The carrier was due to start the service on June 2.
A Wizz Air Airbus A321. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
Low-cost carrier Wizz Air has reportedly scrapped plans for a Milan-Abu Dhabi route, which would have operated using an Airbus A321XLR.
According to a report from Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the Hungarian airline suspended the launch of the route over “unforeseen changes in market conditions and operational considerations.”
Wizz provided a brief statement to Corriere confirming the cancellation, but that message has not been posted to the company’s website or been made public through other means. The carrier did not reply to a separate inquiry from AirlineGeeks by press time.
As of Monday afternoon, it was not possible to book a flight from Milan Malpensa Airport to Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport using Wizz’s website.
Wizz announced in September 2024 that it would begin flying the Milan-Abu Dhabi route once daily starting June 2, 2025. Wizz officials said the new service was the beginning of a push to reach more non-European destinations enabled by the cost efficiency and expanded range of the A321XLR. At the time, the airline was advertising tickets for the Milan-Abu Dhabi route at €99.99.
According to Corriere, however, Wizz sold less than 6,000 seats for the flight, making its launch financially untenable.
Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, is the sole operator of a Milan-Abu Dhabi route. It reportedly dropped its price for the service in recent weeks, leaving potential customers with the choice of flying on the single-aisle A321XLR or Etihad’s more spacious twin-aisle A350s and Boeing 777s.
Etihad also offered luggage, food, and amenities rolled into its ticket price, while on Wizz those would have cost extra. Corriere estimated that, with those add-ons in place, a Wizz flight would have cost €180-€200, while tickets on Etihad would cost about €130.
Sources who spoke to Corriere said Etihad deliberately reduced its prices to force Wizz to drop the route.
If the service had launched as expected, Wizz would have been the first carrier to operate an A321XLR based in Italy.
Wizz still plans to use the A321XLR to fly between London’s Gatwick Airport and King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, though that route has been postponed due to a delay in the aircraft’s delivery.
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