Wizz Air is to pause its exisiting routes from Cardiff Airport until spring 2023, saying they are not commerically viable.

From 19 September and throughout the winter, the airline will suspend routes to Alicante, Lanzarote, Larnaca and Tenerife, while existing summer routes to Corfu, Heraklion and Palma will end early.

In addition, plans to operate Sharm el Sheikh in November have also been put on hold. The airline says it hopes to restart routes next year.

Wizz has, however, announced plans to operate new winter flights to Milan and Bucharest from Cardiff, starting on 30 October.

 The carrier said the decision had been ‘incredibly difficult’ but said it wanted to give ‘as much advance notice as possible to minimise any last-minute cancellations and maximise rebooking options for customers’.

Wizz added employees would be ‘offered redeployment opportunities’ at other UK airports over the winter.

Wizz Air launched its base at Cardiff Airport in April, offering nine summer routes and announcing plans to fly to Sharm el Sheikh in November.

Wizz Air UK Managing Director Marion Geoffroy said: “Though these routes have proved popular through the summer season, it would not be commercially viable to continue to operate them through this coming winter due to the challenging macro-economic environment.

“This leaves us with no option but to pause these routes until next spring.

“We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience this will cause customers who already booked flights with us. We are in touch with all affected customers to explain their options.”

Passengers affected are being offered an airline credit of 120% of the original fare, a 100% cash refund or the option of switching flights to Gatwick or Luton this year or rebooking from Cardiff next summer.

Ms Geoffroy added: “We continue to value our close working relationship with Cardiff Airport and plan to resume base operations at the airport next year. We have already placed our full Cardiff summer schedule on sale on wizzair.com and are introducing two new winter routes.

“It takes time to build up sustainable operations at any base and we are prepared to build up operations at Cardiff over the long term.”