Ultra-low-cost carriers (ULCCs) are famous for their fast growth. They must expand quickly, as this plays a very important role in helping to reduce operating costs, which in turn enables the low fares which are critical in driving passenger and revenue growth.
Wizz Air is no exception. Despite only commencing operations 22 years ago, it is already Europe’s third-largest airline by flights, seats for sale, and passengers. Wizz Air’s schedule submission to Cirium Diio shows that capacity has risen to 92.1 million seats in 2026, up by 25% in a year. Depending on how it is managed, growth that fast can have lots of negative impacts.
The pan-European ULCC has served Spain since 2004, when flights existed from Katowice and Budapest to Girona. As the figure above shows, the airline’s presence has changed dramatically over the years, but particularly recently.
In 2026, Cirium shows that 14.7 million seats will touch the ever-critical European nation, up by 42% compared to 2025. It is hard to grasp how significant that growth is. Nearly 4.4 million additional seats have been added in one year, which is phenomenal but clearly risky. And the figure excludes the expansion discussed in the next two sections. Spain is now Wizz Air’s fourth most-served nation, overtaking the UK to jump one place year-over-year.
In the past few years, Wizz Air has also prioritized growing to, from, and within Italy. While that remains the case today (it has 29.4 million Italian seats in 2026, up by a third compared to last year), Spain is now increasingly receiving the same treatment. Both countries have much in common, including that fellow ULCC Ryanair is the largest operator.
Until now, Wizz Air has not based aircraft or crew in Spain, but that will change. On July 8, the airline announced that it would open bases at Madrid Barajas Airport (MAD) and Valencia Airport (VLC).
Despite serving Spain for 22 years, Wizz Air has not previously flown domestically in the country. In contrast, intra-Italian flights have existed since 2020. The airline will open bases in MAD and VLC in November 2026, with two 239-seat Airbus A321neos stationed at both airports.
Wizz Air will begin flying domestically from MAD to Asturias (four weekly; against Air Europa, Iberia, Volotea), Palma De Mallorca Airport (PMI; two daily; versus Air Europa, Iberia, Ryanair), and Santiago de Compostela (three weekly; head-to-head with Iberia). Asturias, on Spain’s north coast, is a brand-new destination in the ULCC’s network.
It’ll also introduce service from VLC to Asturias (five weekly; against Volotea), Bilbao (daily; versus Iberia, Volotea, Vueling), PMI (daily; head-to-head with Air Europa, Iberia, Ryanair, Vueling), Santander (two weekly; against Volotea), and Santiago de Compostela (four weekly; versus Vueling). It will only marginally compete directly with Ryanair on the domestic links from MAD and VLC, which is clearly intentional.
Three more international routes will also take off. Wizz Air will also commence flights from MAD to Pisa (daily; against Ryanair), VLC to Brașov (three weekly; no direct competition), and VLC to Naples (daily; against Ryanair). It’ll also double the number of flights from VLC to Milan Malpensa (now two daily; versus Ryanair). The addition of Brașov means Wizz Air will fly from Spain to eight Romanian airports this year.
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Wizz Air will also commence two more domestic routes in Spain: from Bilbao to Malaga (daily; facing Volotea and Vueling) and Bilbao to Santiago de Compostela (four weekly; versus Iberia and Vueling). They will commence in November or December. As the ULCC does not station aircraft at any of those airports, they will be served on a so-called ‘W’ basis, which means they’ll use aircraft and crew from another base.
Five international links will begin in the upcoming winter. Five will touch Spain: There’s Bucharest to Almeria (three weekly; a brand-new route; Almeria is a new airport on Wizz Air’s map); London Luton Airport (LTN) to Asturias (three weekly; a brand-new route), Granada (two weekly; Grenada’s a new airport in Wizz Air’s network), and Malaga (four weekly; against easyJet and Ryanair; Jet2 arrives next May); and Wrocław to Bilbao (two weekly; a brand-new route).
Two links won’t touch Spain: Varna to Basel (two weekly; a brand-new route) and Vilnius to Berlin (three weekly; facing airBaltic and Ryanair). Both begin in October. Note that Wizz Air previously flew LTN-AGP until 2023. Granada regains UK flights for the first time since 2024, when Vueling ceased flying to London Gatwick.
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