Low cost carrier Wizz Air plans to either discontinue or temporarily suspend a handful of routes from three former Yugoslav markets. The carrier will end operations from Banja Luka to Stockholm Skavsta, with the last service planned for August 28, as well as from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest city to Hamburg at the end of the summer season on October 28. As a result, Wizz Air will maintain operations from Banja Luka to Basel and Dortmund this coming winter. For its part, operator Airports of Republika Srpska said airlines reserve the right to modify their network of destinations and that Banja Luka Airport has a contract in place with Wizz Air until the 2024 summer season.
The budget carrier also plans to suspend two routes out of Podgorica this winter. The airline will halt operations from the Montenegrin capital to both Rome Fiumicino and Vienna in late October. However, Wizz has said both routes will be restored during the 2024 summer season, which begins on March 31 of next year. Flights to both the Italian and Austrian capitals were maintained by Wizz Air last winter season. “As part of our constant analysis and search for new route options, Wizz Air has decided to temporarily suspend flights between Vienna and Podgorica, as well as between Rome and Podgorica. However, we are pleased to inform that these routes will continue to be operated during the summer season. This strategic adjustment enables the optimisation of operations while ensuring that passengers can enjoy the convenience and availability of these routes during peak travel period”, Wizz Air said in a statement.
Wizz Air will also suspend flights between Niš and Malmo over the winter months, with the last flight of the year scheduled to take place on October 27. The route was maintained over the previous winter season, however, the carrier has suspended flights between the two cities in the past, as was the case in 2019. Malmo was Wizz Air’s first destination out of Niš. “Wizz Air will not fly to Malmo during the upcoming winter season due to operational reasons, but it is expected to continue to maintain the service seasonally”, operator Airports of Serbia said. As previously reported, Wizz Air will boost operations from both Skopje and Belgrade this coming winter.
Once again showing that LLCs should be addition but not the main carrier of the airport
ReplyDelete+1
Delete+1
DeleteLike Banja Luka has any other options...i mean come on guys wake up
DeleteSarajevo found that out the hard way.
Delete@9.36 as you said
Delete-2
Delete@11.34 enlighten us
DeleteHopefully Air Serbia is adding more ATR and can increase Banja Luka to 2-3 daily.
DeleteYeah I'm ure it's their priority. Like it is now with 2 weekly flights.
DeleteTwo often empty flights...
DeleteFlights BNX to BEG are not so popular because it is hard to catch any connections. JU should fly at least 3 times a week, morning and evening flight. Also JU could consider to fly BNX Tivat with ATR
DeleteIt's not going to be a good winter for Podgorica with the Ryanair and Wizz Air routes being discontinued/suspended
ReplyDeleteIt's their own fault for increasing taxes.
DeleteWizz probably would have suspended these routes regardless. They will be back in summer.
Delete@9.14 it is one of the lowest in this part off Europe.
DeleteHow much is the tax?
DeletePassenger service tax has increased from 1.75 euros per departing passenger to 3.25 euros.
DeleteThat is a big increase
DeleteIt's very low compared to BEG and ZAG.
DeleteYou are seriously comparing Podgorica with Belgrade and Zagreb?
DeletePodgorica actually had cheaper tax than Nis which is 3 euros.
Delete^ true
Delete@9.29 that is stil a ridiculously low pax
Deletetax*
DeleteMr. Bajic said that FR pays 2 eur in ZAG.
DeleteThat is ridiculous.
surely that too!
DeleteSecurity tax not PAX service tax...PAX service tax is 16-17€,PRM tax 0,75€ etc.The problem with W6/FR is that their 3-year incentive contract (schema) expires at the end of the summer IATA season S23.Otherwise, they paid almost nothing... Example... FR had almost a 100% discount on everything... I think the invoice for the FR B738/A320, full of passengers, was €300, including handling, landing, lights, gpu, asu etc.
DeleteWow very few W6 routes left out of Banja Luka. Wonder what will happen after April 2024
ReplyDeleteProbably withdraw completely.
DeleteNo surprise, it's Wizz
ReplyDeleteThis is a private owned airline.Their interest is only profit and they can't rely on their governement for the loses. They cut whatever is not making money.
DeleteWizz being Wizz
DeleteJolly jee! Wizzair is getting smarter
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean?
DeleteThis doesn’t surprise anyone anymore.
ReplyDeleteThat is bad news for Republika Srpska.
ReplyDeleteWinter is coming!
ReplyDeleteTime for AirSrbska to make a comeback
ReplyDeleteAir Srpska**
DeleteIt was called Air Srpska. The only reason the airline existed was for JAT crew to be able to have flying hours so they don't lose their licenses as JAT couldn't fly anywhere at the time.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/02/banja-luka-proposes-air-serbia-base.html?m=1
DeleteI remember BanjaLuka was asking AirSerbia to open a base there
Sky Srpska making a comeback? :D
Delete@9.32
DeleteMarek said a few months ago that they have no plans to open bases in the region.
