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| High airport fees deterring Wizz Air from Croatia |
Low cost airline Wizz Air has said its limited presence on the Croatian market comes as a result of high costs at the country’s airports. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News, Wizz Air’s CEO, Jozsef Varadi, said, “Croatia is very expensive. If Zagreb Airport becomes more reasonable we will certainly consider that airport as an opportunity for expanding our network but this is not yet the case”. Wizz Air suspended operations to Zagreb in 2011. “Nevertheless, we have continued discussions with a number of airports at the same time, so hopefully, at one point, we can go there [Croatia]. I think the market is good”, Mr. Varadi told EX-YU Aviation News as the low cost airline marked its eleventh birthday by rolling out a new and rejuvenated brand.
Wizz Air, which has quickly become the fastest growing low cost airline in the former Yugoslavia, with bases in Skopje, Belgrade and Tuzla (from June 22), currently serves the Croatian market with seven weekly flights to Split on a seasonal summer basis only. The airline will resume its daily service from London Luton to Split starting June 14 until September 12. Last year, flights were maintained four times per week. However, over the years, Wizz has also operated a number of services into Croatia including Dubrovnik and Zagreb. The airline initially launched operations to the Croatian capital in 2009 with flights from Dortmund. It also ran services from London to Dubrovnik, which were suspended in 2012. In 2011, Pula Airport said Wizz Air had expressed interest to fly to the city from two destinations. However, these never materialised.
Meanwhile, the no frills carrier celebrated its eleventh birthday yesterday with a special flight between Budapest and Warsaw, uncovering a new livery and uniforms, introducing seat allocation across its network and new fare types. During the year, the airline will also upgrade its website and introduce a mobile site, take delivery of new aircraft and introduce the Airbus A321 jet to its fleet. “Over the course of the last decade, Wizz Air has had significant success in revolutionising an entire industry, and we have exceeded our ambition to make reliable and affordable air travel available to everyone in Central and Eastern Europe as we extended operations all across Europe and beyond”, Mr. Varadi said. He added, “The launch of our refreshed brand is another one of our many measures to constantly improve passengers’ travel experience. We remain focused on developing our pan-European network”.
Comments
Fascinating, Mr Varadi.
1) You left the ZAG market after the punters who pay to use your service (an inferior product and high fares) had enough! Other LCCs are still serving the airport, so it might not be that Croats are against a low-cost carrier...
2) There is more to Croatia than ZAG (especially the coastal airports), but you don't have so much of a presence there either!
Lift your game, and let's see what happens...
Concessionaire of Zagreb airport is not Croats but French! Amount of work / profit is definitely their option!
Croatia is served by almost all LCC: Ryanair, easyJet, Germanwings, Transavia, Vueling, Norwegian, SmatrWings, Blue Panorama, Air Baltic, Volotea, FlyBe, Jet2, Monarch, flyDubai, even Wizzair. Only LCC that are not flying to Croatia are: Pegasus, NIKI and BlueAir
Some of them have more than 10 routes from Croatia like:
1. Germanwings 29 routes from 6 airports (PUY, RJK, ZAD, SPU, DBV, ZAG),
2.EasyJet 28 routes from 3 airports (PUY, SPU, DBV),
3. Norwegian 25 routes from 5 airports (PUY, RJK, SPU, DBV, ZAG)
4. Ryanair 19 routes from 4 Croatian airports (PUY, RJK, OSI, ZAD base),
5. Vueling 10 routes from 5 airport (PUY, ZAD, SPU, DBV, ZAG)
Even Zagreb has 7 routes with 4 different LCC.
Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian (1979)
Old City of Dubrovnik (1979, 1994)
Plitvice Lakes National Park (1979, 2000)
Episcopal Complex of the Euphrasian Basilica in the Historic Centre of Poreč (1997)
Historic City of Trogir (1997)
The Cathedral of St James in Šibenik (2000)
Stari Grad Plain Hvar Island (2008)
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theHistorical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian (1979)
Old City of Dubrovnik (1979, 1994)
Plitvice Lakes National Park (1979, 2000)
Episcopal Complex of the Euphrasian Basilica in the Historic Centre of Poreč (1997)
Historic City of Trogir (1997)
The Cathedral of St James in Šibenik (2000)
Stari Grad Plain Hvar Island (2008)
They are only interested in vacationing in a place cheaper than Italy, Greece, France or Spain.
