Low cost carrier Wizz Air is suspending additional routes to and from the former Yugoslavia, as renewed lockdowns across parts of the continent and declining demand continue to batter the aviation industry. Wizz has suspended - or is in the process of cancelling - 54 routes to the region. Furthermore, the planned resumption of a number of flights has been pushed back further, which is likely to change again. The majority of services still in operation have had their frequencies slashed compared to the previous winter season. Every city the airline operates to in the former Yugoslavia has been affected. Based on its current schedule, the carrier will offer the most capacity until the end of the year out of Skopje, followed by Belgrade, Tuzla, Pristina, Ohrid, Podgorica and Sarajevo.
Pristina has been one of the most resilient in Wizz Air’s network among cities it serves in EX-YU with just one route - Budapest - suspended due the closure of Hungary’s borders. Although other destinations the airline flies to out of Pristina have had their frequencies reduced, all continue to operate. The carrier also plans to go ahead with the launch of two new routes to Pristina next month, from Milan and Baden Baden, if circumstances permit. Pristina Airport itself has posted better results than most airports in the former Yugoslavia. It was the third and second busiest in the region in August and September respectively, outperforming its traditionally busier counterparts in Zagreb and Dubrovnik.
Within Wizz Air’s network, Skopje has sustained the largest number of route suspensions, amounting to twenty, however, the airline also serves the most routes out of the Macedonian capital as its biggest base. It is followed by Tuzla with nine, Ohrid with seven, Belgrade with six, Podgorica with five routes suspended and Pristina, Sarajevo, Ljubljana and Split with one, although Wizz Air operates just one route each from the latter three cities.
| Route | Resumption date |
|---|---|
| Skopje - Salzburg | MAR 29 |
| Skopje - Charleroi | DEC 19 |
| Skopje - Larnaca | MAR 28 |
| Skopje - Copenhagen | DEC 17 (last flight NOV 15) |
| Skopje - Beauvais | DEC 19 |
| Skopje - Bremen | MAR 28 |
| Skopje - Hanover | MAR 29 |
| Skopje - Baden Baden | DEC 20 |
| Skopje - Nuremberg | DEC 17 (last flight NOV 8) |
| Skopje - Budapest | DEC 18 |
| Skopje - Milan | JAN 12 |
| Skopje - Rome | JAN 3 |
| Skopje - Venice | JAN 13 |
| Skopje - Malta | JAN 12 |
| Skopje - Sandefjord | MAR 29 |
| Skopje - Bratislava | DEC 19 |
| Skopje - Barcelona | MAR 28 |
| Skopje - Vaxjo | MAR 28 |
| Skopje - Turku | DEC 19 |
| Tuzla - Salzburg | MAR 28 |
| Tuzla - Vienna | MAR 30 |
| Tuzla - Berlin | MAR 30 |
| Tuzla - Billund | MAR 30 |
| Tuzla - Basel | NOV 11 |
| Tuzla - Cologne | MAR 28 |
| Tuzla - Friedrichshafen | MAR 29 |
| Tuzla - Baden Baden | MAR 30 |
| Tuzla - Vaxjo | MAR 29 |
| Ohrid - Vienna | DEC 19 |
| Ohrid - Basel | DEC 18 |
| Ohrid - Dortmund | DEC 19 |
| Ohrid - Memmingen | MAR 28 |
| Ohrid - Milan | MAR 28 |
| Ohrid - Malmo | JAN 11 |
| Ohrid - London Luton | JAN 11 |
| Podgorica - Vienna | MAR 30 |
| Podgorica - Dortmund | DEC 19 |
| Podgorica - Memmingen | DEC 18 |
| Podgorica - Budapest | DEC 20 |
| Podgorica - Milan | DEC 18 |
| Belgrade - Salzburg | MAR 29 |
| Belgrade - Hanover | DEC 17 |
| Belgrade - Larnaca | DEC 20 (last flight NOV 15) |
| Belgrade - Beauvais | DEC 17 |
| Belgrade - Baden Baden | DEC 19 (last flight NOV 7) |
| Belgrade - Malta | DEC 18 |
| Niš - Vienna | JAN 14 |
| Niš - Dortmund | DEC 17 (last flight NOV 12) |
| Niš - Malmo | MAR 30 |
| Pristina - Budapest | DEC 17 |
| Ljubljana - Charleroi | MAR 30 |
| Split - Dortmund | MAR 30 |
| Sarajevo - Budapest | DEC 18 |
They just keep pushing those resumption dates further and further.
ReplyDeleteYes Italy routes from Skopje already delayed till January :(
DeleteDon't expect 90% of these routes to come back before summer 2021. Wizz Air pushes back the flight resumption by 10 days every 10 days.
