Wizz Air plans EX-YU base flight resumption


Low cost carrier Wizz Air has announced it anticipates resuming operations from its three bases in the former Yugoslavia at the start of May, pending government approval. In a statement the airline said, “As a result of the prolonging of the travel restrictions imposed on all foreign flights to and from the Republic of Northern Macedonia, the airline will extend the suspension of all its flights to and from Skopje until April 30 inclusive”. The carrier has been running a number of repatriation flights from Skopje, after being selected by the Macedonian government to do so. “The total number of Macedonian citizens helped by Wizz Air the past week stands at over 460. Wizz Air didn’t hesitate when it was asked for help again and carried its passengers home safe and fast”, the company said.

Wizz plans to resume operations from its Tuzla base in Bosnia and Herzegovina in May and has also delayed the resumption of its Budapest - Sarajevo service, following the latter’s closure for commercial flights last Monday. “Bosnia and Herzegovina has imposed strict conditions on travel to minimise the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. These restrictions are currently open-ended and Wizz Air continues to closely monitor developments for any change to their status. Wizz Air has suspended all of its flights to and from Tuzla initially until April 30, 2020”, the airline said. It added, “As a result of the Bosnian government’s decision, the airline has extended the suspension of the Budapest - Sarajevo route until the end of April. Reopening of that route is planned for May 3, 2020”.

The budget carrier has also announced that services from Belgrade and Niš will be suspended until the start of May as well. The airline’s Niš operations will likely be further pushed back, as the airport’s closure for commercial flights has been extended until May 12 based on a Notice to Airmen issued on March 27. "Wizz Air sincerely apologizes for the disruptions the travel ban could bring to the customers and assures that safety and well-being of its passengers and crew remains the airline’s top priority", the carrier noted.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    I think May is plausable but I doubt all flights will be resumed since some countries will keep restrictions

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      They should be able to resume Vienns and German routes.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:10

      Germany has declared that the entry into Germany will be possible with a quarantine of 14 days until at least June. So I dont see then having too many passengers. What about the Ex-yu countries? do they have any measures on arriving pax?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:11

      It involves self isolating for a certain period of time.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:12

      They can resume Sweden from Belgrade, they have three destinations.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:13

      In case it were 14 days that would significantly reduce demand i guess. The question will be if that makes sense for WIzz to fly then.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:40

      @anon 09:10

      Any link?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous13:33

      https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/corona-reisende-quarantaene-101.html

      and the surprising thing is that wizz is not participating so far in ferrying the seasonal workers from south east europe in that got greenlighted few days ago (not many, but 20.000 per month is still some flights)

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:04

    Looks as if they will do more repatriation flights from SKP. Brussels flight in a few days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:37

      They are getting nice money from it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:16

      nice money? that's a drop in a bucket;
      they are trying (as almost everybody else) to move deliveries of new machines into the future; every machine they can move by a month saves them much more money

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    Let's hope so.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:06

    For some reason it seems they will be most affected at TGD since they don't plan to resume the majority of their flights to Montenegro until June.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      With tourism dead this year let's see if they resume anything from MNE

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:15

      fake news. check again on wizzair.com

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:18

      I checked and I don't know what's fake?

      Vienna does not start till the 20th of July and Katowice and Warsaw start in June.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:27

      Vienna is a new routes, which was supposed to start in early July but got moved to 20th. Katowice and Warsaw are seasonal routes which usually resume in June.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:39

      I think it would be a good idea. I mean many countries won´t let in tourists this year to avoid the spread and keep up the successes they reached so far in battling Covid19 and securing their citizens.

      MNE could capitalize on this and let everybody in.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:51

      and spread it in MNE because the health system in Yugolands is world class. wow brilliant

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:07

    Are they still flying commercial flights from other markets?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      Yes they are

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:36

      They fly from Budapest and Sofia.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:38

      This is their current network

      Budapest – Barcelona 3 weekly A320
      Budapest – Dortmund 3 weekly A320
      Budapest – Eindhoven 1 daily A320
      Budapest – London Luton 2 daily A320
      Budapest – Stockholm Skavsta 3 weekly A320
      Sofia – Barcelona 5 weekly A321
      Sofia – Dortmund 3 weekly A320
      Sofia – Eindhoven 2 weekly A320
      Sofia – Lisbon 1 weekly A321
      Sofia – London Luton 16 weekly A320/321

      Delete
    4. Romania as well.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:11

    they stil sell tickets to/from SKP from 17.4 (with the execption of italian destinations)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      It's obviously not happening.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:29

      Same way they are selling Nis from early May even though the airport will be closed until mid May.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous20:45

      Anon @09:29, can you please state source for Niš airport closure? Thx

      Delete
    4. Anonymous20:52

      Notice to airmen. They are visible on ICAO's website

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:15

    I fear this will further be pushed back.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:33

      In my opinion June is most likely.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:29

    With Austria starting to relax its measures soon, I guess they can resume Vienna-Tuzla and Vienna-Skopje, if Macedonia and Austria don't extend their airport closures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:34

      Austria relaxing measures? Yes the Austrian Government said they are planning on slowly opening up restaurants from Mid may at the earliest. Mr. Kurz however also said that travel this year wont happen.

      https://www.bundeskanzleramt.gv.at/bundeskanzleramt/nachrichten-der-bundesregierung/2020/bundeskanzler-kurz-stufenplan-fuer-schrittweise-oeffnung-von-geschaeften-nach-ostern-aber-massnahmen-weiter-befolgen.html

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:34

      they fly to Bratislava

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:29

      Austria won't open its border this year? What about Serbia? Do you know something about that? I should go back home at the end of June! I desperatley need to go back...Thanks

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:31

      Serbian President said last night that state of emergency in Serbia should be lifted in a month or less.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:07

      Lifting the state of emergeny does not mean- People just feel free to go wherever you want and have fun in hordes. two different things. I will be happy if I can visit a restaurant in 4 weeks time, let alone sit in on overcrowded cinema or lie on a full beach.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:31

    Fingers crossed

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:33

    I wonder how this will impact their negotiations with Tuzla Airport about their base which started before the crisis.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:49

      Probably not for the better for Tuzla.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:32

      I doubt they still base a third plane now.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:21

      there will not be enough business to fully utilize two machines this year

      but in case they operate from tuzla this year, they will probably use two machines anyway, and utilize each on only one or two rotations as most operators are doing it that are still operating lines now

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:47

    W6 is somehow in an hurry. Where are they flying to?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:48

      Everyone is in a hurry.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:28

      How are they in a hurry? Air Serbia also plans to resume flights on 1st of May.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous11:29

    I really hope so. Interestingly Etihad will begin using automated check in machines which will identify if a person is exhibiting corona symptoms and if they are alert the airport staff. Sane at baggage drop off.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:31

      Good idea

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:28

      and guess these 'machines' are just checking body temperature which don't give any guarantee if someone is covid19 positive or not and spreading a virus around even without knowing that

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:39

      not sure how good a idea that is;

      there is rather good data from china that estimates that 44% of infections are done before the person spreading it has first symptoms

      even better data from two german regions estimates this number to 46%

      there is no reason to assume that such measures will help much in containg the spread of the virus....

      Delete
  13. Anonymous15:42

    Wuhan airport opened three weeks after the last new case was reported. Most ExYu countries are not yet at their covid case peak. Airlines are expected to postpone resumption date into late May or June.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous20:19

    Bad news from Tuzla very sad
    Melvin Hasecic

    ReplyDelete

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