Wizz Air unveils Tuzla expansion


Wizz Air will base a second aircraft in Tuzla and launch six new routes from the city in its biggest expansion from Bosnia and Herzegovina to date. Furthermore, the no frills carrier will add frequencies on existing services. The development was announced by CEO Joszef Varadi at a press conference yesterday. Wizz will inaugurate service from Tuzla to London Luton, Bratislava, Cologne, Friedrichshafen, Nuremberg and Vaxjo in southern Sweden. All will be launched at the start of the 2017 summer season in March, with exception to London, which will commence this October, joining the previously announced Billund service. The new routes represent a 96 million dollar investment on Wizz Air's behalf into Tuzla and the creation of a further 36 local jobs. Meanwhile, the new aircraft will allow Wizz Air to increase the number of weekly flights on existing routes from Tuzla to Eindhoven, Gothenburg, Malmo and Frankfurt Hahn. On the other hand, the airline will suspend flights to Stockholm Skavsta on October 27, however, they will resume next summer.

Commenting on the new route launches, Mr Varadi said, "Basing a second aircraft at our Tuzla base will create more local jobs, stimulate tourism and the aviation industry and bring even more low fares and opportunities to Bosnia and Herzegovina. We stay committed to the country and constantly aim at expanding our ever growing network to best meet the needs of the Bosnian traveling public”. The General Manager of Tuzla Airport, Rifat Karasalihović, noted, "We would like to highlight the excellent cooperation between our two companies. We expect that the services provided to Wizz Air by Tuzla Airport will be improved with new airport equipment and the expansion of the terminal building, including the arrivals and departures area, as well as our baggage sorting facility". He added, "The terminal currently has the capacity of some 70.000 passengers per year. With our planned expansion, we expect to boost capacity to 600.000 per year".

DestinationLuanch date
London LutonOCT 30
BillundOCT 31
BratislavaMAR 27
CologneMAR 27
FriedrichshafenMAR 27
NurembergMAR 28
VaxjoMAR 28
Click on link for more details

In 2015 Wizz Air carried 268.748 travellers to and from Tuzla, up almost 75% on the year before. Tuzla Airport initially struggled to attract airlines and passengers when it opened its doors for commercial use in 1998. However, its fortunes turned in 2013 when Wizz Air launched its first service from Malmo. Flights quickly proved popular and the no frills airline expanded its network. It is currently the only commercial airline serving Bosnia and Herzegovina's second busiest airport on a year-long basis and has fuelled its spectacular passenger growth over the past two years. Tuzla Airport continued to see its passenger numbers grow with 173.845 travellers handled during the first half of the year, an increase of 46.8% compared to the same period in 2015.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Great news for Tuzla but bottom line is these routes were planned for Sarajevo and the incompetent management there flicked them away. Probably couldn't commit to keeping the airport open a few more hours at night. That's enough for them to turn down airlines like they did with CSA.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:23

      When the new routes come into effect, Tuzla will offer more destinations than Sarajevo. Crazy.

      Delete
    3. Sarajevo still has more routs - and more important: they are daily.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:39

      Massive fail for SJJ. Whenever I think my country has the most incompetent politicians, I take look at B&H and remind myself how much worse it could still be..

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:23

      last anon. cant stop laughing

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:06

    To be honest I have never head of Vaxjo. My guess is it replaces Stockholm and is close to a few diaspora centres in Sweden?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DKinVXO10:53

      I live in Växjö,and the city is quite well situated in southeastern Sweden and has a population of approximately 60 000 inhabitants. It's one of Sweden's fastest growing cities with a lot of IT-companies. We have a big bunch of people from the ex-yu countries and the whole southeastern region is quite of a diaspora centre by itself.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:07

    Wow Tuzla Airport could in a few years have 1 million passengers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      That will take some time.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:09

    Tuzla will really have to improve its terminal. No offence to anyone but it is like a box shed. I hope the expansion happens as soon as possible. If they plan to increase capacity from 60,000 to 100,000 like the GM says I assume it will be quite a big expansion.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      They have the money so I don't see why they don't start construction soon

      "The government has instead opted to invest forty million euros into Sarajevo Airport between 2017 and 2019, as well as 25 million euros into Tuzla Airport and fifteen million into Mostar Airport".

      http://www.exyuaviation.com/2016/08/state-snubs-bihac-airport-project.html

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:11

    Congrats Tuzla.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:12

    Still nothing from Sarajevo :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sarajevo is sleeping, they're only intrested in Arabic countries

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:18

      But you can fly twenty times daily to Istanbul and twice daily to DubaiDubiDoo ...

