Wizz Air to grow EX-YU operations


Low cost carrier Wizz Air currently plans to introduce four new routes to the former Yugoslavia this summer season, with additional services under consideration. Growth from its three bases in Skopje, Tuzla and Belgrade will be limited. The airline will shift operations on its Skopje - Bergamo route to Milan's main international airport - Malpensa - starting March 23 and will introduce five weekly flights from Vienna to Tuzla next month. Furthermore, it will launch new seasonal operations from both Warsaw and Katowice in Poland to Podgorica, between mid-June and September. As a result, its total number of destinations from the Montenegrin capital will grow to five.

Despite keeping its operations from Skopje mostly unchanged this summer for the first time in years, the airline will add capacity in the Macedonian capital by replacing two of its four Airbus A320 aircraft with the larger 230-seat A321 jets. The first of the two aircraft will begin operations from the Macedonian capital on May 30 and the second from June 15. They will be deployed on a number of routes from Skopje including Berlin, Beauvais, Bratislava, Cologne, Eindhoven, Friedrichshafen, Gothenburg, Hahn, Hamburg, Hannover, Malmo, Memmingen, Nuremberg and Rome. Together, the two aircraft will operate a total of 42 flights per week. As a result, Wizz Air will increase its capacity from Macedonia by 23% this year when compared to 2017, offering 1.8 million seats for sale from the country. From Macedonia's second international airport in Ohrid, Wizz will maintain three weekly flights to Basel, down from four last year, and two weekly services to London Luton. Furthermore, the Macedonian government plans to start tender procedures for a three-year contract to stimulate the launch of new routes by low cost carriers, with Wizz Air likely to apply, which would lead to new destinations being launched.

Tables updated March 19

Departing Skopje

DestinationFrequency S2017Frequency S2018Change  Notes
Barcelona22--
Basel77--
Beauvais22--
Bergamo20 2replaced by Milan
Berlin33--
Bratislava44--
Budapest23▲ 1-
Charleroi33--
Cologne33--
Copenhagen33--
Dortmund33--
Eindhoven33--
Friedrichshafen22--
Gothenburg44--
Hahn33--
Hamburg22--
Hannover22--
London Luton55--
Malmo77--
Malta22--
Memmingen33--
Milan02▲ 2starts MAR23
Nuremberg22--
Rome22--
Sandefjord22--
Stockholm Skavsta22--
Treviso22--
Vaxjo22--

Tuzla Airport has held talks with Wizz Air over the introduction of two new routes from the city. It comes after the budget airline announced it would introduce five weekly flights from Vienna to Tuzla this April. "We are currently negotiating with Wizz Air and an agreement should be reached shortly", General Manager Rifet Karasalihović said, without disclosing the planned new routes. The low cost airline currently operates flights to thirteen destinations out of Tuzla, with Vienna to become its fourteenth. Unlike last summer, the carrier will no longer maintain services from Tuzla to London and Nuremberg, however, it will compensate these suspensions by upping frequencies on flights to Basel, Dortmund and Memmingen. On the other hand, services between Budapest and Sarajevo will continue to run twice per week.

Departing Tuzla

Destination Frequency S2017Frequency S2018Change   Notes
Basel45▲ 1-
Baden Baden02▲ 2starts JUN18
Billund22--
Bratislava30 3replaced by Vienna
Cologne22--
Dortmund34▲ 1-
Eindhoven33--
Friedrichshafen    32 1-
Gothenburg44--
Hahn33--
London Luton20▼ 2-
Malmo55--
Memmingen23▲ 1-
Nuremberg20 2-
Stockholm-Skavsta32 1-
Vaxjo22--
Vienna05▲ 5starts APR27

Elsewhere, the airline will maintain the same number of operations from its Belgrade base as last summer. It will reshuffle its services so as to balance the suspension of flights to Friedrichshafen and Nuremberg with extra departures to Basel, Beauvais, Gothenburg and Malta. In Niš, the carrier will maintain the same number of operations on its existing services, with flights to Basel to run three times per week, while services to Dortmund, Memmingen, Eindhoven and Malmo will continue to depart twice weekly. Operations from Eindhoven will be suspended at the end of the winter season. Wizz Air will continue serving Ljubljana Airport this summer with flights from Charleroi and London Luton, operated two and four times per week respectively. Apart from its new routes from Poland to Podgorica, the no frills carrier will keep two weekly services from Memmingen and Milan to the Montenegrin capital but will increase operations from Budapest from two to three per week. Wizz Air will increase frequencies on its services between London Luton and Pristina this summer to three per week starting March 25, while flights from Budapest will be kept unchanged at two per week.

