Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Wizz Air announces 14 new Gatwick routes to compete with BA Euroflyer – but what’s it like?

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Over the Christmas break, Wizz Air announced plans for a substantial expansion at London Gatwick airport in Summer 2022.

This expansion is driven by the acquisition of 15 daily slot pairs from Norwegian Air Shuttle.

The additional slots will allow Wizz Air to base an additional four A321neo aircraft at Gatwick next Summer, giving it a total of five Gatwick-based aircraft. Gatwick will also be served by Wizz Air aircraft flying in from other bases.

Where will Wizz Air fly?

Wizz Air has announced the following new routes at London Gatwick. Flights will start in March 2022 although the exact date varies by route:

  • Bari
  • Catania
  • Chania
  • Faro
  • Funchal
  • Larnaca
  • Milan
  • Mykonos
  • Naples
  • Palma
  • Podgorica (Montenegro)
  • Rome
  • Tel Aviv
  • Vienna

Most of the existing Wizz Air routes from Gatwick:

  • Athens
  • Bucharest
  • Budapest
  • Fuerteventura
  • Gdansk
  • Krakow
  • Lanzarote
  • Malaga
  • Malta
  • Sofia
  • Tenerife

…. will also continue. The airline talks of having 22 routes next Summer and, as you can see, there are 25 listed above. It looks like three of the existing routes will be dropped.

Where is the new BA Euroflyer airline flying from Gatwick?

As we covered here, the first batch of BA Euroflyer routes are now on sale for Summer 2022.

Here are the 35 routes together with the launch date. As you will see, there is overlap with Wizz Air:

  • Alicante – 1st April
  • Antalya – 2nd April
  • Amsterdam – 29th March
  • Athens – 4th May
  • Bari – 3rd April
  • Berlin – 8th April
  • Bordeaux – 15th April
  • Cagliari – 17th April
  • Catania – 31st March
  • Dalaman – 23rd April
  • Dubrovnik – 4th April
  • Faro – 30th March
  • Heraklion – 24th April
  • Ibiza – 5th April
  • Kos – 24th April
  • Lanzarote – 30th March
  • Larnaca – 29th March
  • Las Palmas – 2nd April
  • Madrid – 14th April
  • Mahon – 11th April
  • Malaga – 31st March
  • Malta – 30th March
  • Marrakech – 31st March
  • Milan – 15th April
  • Nice – 31st March
  • Palma – 7th April
  • Paphos – 29th March
  • Rhodes – 28th April
  • Santorini – 15th April
  • Seville – 29th March
  • Tenerife – 29th March
  • Thessaloniki – 14th April
  • Turin – 4th April
  • Venice – 8th April
  • Verona – 29th March

What is Wizz Air like?

Wizz Air launched flights from London Gatwick in October 2020. Since this was at the height on the pandemic, it is very likely that the airline has not been on the radar of our London based readers (or at least those who are unwilling to travel to Luton, where Wizz Air is now the largest airline).

As you read this, however, Rhys will be somewhere in Europe, having flown down on a £1.79 (NOT a typo) flight from London Luton yesterday.

What do you get for £1.79? You’ll find out next week on HfP.


best credit card to use when buying flights

How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (April 2025)

Some UK credit cards offer special bonuses when used for buying flights. If you spend a lot on airline tickets, using one of these cards could sharply increase the credit card points you earn.

Booking flights on any airline?

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold earns double points (2 Membership Rewards points per £1) when used to buy flights directly from an airline website.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. These would convert to 20,000 Avios or various other airline or hotel programmes. The standard earning rate is 1 point per £1.

You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

Buying flights on British Airways?

The British Airways Premium Plus American Express card earns double Avios (3 Avios per £1) when used at ba.com.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios. The standard earning rate is 1.5 Avios per £1.

You do not earn bonus Avios if you pay for BA flights on the free British Airways American Express card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.

You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

Buying flights on Virgin Atlantic?

Both the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard and the annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earn double Virgin Points when used at fly.virgin.com.

This means 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on the free card and 3 Virgin Points per £1 on the paid card.

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points on the free card and 18,000 Virgin Points on the paid card.

You can apply for either of the cards here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Comments (58)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Tony Johnson says:

    When are Wizz Air going to fly to Brno from Gatwick 🤔

  • Lady London says:

    I can’t wait to see Rhys’s travel report nexr week on “How Bad is it to Fly Wizzair?”. They have routes I’m highly interested in.

    • Bob says:

      Me too!!

      “What do you get for £1.79?”
      Yes we want to know and understand what we can claim if the service is not at the level it shoul be.

      🙂

      That will be interesting.

  • Richie says:

    Do they fly near to those fairy tale castles in Transylvania?

    • the_real_a says:

      Very easy and comfy bus to Brasov from Bucharest – only 3 hours.

      • Lady London says:

        I’ll bring my pet bat

      • Richie says:

        There’s a train to near the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang castle, sounds a bit easier.

      • Dan says:

        The train from Bucharest to Brasov only takes around 2h and costs £8 on the day. You can also take the train from the airport to Bucharest, it takes around 20 mins and costs around 70p

    • Londonsteve says:

      Wizz flies to about 10 different airports in Romania from London. I’m pretty sure you can get nearer to Transylvania than having to go first to Bucharest, unless you expressly wanted to visit the capital and then enjoy a cross country rail journey to see more of the country. Romania has a very comprehensive train network and fares are rock bottom.

  • marcw says:

    sure,,, sure… as if other airlines don’t do mistakes.

  • Londonsteve says:

    Your loss. You’ll be in a spot of bother when they’ve taken over Easyjet lock, stock and landing slots. The welcoming embrace of Ryanair awaits.

  • lumma says:

    Wizzair’s biggest problem is it’s got vueling levels of legroom. Always feel crippled after getting off their flights

    • ChrisBCN says:

      You know Vueling on the first 4 rows has several inches more legroom than BA club europe, right?

  • Michael AC says:

    For family reasons we’re all members of the Wizzair Club. With the front seats it’s not a bad experience. The on board food and drink is quite nice, and last time I tried it it was ridiculously cheap! I think a glass of wine was €3. Other than having to go to Luton I’ve had no complaints!

  • Pulea Spătaru says:

    Wizzair open 5-6 new routes to Italy, when UK is full of romanians..
    It was nice for me to go Gatwick – Bacau.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.