Low cost airline Wizz Air has recorded strong passenger growth in 2017 across its three main markets in the former Yugoslavia - Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina - and retained its position as the busiest budget carrier in the three countries. The airline handled a record 1.2 million passengers on flights to and from Macedonia, representing an increase of 32% on the year before. It reached an overall passenger share of 59% in the country, as well as a 90% market share among low cost airlines based on seat capacity, the biggest in its entire network. The carrier is ahead of second-placed Pegasus Airlines with a share of 7.7% and Flydubai with 2.8%. Wizz Air introduced several new routes from Skopje in 2017 and based a fourth aircraft in the city. The carrier will increase capacity by 23% to 1.6 million seats on flights to and from Macedonia this year and has announced the launch of a new service between Vienna and Ohrid.
From Belgrade and Niš, the airline carried 745.000 passengers, up from 545.000 in 2016, or an increase 36.7%. The growth came after the airline stationed a second jet in the Serbian capital and launched four new routes. The no frills carrier plans to increase capacity on flights from Serbia by 9% this year to 900.000 seats. The airline recently discontinued services from Belgrade to Nuremberg and Friedrichshafen, and will terminate operations between Niš and Eindhoven this March. As a result, it will reallocate capacity by increasing frequencies from Belgrade to Malta, Basel, Gothenburg and Paris Beauvais. Furthermore, the carrier will introduce a new service from Vienna to Niš in November. Wzz Air's market share among low cost airlines in Serbia stands at 63%, ahead of Ryanair and Flydubai.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wizz Air handled 583.000 passengers, up from 324.000 in 2016. The figure represents growth of 79.9%. During the year, the carrier based a second aircraft in Tuzla and launched operations to Sarajevo. It has since suspended flights from Bosnia and Herzegovina's third largest city to London and Nuremberg, with Bratislava to follow suit, however, the latter will be replaced by Vienna which will commence this April. In addition, the carrier will boost frequencies from Tuzla to Dortmund, Frankfurt Hahn, Basel and Gothenburg. In total, Wizz Air will offer 700.000 seats from the country in 2018, up 10% on last year. Wizz Air remains Bosnia and Herzegovina's busiest low cost airline with a market share of 48%, ahead of Pegasus and Flydubai.
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| Wizz Air's market position compared to other LCCs in 2017 |
Overall, Wizz Air carried over 28 million travellers in 2017 across its network, representing growth of 24% year-on-year. The airline will add at least five new routes to the former Yugoslavia in 2018. Apart from the abovementioned new services from Vienna, the no frills carrier has announced plans to launch flights from Warsaw and Katowice to Podgorica.
Anyone know their busiest route from Belgrade and Tuzla? I know that from Skopje it's Basel.
ReplyDeleteIt's likely that it is the same.
DeleteI think it was Malmo from BEG some years ago.
DeleteI think Dortmund for Tuzla...
DeleteInteresting to see Flydubai having so much capacity in ex-Yu. Looking at the table Moldova is the most unique :D
ReplyDeleteAnd compared to before Flydubai has overtaken Pegasus in BEG.
DeleteWhy am I not surprised? Pegasus seems to be clueless in BEG and they are getting destroyed by TK and KK. You snooze you lose.
DeleteRegarding Flydubai it shows to me how little LCC presence there is in the region if FZ with 4-7 flights per week to BEG and 3-4 flights per week in Skopje is in among the top 3 LCC airlines capacity wise.
DeleteI think they might be overtaken by Transavia this year.
DeleteNot so sure. FZ will be constant with 7 weekly flights year round. Trasavia variate between 3-6 flights. We will see. Ryanair holding well even though they fly only from Nis.
DeleteActually Pegasus seems to have fallen behind in BEG because when ex-Yu posted a similar table for half year results in 2017 the table was
Delete1. Wizz Air
2. Pegasus
3. Ryanair
TK is starting to send widebodies. KK is keeping 9 weekly rotations while Pegasus is not doing anything. They are keeping their 4 weekly flights for ages now despite being full.
DeleteMind you, over 100.000 Turks will visit Serbia this year and all of them came by plane. It seems SAW and Pegasus are unattractive for them.
I flew Pegausus recently on AMS-SAW-IKA, and was blown away by the huge crowds this airline transfers from west to east through SAW. Maybe they are not increasing BEG simply because they have even bigger demand in other (Western European) markets.