Delete@Anonymous09:05
DeleteIndeed, nothing before April/May 2021, all depends how bad 2nd wave is, we're at the start of 2nd wave of Covid pandemic, most of the EU is about to go under strict lock down, many countries are already implementing lock down which I expect to last at least till mid December. Some restrictions easing for Christmas possible, but 3rd wave very likely in late January, early February. R noumbers must be below 1, google = R noumbers for explanation.
And don't forget that the pandemic has nicely folded into the so-called travel authorizations (= visas) EU plans to implement for Balkan passport holders soon. So I highly doubt the traffic to the EU will be back to 2019 levels for a decade.
DeleteThings seem to be going backwards.
ReplyDeleteWow I'm very surprised by how well PRN is doing considering the circumstance. And them overtaking ZAG and other ex-Yu airports is quite an achievement.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised to be honest. It's an airport that relies heavily (and almost exclusively) on gasto traffic, which has been less affected. Also people have to fly direct to Pristina and can't choose whether to go to Skopje instead so they can avoid entry restrictions.
DeleteBoth SKP and PRN are mainly gasto airports. The thing is, PRN was able to secure more flights to Switzerland and remained more open compared to the rest. That said, Wizz already is deploying their A321neos in TIA.
DeleteAgree 09.02. Credit where is due.
DeleteEurowings (their busiest airline last year?) in PRN according their webpage is down to only weekly each to MUC,STR, FRA and DUS at the moment
Delete@9.11 TIA has only 11 routes operating at the moment. mostly Italy, Germany and London
DeleteSwitzerland suddenly removed the qarantines for people from Kosovo => this resulted in many flights to Switzerland their biggest market .
DeleteAnon 09:11 Wizz shifts planes very often. The A321neo stayed for less than 1 week, and there is only 1 plane based currently in TIA from 3 initially
DeleteThe fact that they already operate this flight in November shows a lot for TIA. The airport has been expanding like crazy.
Deletelol @11.26 . quiet the opposite. italian routes are take over from Ernest. rest is delayed.
Deleteshows only that Italy is a stable market from AL
Interesting that they have more capacity now out of BEG than TZL. usually it's the other way around.
ReplyDeleteTaking in consideration all the circumstances (on the first place that Serbian passport holders can't enter EU) BEG is doing great with W6 flights
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure the flights are filled by those who either have double citizenship or at least UE/Swiss residency permit and are therefore not under any restrictions.
DeleteSo you believe only people with EU residency ever travel to/from Serbia. Cool.
DeleteAnd you believe that the flights are filled with people that cannot enter the destination country. Logical.
DeleteCyprus isn't in the EU? I am sure CY is mostly responsible for better-than-expected BEG Oct results.
DeleteAll these announcements and then nothing, just thin air...
ReplyDeleteVery disturbing strategy from Wizz to keep announcing new routes way beyond their capacity potential, and I wouldn't blame it all on Covid...
It's to be expected.
ReplyDeleteAnd they have no flights to Podgorica this month :(
ReplyDeleteTheir Tuzla operation collapsed more or less. Let's see if they move everything (or most routes) to Sarajevo next summer.
ReplyDeleteOther than the pandemic, Wizz is quite unhappy that TZL hasn't met its infrastructure requirements which are outlined in their contract.
DeleteThey registered a company in Bosnia months ago. Doubt they would have done it if they were thinking of leaving Tuzla.
DeleteThe currently operating flights to Tuzla are still packed all the time.
Delete@14.19 Sept. numbers for Tuzla: Dortmund 59.6%, Hahn 50.4% ...
Deletein the meantime Wizz reduced VIENNA to 3 routes only !!
ReplyDeleteReally?!? Which ones?
DeleteSame with BUD. Only LTN, NYO and EIN survives.
DeleteTheir focus is shifting westwards.
ReplyDeletewas shifting westwards ... with little success
DeleteThey have delayed the launch of their Abu Dhabi base again.
DeleteBut 50+ destinations. That just wow
ReplyDelete:( yes huge number of routes
Delete50 for 7 airports is not that bad.
Deleteconsidering nationals from these countries cannot travel
Just goes to show how bad the situation is.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Ohrid is the only airport that doesn't seem to be affected that much. There will be more flights to London compared to Belgrade for example.
ReplyDeleteUmm what are you talking about? Wizz has suspended London-Ohrid until January 2021 and Ohrid is currently not served by a single airline.
DeleteI also don't understand what you are talking about anon 9.25. Ohrid is one of the most affected airports in the region. Currently no flights and it is questionable whether these Wizz flights will be back in December/January either.
DeletePRN seems to be doing really well for them. Just one route (from BUD) suspended. The rest are operating normally.
ReplyDeleteAnd top of that, they will launch two new routes next month.
DeleteWizz has only hardcore-gasto routes there (Dortmund, Memmingen, Basel ) and VIE is down to one weekly
Deletedont think that MXP and FKB will start next month.
Is that silly flight Balkan flight ban still in force in Italy?
Deletelooks like it is
DeleteOne of the most idiotic policies. Not to say discriminatory.
