Wizz Air is continuing to suspend operations from cities in the former Yugoslavia with the list of temporarily cancelled routes surpassing forty. The latest markets to be affected include Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The airline now plans to shelve its flights from Skopje to Salzburg until March 2021. In addition, the resumption of some fifteen routes from the Macedonian capital, planned for late September, have been pushed back until October. The budget airline is also cutting its operations between Vienna and Podgorica, just a month after their launch. The final service of the year is scheduled for September 19, with flights to resume on March 30, 2021. Furthermore, the carrier will temporarily discontinue services between Malmo and Niš on September 19, which will be restored on March 30 of next year.
As previously reported, all markets in the region have been impacted by Wizz Air’s reduction in operations. So far, Skopje remains the airline’s most affected base in the former Yugoslavia, followed by Tuzla. Wizz Air has warned it may have to “park planes” to preserve cash as the coronavirus crisis wreaks havoc on the industry during the leaner winter months. The airline also said that if ongoing travel restrictions continue over the next three months, it will fly at 60% capacity rather than the 80% previously guided. Despite suspending over forty routes in the former Yugoslavia, Wizz Air has opened ten new bases across Europe over the past few months, launched dozens of new routes and has not deferred aircraft deliveries.
Commenting on the latest developments, Wizz Air’s CEO, Jozsef Varadi, said, “It is a difficult time for the whole industry and certainly we are not immune to the situation. Clearly, this has become kind of a rollercoaster, so we are seeing markets and countries going up and down. This is a hardship and a time to get very focused in order to get through this situation”. Mr Varadi added, “We are going up and down [with the markets] at the same time. We are very focused at managing the situation as it unfolds every day but at the same time, we keep an eye on our future”.
Comments
Someone with cold head needs to rethink this approach because this will be very hard to recover from if the borders remain closed for longer
Wizzair couldn't compete against TK and Pegasus in Budapest - Istanbul (IST + SAW) route, and they quit some years ago.
There is 3 airlines flying in BEG - Istanbul route with a high capacity (most aircrafts are A320, A321, A321NEO), I don't think it's possible any other airlines introduce flights on that route.
Russia and other markets are open skies.
And their children who wished to be hired there. Nobody else!
Thanks but no thanks!
If you just want to fly from A to B, go with LCCs. If you want to be dined and wined pay accordingly, go with legacy carriers. Simple as that.
Momko, it is 2020 and not 1960 anymore. The times of pride for national carriers are gone. Welcome to the new world, where travel is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Thanks to LCC you are able to fly from Lisbon to Sofia for 29€, from Dublin to Larnaca for probably the same amount, Bangkok to Bali for 30$ and the new Latin American revolution with the domestic flights in Argentina that just 5 years ago costed 300$ return and now the price is as little as 30$.
So, please save us the pride thing and lets stick to reality. If you don't fancy an LCC just don't book it. C'est simple !
Swiss alone planned triple daily flights this summer. If they can make money then ghetto LCC can too as well.
Not to mention business travel (on which flag carriers rely heavily) is unlikely to recover anytime soon. A lot of people in Europe are still working from home - I don't see them flying around, if they don't even go to their own office every day.
+1
But just behind Ryanair's MOL and ahead of Qatari AlBaker.
It was available to any company (not only in aviation) that has a significant amount of business in UK and has a good credit rating (which means they could get the same loan from the bank essentially).