DeleteThey have those crowds because they fly people to the Middle East for as little as €180.
DeleteSAW is extremely far from the city center, can take you two hours.
DeleteThey are primarily after transfers or so it seems.
DeletePegasus are doing fine at SKP. first time they are flying 5 weekly in winter
DeletePegasus flying to Sabiha Gokcen airport is where they are losing. Ataturk is so much better, closer to the tourist end of Istanbul and has better overall servicing. Sabiha Gokcen really is behaving like a LCC airport. Although with Ataturk basically at capacity, we might see more flights directed over there soon.
DeleteSAW might become more appealing the moment the new IST opens up.
DeleteVery impressive numbers considering these airlines only have a couple of planes based in these cities.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering why WizzAir is not big in Crotia, Montenegro and Slovenia ??
DeleteBecause airports in those countries are expensive.
DeleteSure about Montenegro?
DeleteYes
Delete"The main issue with Montenegrin airports is that their fees are non-competitive, especially when compared to Greece or other similar holiday destinations. That is the main reason we are so late on the market, as we are more focused on more accessible destinations elsewhere. Tivat is one of the airports that is very appealing to us. If its fees were lower it would have been part of our plans much earlier", Ryanair's Route Manager said.
http://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/01/ryanair-to-launch-new-podgorica-flights.html
But to say Montenegro is expensive for Rynair, sounds to me very strange, Montenegro is cheaper than Croatia.
DeleteAnd about WizzAir, still weird they are not flying to cheaper Croatian coastal airports like Zadar, Brac, Pula and Rijeka. Other LCC are expeninding on those airports like Eurowings, easyJet, Transavia, Rynair... so if they settle many destinations on those airports it will be hard for WizzAir to get some piece of the cake.
Blaming airports for being "expensive" is the easiest (and most popular) way of finding an excuse for the airliners. Interestingly, almost no-one challenges these "robots" by questioning the percentage of airport charges among the airlines' overall costs.
DeleteWizzair and Ryanair promote their low cost flights. They aren’t interested in overall packaged flights with ground services. Unlike the UK and Germany which operates proper charter operations and focuses on the overall operation. People want it to be easy and aren’t interested to buy flights on one site and accommodation on a second and then try to figure out transfers on a 3rd.
DeleteIf I were ZAG I would be worried to be honest. Wizz Air might not be flying directly there but it's expanding all around it, slowly cementing its position as a cheaper alternative. Zagreb's catchment area is under attack while they are busy sitting in their golden cage counting their Kunas.
ReplyDeleteOsijek: Basel (with more to come)
Tuzla: Vienna, Billund, Basel, Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund, HHN, FDH, Memmingen, Eindhoven, Bratislava,Gothenburg, Malmo, Vaxjo and Stockholm.
Ljubljana: Brussels, London.
Split: Katowice, Warsaw and London.
Slavonija was divided between BEG, TZL and ZAG. BEG is slowly being replaced by OSI which also got flights to Stuttgart and might get more in the coming months. The airport's passenger numbers are booming and in 2017 it handled over 43.000 passengers!! Those 43.000 used to fly from one of the neighboring airports.
It's time for ZAG to wake up and smell the roses. If Wizz Air keeps on expanding in LJU and OSI they are going to be in a major problem. Not to mention if BNX wakes up one days and realizes how unrealistic they have been!!
But hey, at least we can fly to Canada. Who cares about the fact we have shitty connectivity with the rest of Europe, especially in winter.
Sretan sam šta Wizz ne leti iz Zagreba. Neka se fokusira na periferne aerodrome u Hrvatskoj, nama trebaju legacy carriery u glavnom gradu.
Delete+10000
DeleteTZL was maxed out so I am sure Wizz Air will chose OSI as its next focus city in the region.
A što fali BUD, PRG, WAW, ATH...?
DeleteRiki and Banja Luka, if Wizz based aircraft in those cities, could be serious competition for low cost pax from Zagreb and surrounding areas.
DeletePeople from Slavonia use also Budapest airport. It's closer than Zagreb.
Delete@Anon 9:14
DeleteSpoken like a true guy who flies twice a year.
Not really, maybe only north eastern Slavonia.
