Low cost carrier Wizz Air has upgraded several seasonal summer routes from its bases in Belgrade, Skopje and Tuzla to year-round operations for the upcoming 2019/2020 winter season, which begins on October 27. The airline will extend its flights between Belgrade and Larnaca into the winter, with a total of two weekly flights to be maintained, each Tuesday and Saturday. The route was initially introduced on a year-round basis in 2014 but was downgraded last winter. This led Air Serbia to upgrade its own flights to the Cypriot city to year-round operations. The two will now compete directly on the route, with the Serbian carrier to run flights between the two cities once per week, each Friday, increasing to three weekly during the holiday period, from mid-December to mid-January.
The budget carrier will upgrade all of its seasonal flights from Skopje and Ohrid to year-round operations. Last year, the airline turned its services from Skopje to Barcelona and Vaxjo, as well as from Ohrid to London Luton, to seasonal summer flights. However, this coming winter, Wizz will maintain operations on all three routes twice per week. "As is normal practice in the aviation industry, flight frequencies change according to travel seasons and route performance. Wizz Air constantly monitors the performance of the routes to allow for the most popular services to have the lowest possible fares", the company said.
Wizz Air will also resume winter flights between Tuzla and Billund from late October. A total of two weekly flights will be operated between the two cities, each Monday and Friday. Flights to Billund were initially introduced on a year-round basis in the winter of 2016, however, the route was downgraded to seasonal summer operations last year. On the other hand, flights from Tuzla to Baden Baden, Stockholm Skavsta and Vaxjo, which were also downgraded to seasonal services last year, have so far not been scheduled for the 2019/2020 winter season. The downgrade had a notable impact on the airport's passenger numbers throughout the 2018/2019 winter season.
So can we conclude that the downgrades last winter were down to a lack of aircraft?
ReplyDeleteI doubt it since with the same number of aircraft they were able to maintain all those flights 2 years ago.
DeleteBut what was the point of these suspension for just one season then?
DeleteI think the Skopje downgrades were a warning to the government to give them new subsidies, which they did a few months later.
DeleteLast winter they downgraded across the board in Eastern Europe. In Poland they even shut one of their bases.
DeleteEverything is going back to normal this year as I predicted since they received new planes. They were downgrading because their Vienna base turned to be a major success for them and they wanted to expand there before Laudamotion became too strong.
DeleteIt was downgrade because they need planes for Vienna base where they open lot of flights but did not have enough planes. They cut all around, not just in our region, they also cut several flights in other airports.
DeleteIn the meantime new planes comes and they have capacity to put everything back.
I still do not get why they don't open flights from Vienna to any ex-Yu city? It would be an instant success.
DeleteThey fly VIE-INI
DeleteTZL and INI are in ex-YU.
DeleteTrue I completely forgot about those. But those are cities where they have no competition on the Vienna line. I think they could be really successful if they launched Vienna-Belgrade,Sarajevo,Skopje,Podgorica,Pristina...
DeleteOr particularly Vienna - Split. The OS/OU duopoly is unbearable pricewise and they could earn a fortune on a relatively short flight where still no one wants to take a car or bus.
DeleteBu there is Ryanair competition from Nis on route INI-BTS
Deletethey are receiving incentives for opening new routes liKe OHD, they serve VIE-SKP from BTS with an A321
DeleteThey have a problem with lack of crews, not so much with lack of planes.
DeleteI wouldn't be surprised if AIr Serbia now downgrades Larnaca again.
ReplyDeleteAt one flight per week during most of the winter, they should be able to survive.
DeleteW6 is often more expensive then Air Serbia on this route.
DeleteJU has horrible times for O&D passengers.
DeleteYep in winter it will be 23.55 departure from Belgrade, 03.20 arrival in Larnaca, and 04.05 departure from Larnaca and 05.45 arrival in Belgrade.
DeleteAnd Wizz Air's schedule is much more passenger friendly with 06.30 departure from BEG, 10.00 arrival in LCA, 10.35 departure from LCA and 12.25 arrival in BEG.
DeleteThis is true but like I said, they are often more expensive then Air Serbia.
DeleteThat is bad news for JU.
DeletePity they are not returning the other Tuzla flights.
ReplyDeleteThey have suspended a few routes from TZL that never came back. If I remember correctly London and Oslo also never returned.
DeleteSorry to say this, but as soon as Sarajevo change its policies and start working with LCCs, Tuzla airport will completely shrink with very few flights. Probably mostly cargo.
DeleteTuzla needs another airline. Their entire success and future depends on one single airline.
DeleteAgree. Just goes to show how risky it is to rely on a single airline for all your traffic.
