Central European LCC Wizz Air plans to increase its presence at London Luton Airport substantially, following a steady rise in the number of passengers using its services from the facility.

London Luton, situated around 35 miles north of the capital, is primarily used by LCCs and charter operators.

Budapest-based Wizz Air said it will increase the number of Airbus A320s it stations at Luton from one to five by June 2018. The news comes just five months after the airline based its initial aircraft there.

Wizz Air recorded an 11% increase in the number of passengers carried on routes to and from the airport in the 2017 financial year. The airline said these had risen to 5.5 million, compared to the 2016 financial year. Wizz’s accounting period ends Oct. 31. The carrier is now the second-largest airline at Luton, after UK-based LCC easyJet.

The increase in planned capacity will see Wizz Air offering five new routes from Luton next year: Daily to Larnaca (Cyprus) and Bratislava (Slovakia); 4X-weekly to Tallinn (Estonia) and 3X-weekly to Tirana (Albania) and Lviv (Ukraine). The new routes will start on a variety of dates throughout summer 2018, from May 30 to Sept. 18.

Alan Dron alandron@adepteditorial.com