TRIP REPORT
Submitted by Nemanja
Ryanair flies twice weekly to Niš from Weeze Airport, which it brands as “Dusseldorf Weeze”. Furthermore, from the Ruhr area in Germany Wizz Air maintains flights from Dortmund to the south-eastern Serbian city. As Ryanair offered fares competitive enough from Weeze to my home town, I decided to come back to the airline and test again their famously low fares.
Ryanair flies twice weekly to Niš from Weeze Airport, which it brands as “Dusseldorf Weeze”. Furthermore, from the Ruhr area in Germany Wizz Air maintains flights from Dortmund to the south-eastern Serbian city. As Ryanair offered fares competitive enough from Weeze to my home town, I decided to come back to the airline and test again their famously low fares.
Dusseldorf Weeze (NRN) – Nis (INI)
Scheduled: 17:30 – 19:50
Actual: 18:00 – 20:20
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800, reg. EI-EKX, delivered in 2010 to Ryanair
Age: 8.4 years
Weeze Airport is located some 80 km northwest of the city it is advertised to serve. To get to the airport I used a Flibco shuttle service that took around 1h15 minutes to get me to the airport from Dusseldorf's main train station. I booked the ticket online and paid 15 EUR per person, with the fourth person going for free. Upon boarding I found out that tickets are available for purchase on board for EUR 18.00 per person. The bus was on time and featured power outlets and AC, very useful when the temperature in Dusseldorf exceeds 30 degrees in summer, as was the case.
Weeze Airport is small and easy to navigate but I found it slightly disorganised and a bit less user-friendly. It is easy to get around and the airport features a small duty free shop on the first floor. However, the waiting areas at the gates are quite small and the airport staff were not very pleasant (my travel companion was asked whether he had a residency permit for his own native country). We waited quite a bit of time for passport control to open for us to get to gate 1, having to stay in the area of gate 4.
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| Our plane for the day: EI-EKX Boeing 737-800 |
After exiting the airport building we were left to stand near the plane for quite some time (Weeze has no air bridges). Boarding was slow as usual, but the rest of the flight was quite enjoyable despite a minor delay. After having flown Ryanair several times I was quite nicely surprised by the kind cabin crew members, always smiling, even though some of them did not really know the price of what they were trying to sell us. The flight was quite full with a few vacant seats. Ryanair seems to be doing well on this route flying twice weekly, with lots of guest workers using the flight, coming from both Germany and the nearby Netherlands.
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| Boarding the plane |
We landed at Niš Airport with a delay of around 25 minutes, right next to another Ryanair plane that came from Stockholm Skavsta. I enjoy flying from this airport because it is small, even though it can be too small in some cases. Passport control queues were long and disorganised, but it was easy to find baggage and overall I encountered no problems with any of the staff. However, the interior at arrivals is in a desperate need of renovation as well as capacity expansion.
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| Landing in Niš, near the aircraft from Stockholm Skavsta |
Overall, I was quite happy with my experience with Ryanair as I really got what I paid for. I had a strict baggage limit that was quite enough for me, and the on board product is basic. Still, for such a low price I got by booking my ticket in February, I was content and would fly with them again. Nevertheless, I do not know if I would choose the airport in Weeze.
Thanks for the report. Good to hear about the load.
ReplyDeleteIche Danke for the report! When you say the queues are long and disorganised, do you mean that there was no space in the terminal or because of the airport staff?
ReplyDeleteWhat is your general opinion about INI? Terminal situation, ground handling, cleaness, etc.
I'd say it's both: the terminal is too small for a lot of passengers so the queue extends out of the building but the staff could have put a divider to divide the queue into specific lines leading to each desk. Overall it's a nice airport. I like especially the restaurant from which you can see the runway. Cleanliness is also good I'd say.
DeleteThanks, mate. I read here in the forum that they did some terminal refurbs, which obviously payed off.
DeleteI didn't know about the restaurant but I will definitely consider it.
Very happy to see the positive airport developments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cn1NK6Ia7s
The airport uses "Airport Weeze" in all its marketing.
DeleteIt is Ryanair that claims it is somehow Düsseldorf.
Is Weeze pronounced like 've-ce' in Serbian (Croatian, Bosnian)? If so, well, they should keep advertizung Dusseldorf:)
DeleteThe fun fact is that INI is the only ex-Yu destination with year round frequencies from/to NRN - Niederrhein International Airport.
DeleteZAD is connected during the summer season only.
The route now is quite successful after W6 withdrawed from the INI-EIN route (a pity)