DeleteWhat a load of nonsense. ZAG should be worried of Wizz’s expansion? LJU and OSI and even BNX potential threats? Wake up. let’s drive 2 hours cross border and get a cheap flight from BNX and save €10 - maybe? Seriously?
DeleteZAG main challenge remains BUD. It will always be ahead.
DeleteZAG's main competitor will always be LJU because it's the closest to it. I am sure a large number of passengers on the LTN flight are from Croatia. Fares from Zagreb to London are crazy and they are going to go even higher now when BA will have a monopoly.
DeleteAnon 09.47
DeleteIs there any special reason why you are using BNX as an example and not LJU, OSI or TZL?!?!
In the guy's comment BNX is only used as a hypothetical example.
And again, forgetting the fact that low costers like Wizz are bringing so much less money to the airport than legacy airlines. €€€ are always ahead of number of passengers.
DeleteI was looking at some flights this summer and BA from ZAG comes out to the cheapest €166 while Wizz Air charges the same from SKP to LTN despite the flight being an hour longer.
DeleteAnd then people tell me ZAG doesn't need LCCs.
p.s. the BA fare of €166 is only if you are super flexible. Most days in summer it's over €200.
Yeah, that's why ZAG is smart to turn them away while silly airports like ATH, FRA, AMS, MAD... are working with them. Maybe ZAIC management can tutor these amateurs.
DeleteMaybe, just maybe because they are all huge airports with huge and well developed legacy network and can afford to let low cost carriers in. Can not be compared at all.
DeleteWhat about BEG then? It's a relatively small airport and Wizz Air pays what others pay as well. Why can't ZAG do the same?
DeleteLet's just wait and see now that is getting privatized how much of discount LC airlines will still have. Money is driving airports, not number of passengers.
DeleteAnon 11:00 ZAG is part of EU, subject to strict EU rules. BEG is not. And Wizz does not pay what others pay. Neither Air Serbia. That's why many European carriers avoid BEG and fly to ZAG.
DeleteWizz does pay what others pay. And like at most European airports, airlines pay fees based on the number of passengers they carry and get discounts the more passengers they carry. EU wasn't created when Croatia entered it.
DeleteDiscount levels at Belgrade start at one million passengers per year so Wizz Air has not qualified for it yet.
DeleteP.S Jozsef Varadi, Wizz CEO has said BEG is the most expensive airport in their network.
He said that before they started flying to FRA, ATH, VIE... that said, I am sure ZAG will be the most expensive once they return. lol
Delete@AnonymousJanuary 17, 2018 at 9:10 AM
DeleteGloom and doom predictions yet again. Zagreb is doing fine without Wizz, thank god for that.
Norvegian, German/Eurowings, Vueling are all LCC and they're doing fine without Wizz. There are 25 carriers flying to Zagreb right now, 3 of them are LCCs.
You can find number of deals among Legacy carriers that are just as good as among LCCs. I flew out of Zagreb to London for €160 return with BA. Skyscanner or Googleflights can give you some great deals, just look for a flight and dates when you have cheapest rates. Out of Zagreb for Milan in late April for €89 return. That is really great deal.
We don't need Wizz, and they'll offer bad deals anyway, mostly around €130-180 mark. No thanx. I'd rather fly with the Legacy and not worry where I might land.
I can guarantee you 98% of your conpatriots don't think like you and I'm sure if Wizz Air had a base in Zagreb you would be singing a different tune.
Delete@AnonymousJanuary 17, 2018 at 1:31 PM
DeleteAre you blind, my compatriots don't want Wizz air, at any cost. That airline makes Ryan air look good.
What we really want is Aer Lingus, SAS, Alitalia, Finnair and TAP to come back and serve Zagreb. Ideally this year.
Imagine most legacy carriers in Zagreb, that would make us really happy. If EasyJet comes back too, that'd be cherry on the top.
Norwegian expands their offer and adds Bergen, Gothenburg and Billund or Aalborg, that'd be something.
What we want is good deals from legacy carriers, and more legacy carriers you have, better offers you get. Also legacy carriers pay for landing and servicing, so local economy benefits.
And Wizz Air does not pay for landing and services noir-dresses? It does not employ local crew and ground staff at its bases? Have you ever flown with Wizz Air?
Delete"That airline makes Ryan air look good".