That's what Croatia is for and you shouldn't feel the least embarrassed.
It's your niche and you should embrace it.
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OK, some may say others only fly in high season. Well, so could do Wizz. What prevents them from opening a couple of seasonal routes, the same way as so many LCCs do?
It seems to me the Wizz board is convinced they can struck a kind of bargain they got in SKP or TZL anywhere in the Balkans - they just need to bash the local authorities a bit and things will go their way (i.e. airport operators will be begging them to come at any cost - preferably zero cost).
Well, if their BEG experience hasn't taught them that their business model from SKP/TZL may not necessarily be applicable anywhere, then ZAG can only be even bigger disappointment for them.
Wizz has so many orders for new planes, they have no other choice but to expand at more expensive airports. Not too many airports left in Europe willing to charge 3EUR/pax fee. Wizz talk about ZAG is a proof they are running out of cheap airports.
Naravno da ne mješam babe i žabe. Baza kod LCC ne znači ništa posebno. Niz LCC na nekim aerodromima ima daleko više letova iako nemaju bazu nego u nekim drugim gradovima gdje imaju bazu. Kod LCC to je tehničko pitanje a ne sustavno ili čak razvojno (ne kažem da ne može biti).
Tako primjerice easyJet ima deleko više letova iz DBV bez baze, nego Ryanair iz ZAD gdje ima baziran avion.
Više od 100 linija sa preko 400 tjednih polazaka skoro svih europskih LCC (nedostaju samo tri) govori da je Hrvatska vrlo prihvatljiva za LCC i argument Wizzaira ne stoji. Još manje stoji argument na koji je moja reakcija i bila o ljenosti Hrvata što se očituje kroz "demotivranje" Wizza, jer da je tako onda ni ovih 100+ prijevoznika ne bi bilo ovdje.
To je bila tema i poanta razgovora. A ne baziranje aviona i eventualni benefiti koji pritome dolaze (zapošljavanje ljudi, plačanje lokalnih taksi, lokalna logistika, sigurnije širenje linija...), naravno uz to dolaze i negativnosti.
I što ga opravi... ostadoše samo dugmići...
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Right now most likely following carriers might come to Zagreb with in next 24 months. Some such as Air Canada Rouge and JAL are just hope, others are very or highly likely.
Allitalia - 10 weekly flights
SAS - full daily service
Czech Airlines (initially 3 weekly flights)
Iberia (year round service)
Finnair (twice weekly service)
EasyJet (initially 3 weekly flights)
Agean (initially 3 weekly flights)
Vueling (year round service, Barcelona, Seville)
El Al (year round service twice weekly)
Korean Air (year round service twice weekly and thrice weekly in summers)
JAL (year round service with twice weekly flights)
Air Canda R (year round service with two weekly flights)
If Wizz is not happy with the already low fees at BEG, they are welcome to expand at any of the other international airports in Serbia.
QF 2 Pw
AY 7 pw
EK 10 pw
CX 3 pw
AA LAX 4pw ORD 4 pw.
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Most airlines would poll passengers to see their wishes right away so they can implement some of them, not wait 9 years to read them!
My wish for Wizz in 2024: to have Serbia - Australia flight. Let's see if it becomes true.
Sto bi bilo lepo kad bi svi morali da se potpisemo bilokako moze i ananas.
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https://youtu.be/Vttuonfu2BM
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Zanimljiv tekst :)
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Ananas
http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2015-02-25/wizz-air-goes-public-boost-low-cost-growth-plan
Some airlines have hobbits and surfers, others dance like Virgin America. We'll have to wait to see what will be Air Serbia funny safety video. How about Novak Djokovic placing Roland Garros trophy in the overhead bin because it won't fit under the seat?