The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizzair now has a widebody in its fleet. The Airbus A330-200F with the serial number 1578 has the registration HA-LHU. The machine was transferred to Budapest on October 18, 2020 and is still painted in the colors of Qatar Airways Cargo.
The six-year-old freighter was in service with Qatar Airways until July 15, 2020. However, Wizzair does not operate the widebody for its own account, but on behalf of the Hungarian government. The registration is already attached to the machine. Wizzair itself emphasized several times that the fleet of this Airbus A330-200F does not mean entry into the cargo business.
During the lockdown phase, the carrier repeatedly flew masks and other medical supplies with passenger planes from China with stopovers. The operation of the new facility is carried out according to official declarations on behalf of the Hungarian government, which also bears the economic risk for this. The country wants to make itself more independent of international providers with the widebody freighter, because in the lockdown phase it should have proven to be disadvantageous that no Hungarian long-haul freighters were available