Wizz Air has today announced that the airline, in partnership with not-for-profit organisations’ Choose Love, The Shapiro Foundation, The Steve Morgan Foundation and USPUK, will be offering 10,000 free tickets* for Ukrainian refugees to travel from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) to the UK, in support of the UK Government ‘Homes for Ukraine’ visa scheme.
This joint initiative will launch this weekend with 10,000 free tickets* available for travel from 14 May to 15 June. To mark the launch, representatives from Wizz Air, Choose Love, The Shapiro Foundation, The Steve Morgan Foundation, USPUK and the UK Government will be gathering at London Luton airport this Saturday to welcome Ukrainian refugees – arriving on Wizz Air flights from Krakow and Warsaw in Poland – and connect them with their UK sponsors.
The main aim of this initiative is to make free travel available to Ukrainian refugees during this time of crisis. We would also like to support the UK Government’s Homes for Ukraine visa scheme by enabling Ukrainian refugees to resettle in the UK with their sponsors. As of 5 May, the UK Government has issued over 95,000 visas to Ukrainians under its Homes for Ukraine visa scheme. Over 37,000 have already arrived in the UK and this new initiative will allow even more Ukrainian families to be welcomed into the UK in the coming weeks.
The Wizz Air free tickets are available on a total of 61 routes that the airline operates from Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to the UK, and include one hand luggage item and one checked-in luggage item (up to 32kg) per person. The full list of routes with available free tickets can be found below.
Choose Love have also launched an official website, where donors (in Europe and UK) can contribute funds to add to the initial 10,000 free tickets, as well as provide much needed support to Ukrainian refugees once they reach the UK. People wishing to donate to the fund can do so by visiting the Choose Love site.
Ukrainian refugees wishing to book a free ticket can do so by visiting: https://wizzair.com/#/rescue. The free tickets will be available for travel from 14 May up until 15 June 2022.
Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Latvia are provided with free travel on regional buses and trains.