In Saudi Arabia, Wizz Air wants to set up a new branch that should be in the air by around 2030 with a fleet of 50 aircraft. The new airline should be set up quickly and also open up numerous new routes towards Europe.

As part of the most recent meetings with analysts, Wizz Air management gave more details about the plans in Saudi Arabia for the first time. A letter of intent was signed a few weeks ago, which also includes the founding of a local branch. Since then, numerous new routes to/from Saudi Arabia have been announced. Three routes lead to Vienna-Schwechat. These will initially be served by Wizz Air Hungary.

In the future, there will also be an independent subsidiary in Saudi Arabia based on the model of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi. The direction was vaguely outlined by the management of Wizz Air Holdings. About half of the capacity will be used for flights in the Middle East. A quarter will be used for domestic flights within Saudi Arabia. The remaining quarter is to be used for the strong expansion of the flight offer between the oil-rich desert state and Europe.

Wizz CEO Jozsef Varadi told Bloomberg news agency: “The first and most important process is finding the right partnership with local investors and that is what we are working on. Once this is resolved, we can complete the formal process of applying for an airline.”

So far, Wizz Air has not applied for an AOC in Saudi Arabia. Due to legal requirements, you need a local majority owner and can therefore become a minority shareholder at best. Negotiations are currently being made with potential partners. Based on the letter of intent that was signed a few weeks ago, it can be expected that the project will be supported accordingly by the government of the kingdom. A date for a first flight has not yet been set.

Wizz Air Saudi Arabia is not the country's only start-up. With RIA is said to be a new network carrier, which is supposed to be based roughly on Etihad Airways. The government wants to develop Riyadh into a major hub. The project is estimated to cost around $30 billion. According to the government's plans, RIA should take off before the end of this year.