After Delay, Wizz Air Receives Its First Airbus A321XLR

HAMBURG—European ULCC Wizz Air has taken delivery of its first Airbus A321XLR from the Airbus facilities in Hamburg Finkenwerder.

Budapest-based Wizz Air became the third A321XLR operator worldwide and the first one using Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan (GTF) engines on A321XLRs.

“There are a couple of deliveries that stick out,” Airbus EVP Head of A320 family program Christoph Zammert said during the delivery ceremony in Finkenwerder May 20. “This is one. Wizz Air is joining a small and revenue-growing A321XLR family.”

Wizz Air’s first A321XLR, which operates under the AOC of Wizz Air UK, was delayed. The airline was expecting to hold a delivery ceremony for its very first Airbus A321XLR at Airbus’ Hamburg Finkenwerder facility March 27, but that was deferred and finally postponed on April 10.

Wizz Air will start scheduled A321XLR operations May 26 with daily services from London Gatwick to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, following a few sectors of short-haul flying the days before.

Wizz Air’s expected second A321XLR will be allocated under the AOC Wizz Air Malta, and be based in Milan Malpensa, operating throughout the current network.

Its third A321XLR will be with Wizz Air UK, which allows the carrier to do daily London Gatwick-Medina, Saudi Arabia, services.

“But these [aircraft bases] are not limited,” Wizz Air Group Chief Corporate Officer Owain Jones said in response to a question from Aviation Week. “Now we all [can] fly further,” he says. “We can connect all the dots of our network [with the XLR]. And beyond that there are a lot of opportunities like in Central Asia, India, etcetera.” The A321XLR offers the same cabin configuration as Wizz Air’s A321neo fleet, with 239 seats.

During the current financial year, which began April 1 and ends March 31, 2026, Wizz Air will take 50 aircraft for delivery. “We took two aircraft in April, a total of seven in May and three in June,” a Wizz Air spokesperson says.

As of May 20, Wizz Air has 232 Airbus aircraft in operation; all are on lease.

The airline has a further 298 aircraft on order; all are A321neos and include the remaining 46 A321XLRs. Decisions regarding engines still must be made for some of the ordered fleet.

“By 2028, Wizz Air will have phased out all remaining A320/321ceos,” Jones told Aviation Week on the sidelines of the delivery event.

“The A321XLR is the aircraft which is opening up new markets at lowest prices, stimulating demand,” Jones says. “There are routes which may been traditional, a bit thinner [in terms of demand]; the A321XLR can build demand.”

Regarding Wizz Air’s Pratt & Whitney GTF engine-related groundings, about 40 of the airline’s A320/321neo family aircraft will be grounded in 2025. Jones says that the “worst is over.”

“Last year, we flattened our capacity. All the new aircraft that came in last year pretty much kept this level,” Jones said. “Now with new aircraft coming in, we are back in growth mode.” This allows new destinations, new bases and more frequencies on existing routes. “Part of our planning includes bringing back the aircraft from grounding without blowing the network. And of course they will not be back at the same time,” Jones said.

For fiscal 2025/26, Wizz Air expects 75 million passengers, up from 62.8 million the year before.

“We are looking forward to handing over in around [the fourth quarter] this year Airbus’ 300th aircraft to Wizz Air,” Airbus EVP Head of A320 family program Christoph Zammert added.