Sicily just became the latest front in Europe’s low-cost air war. On August 1, 2026, Wizz Air based its first aircraft at Palermo’s Falcone Borsellino Airport, and two days later threw a launch party with the mayor and a planeload of passengers to make the point loudly: the purple jets are here to stay.

Palermo is now Wizz Air’s 39th base worldwide, and the Hungarian ultra-low-cost carrier is not being shy about its ambitions on the island.

Two jets now, three by September

The base opened with two Airbus A321neo aircraft — the 239-seat, fuel-efficient workhorse that has become the backbone of Europe’s budget fleets — and a third arrives on September 6. Parking aircraft overnight at an airport, rather than just flying in and out, is what turns a route map into a base: it means local crews, local jobs, and early-morning departures that day-trip flights cannot offer.

Eighteen routes and a challenge to the flag carrier

From Palermo, Wizz Air is fanning out across 18 routes and 13 countries. Domestically it links Turin, Milan Malpensa, Bologna and Venice; internationally it reaches for Barcelona, Prague, Tel Aviv, Sharm El Sheikh, Marrakech, Dortmund and Tirana. All told, the airline plans to offer close to a million seats to and from the Sicilian capital this year.

The expansion is part of a wider Italian land-grab. Wizz Air says its growth across the country now makes it Italy’s second-largest airline by market share — a direct shot at flag carrier ITA Airways and the other incumbents. Sicily, with its heavy diaspora traffic and booming tourism, is exactly the kind of market where a low-cost carrier can plant a flag and grow fast.

For Palermo, it means more destinations, more competition, and almost certainly cheaper fares. For Wizz Air, it is one more base in a relentless European expansion that shows no sign of slowing. The purple tails are multiplying.

Sources: Wizz Air press release; Aviation24.be; The Flight Club; TravelWires; Aviation Week.