Low cost carrier Wizz Air has announced the introduction of three new routes, bringing its total count of new destinations to the former Yugoslavia to over 25 this summer. The airline will introduce seasonal operations from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport to Dubrovnik and Split from July 1 and 2, respectively, as well as year-round operations from the Italian capital to Pristina, starting July 18. The carrier’s three weekly flights to Dubrovnik and Split will compete directly against Croatia Airlines and Vueling Airlines. On the other hand, it faces no direct competition from scheduled airlines on its two weekly Pristina service. Rome marks Wizz Air’s seventh new route to Split and first new service to Pristina and Dubrovnik for the summer.
Overall, Wizz Air is introducing nine new routes from Sarajevo, where it will open a base, seven from Split, five from Banja Luka and Belgrade and one each from Dubrovnik and Pristina. “Our network expansion and the investments we have made in our fleet over the past twelve months ensures we are well placed for a return to normal operations and we are convinced we are now even better positioned to be a structural winner in the European aviation sector”, Wizz Air’s CEO, Jozsef Varadi, said. He added, “We still intend on being aggressive in targeting market share where opportunities arise and plan to stick with all of our bases”.
Wizz Air forecasts travel demand to pick up across Europe following “a period of good progress of national vaccination plans”. Mr Varadi remains confident the airline will emerge as a long-term winner from the pandemic as others retreat. “Our agility and relentless focus on costs and cash are significant competitive advantages”, he said. However, he noted that while he’s confident there will ultimately be a rebound given pent-up demand, “whether this will happen over the summer or the winter or next spring, we don’t know”.
| Route | Launch date |
|---|---|
| Hamburg - Belgrade | 28.03.2021 |
| Sarajevo - Memmingen | 20.05.2021 |
| Sarajevo - Copenhagen | 20.05.2021 |
| Sarajevo - Dortmund | 20.05.2021 |
| Sarajevo - Basel | 21.05.2021 |
| Belgrade - Abu Dhabi | 23.05.2021 |
| Sarajevo - Eindhoven | 23.05.2021 |
| Sarajevo - Gothenburg | 23.05.2021 |
| Banja Luka - Dortmund | 03.06.2021 |
| Split - Oslo | 06.06.2021 |
| Banja Luka - Basel | 06.06.2021 |
| Banja Luka - Stockholm Skavsta | 06.06.2021 |
| Banja Luka - Eindhoven | 07.06.2021 |
| Banja Luka - Malmo | 07.06.2021 |
| Split - Poznan | 11.06.2021 |
| Split - Krakow | 11.06.2021 |
| Belgrade - Heraklion | 12.06.2021 |
| Belgrade - Santorini | 13.06.2021 |
| Split - Lublin | 13.06.2021 |
| Sarajevo - Charleroi | 14.06.2021 |
| Sarajevo - London Luton | 14.06.2021 |
| Sarajevo - Beauvais | 15.06.2021 |
| Sarajevo - Sandefjord | 17.06.2021 |
| Split - Gdansk | 17.06.2021 |
| Split - Wroclaw | 20.06.2021 |
| Dubrovnik - Rome | 01.07.2021 |
| Split - Rome | 02.07.2021 |
| Pristina - Rome | 18.07.2021 |
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Croatia Airlines is being attached on all sides.
ReplyDeleteAnd they are still sleeping.
DeleteThey don't care. The government will bail them out.
DeleteNot sure how much longer that will be possible with Ryanair watching their every move.
DeleteSome people here think that Croatia can just keep on pumping money into OU, well, they can't.
DeleteAlso with them being attacked from all sides they will require more and more money to stay in business. They will become an increasingly expensive toy for the government. Wizz attacking them on DBV and SPU to FCO is a massive blow.
Croatian minister today said that OU is a of strategic national importance and that it will be safeguarded. So they are going nowhere.
DeleteRyanair is attacking Wizz. Unfortunately Croatia Airlines is only collateral damage.
DeleteImpressive
ReplyDeleteFR is much more impressive this year.
