Wizz Air has pounced on slots released by TUI at London Luton Airport, and has announced six new routes as a result.

It is understood that these six new routes will form part of the airline’s Summer 2026 scheduling out of the UK airport.

It also means that the carrier will base another aircraft at the airport, bringing the total based aircraft figure to a staggering 15.

The New Wizz Air Routes from London Luton…

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As a result of acquiring the slots from TUI at London Luton Airport, Wizz Air will be launching the following services in June 2026:

This means an additional 19 weekly flights will operate out of the UK airport by the low-cost carrier.

Adding to this was Yvonne Moynihan, the Managing Director at Wizz Air UK:

“This announcement underlines our continued commitment to London Luton Airport and the wider UK market.”

“As we expand our presence, we are creating local jobs and delivering on our Customer First Compass promise – providing low fare travel opportunities to an exciting range of destinations using our latest-generation aircraft.”

“Securing additional slots at Luton strengthens our competitive position in the London market.”

“With the launch of our 15th based aircraft at London Luton Airport, we’re delighted to deliver a festive surprise by introducing six exciting new routes, including the first-ever direct connection from London to Armenia.”

“Our focus on growth continues, having delivered two new aircraft and nearly 20 new routes from the UK during 2025, reinforcing Wizz Air UK’s position as Luton’s local carrier.”

“Together with London Luton Airport, and Luton Council, we are shaping Luton as a strategic gateway for 2026 and beyond.”

“Finally, we would like to wish all our valued customers and our amazing crew a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”.

It is understood also that the new routes from Wizz Air is part of a £12bn “Customer First” transformation plan, with the UK & Europe operations forming a strong part of that.

Simon Harley, the Interim Director of Aeronautical Revenue at the airport also had this to say on the plans:

“2025 is drawing to a close after another successful year at London Luton Airport, and we’re already excited for what is set to be a bumper summer 2026.”

“With the addition of six further new Wizz Air routes including the up-and-coming, and previously unserved from LLA, capital of Armenia, Yerevan, alongside other popular holiday and city break destinations to Alicante, Lyon, Corfu, Faro and Turin, this demonstrates how LLA’s partnership with Wizz Air continues to provide even greater choice and a simple, friendly passenger experience for the millions of people who choose to travel from LLA each year.”

TUI Withdrawal Out of the Area…

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Earlier this month, TUI revealed that they would remove their last aircraft from London Luton Airport, and will transfer it to London Gatwick Airport instead.

Whilst the airline said that they would continue to service the airport, the spokesperson at the time said it would be through trusted partners:

“We will continue to offer holidays from Luton Airport through our trusted airline partners”.

The trusted partners at hand would be easyJet and Ryanair, who do offer holidays through TUI.

Furthermore, the dates you see above highlight exactly when the withdrawal in the Summer will take place, being June 2026.

All of this falls nicely into the hands of Wizz Air, who do have a significant operation already out of London Luton Airport.

With the likes of Wizz Air, Ryanair and easyJet dominating a lot of that market already, it does make sense that this happened.

TUI did confirm that it’s UK headquarters and engineering hanger at the UK airport would not be shut down following this news.

A Solid Replacement for London Luton Airport?

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In the theme of London Luton Airport being a solid hotspot for low-cost carriers, seeing TUI go wouldn’t exactly be the end of the world for the airport.

With the likes of Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air continuing to expand their presence in the airport, passenger numbers shouldn’t be too affected by this news. If anything, they would look to grow further.

In 2024, the airport handled around 16.7m passengers, which is still below the pre-pandemic levels of 18 million back in 2019.

However, the airport is banking a lot of their growth plans on low-cost carriers bringing people through the door.

Back in April 2025, the UK Government approved the airport’s capacity increase to 32 million annual passengers, meaning there is still a lot of scope for further capacity growth out of the airport.

And that is something that the likes of Wizz Air, Ryanair and easyJet would love to take advantage of going into the future.

But for Wizz Air specifically, they have been able to take advantage of a unique situation out of London Luton Airport, and that has put them in a solid position for when the Summer 2026 scheduling begins out of the UK airport.

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