LOW-cost airline Wizz Air has announced plans to resume flights from London Luton Airport from next Friday.

The carrier said it will restart selected flights with "enhanced" health and safety measures amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Cabin crew will be required to wear masks and gloves on all flights and will distribute sanitising wipes for passengers, the airline said in a statement.

New distancing measures will also be introduced during boarding and aircraft will be disinfected overnight.

From May 1, flights will resume from Luton to selected airports in Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Portugal, Spain and Israel.

Owain Jones, Wizz Air UK's managing director, said: "As we restart selected Luton flights to provide an essential service to passengers who need to travel, our primary concern is the health, safety and well-being of our customers and crew.

"The protective measures that we are implementing will ensure the most sanitary conditions possible.

"We encourage our customers to watch our new video on how to stay safe when travelling, as well as for more details on our new health and safety measures."

Customers will be asked to check in and make any additional payments for services - such as additional bags - online to reduce physical interaction at the airport.

Passengers will also be "encouraged" to make any on-board purchases using contactless payment methods, the Hungarian-owned airline said.

Speaking to Travel Weekly earlier this week, Wizz Air chief executive Josef Varadi said: “The industry will have to address physical distancing.

"In the first few months planes will not be filled.”

And he told an Aviation Week webcast that around 10 per cent of the fleet would be in the air by Friday.

He said: “I think we’ll start seeing some easing during the course of May or into June, I don’t know.

"What we do know is it is becoming unsustainable.

"Maybe at the end of May or sometime in June we’ll be at 30 per cent.”

Current UK government advice is for Britons to avoid all non-essential global travel indefinitely.

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