Ryanair has solidified its position as the leading low cost carrier in the former Yugoslavia for a second consecutive summer, outpacing rival Wizz Air. Ryanair, which serves four out of seven markets in the region, compared to Wizz Air, which operates in all of them, has 5.020.450 seats on the market this summer season, up 12.7% on last year, or an additional 567.616 seats on summer 2024. Over 80% of Ryanair’s capacity in the former Yugoslavia this summer is in Croatia, where it has just over four million seats on sale, up from 3.8 million last year, or an increase of 8.2%. The airline has 597.332 seats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where it has added an additional 236.376 seats. Ryanair is also growing in Serbia, where it has added 31.506 seats on its Niš operations. Bucking the trend is Montenegro, where the airline has reduced capacity by 17.4% this summer, or 44.180 seats, for a total of 209.688.
Wizz Air lost its top spot last year as the former Yugoslavia’s largest low cost operator amid issues with its fleet, resulting in the suspension of a number of routes and reduced frequencies on others. The carrier is beginning to mount a comeback this summer and has 3.677.782 seats in the region, up 15.2% on last year, or close to half a million additional seats. For the first time in more than a decade, Serbia will become Wizz Air’s largest market in the region, ahead of Macedonia. The budget carrier has 1.209.280 seats on its Belgrade and Niš operations, up 20.4%, or over 200.000 additional seats. On the other hand, it boasts 1.200.610 seats on the Macedonian market, a slight 0.9% decrease on the previous summer.
Wizz Air’s third largest market in the former Yugoslavia is Bosnia and Herzegovina, where it has added 201.332 seats for a total of 383.236. In Pristina, the airline boasts 336.110 seats this summer, up 26.8%, or an additional 71.000 seats. Montenegro follows with 303.442 seats, an improvement of 12.2%. Croatia bucks the trend as the only market in the former Yugoslavia this summer where Wizz Air will have less capacity than last summer. The airline has put 245.104 seats on sale, down 4.3%, or close to 11.000 fewer seats. The carrier has 41.760 seats in Slovenia, up 28.9%, or an additional 9.360 seats.
Ryanair will only be larger than Wizz Air in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, however, its sheer volume of operations has secured its position as the largest low cost carrier in the former Yugoslavia this summer.
Ryanair apparently will enter the Macedonian market in the next 6 to 9 months
ReplyDeleteThey missed an opportunity when Wizz was struggling last year.
DeleteThere is room for FR in Ohrid for many routes.
DeleteAnon 9:01, source?
DeleteAnon 09:39 - Someone told him in the the dream last night 😂
DeleteHope they fly to Skopje and Ohrid soon.
Delete@Anon 10:17 the minister had a meeting while in London last week. I also expect flights to UK to pickup because of the agreement between the two governments, maybe BA will start flying as well
DeleteNice that the minister has had a meeting in London last week, it's just that Ryanair is an Irish company....
DeleteIt's an Irish company with over 20 operating airports in the UK :)
DeleteWizz Air is already too big in Skopje, and it makes it tougher for Ryan Air to expand.
DeleteThere are talks for Ryanair to enter Macedonia market , lets wait for final decision and hope for good news!!
DeleteI still can't believe Slovenia is the only EU market without Ryanair
ReplyDeleteBut you will be one of the few to get Uzbekistan flights <3
DeleteI don't understand why they are not flying London Stansted - Ljubljana at least.
DeleteThey prefer to use the aircraft elsewhere were the flight time is shorter and/or the profit margins are higher.
DeleteThey have Stansted-Trieste and Stansted-Zagreb
DeleteAlso they have a feud with Fraport, hence why they fly to every other airport in the region, in order to try to force Fraport to lower fees
Delete@9.24
DeleteAnd Stansted-Klagenfurt
All Slovenes use Zagreb for their Ryanair flights.
DeleteKosovo doest either
Delete^ it's not in EU.
Delete@Anonymous 09:30
DeleteHow come FR flies to so many other Fraport operated airports buts seems to only have a feud with them in LJU???
09.35
DeleteAll Slovenes don't live in Ljubljana only. Whole Primorska (Koper, Piran, Portoroz, N.Gorica, Postojna...use Trieste, Treviso, Venice, even Rijeka and Pula much more than Zagreb
" Over 80% of Ryanair’s capacity in the former Yugoslavia this summer is in Croatia"
ReplyDeletewow haha
Win for Croatia.
DeleteThats where the seasonal travellers go in summer
DeleteThey have two bases - one in Zadar and one in Zagreb, I believe? Also they are present in other airports in Croatia so it makes Niš or Podgorica irrelevant.
DeleteSay what you want about Ryanair, but they know how to play the long game. Investing early in Croatia and now Bosnia is clearly paying off.
DeleteThey have 3 bases in Croatia 09.56. Dubrovnik has FR base as well
DeleteIs DBV a seasonal or year round base?
DeleteI would not write Wizz Air off. They are looking at several new bases in ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteRyanair come to PRN :)
ReplyDeleteI hope so since Wizz does not want to open a base for some reason.
DeleteThat's because PRN is only Airport in exYU not to give incentive to Lowcosts.
DeleteThey give incentive to Reizebüros instead!
That explains why even Sarajevo and Podgorica have more Wizz seats than PRN, despite being half of PRN capacity.
@anon 1036, What incentives do they receive that LLC can not get?
DeleteIt is a battle between giant LLC with great economies of scale and established brands vs virtual airlines that wet lease ancient airplanes. But when you compare their tickets based on same offering (ie baggage), these Reizebüros are on par with LLCs.