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:15

    So many German cities...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      Main gasterbaiter center. Same with their network from other ex-yu cities.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:16

    Is this the first time that a Bosnian city is connected with London?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      Not quite. British Airways started flying from London to Sarajevo in March 2007 but suspended them in October 2008. Official reason was "high fuel prices which make the service unprofitable".

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:27

      No, Sarajevo had BA flights before to London.

      Delete
  9. Good news and congrats to Tuzla, Sarajevo is sleeping and only opening new routes to Arabic countries, Tuzla is the main air connection to Europe...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, and where is the problem?

      You can reach Sarajevo FROM ANY EUROPEAN CITY with just one stop!

      Routs to and from Dubai / Doha are great for our Asian / Australian diaspora.

      Great thing is: you can book ALL flights to an from Sarajevo via the EMIRATES homepage and get to or from Australia with only ONE stop - in Dubai.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      But that's the problem. No capital city airport in Europe should need a stop to reach London, Brussels or Paris.

      Delete
    3. @Sarajevo SHARJAH, QATAR yeah those destinations are very important for the BiH diaspora haha you make me laugh

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:22

      If you want to make Sarajevo serious airport, then it must have flights to the most important European cities:
      Paris, London, Rome, Amsterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt, Zurich (whole year) with a non stop flight.

      Banjaluka is connected with every European destination with just one stop (via Belgrade), like Sarajevo. Does it make it serious airport?

      Come on...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous22:27

      How is Banja Luka connected to EVERY European destinations. Here are one of top 100:

      Madrid
      Manchester
      Helsinki
      Dublin
      Lisbon
      Oslo
      Ankara
      etc.

      How can you connect from Banja Luka to those cities with one stop?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous06:44

      Take a bus to VIE.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:27

    This is great although I think Tuzla should work to bring in another airline. Having your entire traffic rely on only one company is never a good idea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The worst thing is: Wizz Air doesn't pay anything to the airport - all costs are paid by Tuzla Canton. That is just crazy!

      Considering Sarajevo: its a political problem.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:36

      Yeah, tell me again why basing a business on ancillary revenues is a bad idea. (insert Gene Wilder meme here)

      Great achievement by Bosnian politicians, Sarajevo is now competing with Tuzla.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:16

      Who cares who pay? Without Wizz the airport would be as good as dead.

      Delete
  11. DKinVXO09:30

    I live in Växjö, and I also work extra as check in agent at Växjö Smaland airport. The decision to start Tuzla from here is EXCELLENT, we have MANY MANY bosnians and other ex-yugos not only in the city itself but also in many other cities and smaller towns around. Once more excellent choice and I'm convinced the route will perform well, especially during the summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:38

      That's good to hear.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:31

    What about Banjaluka? Are there any moving to good?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:58

      Banja Luka is only there so that the decision makers in Sarajevo can say they are second most incompetent bunch in the country.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:45

      Banjaluka pregovara sa Rajanom od sledeceg leta.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:17

      A ko je Rajan?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:57

      Jedan momak iz Irske.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous08:18

      I've heard of Ryan O'Neal, an actor, American.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous08:50

      Wizz Air was rejected, first from BNX, and then from SJJ. Then Wizz asked TZL and now do their best to prove both mentioned authorities have made monkeys out of themselves. Banjaluka is already at bottom of the bottoms and Wizz will do the same to SJJ. Deserved.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:32

    Excellent news for Tuzla and aviation in Bosnia, and now with the new Karaula tunnel Sarajevo-Tuzla will be approx 1:45mins drive away! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous10:12

    Well done. Bad news for bus companies.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous10:20

    Excellent!
    Im flying out of Tuzla this month. Has anonyone taken the gradski prevoz Autobus br. 11 til Dubrava. Is it reliable?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:56

      Yes, two times per day for the past 4 years. Very reliable. The price for a ticket is 1 € and you will have to walk around800 meters from the station to the airport.

