Wizz Air is continuing to fine-tune its network ahead of the 2025/26 winter season, which runs from October 26 until March 28 of next year. Following the announcement of five new routes from Skopje last week, the carrier has now confirmed and opened ticket sales for a sixth new destination from the Macedonian capital - Cologne. The new service will launch on December 15 and operate four times per week. Cologne becomes Wizz Air’s ninth destination in Germany from Skopje and marks the airline’s return on the route, which was previously served between 2014 and October 2024. With the addition of Cologne, Wizz Air will have introduced a total of nine new routes from Skopje in 2025, while discontinuing six. Further flight details are available here.
Wizz Air is implementing further changes to its Belgrade operations. Following yesterday’s announcement of its new service to Madrid, launching this October, and a number of frequency increases on existing services for the upcoming winter, the carrier will discontinue operations between the Serbian capital and Copenhagen. The final flight is scheduled for October 25. The route, introduced in July 2023, positioned Wizz Air in direct competition with Air Serbia. In 2024, the two carriers jointly handled 129.787 passengers between the two capitals, representing a 43% increase over the previous year, or an additional 39.062 travellers. Wizz Air operated the Belgrade – Copenhagen service with three weekly rotations during the 2024/25 winter season. It remains unclear whether the airline plans to reinstate the route during the summer 2026 season.
The airline’s recent growth spurt comes on the back of CEO Joszef Varadi’s pledge to turn around the company and win back investors after a run of setbacks, including a humbling retreat from the Middle East. Mr Varadi aims to cement a recovery by mid-2027, he said, when the hangover effect from the failed Abu Dhabi initiative is through and extra shop visits for the geared turbofan engines powering Wizz's Airbus neo fleet should be complete. "We need to see a drastic change of performance because by that time basically the GTF issue should be behind us. There is no worse scenario than being on the ground”, Mr Varadi said.
The airline has faced several issues over the past couple of years that have thrown its operations into disarray, with the most severe being the metal coating flaws on the Pratt & Whitney engines. That defect forced Wizz to take dozens of its aircraft out of service for lengthy repairs, setting back the carrier's expansion strategy.
What was the point of terminating Cologne, only to bring it back a year later
ReplyDeleteTo collect subsidies
DeleteNo , they stop flying Cologne from all their airports , not only from Skopje ,because of the huge tax that airport Cologne have
DeleteAs far as I'm aware, they terminated all CGN flights last year. They are back now with Skopje and Bucharest.
Delete09:04 exactly they terminated cologne because of the heavy tax they should pay to the airport , now they slowly starting to return on their map
DeleteNow they will get subsidies from Skopje and Cologne.
DeleteEasyjet suspended Geneva for a year for the same reason.
DeletePeople always bash Wizz, but they’re the only ones seriously investing in regional connectivity from places like Skopje.
DeleteI guess CPH never made sense for W6 since MMX is just down the road.
ReplyDeleteTrue dat
DeleteYes, it was kind a stupid to fly both. Now they will probably add frequencies to Malmo
DeleteWell, seems like 'weak' JU (as some were describing it yesterday) beat Wizz on the Copenhagen route.
ReplyDeleteW6 still flies to MMX
DeleteMMX was one of their first BEG routes.
DeleteExactly and this is yet another sign of Wizz shifting its focus from gasto routes to leisure.
DeleteSeems like there is a new sheriff in BEG and he wears a pink uniform!
The new sheriff seems to be mostly hiding.
Delete@9.06 😂 a new sheriff after years and years of downsizing and they bought you with 3 new routes in 2025 (plus one discontinued). JU alone launched 6 this year. On top of the 40 in the last 5 years. Enjoy your new pink sheriff.
DeleteVery much so!
DeleteCopenhagen is a 'gasto' route? lol
DeleteI think 50+ last 5 years. Closer to 60
DeleteThe funny thing is, the same people who are praising Wizz now over a couple of extra weekly flights were the same ones going ballistic when they removed one aircraft from BEG and cut frequencies. Or when they removed one aircraft and didn't grow for 6 years from BEG from 2014-2020
DeleteWhat's the point of this comment? You keep on repeating it on every post, yesterday as well
Delete^ someone feels seen
DeleteCongrats Macedonia 🇲🇰👏 Happy to see Wizz is growing again!!!
ReplyDeleteLol another Varadi turn around strategy. Let's see how that works out this time.
