Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O'Leary has welcomed Wizz Air's decision to withdraw from Abu Dhabi and refocus on Central and Eastern European markets, arguing the move would highlight his airline's cost advantages. Mr O'Leary said the pivot would "highlight the enormous cost and price advantage Ryanair has over Wizz and all our other competitors". The CEO attributed Wizz Air's competitive disadvantage primarily to aircraft financing costs, arguing the rival had "very expensively" financed aircraft through its principal shareholder before refinancing through "ludicrous sale and leaseback deals".
It comes as Wizz prepares to launch 22 new routes from former Yugoslav markets between September 29 and March 31 of next year, including the reopening of its Tuzla base. Since July, Wizz Air has announced the launch of 161 new routes, of which 126 are brand new, 35 are resumptions and 138 are starting this autumn or winter.
Ryanair is yet to announce any new routes in the region for the upcoming winter, but will boost frequencies on several existing services. From Zagreb, the airline will add an average of six additional weekly flights compared to last winter. This includes an increase in services to Charleroi from four and five weekly (depending on the month) to six weekly, to Dublin from three to five weekly, Memmingen from three to four weekly, Malta from five and six weekly to seven weekly (some days operate with two flights), and London Stansted from nine to ten weekly.
In Sarajevo, Ryanair will have an additional ten weekly flights. It will continue to maintain several new services introduced this summer, which include Baden Baden, Stockholm, Girona and Weeze, while services to Charleroi and Memmingen will see an additional weekly rotation compared to last winter for a total of three weekly. In Niš, the budget airline will increase services to Malta from two to three weekly. The recently scheduled increase in flights to Vienna from two and three weekly to five weekly has now been modified to a total of four weekly flights.
Ljubljana is unfazed by it too
ReplyDeleteAs always
Delete161 nee routes and 0 to LJU, that’s just funny to me, since LJU is so underdeveloped
DeleteLJU is too premium for Wizz or Ryanair. Bravo Fraport!
DeleteFlew to LJU last week, must say I was expecting much more reading the comments around here. It is underwhelming to say the least.
Deletenot exactly sure what you were expecting...
DeleteLJU is completely fine infrastructure wise. The issue is traffic. While there is a great selection of airlines, there is a lack of LCC and in many cases frequnecies.
Delete> LJU is too premium for Wizz or Ryanair. Bravo Fraport!
DeleteYes, it is. So are most main airports. I'm glad Fraport doesn't give in to RYR.
MBX (which is cheaper and literally sitting empty) could serve low cost carriers. Like secondary airports at most Western European cities.
I'm really surprised Ryanair does not have a single new route from ex-Yu this winter.
ReplyDeleteThere is still time
DeleteWould not get my hopes up
DeleteThey have announced a couple of new winter routes last week. So there is still a chance we might see something new.
DeleteFR is currently focusing in the UK, Spain, Portugal and Italian markets. We are an after thought.
Delete^ true unfortunately.
DeleteWell they are focused on markets that make the most money.
DeleteThey are also focusing on TIA.
DeleteAfter their latest announced expansion they'll be connecting Tirana with 14 Italian destinations!
W6 still beats them though with 17 Italian destinations!
That’s actually focus to Italian market, not Albanian
DeleteThey are focusing on Albanian travelers to whom these flights are for.
Delete@10:54 It's a 3 aircraft base in TIA. I would definitely call that a focus on the Albanian market.
DeleteAnon, 11.15, they are not focusing on Albanian travelers as those are not many, but on the once coming from Italy (maybe of Albanian origin, but that's less of importance). The source of passengers is in Italy so this is focus on Italy.
DeleteI think you have no idea what you're talking about.
Delete161 new routes by Wizz is massive!
ReplyDeleteThis is just start from Wizz air. Next year as they recieve new planes will launch even more
DeleteWhat's gonna make a big difference is getting back on air their 40 grounded planes.
DeleteWe will see a lot more of Wizz in the region.
DeleteHope so
DeleteNot at Belgrade airport unfortunately..
DeleteEveryone with brain know that Wizz never showed real profit. But their financier do not care like Sabor for OU.
ReplyDelete+1
Delete+1000
DeleteWizz Air had a net profit of 365 million Euros last year.
Deletehttps://tinyurl.com/4ykf3vjr
Again idiot who do not read text.
DeleteYour average exYuaviation commenter.
DeleteO’Leary never misses a chance to mock Wizz, but the truth is both Ryanair and Wizz have expanded heavily in the Balkans. Passengers will benefit the most.
ReplyDeleteI remember last year when he mocked Wizz Air for launching their "All You Can Fly" subscription, claiming Ryanair would never follow suit with a subscription model. Fast forward just a few months, and Ryanair releases their (rather pointless) Ryanair Prime subscription.
DeleteO’Leary is a master of PR spin.
DeleteHe is full of it most of the time
DeleteIt’s funny how O’Leary is talking about cost advantages while Wizz is the one adding over 160 routes this season.
ReplyDeleteMore flights from Zagreb and Sarajevo are great news. Frequencies matter just as much as new routes.
Delete^ have barely 7 weekly extra flights on last winter.
DeleteHonestly, I was hoping Ryanair would establish as base in Sarajevo this winter.
