The budget airline will also launch flights from Luton to Bari in southern Italy and to Athens, bringing its total number of new routes announced at Luton this year to 11.

Expansion follows the establishment of Luton as Wizz’s first UK base and the purchase of a number of slots from Monarch Airlines following its collapse. Next year, Wizz Air will offer more than 7.4 million seats to 22 countries on 45 routes from Luton, 23% more than this year.

The new Bari route will operate from March 25, initially twice a week, then four times a week from April 19. Athens will be daily from April 29. Reykjavik will also start on April 29 and operate four times a week until September 16, then becoming daily. Single fares on all three routes will start from £26.99.

In addition, Wizz Air’s Luton-Larnaca route moves from daily to 10 a week from September 17.

Wizz Air chief executive József Váradi said 2017 had been “a milestone year for WIZZ at London Luton”.

“We continue to stimulate inbound and outbound traffic and allocate capacity to cover unserved routes, further diversifying our network and consolidating our position at London Luton,” he added.