Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) has wet-leased a B737-800 from Ukraine's SkyUp Airlines (PQ, Kyiv Boryspil) to supplement its Sofia base operations.
UR-SQO (msn 40880) was ferried from Varna to Sofia on June 29, 2022, and started operating on behalf of the Hungarian LCC the day after. Wizz Air has not filed schedules for the wet-leased aircraft and did not respond to a query about the duration of the ACMI contract. ch-aviation understands that the contract has been signed for a few months and can be extended.
The 9.6-year-old Boeing jet, one of SkyUp's nine B737-800s, had been stored between February 18 and June 22 at Belgrade Nikola Tesla airport. It was then reactivated to operate charter flights under SkyUp's own code before the commencement of the ACMI deal with Wizz Air.
The Ukrainian LCC has been very successful in placing its aircraft with other operators while it cannot operate out of Ukraine due to the ongoing Russian invasion and the closure of Ukrainian airspace. Three of its B737-800s operate for Corendon Airlines Europe, two for Smartwings (Czechia), and one each for Wizz Air, Tailwind Airlines, and Freebird Airlines, leaving only UR-SQP (msn 33029) in storage at Kyiv Boryspil. Both of SkyUp's B737-700s are also inactive and parked in Iasi and Varna.
Wizz Air's fleet comprises exclusively Airbus aircraft. The ch-aviation fleets module shows that the LCC operates fifty-two A320-200s, six A320-200Ns, thirty-five A321-200s, and forty-two A321-200NX aircraft. Wizz Air UK operates a further three A320-200s, six A321-200s, and eight A321-200NX aircraft, while Wizz Air Abu Dhabi operates four A321-200NX aircraft.