ReplyDeleteNegotiations are underway seriously , of course the problem is taxes , but most likely that will be resolved very soon . The opening of the base in Tirana is a great encouragement , so we could expect a Ryanair base in Sarajevo next year .
DeleteFingers crossed. Would do wonder for SJJ and Sarajevo as a city. Only issue is airport capacity.
DeleteRyanair base in Sarajevo would be fantastic!
Delete@9.45 agree, Airport still hasn't completed its expansion which has been going on for years but is already tight.
Deletepassengers don’t care about how planes are paid for. What matters is cheap tickets and reliable schedules.
ReplyDeleteThis is a revolutionary comment that will change the future of the airline industry
DeleteIt is OK till someone fund this. Free lunch and flights do not exist.
DeleteThey do actually. For decades in fact.
DeleteAll paid by the Governments through taxation and increased borrowing.
I wonder if Ryanair is saving new route announcements for next summer. They’ve been aggressive in Zagreb in the past, so maybe more is coming.
ReplyDeleteThey haven't even release the scheduled yet. Only Stansted and Lanzarote are on sale. If they launch new routes, it will be in a few months time
DeleteZAG needs easyjet or Wizz Air ASAP.
DeleteWizz always comes with big promises and lots of new routes, but the question is how many will survive past the first season.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Ryanair has the upper hand when it comes to consistency. Their schedules are usually more stable, while Wizz cancels and reshuffles too often.
DeleteAt least Wizz has been developing at ex-Yu airport for 20 years. Ryanair on the other hand only found out about the region in the past 10 years.
DeleteTrue that, Ryanair is better in pricing and especially leisure offer than Wizz but only if they are on the market. If they’re not, Wizz is better :) For Skopje and Belgrade there is no sense talking who’s better…
DeleteI was hoping that they would restore some of the many suspended routes from Podgorica this winter. But absolutely nothing. They have a single route from TGD this winter.
ReplyDeleteGovernment is doing a deal with Wizz Air.
DeleteLooks as if they will get PSO routes.
DeleteThey are using every opportunity they can get
DeleteRyanair did not fully utilized in the region the major problems Wizz had over the past two years with its fleet. Could have completely dominated.
ReplyDeleteThis region is not very important to them.
DeleteIt's not that it is not important, it is just that they can make much more money elsewhere.
DeleteIt's interesting how neither Wizz or Ryanair is interested in Pristina.
ReplyDeleteExpensive airport
DeleteWizz flies to Dortmund, London, Memingen, Milan and Vienna from Pristina.
DeleteBut no single LCC has a base
DeleteGP aviation holds the market there , no room for LLC
DeleteMafia-run agencies rule the day in Pristina for decades now. I don't see it changing any time soon.
DeleteMeanwhile easyJet nowhere in sight.
ReplyDeleteyes, other than the Croatian coast in summer, they show very little interest.
DeleteThey have a few new routes this winter
DeletePity no expansion from Dubrovnik this winter for FR.
ReplyDeleteI think that we, the people of Dubrovnik, don’t need to worry because in the coming years Ryanair will expand significantly, similar to what happened in Zadar. The one who should be worried is OU; I can only imagine what would happen if Ryanair also entered Split…
DeleteAh Split is very closely aligned to Croatia Airlines. They even pay millions under some corrupt advertisment deal in the inflight magazine. I don't see FR coming any time soon to SPU. Dubrovnik made the right call though.
DeleteTrue that
DeleteThey should be worried
ReplyDeleteWho?
DeleteAbout time Wizz woke up
ReplyDeleteWell they had a major fleet issue. It wasn't like they were sleeping for the fun of it.
DeleteWhat was the point of Ryanair scheduling 2 Friday flights from Nis to Vienna and then removing it from the system just a few days later?
ReplyDeleteJust scarring W6, JU, BEG and INI...
DeleteWhy the hell did they announce a flight to Gyumri in Armenia to Larnaca today?
ReplyDeleteWhy wouldn't they? Armenia is used by many Russians in order to travel to the rest of Europe.
DeletePlus the Armenians are offering subsidies to W6.
That is why from Yerevan it flies both to Larnaca and Pafos airports.
Yes, but they mainly use Fly One for transfers, while there are no flights to Gyumri. The only airline that flies there is Pobeda from Moscow.
DeleteThey recently announced subsidies from Gyumri.
DeleteMeanwhile Armenian carriers can't fly to Europe.
DeleteStill don’t understand why they didn’t extend Paris/Sarajevo, always full of people, and the potential is great with the Muslim communities in Paris, that’s a sad news
ReplyDelete+1
Deleteno demand no extend , they better know if their planes are full or not better than you or anyone else. If they didnt extend simply means one no reliable reason for it
Delete^ the guy from Skopje again obsessed with belittling SJJ.
DeleteWhy is Wizz ignoring Croatia?
ReplyDeleteI wonder that too
DeleteEspecially since all the LCCs fly to Croatia.
DeleteThey do fly from Split
DeleteBut only to Poland.
DeleteCoastal airports in Croatia are expensive.
DeleteJust excuses
ReplyDeleteBy who?
DeleteFR obviously
DeleteHope we see Ryanair expand more.
ReplyDelete