Budget carrier Wizz Air will discontinue three routes over the coming 2019/2020 winter season, which begins on October 27, although all are expected to resume next summer, in late March 2020.
The low cost airline will discontinue flights between Charleroi and Ljubljana this winter, with its last service scheduled for October 26. Ticket sales thereafter have been discontinued. As a result, Wizz Air will serve a single route from Ljubljana, to London Luton, this winter. It will upgauge capacity on the route from the 180-seat Airbus A320 aircraft to the 230-seat A321. Wizz launched flights from Charleroi to the Slovenian capital in October 2012. It faces no direct competition on the route, although Adria Airways maintains flights to Brussels. During last winter season, Wizz Air operated two weekly services between Charleroi and Ljubljana.
Wizz Air will also discontinue flights between Tuzla and Vienna at the start of the 2019/2020 winter season. Services between the two cities were introduced last year. "Wizz Air did not include Vienna in its winter schedule, however, during our talks with the company, we found out that the service will resume in the summer of 2020. Loads on this route have somewhat decreased", the General Manager of Tuzla Airport, Rifet Karasalihović, said. The low cost airline recently upgraded its seasonal flights from Tuzla to Billund to year-round operations. As a result, the service will be maintained this coming winter season.
The budget carrier has also reversed its decision to maintain its newly launched service between Belgrade and Lyon throughout the year. Although it initially scheduled flights throughout the winter, ticket sales have now been suspended past October 26. The route was launched this June and is being maintained twice per week. On the other hand, Wizz Air has upgraded its seasonal service from Belgrade to Larnaca to year-round operations. As a result, flights will be maintained this coming winter season.
I don't get it. Their Charleroi flights to Ljubljana are always full.
ReplyDeleteGreat news for Adria's Brussels flights.
DeleteAdria really doesen't have an issue on that route since they get a state subsidy for it.
DeleteMaybe spare capacity is an issue for W6 and is the reason the route will end.
DeleteLack of capacity in winter? Really?
DeleteThey currently use the TSR plane to operate CRL-LJU so my guess is that they are redirecting that capacity elsewhere. Last year they had 33.642 passengers which is nothing compared to JP's 74.231.
DeleteLike someone wrote the other day, with these flights gone, a large area will be left without LCC flights to Brussels. I think closest will be Banja Luka and Treviso.
This is what happens when you have state subsidies for routes, it kills competition.
DeleteNemjee, last year Adria had 14 weekly flights and Wizz had 2 weekly flights. With 14% of the Adria flights, they reached 45% of the Adria pasangers.
DeleteI fly on these rout frequently, as I live in Brussels. Wizz iz almost everytime full, and Adria is not. Adria transports mainly state officials for the meetings in Brussels, so they don't care about the price.
They can use the aircraft somewhere else to make better money.
DeleteYes but at the same time we should look at the number of seats offered. If I am not mistaken JP sends its CRJs to Brussels. Then again, just because Wizz is full it doesn't mean the route is profitable enough for them.
Delete@Both anons bashing "state subsidies"..check Lufthansa prices from Berlin to Brusseles. Almost identical. Slovenian state issued a PUBLIC call for tender, asking offers for connection between LJU and BRU for civil servants travellign on this route. ONLY Adria gave an offer. The binding condition was that line was LJU-BRU, not CRL (which is understandable). The only mistake I see was that the call for tender didn't include other cities and connection by rail (AMS-BRU is 2 hours train ride).
Deletehttps://www.enarocanje.si/Obrazci/?id_obrazec=44731
DeleteIt's surprising Tuzla-Vienna did not work. As far as I remember they also reduced frequencies on this route.
ReplyDeleteThere is Austrian from Sarajevo
DeleteYes, OS with their idiotic fares surely didn't kill TZL VIE.
DeleteBTS also didnt wrk from Tuzla
Delete@9.11 are they expensive from SJJ?
DeleteOh yes especially in summer!
DeleteNot surprised at all. It's too close.
Delete@9:13 OU got much smarter recently in their pricing, and it shows in SJJ; there are lot of cheap options, but even in summer, they rarely sell all seats anymore, they just hike the prices to the extreme for the last (economy) seats
Deleteand we really like it, that we can book even in august tickets for the same day, and on the other hand it got much cheaper to fly the whole team out for events that have a long lead time and it does not blow the budget
Well because of price dumping OU is losing money.
