Wow: Wizz Air Has Now Handled 6 Million Passengers At London Gatwick Airport

Wizz Air has announced that it has reached the milestone of transporting six million passengers to and from its operating base at London Gatwick Airport (LGW). The numbers have particularly picked up in recent months, and look set to continue to grow as the year progresses. Elsewhere, Luton recently saw a similar achievement.

Six million not out

In a statement circulated by the purple-liveried budget carrier yesterday, Wizz Air confirmed that it has now handled six million guests at Gatwick, transporting them to more than 15 countries in the process. Its six millionth passenger at the base was on a flight from Istanbul (IST) to Gatwick, and they were presented with a £200 ($252) voucher. Wizz Air’s Corporate Communications MD Zsazsa Trubek stated:

“We are very pleased to celebrate 6 million passengers at Gatwick. More than 1 million have traveled with us to and from Gatwick in the last 6 months, and we know this milestone would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of our staff. We want to thank our passengers for putting their trust in us, and we hope to welcome more travelers at Gatwick as they travel to Europe and beyond.”

Photo: Wizz Air

Wizz Air’s operations at Gatwick (in terms of the number of flights) have increased by 19% in the last year, and 2.8 million of its passengers at the facility were handled in the past 12 months alone. Next month will also see the carrier’s ‘Get Lost’ mystery flight depart from the airport, where it employs more than 230 people.

A gamble that paid off

Wizz Air opened its base at London Gatwick Airport back in October 2020. While this was something of a gamble, given that other carriers were cutting capacity amid the coronavirus pandemic, the airline saw this as the perfect opportunity to grow. After taking slots from fellow budget carrier Norwegian, Wizz has since established itself as a strong competitor at the facility. Gatwick’s Stephanie Wear stated that:

“We are delighted that Wizz Air continues to grow the number of passengers it serves at Gatwick. Many of the passengers that have passed through in the last 6 months will have had the delight of using the newly refurbished Railway Station with new concourses and easy access to and from the platforms, smoothing the access for passengers to connect onto London stations and a further 100+ direct connections.”

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Photo: Tom Boon | Simple Flying

As the busy winter season comes to an end, Wizz Air notes that it is currently operating 19 flights a day from London Gatwick Airport. Meanwhile, scheduling data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that it has scheduled 15,329 flights and 3,646,311 seats to and from the facility throughout the whole of 2024.

Similar success to the north

While Gatwick is situated to the south of London, the north side of the city is served by Luton (LTN). This facility is Wizz Air’s main UK base, and it recently achieved an even greater passenger milestone of its own. Specifically, according to the airline, it has now handled some 70 million passengers there. Wizz Air has flown to Luton for 20 years, and now employs almost 600 people at the Bedfordshire facility.

What do you make of Wizz Air’s recent milestones? Have you ever flown with the carrier to or from its Gatwick base? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!