Marek can say whatever but when he gets a call from the upper office he'll change his mind real quick
DeleteDoesen't seem anyone has made that call for 10 years and with 2 weekly BEG-BNX does not seem anyone cares.
DeleteYet
DeleteMarek cant base planes anywhere else in the region. firstly Air serbia doesnt have enough for their own operations out of Belgrade. They would need to lease a lot more to have a base in Banja Luka or anywhere else.
Delete2nd issue is political, maybe if they has the planes and the money and planning to do it, they cant do it under the Air Serbia brand and livery, they wouldn't get permission, no one would accept it.
they would have to create an entirely new brand and corporation like a subsidiary or something with different brand and livery, then base planes in Bosna, Crna Gora and Macedonia.
call it Magarac Airlines.
Wizz air very unreliable
ReplyDeleteNis has no strategy. They are doing nothing to attract new airlines and routes. Ever since JU started flying there seems like they were told not to do anything.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI'm confident there are plans for Niš to develop traffic. They wouldn't be building the new terminal otherwise.
DeleteLike Ljubljana? 😂
Deletebut what can they do more... they have already lowered the tax to 3€ and have an expensive PSO
DeleteYou have to talk to airlines and advertise yourself. I doubt 99% of airlines even know they have a 3 euro tax but I doubt they even offer that to airlines anymore.
DeleteThe two most relevant for them know it. Of which airlines are you dreaming about ;)
DeleteMeanwhile INI had a 21% growth in passenger numbers this June. They obviously know what they are talking about.
DeleteINI-MMX is turned into a seasonal operation because they are launching CPH from BEG. They want the market to use BEG and not INI as there is just too much capacity from BEG right now with JU flying so often to CPH
More then debatable that INI has something to do with BEG-CPH (or any BEG route). They would have lowered the MMX freq from BEG in the first place
DeleteWith a lack of planes and staff Wizz is focusing on other more profitable routes it seems to the detriment of our region.
ReplyDeleteAren't they taking deliveries of hundreds of planes?
DeleteWizz focus is in saudi arabia and asia right now
DeleteWizz is focusing too much on Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.
DeleteTheir real focus is Tirana and Bucharest.
DeleteWizzair is focusing on their bases, like Tuzla.
DeleteThis is good news for Air Serbia. As assume a lot of their new A320’s will be coming from Wizz so they may get them quicker, seeing Wizz has a target to renew all its fleet to Neo’s. I am guessing most of these are served by A320’s rather than Belgrade where its A321’s?
ReplyDeleteIt is good for them in respect of being able to pick up more transfer passengers from Montenegro. That's about it.
DeleteOuch!
ReplyDeleteSimilar news we might hear soon from Ryanair in Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteWizz is dominating the Macedonian market with increasing almost all the routes to daily for this summer ...
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, I don't think that is a good thing.
Deletewhy not?
DeleteAn airline with over 65% of the market is never great.
DeleteAmm what routes are increased on daily THIS summer? They only fly daily to Memmingen, Dortmund and Basel. Do you know how many routes there are which are operating just twice a week?
DeleteAlways find this discussion very amusing. Every exyu airport dreams of having a 5-6 base by an foreign airline
DeleteWhy would Belgrade airport want that when they have base of approx 30 planes by domestic carrier at BEG? If SKP had base of 5-10 domestic planes they not need Wizz at all.
Delete17.36 Belgrade airport has it already with 4 aircrafts based by Wizz... what are you even talking about...
DeleteSo called Wizz base at BEG was inherited from old management that was on a path of giving priority to LCC over flag carrier. Things have turned around.
Delete@19.51 you cant be for real. What did I just have to read
DeleteBNX down to just two Wizz routes. Shame.
ReplyDeleteThey are failing in VIE so not surprised about the TGD suspension.
ReplyDeleteThey just launched Vienna-Kuwait City the other week.
Deletewhere did you see that
DeleteWhat do you mean where did I see that?
Deletehttps://airserviceone.com/new-routes-of-the-day-13-june-2023-wizz-airs-new-routes-from-vienna/
Yes they launched it but they cuted 20 routes from VIE last year...
DeleteNot good
ReplyDeleteThis just proves why government backed flag carriers are essential!
ReplyDeleteWizz is still much needed at many ex-Yu airports. Where would Tuzla, Ohrid and Skopje be without them?
DeleteWizz Air is very important for SKP, and you can not compere skp with Banja Luka. I dont agree that government backed flag carriers are needed, with them the country will just spend tons of money in order to keep the operations on low demanded routes. If the flights to Skavsta are not profitable, of course W6 will cut them. I dont know what is so strange here.
DeleteStaffing is an issue
ReplyDeleteStaffing issues in winter? Please
DeleteThey need planes for Ljubljana base
ReplyDeleteThey need planes for Abu Dhabi expansion and Airbii is challenged with deliveries..
DeleteUsed to like Wizzair in the past, but can no longer rely on them. They changed a lot and became very chaotic ever since they began expanding in the Middle East. Not to mention the super abusive luggage fares they introduced. Yes, it's a LCC but asking alomost 40€ for a 10kg bag is abusive.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the multiple cancellations they have compared to Ryanair or easyJet. Unreliable airline and will begin losing clients very soon.
