Wizz Air to maintain Tuzla flights

Busy winter ahead for Tuzla

The low cost airline Wizz Airline will maintain services to Tuzla Airport this winter season, following the success it has had in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s third largest city over the summer. The airline will continue operating flights from Malmo, Gothenburg and Basel to Tuzla during the winter months, though the no frills carrier will cut down on frequencies. Services from Malmo will operate two instead of three times per week, with flights from Gothenburg and Basel also to run twice per week. The timing for all the flights will be adjusted. The changes come into effect on October 27. Recently, Wizz Air’s Chief Commercial Officer, Gyorgy Abran said, “Our presence in Tuzla demonstrates our commitment to Bosnia and Herzegovina and we hope to further develop our operations in this market”.

Wizz Air has been successful in Tuzla so far, providing the airport, which has been mostly deserted since it opened its doors, with thousands of passengers. In the first three month of operations up to September, the airline operated 164 flights and carried 25.096 passengers on its Tuzla flights. In addition, Wizz Air has recorded an average of 152 passengers per flight. The airline initially planned to carry 30.000 passengers on its services to Tuzla but at the time did not plan to introduce flights from Gothenburg and Basel in addition to the original Malmo service.

Wizz Air has expressed interest to operate flights from other cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well. The airline has failed to reach an agreement with Banja Luka Airport over fuel prices while talks with Sarajevo Airport are ongoing. According to some sources, Wizz Air will launch flights to Sarajevo during the summer of 2014, however, flights to the Bosnian capital are problematic due to challenging weather conditions during the winter months and common flight cancellations due to heavy fog. Mostar Airport has also been considered as a seasonal summer destination.