Wizz Air is set to slash the number of its flights departing from Gatwick in an attempt to cut operating costs.
The budget Hungarian airline said redirecting “inferior” departure slots from the UK’s second busiest airport to Luton would improve its financial performance.
Airline CEO József Váradi told The Telegraph: “Gatwick is expensive and we have been operating an inferior set of slots there.”
He said: “We think that we can enhance financial performance by operating that capacity from Luton.”
Wizz Air will start by permanently moving one plane to the Bedfordshire aviation hub in hopes of achieving “the most profitability”.
That shift would give the Luton fleet 13 aircraft, with just seven operating at Gatwick.
The airline currently flies several direct routes from Gatwick to popular European cities, including to Budapest, Prague and Rome, and holiday hotspots such as Malaga, Faro and Antalya.
Mr Váradi added, “You have to churn your network for profit. We are simply more efficient financially in Luton.”
From Luton, Wizz Air flights connect with destinations in Spain, including Barcelona, Madrid and Mallorca, and Turkish cities such as Dalaman and Istanbul.
In September, Gatwick’s £2.2 billion second runway plan was given the go-ahead by transport secretary Heidi Alexander.
The West Sussex airport will move its emergency runway 12 metres north, enabling it to be used for around 100,000 more flights a year from around 2029.
Jet2 will also start scheduled flying from London Gatwick airport in March 2026 – adding to the ferocious competition at the Sussex hub.
The airline said it has “secured slots for six aircraft following the release of additional capacity by the airport.”
Jet2’s Airbus A321neo planes will serve all the key holiday airports in Spain, Faro in Portugal, Verona and Naples in Italy and 10 Greek destinations.
The new arrival faces intense competition. Gatwick is the main base for Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, which has “70 odd” aircraft based there, said CEO Kenton Jarvis.
According to the Wizz Air boss, Gatwick slots are “stuck” and Jet2 will be “very sub-scale versus the established players”.
Read more: What the Gatwick expansion really means for passengers and politicians
