Tuzla Airport is in the process of negotiating a new agreement with low cost carrier Wizz Air, which it hopes will result in the introduction of new routes and the possible stationing of a third aircraft in the city. The two sides recently met in Osijek, where Wizz Air has begun training some of its pilots, and will continue discussions in Tuzla early next month. “Both sides have shown their willingness to reach an agreement. In any case, we must define certain things. If all goes to plan, we expect Wizz Air to introduce some new routes from Tuzla Airport”, its newly appointed General Manager, Esed Mujačić, said.
Tuzla Airport’s contract with Wizz Air expires this June and a new four-year agreement is likely to be inked. However, the slow development of Tuzla Airport’s infrastructure, including the extension of its runway approach lights, continue to be a sticking point between the two sides. Wizz Air's CEO, Jozsef Varadi, previously told EX-YU Aviation News he was confident a new agreement would be reached. "I would guess so. I think it is in the interest of Tuzla and the region to see our continuous operations and them improving their infrastructure. I'm pretty sure Tuzla Airport will be business-minded in that regard", Mr Varadi said.
Wizz Air, as the only airline operating scheduled flights out of Tuzla, helped kick-start the airport's passenger development seven years ago. The airline currently maintains twelve routes to five countries from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s third largest city, increasing to fifteen destinations over the summer. Potential new routes include Hamburg or Hannover, Paris Beauvais and Milan, as well as the possible resumption of services to London Luton and Sandefjord, which were previously suspended from Tuzla by the budget carrier. The airline recently noted, "We look forward to continuing our fruitful partnership with Tuzla International Airport and remain committed to bringing even more exciting opportunities that can best meet our customers’ needs, while further stimulating economic and business relations in the country”.
"I'm pretty sure Tuzla Airport will be business-minded"
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm pretty sure W6 will expect subsidies
Well, its not like airlines are lining up for slots at tuzla airport, so theres no way around subsidies.
DeleteDoes Wizz Air get exemption from handling and landing or they get actual money from airport/canton?
DeleteWizz Air doesn't pay anything to the airport - all costs are covered by Tuzla Canton.
Deleteyou have to wonder how great it is for the airport and whether they make any money out of it. They need to attract another airline and hopefully not under the same terms as Wizz
DeleteBefore Wizz came Tuzla had no traffic. So they ate great for the airport.
Delete*are
DeleteExactly. They have done wonders for Tuzla. Just a couple of years ago there was no traffic there and no prospects for the future.
DeleteGive subsidies to FlyBosnia.
DeleteThey need a second airline. Relying on one airline is never a good idea.
ReplyDeleteThat is always an issue with small regional airports
DeleteFor SKP it worked pretty well though.
DeleteWith all due respect, there is a difference between Skopje and Tuzla, Skopje being a capital city.
DeleteExactly because SKP is a capital city it should not have one airline control 80% of the market.
DeleteIt would be ideal if they attracted a legacy airline.
DeleteGood luck with that. Which legacy airline do you expect to launch flights to Tuzla??
DeleteAustrian or Swiss.
DeleteDoubt it. Most ex-Yu cities haven't worked out for Swiss. They even recently suspended Zagreb. So I doubt they will be starting Tuzla. Austrian, which is in cost cutting mode is also highly unlikely.
DeleteFlyBosnia may introduce Tuzla-London. We will see.
DeleteFlyBosnia is a joke.
DeleteDid you mean third airplane, because two of them are already based in Tuzla.
DeleteWell let's see how things pan out. The new CEO is actually the old CEO who the courts say was unlawfully dismissed so his back. In 2014 he was the one leading negotiations with Wizz (until he was replaced) and they almost pulled out of Thuzlanbecause he wanted to increase prices.
ReplyDeleteJoy
DeleteI really hope he doesn't much things up.
DeleteI think Paris Beauvais could work for them, especially since there are no nonstop flights from Bosnia to France.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI just don't understand that there is no demand from SJJ to Paris.
DeleteVery few Bosnians have emigrated to France.
DeletePlus demand from French citizens or any other Europeans for visiting Bosnia is very limited.
Just my2cents
few Bosnians in France?? we are not as many as in Germany or Sweden but we are more than 30 000 here and we expect fligths from France to BiH we have Mulhouse-Tuzla but if they introduce some saisonial flight between Lyon and BiH it will work because we are around Lyon more than 5 000 ! so we want a flight to go in BiH from france too :)
DeleteI'll believe it when I see it. Wizz Air has struggled in Tuzla which can only mean the market has reached its current capacity
ReplyDeleteAnyone know what their busiest route out of TZL is?
