Ryanair is making a second attempt at launching flights to Tuzla after it was initially blocked from doing so by the cantonal government last September. Europe’s largest carrier has scheduled flights from Stockholm’s main airport of Arlanda, as well as Memmingen in Germany, to Tuzla starting November 2 and 4, respectively. Both will be maintained twice per week and will go head-to-head against Wizz Air. Unlike Ryanair, Wizz will run six weekly flights to Memmingen this winter season and four weekly to Stockholm. However, it operates to Skavsta Airport instead of Arlanda, which is further away from Sweden’s capital.
Last year, the head of the Supervisory Board of Tuzla Airport said the local government did not sign off on an agreement with Ryanair, so as not to put its existing business partner, Wizz Air, in an “unequal position” and cause “unfair competition”. Ryanair, which had scheduled flights from Weeze and Baden Baden to Tuzla, discontinued ticket sales after Tuzla’s cantonal government declined to agree to the negotiated terms and conditions. The budget airline was also to announce a further three new routes from Tuzla for the 2021/2022 winter season. The President of Tuzla Airport’s Supervisory Board, Enes Avdić, said last year, “We want to negotiate better financial terms than the ones that were agreed. Furthermore, we believe the agreement must not put our strategic partner, with whom we do business, in an unequal position. We shouldn’t bring them unfair competition”.
Wizz Air is currently the only scheduled airline operating out of Tuzla Airport, with two aircraft based in the city. Commenting on its new Tuzla service, Ryanair’s Director of Route Development, Ray Kelliher, said, “We are pleased to add Tuzla to our growing network of over 225 airports across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa thanks to the efforts of the new management team who recognised the benefit of having Europe’s biggest and most reliable airline operating at the airport. These new routes at Tuzla will now offer the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina access to the biggest airline and most diverse network in Europe. We look forward to growing in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the coming years and being able to announce more new and exciting routes for next summer”. The General Manager of Tula Airport, Dževad Halilčević, noted, “The entire Tuzla Airport team sees this as a historical event for its development. Tuzla Airport has thus gained in importance and improved its position compared to other airports in the region. With the arrival of Ryanair at Tuzla Airport, the network of destinations is expanding. Passengers will have more choice when planning their trips which justifies Tuzla Airport’s primary role in connecting Bosnia and Herzegovina with the rest of Europe. Our expectations are for a long-term and successful cooperation with the new airline”.
Further flight details for the new Stockholm service an be found here, while additional information for the Memmingen flights can be viewed here.
Let’s hope they don’t suspend ticket sales this time around again.
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting that they chose exactly the same routes as Wizz Air.
ReplyDeleteAt least now we know that Weeze and Baden Baden will be the next routes they launch.
ReplyDeleteWell done Tuzla. I see them surpassing Ljubljana in terms of passenger numbers soon.
ReplyDeleteSad but true. But Fraport says you can't compare "apples and pares". Don't know who will LJU be left to compare to in a year.
DeleteTZL had 100k passengers in first 4 months, LJU had 200k. Also I believe LJU had way more in May than TZL's 40k.
DeleteThat is the situation at the moment. But when Ryanair starts flights and Wizz likely respond with more flights, I'm not so sure.
DeleteTZL would have to double the number of passengers to reach LJU, if not even more. Doubt that will happen.
DeleteI doubt that Tuzla has big enough of a terminal to handle that many passangers
DeleteWaiting to see Wizz’s response.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to see what they do. They have been very passive in TZL for the past few years which is also the airport's fault as they have done very little of what was promised in terms of infrastructure development.
DeleteIt could go both ways. Wither they start growing their operations quickly to challenge Wizz or they retreat.
DeleteNo way Wizz will just pack up and leave.
DeleteThe best response would be to finally base a third aircraft.
DeleteThere is no space on the apron for the 3 rd AC
DeleteAnd the airport had been announcing for years how they will expand the apron.
DeleteAt BNX airport both aircariers compete on the same route long time. Ryan flies to Arlanda and Wizz to Skavsta. And on the same day
DeleteLet the battle begin!
ReplyDeleteAvion in BiH is on fire. Well done.
ReplyDelete*aviation
DeleteWell everywhere but in Mostar.
DeleteWizz base in Sarajevo, Wizz in Banja Luka, and now Ryan in Tuzla. Fantastic
DeleteMostar airport is run by incompetent people. It should come as no surprise if it closes soon.
DeleteAnyway, congrats to Tuzla, I am really happy for them,. Well done Ryan.
What about Bihac aéroport ?
DeleteAnd Trebinje? 😃
DeleteBihać and Trebinje are not serious projects. That is more politics then economy if you ask me. These 4 airports are well deployed in the B&H teritory. They are starting to have better development. Hopefully OMO will follow. They have incompetent management placed by HDZ politician party.