DeleteI have actually never seen Wizz Air cancel thousands of flights because they mucked up their pilot rosters. In fact the majority of people that have flown with them think they are quite good.
But I agree with the anon. If they had flights from Zagreb they would be better than anyone else in your case.
anon 1:27, fyi
DeleteI flew SKP-BTS return for 17 euro at the beginning of Dec. (+ 10 Euro return bus ticket with Flix Bus to Vienna).
but if you say you don't need this, then i just take your word for it
Anon 1.31
DeleteIf there were enough lowcost airlines in Zagreb then Croatia would have been on the above list and it wouldn't be outperformed by Moldova.
They have a more impressive network from ex-Yu then some national airlines
ReplyDeleteNow that they have gotten rid of the ridiculous hand luggage charge they will hurt our 'esteemed' national airlines even more. I know a lot of people who did not want to fly Wizz just because of that stupid charge.
Delete*than
DeleteWith so many aircraft on order Wizz will have to keep expanding, ex-Yu market included, My guess is Pristina will probably be next city they will focus on.
ReplyDeleteDepends on how willing PRN will be to reduce its charges. Wizz Air will not be willing to pay much more than they already do in INI and SKP.
DeleteIf Wizz starts expanding in TIA and TGD then I think PRN is as good as dead for them. Not to mention if KVO gets activated.
It looks like more and more focus will be on Podgorica actually.
DeleteThey will not base a plane in Montenegro. Too expensive.
DeleteAbsolutely WIZZ should focus in Pristina possibly, but they are remained in SKP!!
DeleteJust because they expand in TGD doesn't mean they will open a base.
DeleteI think as long as INI and SKP are working with W6 they won't feel the need to expand in PRN. Why should they? It will only lower their profit margins.
Banja Luka Airport said last week they are talking with an LCC. I just hope they have come to their senses and that it is Wizz Air.
ReplyDeleteIt will probably be some phatom start up airline. Like they always do. Flights will be announced and cancelled before they even start because the company went bankrupt.
DeleteBanja Luka would be a great entry point into Bosnia for Ryanair and they would challange Wizz in Tuzla.
DeleteGood point.
DeleteFor Banja Luka and the concurrenction position in BiH it would be better if they attract Rynair for the beggining.
DeleteSo that would be:
Tuzla = WizzAir
Mostar = Eurowings
Banja Luka Ryanair
concurrenction. joj ljubavi!
Deletehe meant confefe-tion ... haha
DeleteThe biggest disappointment for me is that they don't fly to Sarajevo (I won't include the BUD flights). They could have based a plane there and I know they wanted to. Sarajevo Airport management is to blame.
ReplyDeleteBut why are they to blame? They simply don't want to reduce their charges for anyone. I can respect that.
DeleteSure, I would respect that if it was an airport handling over 1 million passengers at least. Sarajevo Airport does not want to do a lot things. They didn't want to open 24 hours turning away some airlines like CSA. Hell they didn't want to give Qatar Airways extra check in desks which is why QR delayed their launch by a few months until SJJ eventually caved in.
DeleteBut they are losing pax to TZL because of that stav.
DeleteCorruption is the problem
DeleteCorruption is the problem
DeleteBad news for Air Serbia
ReplyDeleteI'd say more like bad news for autobus companies in ex-yu.
DeleteWhat about OU, JP and YM?
DeleteAnd why this is bad news for air Serbia? Do you think they care about it ? As long as the company is still in state hands and not private,then we all know who will pay for the damages, aren't we ?
DeleteI think they do care
Delete“Serbia is not part of the European Union and so we don’t have the degree of openness and competitive environment that other countries who are part of the EU would have”, Air Serbia's CEO said. He added, “As a result, we don’t have as much low cost carrier penetration in the market”. However, Mr Kondić warned that the flood of low cost carriers that have waged war on traditional airlines across Europe is on its way to Serbia. “It definitely weighs heavily on our thoughts in terms of our future plans”.
What does ASL have to do with this.Stop hating so much...
DeleteAir Serbia doesn’t deal well with competition. Just look at IST. Couldn’t even make that popular route successful. Bravo Wizz in expanding. My prediction is that Wizz will be the dominant carrier from BEG in coming years. Great product; new planes and awesome price point. Congratulations Wizz
DeleteJU faces little competition with W6. I think JU succumbed to MLA as W6 was clever to increase frequencies and steal some JU traffic. MLA remains a very important destination.
