Budget Carrier Goes Longhaul: 7-Hour Flight, No Recline, No Water, No Screen

A budget carrier is set to launch longhaul flights from London, where your 7-hour journey will not even include a free cup of water.

Wizz Air Will Launch A321 XLR Longhaul Service From London Gatwick

European low-cost carrier Wizz Air is launching a new nonstop service between London (LGW) and Jeddah (JED). A brand new Airbus A321 XLR will operate the flight. But while other carriers are installing fancy lie-flat seats, seatback screens, and mood lighting on their incoming A321s, you will be in very different aircraft on Wizz Air.

Wizz Air CEO József Váradi warned Bloomberg:

“If you want to have more fun, you have to create the fun for yourself. It’s not going to be us who create it.”

Talk about understatement.

Not only will there be no seatback screen, but 240 seats crammed onboard will share three toilets. Seats will not recline. Legroom will be 28 inches. Food and snacks will be for purchase only–including water.

And Váradi makes no apologies.

“When you take a legacy carrier and you get a coffee for free, that is probably the most expensive cappuccino in your life.”

And for what? Why would anyone do this? To save money. Váradi explains:

“15, 20 years ago, I thought three hours would test passenger tolerance, and then we pushed it to six hours, and we are still fine. You kind of suffer the pain, if you wish, for the economic benefits that you are deriving from the transaction.”

Wizz Air expects to offer fares at about 1/3 the cost of flying British Airways or Saudia on the same route…

And that is an interesting question. Will passengers embrace absolute misery to save a few bucks? I appreciate that Váradi does not even try to hide the fact that it will be absolute misery…

I’m skeptical. I look at how Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines have fallen out of favor with customers and wonder why the European market is so different. There, so-called “ultra-low-cost carriers” seem to be thriving. EasyJet, Ryanair, and Wizz Air have developed a niche market that works very well.

Are you Europeans just more budget-conscious…or just smaller?

In any case, this kind of airline is not for me, but I love this business model. I think it’s a great thing to offer passengers an alternative to give up some amenities in order to save money. It’s how the airline industry innovates. As long as that aircraft can safely be evacuated quickly, I support such expansion. It’s free rawdogging…

> Read More: Wizz Air A321 Basel To Warsaw