Wizz Air Will Resume Flights To Russia From October

Wizz Air will become the second airline to offer nonstop flights between Moscow and Abu Dhabi.


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Wizz Air Abu Dhabi will resume flying to Russia from October later this year. The ultra-low-cost carrier originally started the route in December 2021 but was forced to stop operating flights due to the war between Russia and Ukraine in late February this year. A couple of months later, Wizz Air announced the suspension of all Russia flights throughout the summer up to October 30th.

However, that suspension will be done away with a little earlier than planned. Wizz Air’s flight booking system shows flights from Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) to Vnukovo International Airport (VKO) in Moscow starting from October 3rd.

Managing Director of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, Michael Berlouis, told Gulf News,

“Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is operating a network of 34 destinations within a five-hour flight time radius of Abu Dhabi, providing ultra-low fares to a variety of diverse destinations. We support the UAE’s travel and tourism industry by enhancing connectivity both regionally and globally, in line with national regulations and policies.”

Wizz Air Abu Dhabi’s booking site shows the carrier will operate daily flights between the two airports under the same flight number that was used before the Ukraine war. Flight 5W 7111 will leave AUH at 14:05 local time for the six-hour journey to Moscow, and arrive into VKO at 19:00 local time. However, it is worth noting that the planned flight time has been extended by 20 minutes, possibly because of the need to take a slight detour to avoid flying over border regions of Russia and Ukraine.

Before the suspension, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi used its Airbus A321neo planes for this service. While the new schedule doesn’t mention the aircraft type, the ULCC will likely continue using the A321s as it doesn’t operate any other planes. Data from ch-aviation shows Wizz Air’s Emirati subsidiary having just four Airbus A321-200NX airframes in its fleet.