DeleteRyanair has finally discovered ex-Yu past Croatia. I'm really happy seeing them compete more and more against Wizz's dominance. Would love to see them in Skopje soon.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteBut the audacity of the guy on the board defending Wizz. I wonder if he got a pink envelope for that.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see the fight of the two ULCCs. I would love to see their competition in ZAG
ReplyDeleteNow Wizzair as a counter reaction should launch flights to Zagreb. Since Ryanair hasn't established themselves completely in Zag. This might be a last chance for Wizz to try Zag.
ReplyDeleteThey don't even have enough crews to operate their current schedule, let alone expand...
DeleteAgreed
DeleteOnly god knows whats going on with ryan air in belgrade. Who has to be bribed to allow them to launch.
ReplyDeleteNothing is going on. The airport doesn't want to give them complimentary use of the airport which is what they request because an airport's number 1 objective should be to be profitable. Inflating your passenger numbers for the sake of reporting growth while your financial results worsen makes no sense.
DeleteTo add to that, in terms of small airports in ex-Yu, all of them are unprofitable. Tuzla hasn't turned a profit since it got commercial flights. Nis isn't profitable either. I won't even mention the ones without traffic.
DeleteWhich ex-Yu airports are profitable?
DeleteBorongaj, Bezanijska Kosa, Ivangrad, Zabljak 😃
Delete80% of airports bring no profit. They are subsidies from local or state government.
DeleteTuzla should have done this a while ago. Each airport should have at least two airlines serving it.
ReplyDeleteThat is true but Wizz literaly owe Tuzla Airport. Before Wizz Air, Tuzla Airport didn't had traffic at all. In few years they come to 593 000 (2019) passanger traffic. They had a huge impact on the old management. Now new management came and they changed policy of fear that Wizz will leave if another company come.
DeleteSo airports with both Ryanair and Wizz Air in ex-Yu - Tuzla, Banja Luka, Podgorica, Dubrovnik, Split and Nis.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that TGD is the only capital city airport with both.
DeleteWatch Ryanair enter Sarajevo next
ReplyDeleteThat would be a real competition. Love to see that!
DeleteTo be honest I will believe it when I see it. I got my hopes up last time. Ryanair started selling tickets to Tuzla and then the imbecile government blocked them. There is no reason to believe Varadi won't be visiting Tuzla politicians in a few days.
ReplyDeleteVaradi has a lot more to chew now than Ryanair starting flights to Tuzla. He would be very happy to have only such trouble.
DeleteI hope Wizz Air will succeed because Wizz Air is the one hiring locals, has planes based in Tuzla, has local crew. Ryanair won't open a base in Tuzla for sure and all its flights will be operated by aircraft from other bases.
ReplyDeleteYep. How much local pilots Wizz have in Tuzla? They hire some local cabin crew, that's it.
DeleteThe law in B&H is so strange that the pilots would lose their European license if they were hired with a local contract. Therefore they don’t have many local pilots there.
DeleteThat's BS. There is another airline in Tuzla hiring pilots with EASA license and there is no problem at all.
DeleteYou don’t have to believe me, you can check with B&H CAA.
DeleteEASA licence is fine, but to be hired on a local contract you’d have to have a local license as well…
Licence is tied to aircraft registration, not the country where the base is. Most Wizz Air aircraft are registered in Hungary, so any EASA licence is valid to fly those aircraft.
DeleteCorrect. And to be hired locally you need to keep 2 licenses valid.
DeleteThe best part is they say they plan to add new routes in summer 2023!
ReplyDeleteI don't get the point of launching the same routes as Wizz.
ReplyDeleteThere are only so many destinations you can launch from TZL. What were you expecting? Wizz is already serving 16.
Delete@14:52 they do this in many many other countries. This is the classic rivalry between both the Irish and Hungarian. They wanna see who will be the first one to quit the route because they know perfectly well that there is huge demand on that route. Michael does not like Varadi and viceversa lol.
DeleteTry living in the United States where flights to BiH are no less than $900 per ticket, not to mention the need to have connecting flights. I would stand in the bathroom for the duration of the flight if it were 160 Euro
DeleteBooked myself a ticket from Arlanda for around 19 euro and can't wait to finally go to B&H without paying Lufthansa a small fortune. But yes, let's hope they stick around this time because generally Ryan are much more reliable and consisent.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, man. How much did you usually pay before? Lufthansa is not cheap....
DeleteIt'll be my first ever trip, I've wanted to visit for years but I live in North England, so Lufty/Austrian would have been a minimum of 160 euros, if I was lucky.... I bet I can self-connect with Ryanair for less than 80 euros!!
DeleteHave a good trip, man. It will go very well. Ryanair is hated a lot but also loved a lot by many people because it is a good and reliable, safe airline. Your trip to BiH and especially during the lovely summer should be perfect.
DeleteLong time ago you could also travel to BiH from Stockholm Arlanda and Skavsta to BNX. It is still in BiH, or
ReplyDeleteBaaa
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