Deletethe current numbers in Italy say: the ban for the Balkans is absurd they are in fact protecting us now
DeleteSituation will stay this way until EU starts opening borders.
ReplyDeleteSad :(
ReplyDeleteNo surprise
ReplyDeleteWhat do you expect when you are not allowed to travel
ReplyDeleteI do wonder if all will resume eventually or if Wizz will use this as an opportunity to cull some routes for good.
ReplyDeleteWizz Air has been pretty loyal in resuming routes as soon as they can.
DeleteThis is just bad. I'm sure most of these routes won't be back at least not before summer 2021
ReplyDeleteIt's really unfortunate for ex-Yu. Quite a lot of routes.
ReplyDeleteThey will likely offer a very reduced network for a while.
Deletefor a while = as long as travel restrictions are in place
Deletewe'll be lucky if half these routes come back.
DeleteWizz Air has the best cash position among airlines. But I don't know how long even they will manage if this keeps on.
DeleteWe may see growth from them after this year in ex-Yu markets after things calm down.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think that?
DeleteWell they already announced their growth plans from BEG.
Deleteplus SZG routes
DeleteYes, they announced a whole lot of things, they are very good with announcements. Small problem is that they failed to announce that most of those things never happened eventually.
DeleteAnd during the first wave they said how they would come out as winners from this.
ReplyDeleteNo one will be a winner from this mess.
Deletethey said they were profitable in Vienna now it turns out they made -15m there. so much for Mr.Varady (or how his name is ) telling the truth
DeleteThey also said they would be operating their full schedule by July 2020...
DeleteIn October Wizz Air's passenger numbers were down 69.1%, load factor down 29.4 points to 65.9%, ASKs down 57.5%, and RPKs down 69.8%.
ReplyDeleteLCCs have to have a very high LF to make a profit on a flight so these metrics are a disaster for them.
DeleteWizz is bleeding a lot of money. How long can they endure without financial help?
ReplyDeleteDidn't they receive some loan from the UK government?
DeleteThat's not enough. No one will save Wizz like they will do with Lufthansa.
DeleteThat is bad news for ExYu airports.
ReplyDeleteSeems as if they are mainly focusing on Western Europe now.
ReplyDeletewell their VIE base is a stellar success - irony off
DeleteNope. They are focusing on gasto markets, because gastos have residency permits in EU/Switzerland and can travel despite all the restrictions applicable to others. What is more, they still need to travel to see their families etc.
DeleteFor this reason there is a total collapse of the market in places like LJU or ZAG. These countries are in this way "paying" for their relative wealth in the ex-Yu, ie more good jobs in the country -> less people working abroad -> less need for airtravel after business and tourism travel totally collapsed.
Anon 10.21, do you live somewhere where you have internet access and can at least from time to time read the news? whichever source?
DeleteEven in the times of "relative wealth" in ex-Yu Croatia had many people emigrating, and this trend has equally increased in the past 20 years.
The reason for this collapse you write about is the close proximity of the major labor markets for Croation migrants: Germany Austria and Switzerland, and that is why Croatian migrants travel home by buses and or cars and not but plane- except the ones who can not such as the ones living in Ireland- and that is e.g why OU introduced routes to Dublin.
They seem to be suspending routes om a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteBecause the situation is deteriorating on a daily basis.
DeleteHope all the routes are restored.
ReplyDeleteMore to come
ReplyDeleteAre they suspending routes elsewhere or just ex-Yu?
ReplyDeleteWizz are definitely ditching Eastern Europe and the Balkana. They are now aggressively entering Norway with domestic flights starting at €8 from OSL. They are also going to do Gibraltar and already have an extensive coverage in the Canary Islands. The number of flights between UK and Spain is increasing a lot. I doubt we will see them expanding in the region anytime soon with the exception of BEG and possibly LJU following the latest decision for flight subsidies.
ReplyDeleteaha. market share in loss making times is totally irrelevant
DeleteThey are trying to find routes where people even in these difficult times can and need to fly. These are a) gasto routes, b) domestic routes where because of the sea or vast spaces there are little to no options for travel other than by air (Norway, Gibraltar, Canaries). Good for them.
DeleteHuge
ReplyDeleteSeems the Skopje base is most affected.
ReplyDeleteNot only has it been affected but significantly downgraded:
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/06/wizz-air-to-reduce-skopje-fleet.html
"The carrier stationed its fifth aircraft in the city last year with some jets upgraded from the 180-seat A320s to the 230-seat A321s, although this winter saw its entire Skopje-based fleet uniformed to the A320s. "
Definitely demand has went like really down.
SMFH
DeleteSKP base has the most routes so it's logical most flights will be affected.
DeleteNope, it says in the article that even the aircraft have been downsized.
Deleteah mr.notorius again
DeleteThere is just no demand at the moment anywhere
ReplyDeleteBad aviation times
ReplyDelete