DeletePity about Lyon but good to see Larnaca back.
ReplyDeleteThat is bad news for JU. W is almost always cheaper to LCA.
Deletelooks like not so many gastos there as we were told here.
DeleteI don't know in winter but in summer they are not cheap at all. In fact I flew twice to LCA in past two years and chose Air Serbia because it came out cheaper with luggage (although they have a terrible night flight)
DeleteLarnaca won't be reduced to one weekly either so thatst news as well.
DeleteSo BAG-LCA will be flown 4 weekly this coming winter by JU and W6 when I think only 2-3 years ago it had no direct flights.
DeleteIs there really such demand?
Since 1992 there were always flights between BEG and LCA, the period under sanctions being the only exception.
DeleteAnd so the demise of LJU begins.
ReplyDeleteI really don't think one Wizz route in winter will lead to their demise.
DeleteSome of you people never cease to amaze me. Just two days ago there were news that LJU is performing very well, but now because a route which is flown twice per week is changed from year-round to seasonal already indicates demise of the airport. Not to mention big increase of capacity on the other Wizz air route to Luton.
Delete+1 last anon
DeleteWizz Air is pathetic in Belgrade. So inert, so clueless. Their loss in the end as others take their market.
ReplyDeleteThey are not clueless, they are just careful with their finances.
DeleteI would really like easyJet to be more active in Belgrade. They are far better company than FR or W6.
DeleteI don't mind as then we have more choice plus let them fight for the market. I guess LYS didnt work out once easyJet added a fourth to GVA.
DeleteLYS will be back next summer. It works but seasonally.
DeleteThey should have launched BCN before JU.
DeleteAir Serbia has now huge success on that route, so it clearly shows they were not just careful, they were quite conservative. Keeping gastos routes and that's it.
Therefore I do not expect from them any inventive move
U2 is also more expensive than FR and W6 too.
DeleteI don't understand how come W6 can not seem to be able to make BEG work when they are expanding like crazy everywhere else...
Keep in mind that out of their ex-Yu bases they have the most competition in BEG and don't get moeny like they do in TZL and SKP.
DeleteU2 is generally maybe more expensive than W6, but not from Belgrade.
DeleteJust compare BSL-BEG route...Prices are very similiar, quite often U2 is cheaper and with them you have slightly better flying times and you do not have to worry about your hand luggage.
Allowed measures of hand luggage are the same like with legacy companies and there is no limit in the weight of hand luggage.
Everything opposite comparing to W6.
Even check-in luggage is more expensive with W6.
@anon 09:27
DeleteWell, yes but BEG is also the biggest market in ex-Yu.
So, if they are experts they should make it work
they did
DeleteW6 is not expanding in BEG because other LCCs are not. They have no serious competition and they know it unlike on other markets. BEG is at the bottom of their priority list. They have their own cash cow routes like DTM, MMX, BVA, LTN, EIN +all other are doing just fine and that's it.
DeleteThey don't get money for the vast majority of their European bases either but they seem to make them work.
DeleteI don't know what makes you think Belgrade isn't "working" for them. If they weren't making money they would have packed up and left. Money is the only important metric for them.
Delete"Clueless in BEG".
DeleteHow much profit have they made in 2018 and how much profit has JU made (excluding government help)?
In my opinion Wizz missed two big opportunities in Belgrade: Berlin and Barcelona. For both it's too late now as their competitors have stepped in and taken over the market. One can argue the same about Slovenia. Why didn't they consider introducing BEG-LJU-INI-LJU-BEG? There obviously is a market for both destinations.
DeleteI think they are launching so many routes out of BUD because of LO as they want to limit the number of destinations which they can operate without competition. Also, the honeymoon phase with the Hungarian government seems to be over. HU government floated the idea of moving LCCs to Kecskemet, the competition agency fined Wizz Air and they are launching another investigation into their partner that handles check-in procedures. In return Wizz Air has become quite vocal when it comes to LO and they keep on repeating how they are going bankrupt. Furthermore, I am sure BUD would also like for LO to expand as they pay more in charges than LCCs do. After all, it took BUD a decade and 15 million passengers to reach profitability.
I am not saying Wizz Air will be pushed out of BUD but it won't be a smooth ride from now on. I am curious to see what happens on BUD-SOF where LO and W6 will directly compete.
