Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, the joint-venture established between ADQ, one of the region's largest holding companies, and Wizz Air Holdings Plc, has just received national carrier status from the UAE government subject to meeting regulatory standards prior to starting operations.

The highly refined and efficient low fare – low cost business model of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi aims at creating travel demand through market stimulation, generating growth for the tourism and service industries as well as contributing to Abu Dhabi's economic diversity.

With a fleet composed of Airbus A321neo aircraft, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi will have the lowest environmental footprint and the lowest cost base among its competitors in the region. The airline's initial route network includes Alexandria, Athens, Kutaisi, Larnaca, Odesa and Yerevan.

Today's announcement will add an annual capacity of 350,000 seats to the capital of the United Arab Emirates. As already communicated 4 additional ultra-modern Airbus A321neo aircraft will be allocated in the first 6 months of operations. The route network planned on these aircraft will be announced in due course.

Together with the start of sales, the airline is also launching its Arabic website and Arabic mobile app to allow for its distinguished Arabic speaking passengers to easily search for and book tickets online.

Today's announcement comes as a new dawn of intensified sanitisation measures, which have recently begun at Wizz Air. The airline introduced a range of enhanced hygiene measures, to ensure the health and safety of its passengers and crew. As part of these new protocols, throughout the flight, both cabin crew and passengers are required to wear facemasks, with cabin crew also required to wear gloves. Wizz Air's aircraft are regularly put through an industry-leading disinfection process with an antiviral solution and, following WIZZ's stringent daily cleaning schedule, all of the airline's aircraft are further disinfected overnight with the same antiviral solution. Sanitising wipes are handed to each passenger upon entering the aircraft, on-board magazines have been removed from the aircraft, and any on-board purchases are encouraged to be made by contactless payment. Passengers are requested to follow physical distancing measures introduced by the local health authorities and are encouraged to make all purchases prior to the flight online (e.g. checked in luggage, WIZZ Priority, fast security track), to minimize any possible physical contact at the airport. Click here to view Wizz Air's new health and safety video, for more information.