WIZZ Air, the East European airline which recently switched its Scottish flights from Prestwick to Glasgow Airport, is on course to join the stock market after reportedly appointing three banks to manage a flotation.

Barclays, Citigroup and JP Morgan will manage the initial public offering, according to sources.

Low cost rivals such as easyJet and Ryanair are already listed on the London market.

The Budapest-based airline, founded in late 2003 by chief executive Jozsef Varadi, is thought to be keen to raise as much as £200 million from investors to leave it with a valuation of between £400m and £500m.

The airline expects to carry around 4.5m passengers this year and has benefited from transporting Polish and Hungarian passengers to Western Europe for work.

A number of companies have sought London Stock Exchange listings this year as equity markets recovered.

Wizz Air flies more than 250 routes across Europe and has a fleet of more than 40 Airbus planes.

Its twice-weekly flights to Warsaw and Gdansk switched to Glasgow in March, seven years after Wizz established services at Prestwick.

The airline said it made the move because market research showed most of its passengers came from Glasgow and north of the city.