Low-cost European airline Wizz Air said on Saturday it will restart some consumer flights to major airports after a month of flying repatriation and aid flights.
The Hungarian firm now registered in the UK said it will restart "essential" flights to London, Budapest, Lisbon, Tenerife and several destinations in Romania.
It will be one of the first European carriers to begin flying commercially again.
Rival budget airline Ryanair has kept one percent of its fleet flying, to ensure it did not lose valuable route slots, whereas EasyJet has grounded all its planes until 18 May at the earliest.
Wizz Air will restart flights around Europe, including to its UK base London Luton. /AP Photo/MTI, Zsolt Czegledi
Managing director of the UK operation, Owain Jones, said the flights would be subject to any further government rules on flights and social distancing. He said measures including staff wearing masks and disinfecting planes would "ensure the most sanitary conditions possible."
Wizz has kept 90 percent of its planes have been on the ground during the pandemic lockdown, but the airline kept some running in the employ of governments which wanted to repatriate citizens and transport medical equipment.
As CGTN Europe reported in the Global Business Daily newsletter, the Hungarian government paid Wizz Air to transport citizens back from the U.S. and China, and assisted Slovenia and Macedonia with similar missions.
"We try to do the right thing," Wizz Air chief executive Jozsef Varadi told Reuters. "Yes, governments and other institutions pay for the flights, but this is not the time to make a profit... The most important issue here is to help."
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