Glasgow Airport wins two key Italian routes with Wizz Air

Flights three times a week to Milan Malpensa from the west coast airport are to be launched on October 27, Wizz Air announced on Thursday - one of the key destinations sought by Glasgow’s chief executive.

The airline will also fly three times a week between Glasgow and Rome Fiumicino from the same date - a route already operated by Jet2.

Milan is Glasgow’s first new route since Loganair started flights to Newquay in May and the airport’s only other new one so far this year.

Iglu Ski will launch weekly flights to Toulouse in December for skiers, which will continue until March.

Glasgow has hemorrhaged routes to Edinburgh over the past few years, including when Ryanair axed most of its Glasgow routes in 2018 and has since become Edinburgh’s biggest airline with around 70 routes.

The west coast airport is now without New York flights while Edinburgh has up to four a day, and also lost its long-established Virgin Atlantic route to Orlando to its rival.

Edinburgh benefits from a more central location, west of the capital, than Glasgow Airport, which is also west of its city, and seen as a more attractive destination for tourists, especially Americans.

It also has benefited from improved transport links such as direct buses from Glasgow city centre and a tram link that connects with ScotRail trains at Edinburgh Park.

Both Easyjet and Ryanair fly to Milan from Edinburgh, which also has Rome flights with Ryanair and Jet2.

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Glasgow’s new routes come four months after Kam Jandu, chief executive of parent firm AGS Airports, pledged to “strengthen connectivity”, naming Milan among European routes “we need to get back”. He also mentioned Copenhagen and Madrid.

Mr Jandu emphasised that making the airport efficient was key to attracting new routes, which is part of a £350 million improvements package he announced for AGS’s Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports.

He said: “We are in consultation with our existing airlines and potential new ones to make sure we are meeting turn-around space requirements that fit their aspirations because the low-cost airlines want to turn their aircraft relatively quickly.”

AGS Airports aero director Chris Tibbett said of the new Italian routes: “We’re confident that these new services will be warmly welcomed by travellers in the west of Scotland travelling from their local airport.”