In Belgrade they are forced to compete on equal terms with others, no preferential treatment. Furthermore, they also have JU which doesn't seem to be going anywhere. JU has blocked them out of many markets such as Milan (Bergamo) or Venice (Treviso). That's why there are so few destinations where Wizz Air doesn't rely on gastos.
And anyway, some years ago I was being attacked when I said that whole boom in SOF will come back to haunt them and it seems to be happening right now. Growth has collapsed this year as the battle between FR and W6 is dragging on. Doubt much will change in the future even with planned increases given the fact European economy is slowing down.
So in the end I prefer BEG's slower but more thorough growth. It's a level playing field.
Anon 09.43
DeleteHow much profit would have Wizz Air made if they didn't have Indigo Partners backing them?
Nemjee, Wizz is the LCC with the lowest costs in the industry and an profit margin of 17 %. Are you serious about your above comments? If yes - well I would seriously doubt your knowledge of the industry.
DeleteWhy are people so pro WIZZ AIR? They are not cheap, look at tickets to Bove and Luton and you will see that they are close to JU tickets!!!
DeleteBoth FR and W6 have serious fleet shortages and are reducing their least performing routes. FR has cut many routes in Sept and October due to MAX.
DeleteSOF has put its money on the wrong cards (airlines), at least short-term. BEG is slowly catching up with its expanding national carrier.
Why wouldn't I be? So what if their costs are low at the moment? They are expanding beyond their traditional business model and that will bring new challenges. You don't believe me? No problem, take a look at what's going on at Ryanair. Wizz Air is following the same pattern and it will most likely experience the same issues down the road.
DeleteWhere is Wizz expanding beyond their traditional model? And what exactly is their traditional model?
DeleteGasterbajter biznis! Reise flights from east to west and back. You missed memo where they launched VIE base, UK base, MXP flights and so on. All this is more $$$ than flying from TSR to LTN or from Lublin to Dortmund... if you know what I mean.
Deleteaha, WIZZ is a Gastarbajter airline. Then JU must be that premium airline carrying business travellers out of BEG to Switzerland, Germany and Sweden- You really mad my day :D
DeleteNo, Air Serbia is the national carrier of Serbia and as such it's role is to provide as many connections as possible. Furthermore, you can say all you want but JU does have a convenient schedule especially to destinations such as Zurich, Vienna, Paris, Amsterdam... I am sure those few business travelers that Serbia has would always chose JU over W6 simply because it's far more convenient and more business friendly. After all, tell me, where would businessmen rather fly to? Dusseldorf or Dortmund? Copenhagen or Malmo? Paris or Beauvais? Amsterdam or Eindhoven? London or Luton?
DeleteJU is far from perfect but please, let's not lose focus.
"I am sure those few business travelers"- good JU then puts its focus on those. WIZZ must have really misunderstood that business.. JU cetrainly has " few business travellers" out of INI, maybe time for the "national" carrier to provide the same service for the whole nation.. I am pretty sure people from NIS would rather land in FRA istead of HHN.
DeleteWith your 9.53 comment it is really nice you remind us not to lose focus...
Seems you lost focus once again when you compared BEG to INI. Newsflash, Belgrade accounts for 44% of the country's GDP while Nis itself around 2.5%. Do you still claim market dynamics are the same and that JU actually serves the same clientele at both airports?
DeleteI would dare to guess that JU in INI is after expats while JU in BEG has a much more diverse range of passengers.
Also I do wonder if you have anything positive to say about JU or is just a long list of complaints and endless negativity? Also I never quite understood what is it that you are actually complaining about.
DeleteUvelik toliko hejta kada je AS u pitanju. Ko ih ne voli neka ne leti njima.
DeleteJust one very specific comment - Wizz Air never had a honeymoon period with the HU gov't. One extreme example: when Malev went bust, that govt sponsored Ryanair to base 5 planes and duplicate Wizz routes. Wizz kicked their asses handily despite the fact.
DeleteIt was not meant to be a JU bashing at all. You claimed how "They (WIZZ) are expanding beyond their traditional business model and that will bring new challenges."
DeleteI asked you what the tradional business model is, and took JU as an example. But you have no arguments except saying that people bash JU, while your initial post is a bash of WIZZ and how they are about to go bankrupt, when in fact they are Europe´s most profitable airline.
