The airline was established in September 2003. The lead investor is Indigo Partners, an American private equity firm ^[4] specialising in transportation investments. The first flight was made on 19 May 2004 from Katowice, 19 days after Poland and Hungary entered the European Union and the single European aviation market. The airline carried 250,000 passengers in its first three and a half months, almost 1.4 million passengers in the first year of operations and to date, 10 million passengers. In 2007 Wizz Air carried 2.9 million passengers on its Polish routes.

The airline's CEO and chairman is József Váradi, former CEO of Malév Hungarian Airlines. The company is registered in Pest County (Hungary) with operating subsidiaries in Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. Wizz Air Bulgaria was established in September 2005.

József Váradi, Chief Executive Officer of Wizz Air, won the Ernst & Young award of the 'Brave Innovator' in 2007. The prize recognised the break through in the airline business in Hungary and the region, the business model and the business conduct of Wizz Air.

In summer 2008 Wizz Air became the first low cost carrier in Ukraine.