Delete@Anonymous 9.14, it is normal for them to try routes and see what works and what not.
DeleteBeggars can't be choosers.
DeleteGood news
ReplyDeleteNo new destinations?
ReplyDeleteThey just introduced new routes from SKP and BEG. If they successfully renegotiate agreement with Tuzla Airport we may see a third plane being based there in Summer 2020.
DeleteFirst they will need to fix their issues (low category ILS vs. constant fog, night closure for ATC staff shortage, lack of gates, lack of immigration staff, lack of restarurant etc) with serving two aircraft at all (let alone three).
DeleteTuzla is a bit problematic during the winter because of adverse weather conditions. A lot of planes get diverted.I doubt that is good for a LCC.
Delete...lack of management skills, time and situation feeling, expansion taking forever and part of the building/cieling all ready collapsing and left so for months, approach lights not yet fixed, equipment not working and causing delays, infrastructure already too little for anything else than one departing and arriving plane with security x-ray not working and causing delay, backup one in another building/staff entrance, arrival passport control queuing outside in mercy of the weather...
DeleteEmail from Wizz Air if flying out of TZL:
Dear Customer,
We have been advised of delayed security and passport control at Tuzla Airport.
We kindly ask you to arrive at the airport as early as possbile, preferrably 2 hours before your scheduled flight departure time, to ensure that you have sufficient time to clear airport security and passport control formalities and to arrive at the boarding gate at our recommended 30 minutes prior the scheduled flight departure time.
(...)
This is embarrassing tbh and amazing it can carry on for so many years without anyone stepping in.
Once Wizz Air gets fed up, it will be too late and everybody will need to go back to their previous jobs.
+100
Deletelast anon
TZL is the worst airport i have ever been to (before the renovation though)
Delete@9.38
DeleteI don't think weather is the reason they suspended these routes.
Tuzla is in dire need of another airline!
DeleteAre they increasing/decreasing frequencies on routes they didn't cut last winter?
ReplyDeleteSuch a good airline and good for TZL/SKP/OHD/BEG/INI pax growth.
ReplyDeleteAnd if they suspend something in TZL, SKP, OHD or INI passenger numbers would collapse, as seen in TZL and INI.
DeleteThey suspended many non ex-Yu destinations too last winter especially from Poland, Romania, Bulgaria...
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised they didn't blame the suspensions last year on high fees :D That's what they usually do.
ReplyDeletelol
DeleteSick of Wizz Air and its diaspora routes. Maybe time for them to reconsider and open something new that does not purely rely on gasterbaiters.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to have flights to the Canary Islands but unfortunately socio economic situation dictates routes.
DeleteWell they are opening more and more non-gasterbaiter routes. For example Skopje-Malta and Belgrade-Lyon.
DeleteWe should be thankful to gasterbaiters otherwise we would barely have any low cost flights from this region.
DeleteThey have a more impressive network from ex-Yu then some national airlines.
DeleteBeograd Lion je bas primer gasto rute za udzbenike, dobar deo njih je leteo preko Zeneve ako se na klackaju autobusima
Deletethere are hardly any gasto routes from LJU and as we can see they struggle to introduce new flights to anywhere
Delete@9.50
DeleteYeah right especially with 2 and 3 weekly flights to most cities.
Those daily flights from Malmo and Basel to Skopje are probably a rarity in their network where they fly something daily.
Deletewizz success is based on east european diaspora routes.
DeleteWhy are people hating "gasto routes"? It is lovely - people get a chance to come home or to have friends and family visiting more often. Much better than paying 200+ tickets to legacy carriers. As anon 9:36 outlined - we would like to see flights to Canary Islands but there is no sufficient demand.
DeleteTrue, I hate paying 200+ (GBP, not EUR) to legacy carrier Wizz on Belgrade-London route. If there is insufficient demand to Canary Islands it must be because of the new Belgrade-Nice route, people want to go to Cannes and Monte Carlo instead.
DeleteGood for them. :)
DeleteCannes is soo overrated but let people discover for themselves.
If 200 eur is to much for you to go to Luton you can always try the new additional JU frequency to LHR. Since they were made to start this ridiculous operation they are offering London at great rates.
@ MM why is every single one of your comments related to spitting at JU?
DeleteI hope they look into opening some other destinations. There is still room for them to grow in this region.
ReplyDeleteIs Wizz Air new Belgrade-Lyon route year round or seasonal?
ReplyDeleteYear round.
DeleteDoes anyone know what's their best performing route from BEG?
Delete1. Basel
Delete2. Malmö
For the next summer season they might add CFU, ZTH, and similar vacation destinations instead of adding excess diaspora routes.