Departing Belgrade

Destination Frequency S2017Frequency S2018Change  Notes
Baden-Baden22--
Basel23▲ 1-
Beauvais34▲ 1-
Dortmund44--
Eindhoven44--
Friedrichshafen20 2-
Gothenburg34▲ 1-
Hannover22--
Larnaca22--
London Luton33--
Malmo55--
Malta23▲ 1-
Memmingen33--
Nuremberg20 2-
Stockholm Skavsta33--

In Croatia, Wizz will resume seasonal flights from Warsaw and Katowice to Split on June 16, with both services to run three times per week. As was the case last year, the airline will also operate daily flights from London Luton to Split between June 28 and September 17. Operations from Basel to Osijek, which were introduced in 2017, will be increased from two to three per week this summer. The tables above display the peak weekly frequency on each route during the course of the summer season.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    There will be a Wizz press conference in Vienna today. Wonder if they might add some new route to ex-Yu.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      I don't see tnem adding anymore flights from Vienna to ex-Yu. Maybe only Podgorica or Pristina.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:13

      They have already increased Vienna-Tuzla from 3 to 5 per week and Nis and Ohrid have been upgraded from A320 to A321 next winter. There is obviously a lot of demand so maybe we see a few new routes from VIE to ex-Yu.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:48

      Unfortunately not a single ex-Yu route from Vienna.

      They just announced that they will base two planes from VIE next summer. They will start Nice, Reykjavik, Catania, Milan Malpensa, Lisbon, Madrid, Malmo, Stockholm Skavsta and Kharkiv

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:03

      Just one Eastern European route from in their new Vienna expansion. As expected they are focusing more and more on West-West routes.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:03

      spectacular though

      Delete
    6. Nemjee11:05

      It's fantastic how they will have daily flights to Madrid and Malpensa on top of daily to Rome and Tel Aviv which were previously announced.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:10

      this could be a turning point for Wizz or are they considering VIE East Europe :D

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:15

      They have started doing that from London too.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:26

      RIP Austrian Airlines.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous11:30

      because of 5 aircrafts?

      Delete
    11. Anonymous11:33

      if Vueling really wants to open a base in VIE the time is now.

      i think Laudamotion will have few rakijas this morning

      Delete
    12. Nemjee11:40

      Well 4 A321 and 1 A320 is not nothing.

      Also they will compete directly with them on many routes. Austrian Airlines has high costs and now they will have to lower their fares.

      If I am not mistaken until recently they even had a monopoly on VIE-TXL. easyJet launched flights only recently.

      Austrian will have to compete with Wizz Air to Tel Aviv, Larnaca, Varna, Nice, Milan ... on top of that Wizz will fly to Malmo which is right across from CPH.

      All in all I think the mood must be rather somber in Vienna.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous11:57

      Long term this is bad for OU and JP. If I were them I would prepare to start shifting capacity away from VIE and towards MUC.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous12:17

      @last anon huh?

      Delete
    15. Anonymous12:45

      If W6 starts to attack OS in VIE they will start to reduce flights to Europe meaning that their hub model will become weaker.

      OS is uncompetitive because of their costs. How can they compete to NCE or to TLV with Wizz Air? They can't.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous13:39

      nobody has heard of Wizzair in Austria. lets wait and see

      Delete
    17. Anonymous13:43

      No one heard of them a decade ago yet here they are.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous20:51

      Really great development for Vienna. I am sorry they are not trying Belgrade at the moment but they must be playing on a safe side.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    What could the 2 new routes from Tuzla be? Any guesses? Hope it not more German destinations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      Paris is highly likely.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:08

      Beuvais I should say.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:14

      That would be fantastic!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:19

      Is Sarajevo being affected by all this growth at Tuzla?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:42

      I'm sure it takes away some passengers. The passenger difference between Tuzla and Sarajevo is becoming smaller and smaller.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:14

      Charleroi would be a good options from Tuzla as well.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:25

      lol Paris - Tuzla sounds funny. I think charleoi is more realistic

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:28

      Why is Paris-Tuzla funny?