      Delete
  16. Aэrologic11:34

    I really hate the language they use, always at odds with the public entities and taking us all for idiots, gently putting aside the fact that the airports they operate from were built with public money and taxes and are one way or another an indirect state-support. Besides, instead of the usual populist mumbo-jumbo, the CEO should better quote some facts i.e how much exactly is W6 paying in Europe and elsewhere so we can really see who is the most expensive airport they operate from. I have hard time believing BEG is more expensive than London or even Bucharest.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:34

      Official price list of BUD is considerably more expensive than BEG. But it's about the incentives of course.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:03

      Official price lists (almost) never include based aircraft contracted deals and is treated as confidential information.

      On the other hand, BEG is competing with other CEE airports of similar size, not London, so if it is coming even close to a comparison between the two, it's clear something's off.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:13

      While we're on the topic of language used -

      'taking us all for idiots', 'usual populist mumbo-jumbo'

      It's not easy to bring oneself to engage in a reasonable conversation when this kind of attitude and language is served from the get-go. And I've seen a lot of that here :)

      On the topic, I guess it gets easier once one has severed the ties to governmental ownership and support. Unfortunately, given how compartmentalized exYu is, I don't expect anyone will be able to easily transcend the focus on local circumstances and historical practices any time soon :(

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:38

      O cemy pricas? Uskoro ce opstati samo jedna kompanija u bivsoj Jugoslaviji. Montenegro i Adrija su zavrsile svoju pricu. Problem organizacije je mnostvo aerodroma u bivsoj zemlji kao da smo Nemacka.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:19

      Anon @ 12:13 are you serious dude? That's your, when someone uses 'mumbo-jumbo'? There is a lot worse language.
      Get over it, and listen to the message.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:52

      Anon@12.03: All regulated charges (landing, lightning, parking, passenger service etc., except GH services) in airports over 2M pax in EU must be transparent and non-discriminative. Hence, no airline can have a contract with confidential information, in terms of regulated charges.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous08:32

      Anonymous September 1, 2016 at 12:38 PM

      It seems, in former Yugoslavia, of all the airports, you'd like Belgrade and Zagreb exist only. If so, you are an idiot.

      Delete
  17. Routesonline published new eurowingsroutes, on of them is from Düsseldorf to Pula, May17

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous13:24

    Tuzla needs to expand their facilities including their aprons and terminal

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous13:28

    OT: Admin, any news about flight between Budapest - Ex YU??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:16

      +1, rekli su da letovi pocinju ove godine, a jos uvek nikakve informacije!

      Delete
  20. Anonymous14:10

    Have no idea why is everyone so excited about Wizz's new routes from Tuzla or Belgrade. That is the worst low are company

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:33

      Tell that to the 20 million pax they had last year.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous14:29

    Time for the idiots in Banja Luka to wake up and doing the same as Nis did.Getting in Ryanair and Wizz !
    Pronto !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      Direktor laktaškog aerodroma i dalje sjedi i neutješno plače za izgubljenim kargom koji je otišao u Tuzlu.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:28

      The time BNX authorities woke up and did the same as INI has gone. Too late for Banjaluka. Bribery and corruption have eaten everything there.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous14:31

    Without a better quality ILS Tuzla will remain the diversion center of Bosnia with weather below the minima for days/weeks from September to March.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous16:01

    Good to see they are not completely abandoning the Stockholm route and that it will just go seasonal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      In my humble opinion, "abandoning" doesn't suffer gradation.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous16:05

    Sarajevo in August; +17%

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:53

      New record for Sarajevo: 118 350 pax. :)

      Great news for Bosnian aviation the last two days!

      Delete
  25. Milivoje Rodic17:05

    OT: From 20.09. Wizzair will change flights to Podgorica. Instead of BGY they will use MXP. Even better imo.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous17:17

    OT: Pula airport in August 2016

    89.550 / 115.026
    +28.44%

    First 8 months: +25%

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous21:54

    At this rate Tuzla needs to upgrade their facilities or expand their terminal

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous01:07

    OT - BEG-SKP returning mid-air.

    ReplyDelete