A low-cost airline has added a second Polish destination to its flights from Aberdeen International Airport (AIA).
Wizz Air revealed plans to launch direct flights between Aberdeen and the Polish capital of Warsaw. It comes after the Hungarian airline started flying from AIA to Gdansk in June.
It will be the first time Warsaw has been served as a destination from Aberdeen Airport and Wizz Air will operate a year round, twice weekly service starting in May 2016.
Since the inaugural flight to Gdansk took off on 19 June, the route has proved extremely popular,” Wizz Air said.
Carol Benzie, managing director at Aberdeen Airport, said: “Wizz Air is an ambitious and rapidly growing airline and the addition of Warsaw is fantastic news for the airport and the city.
“We are continually working to expand our route network and not only will Wizz Air’s new routes strengthen our connectivity with Europe’s major cities, it has huge potential to generate significant in-bound tourism for Aberdeen.”
József Váradi, chief executive of Wizz Air said: “I’m delighted that our Polish business keeps growing after a year of almost 30% capacity growth in our six Polish bases.
“By adding a sixth aircraft to our Warsaw base, we respond to demand and continue investing in offering low fares from Warsaw’s main airport. Our move to Aberdeen Airport is a step towards future passenger and route growth.”
The new destination comes at a good time for the airport which has been hit by the downturn in the oil and gas market.
Figures for August showed the airport suffered another year-on-year slide in passenger numbers, its seventh consecutive month of decline.
Overall passenger numbers were down 5% in the month to 321,442. The number of helicopter passenger numbers at the airport were down by 6.6%, highlighting the impact of job cuts and changing shift patterns offshore.