Wizz Air sets eyes on former Yugoslavia
Wizz Air has become the first low cost airline with operational basis within the former Yugoslavia. The low cost Hungarian airline plans to open its sixteenth base in Skopje next month and expand services from its base in Belgrade. Furthermore, the no frills carrier will be launching flights to Ljubljana this winter while it continues to pursue the possibility of inaugurating services to Sarajevo. On the back of excellent financial results, Wizz Air has 118 Airbus A320 jets on order and is increasingly focusing on the EX-YU market.From October 28, Wizz will base an aircraft in the Macedonian capital and launch flights to Eindhoven, Bergamo, Memmingen, Basel Mulhouse, Dortmund and Malmo. In return, the airline has been granted 3.5 million euros in subsidies. However, Wizz Air intends to hire 300 locals and carry 400.000 passengers in its first year of operations. If flights prove successful a new expansion is planned for the summer of 2013 with services to Brussels, Rome and Barcelona being considered. On the other hand, over the next year Wizz Air will boost its presence in Belgrade by basing a second aircraft in the Serbian capital next May and launching four new routes. The airline is tipped to announce additional new flights out of Belgrade next year, namely to Spain. It plans to welcome 500.000 passengers on its Belgrade routes in 2013. Ljubljana will also see Wizz Air flights starting next month, with services to London and Charleroi to be inaugurated.
The low cost airline has attempted to launch flights from Sarajevo. Talks were held with airport authorities earlier this year but failed due to high taxes at Sarajevo Airport. The airport’s managing director, Ivica Veličan said, “We were in negotiations with Wizz Air, however, all of the low cost companies place great demands upon the airport”. Wizz Air receives some form of subsidies from all the airports it operates to in the former Yugoslavia. Veličan further explained that if the airport was to reduce taxes for Wizz Air it would have to do so for all other airlines, which wouldn’t be viable.
The liberalisation of the skies above the former Yugoslavia could see Wizz Air become the first low cost airline to operate flights between former Yugoslav republics within the next ten years, which would undoubtedly cause major competition on routes which are currently operated by a single or two airlines at most.
Comments
I was very much looking forward to the BEG-MLH run as a decent alternative to skywork to Bern (which has gotten very expensive) and JAT and SWISS flying to Zurich. I was hoping this line might put some downward pressure on the price of the incumbents.
However, the arrival time at Basel is awful!!!
Tuesdays and Thursdays the flight lands a mere 30 mins before the last possible rail connection to western Switzerland (Lausanne, Geneva). Maybe this would be possible if you have no luggage, but I'd hate to risk it.
Saturdays, you have a connection 35 minutes after landing and another one 1hr and 35 mins. This means, you get into Geneva around 2:30am.
All in all, not a good alternative to what's already offered and I don't see this putting much pressure on the incumbents
-- Charlie
About financials, think that's something nobody can know for sure.
One OT concerning BEG though - just yesterday realised that BEG is a sponsor of KK Radnicki Kragujevac. How on earth does it make sense for 100% monopolist public enterprise (in terms of Serbian market) to sponsor basketball club from Kragujevac!? Besides the fact that Mr. Dinkic is a president of that club of course...
Yes, Wizz Air might be cheaper but it is riskier to fly on in case there is a cancellation.
Cheers from Lausanne!
You need to get there only 30 mins before your flight. That easily makes up for the 30 mins longer flying time. Plus, the train to Bern is much faster than the train to Zurich.
Too bad their prices are so high.
I flew them last month and LF was less than 20%
Let Jat have "a tighter cost structure"