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    It's unfortunate they didn't add any frequencies from INI like they said they would to make up for Eindhoven suspension.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nemjee09:05

      Well they are launching VIE-BTS with the A321. More flights and more seats than to EIN.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      Yes but that starts in winter. No summer increases (for now at least).

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:14

      INI might get some A321 flights this summer since I think some of Nis's flights are operated by Wizz planes from Skopje.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:11

      I was hoping they would increase Basel at least.

      Delete
  4. Nemjee09:03

    I have a feeling Wizz Air won't be expanding in Belgrade any time soon. On some days in February they merely had two flights per day.

    I wonder if their BSL increase had something to do with easyJet launching their own flights. Wizz Air's biggest missed opportunity was Berlin. Now it's too late.

    Overall they covered their gasterbajter destinations and unless they are ready to be adventurous I have a feeling it might be a while before we see a third A320 at BEG.

    It's easy for them to grow at INI, SKP or TZL where they virtually have no competition. BEG is a different story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      It will be interesting to see how the competition between Wizz and easy develops on Basel route. To me it still makes little sense for easy to launch this route.

      It's interesting that Malta is growing. Seems to be successful for them, even more than Larnaca.

      I agree it's doubtful we will see them grow anytime soon from BEG. Would be fantastic if they added Vienna - Belgrade or Bratislava p Belgrade.

      Delete
    2. Nemjee09:14

      I think easyJet is launching the route so as to defeat and push Wizz Air out. I doubt their goal is to simply co-exist and share the market with them.

      Don't forget that JU flies three times per week to MLA while they have daily flights to LCA in summer plus three weekly around the Christmas holidays. So JU is much more aggressive (though not enough) in LCA. Geographical location also plays a role. From LCA they can carry transfers to western Europe while they can't really do that from Malta.

      BEG-BTS would make little sense as OS-JU duopoly would have the advantage of flying out of VIE.
      I could see Wizz Air launch VIE-BEG in the future. They will need to be careful with this route as both JU and OS have convenient times and a lot of frequencies.

      If Wizz Air launches two weekly BEG-VIE with odd hours then they would be stealing customers from bus companies, not JU/OS.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:18

      But could they really sustain VIE-BEG and VIE-INI?

      Delete
    4. Nemjee09:26

      In theory yes as both airports have large catchment areas and a lot of O&D demand.

      From what I could see, Wizz Air skipped on SKP-VIE while they introduced OHD-VIE. It could be a sign that they don't want SKP and INI to compete against each other. That said, INI would be the triumphant one as they would 'steal' some passengers from Kosovo and Metohija who used SKP in the past either to fly to VIE on OS or to BUD on W6. I think it was reported on here that roughly 17% of INI's passengers come from K&M.

      Moving the VIE traffic away from SKP to OHD and INI could be also a way to reduce the negative impact of VIE's relatively high charges.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:38

      I think the primary reason they started OHD and not SKP is because TAV has a policy for LCCs not to directly compete with full fare airlines on routes to Skopje. That's why they don't overlap on a single route.

      Delete
    6. Nemjee09:51

      Could be, that I wouldn't know. It still doesn't change the fact that both OHD and INI will receive Wizz Air to Vienna while SKP will be stuck with overpriced OS.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:16

      you forgot that Wizz is flying to BTS from SKP. You only get POPUST from VIE for new destinations. thus INI and BEG ;)

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:22

      Wizz is only opening routes to INI which will not affect their SKP operations a lot (where demand is enough for paralel routes, thus Malmö i ostali gastarbajters).

      Delete
    9. Nemjee10:23

      Wizz Air is launching flights to destinations already being served by others such as LCA, TLV, FCO ...

      Also, why would they get a discount for BEG but not for SKP?

