Hungarian ultra low-cost carrier (ULCC) Wizz Air will start connecting its base in Catania — Sicily’s largest airport — to Milan/Linate Airport, which is the closest air terminal to Milan’s downtown.

The flight is scheduled to start on March 26 with two daily frequencies — one in the afternoon and another in the evening. Flights are already on sale in Wizz Air’s channels.

In a press release to the Italian market, Wizz Air said the flights would be reshuffled from Milan/Malpensa to the central Milanese airport, in order to “offer Catanesi travelers a more comfortable access to the city of Milan”. The airline will still connect Catania to Malpensa daily, it said.

Wizz Air Group’s corporate communications manager, Tamara Nikiforova, said in a press release that “the transfer [from Malpensa to Linate] of the majority of our flights from Catania to Milano/Linate will improve the travel experience of local passengers, allowing [them] to move between both cities in a simpler and more convenient way”.

Wizz, Linate and competition in Italy

The move — particularly with a relative short notice — was likely prompted by two factors; one, the slashing of Wizz Air’s base in Bari last month. Bari-Linate was served with two daily frequencies, according to Cirium’s Diio Mi application.

As an airport with limited infrastructure, Linate is highly slot-constrained. Wizz Air earned three daily slot pairs from the airport in 2021, according to a report by the Corriere della Sera at the time, and it has been using them for domestic operations since.

With the end of the flights between Linate and Bari, two daily slots would be free, and Catania seems to be seen as a safe choice for the airline.

“Milan is a popular corporate destination for Sicilian passengers”, Wizz Air stated in last week’s press release, “who usually visit Italy’s financial capital for brief business trips. The new flights [from Catania] to Linate Airport, situated within the city, will allow them to reach important meetings faster, and to save time in business matters”.

The incumbent in Linate is ITA Airways, a full-service carrier that, despite controlling the market, is loss-making. On paper at least, Linate is one of its major strongholds, given the commanding presence it has and the virtual absence of direct competition in several routes.

That would be very interesting for Wizz Air to explore — and it takes us to the second factor, which Aviacionline has extensively covered in the past; see also the article about the Bari base. Wizz has had a hard time competing with in Italy, particularly with Ryanair; instead, it has been shifting its focus into markets where either it sees less ULCC competition, or large markets where it can have scale.

In the case of Linate, the only competition from Catania will be ITA Airways. Currently, the airline has up to seven daily frequencies in the route, according to Cirium.

That in itself would still be a huge advantage over Wizz, particularly with the corporate traveler. The Hungarian airline, however, will have the upper hand in pricing and in cost, both attributes where it could easily beat ITA. Wizz Air’s fares in the route start at EUR19.99 (EUR9.99 for its “Discount Club” members) one-way, with ITA’s lowest fare at EUR44.75.

Asked by Aviacionline via email, a spokesperson for ITA Airways said that the airline’s “interest in Sicily is always very high, and Sicily represents for us one of the most popular destinations, even more on the run-up for Summer”. The airline, however, refrained from commenting on whether it has (or will) answer to Wizz Air’s movement with lower fares.