LCCs can get incentives in PRN: https://www.exyuaviation.com/2025/03/pristina-airport-launches-wide-ranging.html
Delete@10:54
DeleteThe kind of 'subsidies' they are not suppose to make public!
How in the world do you think the indian Airline GP Aviation grabbed 30+% of PRN market and outperformed all other established Airlines out of PRN?
at 12:15
Deletethat Package was launched just weeks ago and there is no report it has been utilized yet by any Airline.
Well, wait a little then
DeleteRemember that Wizz still has engine issues. While things are getting better it is still a major issue and enbaling them to fully grow.
ReplyDeleteHow many Wizz aircraft are currently grounded?
Delete^^^ 69
DeleteThat's still massive
DeleteRyanair discovered many of Balkan countries way too late.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet they grew and are profiting from them.
DeleteWay too late? How many seats would they have if they did it "on time"?
DeleteUnlike Wizz Air, they never discovered anything.
DeleteWhy is Ryanair so reluctant opening bases outside the UK/EU???
ReplyDeleteIt is the periphery for western European companies
Delete@09:12
DeleteEasyJet and Wizz Air are also western European companies but have no issue.
@Anon 09:10: They have 4 bases with 14 based aircraft in Morocco.
Delete@Anon 09:15: Wizz Air is really an Eastern European company, and Easyjet don’t have bases outside of EU/UK, except Switzerland.
^ Yes, FR has bases in Morocco, the only non UK/EU country they chose to do that.
DeleteEasyjet meanwhile left in the dust.
ReplyDeleteeasyjet is still very strong on the Croatian coast in summer
DeleteEasyjet is interested in flying western Europeans to business destinations and places they want to go on holidays.
DeleteIt seems to avoid diaspora heavy routes and also prefers to fly to major hubs a lot more than the other LCCs.
That is their market niche.
That is also why they are less scusesfull than Ryanair and Wizz.
DeleteIt would be interesting to see available seats comparison winter vs summer. My impression is that Ryan has a lot of summer only flights but Wizz has more year round ones.
ReplyDeleteTrue dat, same thing for Easyjet.
DeleteYes but summer is when the money is made.
DeleteSo even with the new routes, they still have less capacity in SKP than last summer?
ReplyDeleteThey launched 3 routes and disconitnued 6 so no surprise. Also no capacity growth in SKP this summer from Wizz. They increase capacity from winter.
DeleteWhat is the the busiest LCC route to ex-Yu?
ReplyDeleteProbably some flight from London to Croatia coast.
DeleteMy money would be on Basel - Priština. It Is the busiest route out of Basel.
DeleteVery interesting question. Maybe @ex-yu could make an article about it
DeleteLJU-SKP for sure its the busiest
Delete@9:42
DeleteHow yes no… Route that lasts 3 months a year
we need LCCs to start flying more inside ex-Yu. SKP-LJU has been a great succsess.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteImagine if an LCC could start Serbia-Montenegor flights. Would be very busy.
DeleteIt's surprising Ryanair hasn't started domestic flights in Croaita.
Delete^ they can't as routes are under PSO. They could have applieed at the PSO tender.
DeleteThat's what I'm saying. Surprising they didn't apply for them the other year.
DeleteAs if any foreign airline would be given PSO contract for Croatia domestic flights.
DeleteThere are still opportunities for Sarajevo-Ljubljana
DeleteFR is not foreign airline 09.53. All EU airlines are domestic airlines within EU. FR did not apply for PSO tender. You would have right to say what you are saying if FR applied and was rejected. But it is not the case and your opinion is based on presumptions and prejudices only
Delete^ oh please. Quit being naive.
Delete@Anon 11:56: Ahahahaha, sure. I bet if FR would apply to Croatian government, they'd get the same amount of subsidies per aircraft as OU do.
DeletePresumptions. Prejudices. Fullstop.
DeleteAny news about that Tirana-Ljubljana flights?
ReplyDeleteThe ministry said they will formally announced who and with which routes applied in June.
DeleteWhy they need so long to announce it?
DeleteDidn't Wizz announce the arrival of 14th aircfract in August to their Tirana base yesterday? So might start Lju service then.
DeleteThese subsidies are definitely not for this summer.
Delete@10.30 the two apllicants need to make some changes to their applications.
10:46 i can't find any news?
DeleteFound it from local news reports: https://www-balkanweb-com.translate.goog/wizz-air-shton-me-shume-fluturime-nga-dhe-drejt-tiranes-per-veren-2025-me-shtimin-e-aeroplanit-te-14-te-ne-bazen-e-tij-ne-tia/?_x_tr_sl=sq&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp#gsc.tab=0
DeleteThe question now is, is there any spare capacity for 3x weekly to Ljubljana?
DeleteAnd no local ex-Yu LCC.
ReplyDeleteRealistically I can't see how one can start a LLC in Europe right now
DeleteCentavia tried and failed
DeleteRyanair's dominance in Croatia is no surprise. Their network out of Zadar and Zagreb is unmatched. Love the cheap fares and route diversity.
ReplyDeleteYes, impressive numbers from Ryanair especially given they serve fewer markets. Shows how strong their operation is where they do fly.
DeleteWow Bosnia has a really nice LCC Wizz/Ryan mix over there, well done!
ReplyDeleteMissing easyjet though
DeleteWizz had a rough patch with the engine issues, but they seem to be regaining ground quickly.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say quickly considering they are growing at the same pace as Ryanair in ex-Yu this summer.
DeleteBosnia is turning into a real battleground between Ryanair and Wizz. More options for us passengers can only be a good thing.
ReplyDeleteThat is true
Delete+1000
ReplyDeleteWizz doesnt seem much to care about Ryanair as a competitor in this region.
ReplyDelete