ReplyDeleteDidn't he have some strategy a few years ago to launch hundreds of new routes and then he would get some massive bonus?
DeleteIt's a strategic message to the board to give him 2 more years to fix things and not get rid of him.
Delete^ makes sense. Let's see of he pulls it off.
Delete*if
DeleteThe Abu Dhabi adventure was a disaster but at least Varadi is acknowledging it. Let’s see if his recovery plan actually works this time
DeleteAn adventure that cost them millions.
Deletethe only strategy that worked for them was accomodating the travel needs of east europeans (either diaspora or leissure). Everything else they should leave to Easyjet or Ryanair
DeleteYep. They should stick to that.
DeleteI would love to see them launch more Spanish routes from SKP
ReplyDeleteMaybe Palma would work good as summer sesonal and Tenerife also .... but there is more huge demand , Copenhagen,Hannover,Munich,Dussledorf this airpots are currently in huge demand
DeleteThey fly Memmingen (instead of Munich). As far as I'm aware Wizz does not fly to MUC.
DeleteIsn't Memmingen really far away from Munich?
Delete130 km away
DeleteMemmingen yes they fly there and someone says its even more convinient to use that airport. Copenhagen I
Deletethink will be next route launched
Memmingen is convinient for those flying low cost carriers such as Wizz air , Ryanair and short Europe routes , its not that big , small but efficient
DeleteHannover please ❤️❤️
DeleteMadrid is right on the spot and a huge potential blow, since JU was dragging its feet in increasing it.
ReplyDeleteYes, same way CPH was a huge blow too...
DeleteWhat is the current JU frequency to Madrid?
Delete5x weekly. Up from 4x weekly last summer.
DeleteThey'll have to go daily.
DeleteThey should send A330.
DeleteI really hope you are joking
DeleteIt shouldnt be much of a problem for JU to increase frequency on their Madrid route.
DeleteNow with their new Embraerjets it even should be more easily than ever!
Maybe time for Norwegian to come back on CPH-BEG route.
ReplyDeleteWhen did they fly CPH-BEG?
Delete2012-2020
DeleteHighly doubt it as they don't refuel in BEG due to NIS. They won't launch anything new until that is resolved.
DeleteThey applied for Helsinki-Belgrade slots a few years ago but never launched it.
Delete^ that would be a great route for them to launch.
DeleteThere go cheap CPH tickets.
ReplyDeleteWizz is far from cheap from BEG.
DeleteIt is mostly cheaper than JU and also keeps JU from charging too high fares.
DeleteActually, on head to head routes, JU is often the cheaper one.
DeleteIt‘s probably a new chance for SAS coming back
ReplyDeleteYes, especially since they are developing CPH into a true hub. I think they launched 10-15 new routes from there this year.
DeleteIt would be great to see SAS in BEG! They should launch HEL-BEG as well
DeleteYou’re aware that HEL is not an SAS hub, but Finnair’s?
DeleteSASlink seems a perfect fit tbh
DeleteDoubt it.
Delete129.787 passengers between BEG and CPH is much more than I expected to be honest.
ReplyDeleteCologne is a great addition for Skopje, but four weekly flights in winter seems ambitious. Hope demand holds up given the number of German destinations already served.
ReplyDeleteit was 4 weekly since 2019
DeleteCologne is in huge demand from Skopje
DeleteCompetition with Air Serbia clearly didn’t work out for Wizz in this case.
ReplyDeleteThe GTF engine problems have really hurt Wizz’s growth. Hopefully by 2027 they can get back to their old pace of expansion.
ReplyDeleteEngine issues are not Wizz’s fault but they’ve been handled poorly. Passengers are frustrated with cancellations and last minute changes.
DeleteToo many delays and cancellations lately.
DeleteHow come other airlines with GTFs didn’t cut this many routes?
Delete^ Actually they did! Just look at TK and A3. Or the airlines that actually went bankrupt and shut down because of the GTF issues.
DeleteCan we maybe expect Valencia or Malaga flights from Skopje with WIZZ?
ReplyDeleteWould be nice. But I don't think we will get any more new routes for this winter.
DeleteSkopje will get couple more and Ohrid also it will be announced very soon.
DeleteAdding Cologne while cutting six other routes doesn’t sound like network growth. More like reshuffling with hope something sticks.
ReplyDeleteand you are ignoring the 9 new routes detail?