So how is wizz losing their traditional business model and JU is not?
Huh? Where did I say Wizz Air is going bankrupt, please show me as I am extremely curious now. Furthermore you must struggle with reading if you claim I did not provide you with actual arguments and facts.
DeleteAs for Wizz Air, for years now their primary focus was to shuttle expats between eastern and western Europe. This mostly happened by flying between two secondary or tertiary airports where costs were lower.
Recently Wizz Air has started to shift away from this model by diversifying its offer. This included the introduction of flights from some expensive, primary airports such as FRA, VIE, MXP, CPH... meaning they are opening a new chapter which will bring new challenges. That is why I mentioned Ryanair as an example as they did the same some 10, 15 years ago. Fast forward to today, Ryanair employees are unionized, their costs have gone up and their operations are not as simple as they used to be in the past. In other words, they started to struggle with the same issues as legacies have been for years now. Don't forget that some years ago FR kept on opening new bases and flights on a daily basis. Today they are going the other way but cutting left and right.
We don't know what will happen in the future but it is likely Wizz Air will be faced with same issues as they are going down the same path as FR. Don't forget that Wizz Air kind of failed in Prague the same way Ryanair is struggling to maintain their Athens base. So these LCCs with low cost structures are not impossible to defeat. This is what I meant by Wizz Air changing its traditional business model. I didn't say they were losing the fight but rather than they were transforming themselves into a different kind of airline. If some parts were unclear to you then you should have asked for clarification before making assumptions and dragging INI into the discussion.
As for JU, in 2013 they introduced a new core business model and it has not changed since. They can't be compared to Wizz Air since they are not a pan-European carrier but a small, regional carrier in the Balkans whose primary goal is to serve the local Serbian market.
Right you didn´t say explicitly they will go bankrupt, but you foresee many problems as pictured above. My interpretation was a bit hard..
DeleteYou are claiming however that they move to major airports in order to expand and their business model therefore changes. I do not see a change of their business model, as apart from flying to major airports they (FR and Wizz) have not changed anything. Flying to major airports has been largly facilitated by the airports themselves drastically lowering their taxes to increase PAX numbers, same ongoing in INI etc.. This alone does not mean a business model change.
JU on the other hand has begun operations out of INI with a completely different business model. (Low one way fares, secondary airports, no business class etc. as opposed to their business model in BEG) Wizz has the same whether flying from FRA or HHN. JU has not.
My point is that Wizz certainly does not have to fear LO or anyone else. They will just look to make as much money as possible.
Tranquilis, it made sense for Wizz Air to have fought like that for Budapest, a large market that was up for grabs. Wizz Air needed it much more than Ryanair did since at that time, if I remember correctly, they lacked a considerable market where they dominated. Budapest was the perfect candidate for them. Even today it's still the only large city where they have such a massive presence compared to their competitors.
DeleteINI is a different story because it was not a decision taken by JU. They were... encouraged... by the government to introduce flights from there. I am sure that if it was up to JU those flights would not have happened, exactly because it's not something they do, not their business model. But in the end they get subventions so no risk of losing money.
DeleteAs for Wizz Air, I interpreted it as a different business strategy because now they will have to up their game and introduce strategies they never had before. Ryanair in Greece is the perfect example where they went up against Aegean which even before FR offered affordable fares, had a superior onboard product and actually had a mileage program. For example in Vienna they will be competing with Austrian Airlines which is far more dangerous because they have the whole LH Group behind them. I think in the end it will boil down to OS and W6 fighting while Lauda will remain a secondary player, after all they are already expanding in other bases outside Austria.
This is why I consider it a different strategy because Wizz Air will have to adapt to the new rules otherwise they will struggle especially if they want to attract higher-yielding passengers. People on here write how easyJet is more expensive but they have to be as over many years now they have worked on attracting business passengers in high yielding markets. This is especially obvious in the UK.
In the end we will have to see what becomes of Wizz Air but I doubt they will stop in Vienna. I have a feeling more western European bases are coming after Vienna and Luton. Hopefully they learned a few things from FR's experience.
Nemjee, you find Air Serbia connection to Zurich, Vienna, Paris, Amsterdam as convenient? Today if you don't have at least 4 flights per day to at least 4-5 hubs and 2 flights per day to other 4-5 hubs you don't have convenient connection. And Air Serbia is so far away from this goal.
