Eastern/Central Europe’s largest LCC, Wizz Air, handled 7.8 million passengers in 2009 - a 33% year-on-year increase. The carrier’s expansion efforts during the year, which also saw the LCC open a new base in Prague, take delivery of seven new aircraft (for a total fleet of 27 A320s) and launch 40 new routes (for a network of 147 destinations), prompted the carrier's CEO, József Váradi, to claim that Wizz Air has been "one of the fastest growing airlines in the world over the recent years”.