Tuesday 09 January 2018 10:58 am

Wizz Air has just announced a new European base in Vienna and 17 new routes for 2018

Low-cost Hungarian airline Wizz Air is making Austria its next choice for a base as it plugs $331m (£245m) into setting up in Vienna in June.

The carrier said it will establish base operations at Vienna Airport with one Airbus A320 initially, followed by two Airbus A321 aircraft in November.

Wizz Air plans to operate 17 new routes from the Austrian capital this year for both business and leisure travellers, connecting Vienna with Gdansk, Tuzla and Varna from April. Bari, Malta, Rome, Valencia and Tel Aviv follow in June, with destinations including Bergen, Dortmund and Tenerife then added in November.

Seats on the routes are on sale with one-way tickets from €19.99, and in total, the airline said it will offer 450,000 seats across the new Austrian routes, operating 69 weekly flights by the end of the year.

József Váradi, chief executive at Wizz Air, said: “Wizz Air’s Austrian customers now have the opportunity to travel from Vienna on an extensive network of routes to Europe and beyond at the lowest prices and experience Wizz Air’s great service on board one of Europe’s youngest fleets."

He added: "Our new colleagues in Vienna will have the opportunity to develop their careers with one of the fastest-growing airlines in Europe and our Vienna operation will also create and support additional jobs in the local aviation, transportation and hospitality industries."

The carrier has been boosting its expansion efforts, establishing a London Luton base last June, followed by plans for a UK subsidiary to guarantee its flights post-Brexit regardless of what happens with negotiations.

At the end of the year, Wizz Air announced five new routes from Luton and said it would add for new aircraft to its London fleet by the end of June 2018. A further three routes were added from London in December.

Wizz Air's new routes from Vienna