DeleteCorfu and Rhodes worked very well few years ago. The flights were packed, I don't understand why they stopped those routes.
Deletepity thing no upgrades planned for INI. Towards some of these: VKO, SHJ, DWC, SAW
ReplyDeleteEven if they wanted to, Wizz Air can't fly any of those. On top of that, they don't even fly to Sharjah or Istanbul.
DeleteStill waiting for them to start their first inter- Ex-Yu route.
DeleteIt wont happen any soon. Same as for routes to Greece. They tried BEG-CFU bit apparently they only managed to sell the cheaper seats on the route. Similarily W6 also lacks connections between Romania/Hungary to Greek or Croatian islands...at some relatively low price point it gets cheaper to fly by charter, so it never breaks even.
DeleteNothing new from LJU for some time now regarding Wizzair?
ReplyDeleteNothing. They have kept everything the same, even the frequencies for years now. Hope they consider some new routes soon.
DeleteThe airport is too expensive and the market too small. We will see them expand if Adria goes bust.
DeleteThey would have a big enough market to fly from LJU to Spain.
DeleteWill we ever see Wizz Air at Zagreb Airport again?
ReplyDeleteDoubt it.
DeleteUntil they keep OU in a cocoon, no way.
DeleteThey just ended Osijek, meaning they have now become a seasonal only player in Croatia.
DeleteAre the Poland-Podgorica flights seasonal or will they extend any of them?
ReplyDeleteThey are seasonal, until middle of September.
DeleteRoute for Polish tourists.
DeleteW6 should seek more winter seasonal routes from BEG, because their capacity in BEG during winter is not fully occupied.
ReplyDeleteTo where exactly could you have seasonal winter flights?
DeleteBEG-VIE with W6
Deletethey better start BTS-BEG, works from SKP beyond good
DeleteWhy would they fly to Bratislava when they can fly to Vienna?
DeleteWe are eagerly waiting for them to start Belgrade - Vienna. That could be triple daily.
Well, apparently they can't fly to VIE, because OS and JU fly to VIE, and if they allow W6 to fly directly to VIE, both OS and JU will be killed on this route, especially if its 3x daily as u suggest.
DeleteThere's noone who could stop them if they wanted to fly BEG - VIE.
DeleteActually OS would survive but probably with less frequencies and mostly with turboprops. They have many transit passengers. JU would be squeezed out of the route. Similar to what happened in Istanbul.
DeleteWhat, Wizz starting VIE-BEG would squeeze out JU similar to what happened at IST?!?! MM so what you are saying is when Wizz started IST-BEG it pushed out JU but saved TK? What a joke of an expert, that MM! You don't have a clue, really. OS+JU would drown any attempt by W6. Just look at how AZ+JU dominate FCO-BEG. Not even EC could do anything to help lowcosters start that city pair, but you wouldn't know anything about that case.
DeleteGood news. Hope more route announcements will be coming up.
ReplyDeleteFrom this we can see that Skopje remains their biggest success story in Ex yu so far.
ReplyDeleteits their 13th busiest airport in Europe and 11th biggest base (VIE and IEV kicked them out of the top10 )
DeleteOne of the reasons being that they have no competition in Skopje on any of their routes.
DeleteGetting subsidies on routes for 4 years to allow it to develop while competition gets basic airport incentive for one year helps big time.
DeleteWhich other unserved route could be popular from Tuzla?
ReplyDeleteBarcelona?
DeleteSpain from Tuzla? Are you serious?
DeletePeople were saying Spain from Serbia and Macedonia as well and it seems to have worked well.
DeleteCould Tuzla-Dublin work? Lots of Croats from Slavonija have moved to Ireland.
DeleteTuzla - Beauvais would make most sense.
DeleteThis would be an very good idea. There are no flights between BiH and France
DeleteFlyBosnia is launching Paris soon.
DeleteTo the average person this is great news. They are allowing more and more people to fly, visit familly and even see something outside of their boarders. What a difference a few years makes. Ten years ago there were almost no low cost flights in ex-Yu except for Croatia.
ReplyDelete+1000
DeleteIt is only bad news for Air Serbia.
Anonymous24 June 2019 at 12:30
ReplyDeleteThat is bad news for JU.
Anonymous24 June 2019 at 14:03
+1000
It is only bad news for Air Serbia.
" Repetitive posts copied and pasted or duplicated by a single or multiple readers"
Докле бре више?
What about KVO, opens on 28th June, so maybe some routes from KVO on winter shedule?
ReplyDelete@EX-YU AVIATION NEWS. How about App for IOS and Android?
ReplyDelete