      Also, VIE is a much superior airport compared to BTS, in many, and not just one way.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:28

      Mislim da je Nemjee u pravu što se tiče Bratislave i Beča. Zašto bi iko sa Kosova ili iz Vranja išao u Skoplje da bi leteo za Bratislavu kada iz Niša može leteti za iste pare za centralniji aerodrom?

      Delete
    11. Anonymous10:43

      So it begins. SKP didn't get VIE because of INI.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous10:59

      it was meant OHD and not BEG

      Delete
    13. Anonymous11:00

      no, SKP didnt get VIE because of 13 weekly OS

      Delete
    14. Anonymous11:05

      same for BEG probably

      Delete
    15. Anonymous11:25

      BEG-VIE is more competitive because it has:

      Austrian Airlines: 18x
      Air Serbia: 14x
      Highway and buses.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous12:20

      BEG-VIE is flown mainly by small aircraft so be careful.
      INI-VIE will most likely be flown by the A321 which has a huge capacity.
      SKP-VIE is flown by mixed A319 or A320 sometimes E195.
      INI-BTS - now extended for winter 2018/2019

      Also SOF-VIE is second busiest route after London
      SOF-BTS 4 weekly flown by A321

      As you can see, there is HUGE market:
      SKP/INI/SOF <-> VIE/BTS

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:11

    I notice that all their flights from Budapest to Ex-YU seem to be performing well. Surprising really.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:14

    That's impressive having 2 A321s in SKP. Amazing how fast that base has developed for them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      I think we can expect 5th W6 plane based in SKP from the winter season 2018/19.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:22

      the are waiting for the tender

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:15

    Their expansion last summer was probably the worst bunch of destinations they have ever chosen from ex-Yu as illustrated by the number of routes they suspended.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:25

      in particular NUE

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:42

      Surprised NUE didn't work. I though it was a solid gasterbaiter route.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:58

      Friedrichshafen seems weak too.

      I have flown once each NUE-SKP and FDH-SKP both were packed to the max

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:16

      Not quite sure about NUR-BEG, it was always fully packed, now north-Bavarians have to use FMM-BEG route..

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:22

    Nothing new from LJU for some time now regarding Wizzair?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      Nothing. They have kept everything the same, even the frequencies for years now. Hope they consider some new routes soon.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:26

    Good to see another primary airport served from SKP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:04

      kopje now has very long list of routes provided by Wizz. Which destinations you guys think will work from SKP which are currently not served but Wizz is operating at that airport?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:14

      ATH, PRG, LJU ...

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:30

    They have a more impressive network from ex-Yu then some national airlines.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:36

      Yeah right especially with 2 and 3 weekly flights to most cities.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:31

    Will we ever see Wizz Air at Zagreb Airport again?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:36

      Doubt it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:37

      It's more likely to see a hub in LJU

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:36

    My money is that the next base they open will be PRN.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:37

      No way Jose. Costs are way too high.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:37

      PRN can't do much about that. According to the concession agreement prices are set by the government and not by the airport which is ridiculous. That's why PRN has introduced so many incentives because the government does not wan't to decrease fees.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:42

    Please launch SJJ!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:43

      Actually I think Banja Luka will be next for them. This winter.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:45

      It's a shame about SJJ. They wanted to start a few destinations but talks fell apart :/ I still hope they manage to find some agreement with them.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous10:03

    Potential Wizz bases in my oppinion are PRN, TGD and SJJ. I'm just not sure the market is big enough for a base in INI.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:10

      Don't count on SJJ.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:15

    Are these flights from Poland to Podgorica being used mostly for tourists to get to the Adriatic coast?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:17

      Yes

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:28

      Wouldn't it make more sense for flights to operate to Tivat then?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:35

      Tivat is operating full to capacity and it is prbably more expensive.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous23:21

      Not really, Podgorica is much better positioned for those visiting mountains/lakes plus you can reach most resorts on the coast in about an hour. Basically if you are going anywhere other then Boka bay then Pofgorica is fine.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous10:16

    Still waiting for them to start their first inter- Ex-Yu route.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:10

      What would that be?
      Only inter ex-yu routes with massive demand is Belgrade - Podgorica/Tivat. And those they can not open at the moment. Other attractive one would be Belgrade - Skopje, again with regulatory challenges. Ljubljana - Belgrade might work for weekend breaks. With their capacities (A320) probably only seasonal flights from Ljubljana and Belgrade to Dubrovnik and maybe Belgrade - Split could work.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous01:44

