9 November 2021 – Israel Railways (ISR) has issued a notice to proceed for the supply of additional 36 Traxx locomotives from Alstom (OTC: ALSMY) as part of its framework agreement in 2015 for the supply of 63 electric Traxx and additional 74 double-deck coaches in 2019.
In September 2015, ISR ordered 62 Traxx 160 km/h P160 AC3 locomotives. The contract also included an option for additional 32 units.
The 36 locomotives will be delivered between April 2023 to October 2024, at a beat rate of two or three locomotives each month and will include unique features and advanced safety features. To date, Alstom concluding the delivery of 27 locomotives to ISR. The delivered locomotives are serving ISR growing electrified network, the locomotives maintained by ISR at the Lod depot with warranty services support by Alstom’s Product Introduction teams.
The locomotives are powered with 6,000 kW traction suited for ISR electric network of 25kV 50 H. The Traxx electric-locomotive hauled ISR Twindexx Vario red double-deck coaches delivered by Alstom. More than 500 of these double-deck cars are successfully in service in Israel since 2002, providing safe, reliable and comfortable journey to all passengers in Israel.
More than 2,300 Traxx locomotives have been sold around the world in the last 20 years. They are authorized to operate in 20 countries around the world and drive a cumulative total annual mileage of 300 million km.
Alstom has been contributing to the development of railway systems in Israel for more than 30 years, and everyday hundreds of thousands of Israelis enjoy its products, services, and green and sustainable mobility solutions. The company operates in 6 sites in Israel: the headquarters in Tel-Aviv, a retrofit site and Fleet Maintenance site in Haifa, a vehicle production site in Dimona and a Signaling project in Tel-Aviv and Be’er-Sheva. Alstom retains over 250 employees in Israel and is involved in 8 advanced infrastructure projects, for which it provides passenger coaches and electric locomotives, signaling and integration systems and maintenance services.
NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART AIRCRAFT AND 3 NEW ROUTES LAND IN BUDAPEST
WizzAir,the largest airline in Central and Eastern Europe and Europe’s greenest* airline has today announced the arrival another state-of-the-art Airbus A321neo aircraft at its base in Budapest in June 2020 and the launch of three new routes to European cities from the Hungarian capital. Tickets for the new routes are already on sale and can be booked from only HUF 6,490, and 7,990**, respectively, on wizzair.com and the airline’s mobile app.
New daily service to Brussels, four destinations in Ukraine
Brussels Charleroi has been a part of Wizz Air’s network since 2004. From next summer, the airline will also operate a daily service to Brussels Airport, the Belgian’s capital main airport – the airline’s 151 destination –, creating a more direct link with the centre of the European Union for business travellers and diplomats. With its picturesque main square and delightful brasseries, Brussels is an attractive destination for tourists as well.
Hungary’s hometown airline is also expanding towards the East with two flights per week to Lviv, Western Ukraine’s central city, and Kharkiv, the second largest city in the country. As Kyiv has been accessible from Budapest since 2011 and flights to Odessa will launch this October, today’s announcement means that Budapest will be linked by direct flights to all four Wizz Air destinations within Ukraine.
Lviv is one of Ukraine’s most scenic historic towns, with its downtown featured in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The town was one of the multicultural centres of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy under the name Lemberg and has preserved its Central European atmosphere to this day. Today, Lviv is one of the centres of Ukrainian culture with lots of theatres, museums and festivals awaiting visitors. Kharkiv is an interesting destination for admirers of Ukrainian gastronomy and Soviet-style architecture with its magnificent metro stations and the country’s first skyscraper.
16 aircraft in Hungary
With the arrival of the newest A321neo, Wizz Air’s Hungarian fleet expands to 14 aircraft allocated in Budapest, with a further 2 aircraft based in Debrecen. This means the airline’s operations support over 4,000*** indirect local jobs in the country. Apart from the new destinations, Wizz Air will increase its frequency on four of its existing routes to Eindhoven, St. Petersburg, Tel-Aviv and Edinburgh (to be launched this December). With this expansion of capacity, Wizz Air will increase its Hungarian seat capacity to 6.7 million passengers in 2020.
Wizz Air is the “greenest” airline
The new routes will be served by the state-of-the-art Airbus A321neo aircraft of the Budapest base. The airline operates one of the youngest fleets in Europe, with the average age of 4.7 years. As a result, Wizz Air was the airline with the smallest environmental footprint in Europeonce again in August 2019, with only 57.7 grams CO emissions per passenger per kilometre. The company currently has a total of 271 Airbus A321neo, Airbus A321neo and Airbus A321XLR aircraft on order. With the new aircraft, the airline will continue to drive efficiency parallel to further decreasing its environmental footprint by 1/3 for over the next decade. The Airbus A321neo, six of which are already in operation at WIZZ’s Budapest base, incorporates the latest technologies in aviation. It offers a 50 percent reduction in noise footprint, a 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption, while also reducing nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 50 percent.
Stephen Jones, Wizz Air Hungary’s managing director said: “Hungary’s hometown airline, Wizz Air remains strongly committed to its country of origin. We are continuously expanding and modernizing our fleet and network in Budapest to provide affordable and high quality travel opportunities to more and more Hungarian passengers. Adding a new, state-of-the-art aircraft to our Budapest fleet and launching three new routes underpins our dedication to Budapest and Hungary and creates more local jobs with the airline and in associated industries, as well as stimulates the local tourism and hospitality industries. The WIZZ team looks forward to welcoming customers old and new on-board our ultra-efficient fleet of Airbus aircraft very soon. And for those looking to turn their passion for travel into a career, we’d be delighted to see you at one of our Wizz Air cabin crew recruitment days, where you can find out more about joining the WIZZ team.”