DeleteSo anonymous 09:47 AM what do you prefer ? You want to fly with LCC airlines or with legacy with high prices and LCC service as Air Serbia or Croatia airlines ?
DeleteIn what world will Wizz Air steal some traffic from Air Serbia?
DeleteNot only has Wizz Air changed its schedule to Malta:
06.10-08.10 // 08.40-10.30
But their average fare with luggage comes out to be 27.100 Dinars while Air Serbia for the same period in the summer charges you 30.000 with much better times:
-2-4-6-
12.35-14.30 // 15.15-17.05
Anon 9.47AM
DeleteMy airline of choice is OU. I like the airline, product and service and not concerned on price point. I value my frequent flyer status and its star alliance membership. I will choose other airlines if there is an alternative that is direct and better timing although aim for another star carrier
Stvar je vrlo jednostavna.
DeleteKontinentalni prijevoz, unutar Evrope, je postao sto i autobusni nekad.
Dakle, daj sto jeftinije i sto brze.
Nije to neka znanost.
Usluga......totalno nebitna na letu i trajanju od 2 sata...
"Bad news for (insert an exYU airline)" posts are in the same category with posts "Bravo (insert an exYU country)".
DeleteMoja kompanija je ona koja ce me od tocke A do tocke B prevesti najbrze.
DeleteIpak, najvise od svega, cijenom svoje vrijeme.
a svoj džep?
DeleteKoji ti dio u "cijenim svoje vrijeme" nije jasan?
Delete"cijenim svoje vrijeme" i 'cenim' svoj džep, nije isto.
DeleteNije isto....ali je usko povezano.
DeleteZa pretpostaviti je kako se je za "dzep" vec po pobrinuo.
I'm wondering where else they can expand from Macedonia? Can they introduce flight to another airport in UK? Is there such demand? Also I think another airport in Italy might work out for them. Also Madrid 2x per week.
ReplyDeleteBHX, MAD, LIS, ATH, ALC, TLV
Deletejust because you live in BHX ...
DeleteNo, but BHX is a large city not so far away from London
DeleteThe table is classifying the countries according to the market share size. It's impressive that Hungary is third and Lithuania is fifth. Such a small country with so much potential but of course massive emigration.
ReplyDeleteHoping to see Hrvatsko soon.
*Hrvatska
DeleteAnon 10.10
DeleteTechnically Croatia would be the most correct one. Hrvatsko is the term for Croatia in languages such as Slovak or Czech.
its an aviation forum, but since you're giving lessons in corect spelling:
Deleteits Chorvatsko in Czech and Chorvátsko in Slovak
Anon 11.06 you are no better than the other two Anons.
DeleteNor are you, cause you do nothin' but complain.
DeleteFour planes in SKP is amazing when you look at how many bigger markets have fewer planes based.
ReplyDeleteYes but they have much more competition on other markets.
DeleteAre they still considering flying to Mostar?
ReplyDeleteEurowings is more and more focusing on Mostar, WizzAir is dawdle too much
DeleteStrongly belive to be WeezAir first LCC to landing on Morava Airport, this year.
ReplyDeleteNis, Kraljevo and Uzice is exelnt destinations to low cost carriers.
I Hoppe to be prediction correct.
Rodney.
The real question is will they maintain the huge growth they had last year in ex-yu this year as well.
ReplyDeletebased on current capacity growth no.
DeleteI'm wondering if they'll start attacking the regional routes, such as SKP - BEG or BEG - TGD. Not sure if they can do that if the countries have some restrictive agreements.
ReplyDeleteCould LJU-DBV work?
Delete1.Wizz cannot fly nonEU - nonEU
Delete2.looking at SKP, BEG, TZL Wizz are not so keen on offering seasonal flights so DBV is not so realistic
3.LJU has a strong ex-yu diaspora and is very popular as well so maybe LJU-SKP or LJU-BEG are more realistic
Wizz CAN fly nonEU to nonEU, but it will require more effort
DeleteGlede diijadpore u SLO.....LJU-SJJ je najizglednija
Deletediijadpore?
ReplyDeleteI think that SKP-SOF can work.
ReplyDeletewe talked about this before, the two cities are way to close. and demand is low.
Delete