      Umm... Ljubljana-Skopje, three daily buses (~90eur return), daily flights from Adria. Lots of students and people working in Slovenia could easily fill those flights with prices around 50-60eur return

      Delete
    3. Anonymous07:47

      3 daily buses is maximum 150 passengers. Not even enough for one Wizzair plane.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:09

      3 dayly buses not good? .. then count 2-3 weekly flights do the math. mr einstein

      Delete
    5. Anonymous18:38

      @AnonymousMarch 3, 2018 at 1:44 AM
      Thanks, I absolutely forgot about Skopje - Ljubljana. Exactly, that must be troublesome with bus and definitely there is a market for 3x week. Not to mention that new demand for city breaks would be created with cheap flights.
      All in all, there is still room to grow on inter ex-yu routes! Hope we get more inter regional connectivity with cheaper tickets.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:21

    Ryanair is falling behind in the region (except for Croatia)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:23

      I gave up on them for MK.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous11:04

    Must say there growth this summer is quite muted compared to previous years.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous11:22

    The Poland-Podgorica flights are running with this rotation
    WAW-TGD-KTW-TGD-WAW

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous12:06

    Why no Skopje to Poland? I guess there is market at least for summer. LOT will start to fly to Skopje from Warsaw in June 2018 too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:11

      I think they should have started Warsaw and Katowice to Ohrid, summer seasonal.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:15

      because they have no seasonal flights to/from MK yet

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:24

      Isn't London seasonal from Ohrid?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:36

      that one is "special", sponsored by Ohrid city

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:39

      jep :)

      Delete
  21. Anonymous12:25

    I am absolutely convinced that W6 could easily re-establish seasonal routes to Corfu and Rhodes, as they were crowded during 2013 summer season, as I remember. Also, as Corfu is less than an hour flying, it could definitely be operated within the existing schedule.

    Also, I think that W6 should seek for winter seasonal routes from BEG, because their capacity in BEG during winter is not fully occupied.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:56

      I am still puzzled why BEG is one of the weakest performers for W6.
      They cut so many routes and never even considered stationing the A321.
      Come on, BEG is one of the biggest cities in CE Europe.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:22

      BEG also has JU which covers most of Europe and a decent number of other airlines flying there.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:06

      or locals do not fancy flying in sardine cans to village airports 200km from the main cities..

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:20

      BEG is a big city but not many of its residents can afford to travel by plane to other cities in Europe for the weekend.
      Hopefully as the economy continues to develop this will change fast.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:34

      Yeah you are so right. That's why there is 5.3 million passengers per year at BEG. Wonder where they all come from. Don't say tourists as I'm sure you would be the first to write "Belgrade is a big city but has no tourists" ;)

      Delete
    6. Anonymous22:04

      1. Diaspora
      2. Tourists
      3. Businessman, politicians, journalists from Europe, China, UAE, Russia to have some work in Belgrade
      4. Politicians and civil servants from Serbia to go to international institutions
      5. Local residents is not better than position 5th

      Delete
    7. Anonymous23:59

      BEG je napravio predobar rezultat sa legacy carrier- Kompanijama tako da im nisu ni prekopotrebne LCC.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    8. Anonymous16:50

      INN-NS, the myth, the legend of this forum is back :)

      Delete
  22. Anonymous13:08

    I think it is just because the fees are enormously high for them as a LCC. I used to work for W6, and as I remember in BEG W6 was paying per pax 6 EUR in 2010, 12 EUR in 2011, 22 EUR in 2012 and in 2014 they were paying 32 EUR - that's why they removed one aircraft out of BEG. As I don't work for them years now, I have no clue how much they do pay.

    For sure there is a demand, but most of demand is based on seasonality.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous16:22

    Good news. Hope more route announcements will be coming up.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous23:51

    Bice zanimljivo da se vidi kako ce se snaci u VIE.
    Odlicno je sto vise nisu toliko zaintresovani za BEG kao pre sto su bili zaintresovani.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete

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