ReplyDeleteI believe it is Malmo.
DeleteGood work Tuzla.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what their development would have looked like if they had chosen Ryanair like BNX.
ReplyDeleteWizz Air is definitely a more reliable partner.
DeleteFR would not have opened a base.
DeleteIs it though? Look at the massive cuts they have around.
DeleteA few years ago just before Wizz opened its base in Tuzla that the airport said they will increase their fees. Wizz responded that they would suspend all flights if they do. So I wouldn't exactly say Wizz is much different from Ryan.
DeleteMore gasterbaiter routes coming.
ReplyDeleteWhat else do you expect? Wizz just replaces bus routes - almost everywhere in ex-Yu.
DeleteWhats the difference between more gastarbeiter coming and more tourists coming? They're not local the population in either case, so there is no difference.
DeleteFrom ex-Yu Wizz caters almost exclusively for gasterbaiters. So any future expansion will be in that direction.
DeleteThere are people that say "more gastarbeiter routes" or "I suppose another route to some German village". Is that something bad? If you want Spain, Russia, Poland or other exotic destinations, you should expect them from your capital city. Also, countries that are smaller, not so economically developed and not too attractive for foreign tourists, really cannot expect to have anything more than mere gastarbeiter routes.
DeleteBeggars can't be choosers!
DeleteWell, all of their SPU routes are touristic.
DeleteDifference diaspora and tourists: tourists spend more money, already regarding accommodation, and are therefore better meaning worthier for local economy.
Good luck Tuzla.
ReplyDeleteWith so many aircraft on order Wizz will have to keep expanding, ex-Yu market included.
ReplyDeleteThey are replacing older aircraft at the same time and are looking east for further expansion. They are not growing at all in ex-Yu this year.
DeleteOfficial statement of WizzAir when it comes from downgrading routes from TZL is that, due to poor airport equipment, they can't realize 3 rotations with one aircraft in one day as they count on delays due to poor weather conditions. They based two aircrafts, but with 6 departures per day and airport closing at midnight, they would have to take spare aircraft to TZL almost every day. What they did? They took the best routes to be year round and others, that are not performing the best, sieze only during summer time. All this makes lots of sense.
ReplyDeleteI hope Tuzla renegotiates its agreement with Wizz which will result in more new routes. But TZL is by far the worst airport I have ever been to. They really need to improve big time on all fronts.
ReplyDeleteI don't know when you traveled from Tuzla but things improved a lot when they finished the reconstruction of the terminal.
DeleteYep things are much better now with the overhauled terminal but there is still lot of area for improvement.
DeleteGermany & Sweden are well covered from TZL. My guess that they may launch LTN, BVA & BGY and increase existing destinations with higher demand.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Those routes seem plausible.
DeleteBut Wizz failed on Luton route from Tuzla. LF was low for Wizz standards. Don't see what has changed since.
DeleteInteresting. Let's see what happens. Wizz Air are very tough negotiators. Remember when there subsidies were in doubt in Skopje and they suspended two routes and turned one seasonal straight away? The second the subsidies were reinstated all of the routes were resumed and new ones laucnhed. So we will see.
ReplyDeleteI don't see why Tuzla Airport would suddenly hike fees for them.
DeleteBecause after 7 years it is time they turn a profit. They are not self sustainable.
DeleteTurns out W6 has a total of 25 bases, 3 of which are in ex-Yu: BEG, SKP & TZL.
ReplyDeletehttps://wizzair.com/static/docs/default-source/downloadable-documents/corporate-website-transfer-documents/results-and-presentations/q3-rns_636e7232.pdf
Result is still not all that bad given that most bases are in Poland and Hungary - a market where competition with FR is fierce.
The biggest advantage for W6 is that it has no Max orders and can allow themselves to expand in the near future. I still think FR is quietly taking a bigger slice of the CEE/Balkans cake. They beat W6 in ODS and with the creation of Buzz is now the largest in Poland. We also saw how FR is getting bigger and bigger in ME, especially TGD.
As for TZL, it would be better to also negotiate with FR and have a healthier competition instead of just focusing on W6.
Wizz seems to stick always at the same markets while ignoring many others .
ReplyDeleteMuch of theit gasto routes for example would make much more sense from Banja Luka .
At the time Wizz Air was looking to launch flights from/to Bosnia they talked with Banja Luka Airport too. But BNX management at the time was tone death and said LCCs should not fly to BNX. They rather wanted an empty airport.
DeleteTZL has been talking about these approach lights for years now. How come they are not installed already.
ReplyDeleteThey have them but only 750m long
Delete