Wizz Air has applied for a license to operate planes between the UK and the US. If successful, the European short-haul airline could operate one-off charter flights for English and Scottish football fans to get to this year’s FIFA World Cup.

In a statement, the London-listed carrier said: “Wizz Air UK confirms it has submitted an application to the US department of transportation seeking the necessary approvals to operate services between the UK and the United States.”

It continued: “As stated in the application Wizz Air UK plans only charter operations. The matter is subject to regulatory approval.”

Move rules out immediate scheduled transatlantic services

That appears to rule out any immediate plans for Wizz Air to launch scheduled services across the Atlantic, an aviation graveyard for low-cost carriers over the last 50 years from Freddie Laker’s Skytrain to the vaulting ambitions of Norwegian Air when it was led by Bjorn Kjos, the would-be Sir Richard Branson of the Nordic airline scene.

It would not be the first time that the Hungary-based Wizz has flown across the Atlantic. Last year Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister chartered a Wizz aircraft for his summit meeting with President Trump in the White House.

Airline to deploy long-range Airbus A321XLR fleet

It would also be a good use of Wizz’s handful of long-range, single-aisle narrow body aircraft, the Airbus A321XLR.

Wizz had planned to beef up its longer range fleet of A321XLRs to increase the number of services to the Arabian Gulf from Europe and then move further afield to set up a network flying to the Indian sub-continent. However, the initiatives fell foul of regulatory hurdles.

Wizz currently flies London Gatwick to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia using the A321XLR. That is a distance of 3,800 miles.

The distance from London to New York is 3,500 miles and the A321XLR aircraft-type is already proven on the transatlantic route with operators such as American Airlines and Iberia.

Financial viability of low-cost transatlantic model remains unproven

Wizz has not ruled out launching scheduled transatlantic services but the financial dynamics of low-cost services remain unproven, dependent on gaining slots for the requisite flight frequencies and attracting enough passengers to fill premium seats to fund the operation.

Many in the industry have said that if the transatlantic did work for low-cost carriers, Ryanair, Europe’s dominant short-haul player, would have already launched such services.