DeleteI think he meant morning/evening flights which are convenient for same day travel.
DeleteLO will also increase WAW-BEG next summer from 10 to 11 weekly. This year they operated 11 weekly in September and October.
DeleteWierd about LJU especially with Slovenia's EU presidency.
ReplyDeleteSlovenia's EU presidency isn't until July 2021!
Deletei dont think officials fly with Wizz
Delete*June 2021
Deletecome on its only 3 routes (plus 2 winter routes resumed)
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised with LJU :( after 7 yrs they will stop this route.
ReplyDeleteTheir LJU presence is so odd. Since they started flying there just these two routes with same frequencies.
DeleteWhat else could they launch from LJU?
DeleteSKP
DeleteAre the other two routes from Tuzla which were downgraded last winter to seasonal being extended like Billund?
ReplyDeleteNope.
DeleteSo without Vienna we are back to the same number of flights as last winter.
DeleteExactly. But maybe they base 3rd plane in TZL in summer 2020. We will see
DeleteI don't think so. I believe they have finally understood how seasonal TZL is. So if they open new routes to TZL I think it will be from other bases.
DeleteLJU-CRL:
ReplyDelete31,261 (2016)
31,823 (2017)
33,642 (2018)
Passenger numbers are not bad at all...
Now if someone could calculate the load factor for us :p
DeleteJudging by other two weekly Wizz routes around 33k-34k is standard for them. I dont know the number of operated flights to calculate LF though.
DeleteLets see if BEG-LYS will be back next summer. I doubt it. GVA and LYS are too much.
ReplyDeletePlus GVA-BEG gets the fourth frequency in winter.
DeleteThey will be back next year and some might be returned to year round, like they did BEG-LCA and TZL-BLL this winter.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure they will be back? Only route we have official confirmation will be back is Tuzla-Vienna.
DeleteI travellerd on LYS - BEG 2 times since the launch of the line. On the 1rst flight the LF was approximately 70% and then in the middle if July more or less 90%. But the fares were very cheap.. sad for the winter season :(
ReplyDeleteThat might be the reason the route is ending. LCCs need to have constant 90%+ LF to make a route work.
Delete+ high fares
DeleteLCC is just a sham.
Wizzair is still the largest carrier in ex-yu and is doing fantastic job! 3 routes did not turn profitable so what it´s not the end of the world.. Croatia, Air Serbia, Adria and Montenegro has planty of routes that are not profitable and never will be but they are still operating them due to the political pressure! Go W6!
ReplyDelete+1000
DeleteBEG-VAR/WAW/BUD... were kept because of political pressure?
DeleteIST, OHD...
DeleteExactly so the comment 11.36 was total nonsense. There is also AUH which is best example of how stupid that statement was.
DeleteGo subsidies to operate SKP and OHD new destinations! Go subsidies to operate BUD-SJJ, BUD-TGD etc!
DeleteSubsidies are only a problem if they're given to a national carrier.
DeleteThat was irony, right?
DeleteThat's a fact if to judge by people's behaviour here.
DeleteMillions to Wizz Air right, lower fees to Ryanair great, subsidies to Air Serbia... BAD.
People that bought tickets for Ljubljana-Charleroi this winter are being moved to Budapest-Charleroi flight.
ReplyDeleteHow that helps?
DeleteIt doesn't.
DeleteI think to understand the Ex Yu aviation market you have to be from the region and Wizzair is.
ReplyDeleteWould there be no Wizzair all those connections
from Eastern Europe to Western Europe would not even exist!
Ryanair and Easyjet are only reacting on routes which were staged by Wizzair.
GVA-BEG and TXL-BEG on easyJet had nothing to do with WIZZ AIR. Only BSL did.
DeleteWizzair and Easyjet on BSL-BEG, what a huge diference!?!
DeleteWizzair is much worse compared to Easyjet, starting on their webpage, booking, check-in...
The departure times...
The crew....
The aircrafts....
easyJet is quite decent actually, I like them.
DeleteOvo je jedan croche u nos onima koji misle kako će low cost business procvatati u LJU ako JP propadne. Pa W6 ne može ni ono što je uspio svatko drugi do sada: izgurati JP s tržišta! Patetično
ReplyDelete