DeleteWhich means net count of new routes is 3.
Deletestil positive!
Deleteplus one aircraft added and all 6 321-neo
DeleteOnce again Cologne is in huge demand from Skopje and it was cutted from all their network. The 6 routes you are saying are cutted plans are they will be returned in 2026. Wizz didnt cut roures from Skooje because they are not good or no demand , if is because of their engine issue. Just to tell you they still have 41 plane grounded as of today. But 2026 they will recieve brand new planes as well maintenance ones. Their real increasing , adding new , relaunchung routes is planned for 2026. Next year they will have huge expansion out of Skopje, remember my comment and remind urself next year!!
DeleteCut-cut-cut, like put-put-put & hit-hit-hit... wizz-wizz-wizz ;)
DeleteIf wizz is not and ryanair half of europe people will dream about flying and holidays ;) hurting reality but true!
DeleteIt’s becoming clear that Wizz Air grew too fast for its own good. The engine issue exposed just how thin their operational margins really are.
ReplyDeleteThey still facing engine issue , 41 plane still grounded. They planned all of them be back in 2026 now they pushed back for 2027. This expansions primarly now coming from their fleet from Abu Dhabi unit. In 2026 they wil recieve brand new planes
DeleteI'd like to have the Flight from Hanover to Skopje back. Hopefully, they'll do it.
ReplyDeleteTill then you have the option via BEG. 😉
DeleteYou have many options, via Istanbul, via Frankfurt, via Vienna, but a direct flight is the best.
Deleteaman veke ti so toj hannover :D
Deleteneither Wizz nor Ryanair are flying to that airport. You can hope for Bremen or just use Hamburg which is round the corner
You also had the opportunity to fly from Timisoara or Budapest to Madrid, but now they have opened the route from Belgrade. So what's the problem if I express my wish that there would also be an option for flights from Hanover to Skopje?
DeleteThere is no problem with that.
DeleteYou still have the option to fly via Belgrade.
As I said, I also have the option of flying via Istanbul, Vienna and Frankfurt, but a direct flight would be better. Before Corona, there were two flights a week from Hannover to Skopje ,with the Airbus 321 and it was always full.
DeleteHanover and Copanhagen been targeted for Skopje by Wizz, in months coming we expect them to be relaunched
DeleteI hope so soon
DeleteHopefully Dusseldorf would one place in months that coming , Macedonian diaspora is huge in that region of Germany
DeleteHopefully Dusseldorf would one place in months that coming , Macedonian diaspora is huge in that region of Germany
Deletewhy has CPH not worked from SKP or BEG? It isnt because of Malmö
ReplyDeleteYields might not be good. CPH is more expensive to operate to but they likely can't sell expensive fares on this route from BEG and SKP. Of course I'm just guessing. Could be a range of things.
DeleteMalmo have nothing about this. Leaving a route that is in demand and was always full from Skopje and used by all our diaspora then its something else happening. Could be some expensive denmark taxes for Wizz air something similar like Cologne ... also they cut Copenhagen from alot cities from their ntwork
DeleteA little off-topic, but why did Norwegian changed flights to Belgrade to full-B38M ? :)
ReplyDeleteSo it does not no longer have to refuel in Krakow.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2025/07/norwegian-belgrade-flights-start-making.html
They probably need the frequencies for their new service to Malaga.
DeleteCopenhague can be served from Malmö.
I think of Wizz not Norwegian...
DeleteYesterday someone hinted them opening Malaga.
ReplyDeleteIts still just rumour but what do you think about it?
For Air Serbia it would make things difficult, maybe they will continue their frequency over winter.
Three times weekly it is?
Wizz Air has been cutting most flights to CPH. In the past year alone, routes to Iasi, Skopje, Kutaisi, Sofia, Katowice, and now Belgrade have been discontinued. Only Gdansk, Warsaw, Budapest, and Bucharest-OTP will remain (this one with reduced frequences for the winter season).
ReplyDeleteWith Stuttgart launched in Octomber Wizz will have 10 routes out of Skophe to Germany , that I think never happend before ? :D there would be still room for Dusseldorf,Hannover and all in one Germany will be very well covered from Skopje
ReplyDeleteI would be very grateful if the route from Hanover to Skopje would be restored
DeleteProbably will be , that route is in huge demand as well Copenhagen in Denmark. Very soon there will be new announcement from Wizz related to Skopje and Ohrid
Delete