looking at new market opportunities," he said, citing India and Pakistan as examples.