Agree with the luggage fees
Deletewe see wizz is litely died in ex yu airport ...
ReplyDeleteIt’s typically for low cost airlines to gamble on some routes and look if it work out. Especially in the east Europe. If it works great if it doesn’t work they will suspend the routes. As long as you have profitable routes, lc airlines will keep flying.
ReplyDeleteW6, please cut also flights from SOF base :D
ReplyDeleteIf Air Serbia had any strategy for BNX they would offer at least one daily, morning flight which could connect onto their network. The current 2pw is useless and obviously there is enough passengers from this region
ReplyDeletedo you think they would not fly more then 2x if there were enough passangers?
DeleteThey are not interested in profit on this route because they get subsidized by the Srpska government .
DeleteTis route could be operated profitable without subsidies .
They absolutely would fly more , and they had before . Initially (talking of Air Serbia relaunch) it was a double daily flight, then it got reduced and reduced and reduced … Yields were not there before but absolutely they can make it work from BL to Zurich (the route which even BH airlines had), Stockholm, Istanbul and basically any place in Germany.
DeleteAir Serbia pays nothing at BNX and whatever passengers pay, goes to them . Obviously , they could reduce BNX for some other routes where they got more cash . However , there are no enough planes to increase flights again and yields either …
since FR exit TZL there is no need for W6 to push @BNX
ReplyDeleteW6 was @BNX before FR was at TZL
DeleteLooks like Tuzla will be the only airport Wizz will serve in BiH in about a year's time.
ReplyDeleteWell Wizz resumes London-Sarajevo in September and I doubt that will completely withdraw from BNX,
DeleteBiggest problem for Nish, Kraljevo and BNX is Air Serbias fleet shortage .
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia could do a lot of charters from these places .
For example Antalya, Hurghada and Tunisia which has a grand comeback this year as holiday destination .
Also the Serbian government should stop subsidizing scheduled Air Serbia flights with A319/320 from these places . These aircraft could be better used from their Belgrade base .
DeleteFor these places they should use the ATRs especially to Tivat which should be daily in the summer .
Its a nightmare to travel from Nish or Kraljevo to the Montenegrin coast .
Still there are more than enough people willing to fly there to fill an ATR daily .
Air Serbia could use E190 from Nis and Kraljevo for its expansion which will fit better the market size than A319/A320, but they must secure something like 5 Embraer (let's say four are staying in BEG and the remaining one serve only for Nis to Istanbul, Cologne, Hahn, Tivat where Airbus is used). Plus, Embraer would allow new destinations from Nis for example Zurich, Paris CDG, Copenhagen to replace the to-be-stopped W6 INI-MMX and so on.. ATR too is perfect for KVO and INI
DeleteWizz Also cut all flights from Kukës from the 14th July :/
ReplyDeleteHello Berane
DeleteSorry this comment is not related to the article but just wanted to ask a question on here that I think people on here will be able to answer.
ReplyDeleteSo my father is travelling from London to Sarajevo on Wednesday and he is not very good with organising travel so I booked him his tickets. It was very expensive so to fly on Austrian like we normally do on this route so I got him a route with a self transfer (2 separate tickets) from LTN to BEG on wizz air and then BEG to SJJ on air Serbia, the layover is over 3 hours. My question is does he need to clear customs & passport control in Belgrade then re enter the airside area or can he just follow the signs for transfer flights? My worry is that if he goes back into the airside area that when he boards, they will assume he hasn’t turned up because he hasn’t cleared Belgrade security and also if his wizz flight is delayed and he has to go through passport control then he might not have enough time to transfer. Thanks.
I think that he has to do everything again, u can call any airport and ask them, but i think that it is not possible.
DeleteI think only if he has luggage or needs to check-in over the counter for the second flight. If he has no big luggage and is checked in online for the second flight, I don't think he needs to go out and go through security again.
DeleteThree hours are MORE than enough! He will have time. He will definitely have to through security and passport control. When we were connecting from Istanbul airport, we didn't have to go through any control. So I suppose that they have different policies.
DeleteI guess enthusiasts must recognize reality which is intra-EU/Shengen competition for tourists. Anybody out there care to briefly phrase why its better to pkan holidays in Podgorica and not in Italy? Right now I am on long stay holidays+teleworking in Hungary. 1) food fruits alcohol is either twice more expensive than in Italy or very low qjality at same price as in Italy 2) regional management, service and tourinfo are VERY bad quality nearly of post-communist time 3) level of restaraunts and bars is like 3 times lower at same price or higher 4) air tickets here are expensive. Apartments are cheaper yes but with more expensive food/fruits its euro-to-euro direct competition with NICE places of Italy.
ReplyDeleteI provide that as feedback - how touristuc offers from Eastern Eure looks for customer. Hope it can help to understand.
Wizz developing not only Tirana and AbuDabi but new base in Catania on Sicily. And I see they recently add 3rd weekly flights on some routes between Italy and Egypt