DeleteSofar wizz only announces, nothing more sofar 😂
DeleteSo OU will compete with their Q400 against Wizz Air's A321neo? That's gonna be fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteIt is fun to watch this kind of comments. You really think that 90% of travellers care about aircraft type? Most of people trying to find best price, any maybe to find better hour to come on destination. Aircraft type, on 350km route is irrelevant at all.
DeleteWe all know, wizz will have better price because its ULCC, but still, neo vs Q400 discussion is stupid.
Price difference is huge so I don't see Q400 working. Plus they will actually have the same number of frequnecies.
DeleteI'm surprised Wizz Air has not introduced any new routes from Skopje, considering it's their biggest ex-Yu base.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey only introduce new routes from Skopje every three years when their subsidy contract is renewed.
DeleteWhen does the current one end?
DeleteCan't any new routes be sustained without subsidies.
DeleteI believe they can but if you got the airline used to getting money for launching any new route, why would they bother?
Delete@9.04 next year. The last time they had major expansion in Skopje/Ohrid was 2019.
DeleteIt's also notable that there has been no LCC expansion in Montenegro this year.
DeleteMost of the subsidy agreement with LCCs in Montenegro have ended and the government has not renewed them. That's why some routes have been terminated for good, particularly by Ryanair.
Delete@Anon 09:04: Even though the subsidy for the BUD-SKP route is over, W6 still keeps the route.
Delete^BUD was not part of the Macedonian subsidies but the Hungarian one.
DeleteThe longer LCC's don't announce a base at LJU, the funnier it gets :D
ReplyDeleteEveryone really is avoiding it like the plague.
Congrats to all other exYU airports :)
It's a shame. So many airport are getting new flights and all we got is Iberia for a few weeks.
DeleteI wonder what is the issue. I can't believe the problem is Fraport. They manage many airports and they do fine. My only conclusion is the market. I don't know what else.
DeleteOf course it's a market, I really don't know who from airline business can even imagine LCC having a base in LJU. No mass tourism, no gastoz around EU,...
DeleteAbout Iberia, let's wait till their first flight, I am not very optimistic those flights will really happen.
Ljubljana needs to approach them with a good deal.
DeleteNo mass tourism in Slovenija but Ljubljana is a great city break city. And should be promoted as such.
DeleteLJU is one of the worst capital city performers in Europe. How does Bratislava for example have a market yet Ljubljana does not.
DeleteYou all forgot one key thing. Since the very begining FRAPORT was clear about its "mission". They focused, focus and will focus only on cargo. Gov has absolutely no clue and the ministre of infrastructure does not care about aviation - they have bigger interest in infrastructure projects like 2TDK etc. We are doomed.
DeleteNice the new Rome routes will be on the A321neo.
ReplyDeleteYes I believe these three and the new Abu Dhabi-Belgrade flights too.
DeleteLTN is also operated by the A321neo in most cases.
DeleteWhat's even better about Rome is that it is actually from Fiumicino and not Ciampino.
DeleteAnonymous 9:33 Ciampino and Fiumicino are the same. Both approximately 30 minutes from Roma Termini. In fact Ciampino is better since it is smaller.
DeleteCiampino is better, for exmple, you have the bus connection to the citta, 1.5e, from Fuimicino, minimum 8e. So, this is way better, you have bus options from Ciampino to anywhere, from Fuimicino no.
DeleteI agree. I prefer Ciampino as well. It's closer to the city center, easier and cheaper to reach, smaller, easier and less time consuming to use. I used Fiumicino a lot for transfer flights, but whenever possible, I used FR TRS-CIA for P2P trips.
DeleteLet's see how many of these will remain next year.
ReplyDeleteThe battle between Wizz and Ryanair is interesting. Especially with Ryan recently announcing Tuzla flights.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting if FR announced flights to Skopje. Then all hell would let loose :D
Delete@9.15 response to Wizz Air introducing Banja Luka, which was Ryan territory until now.
DeleteMeanwhile Easyjet unaware there are airports in this part of Europe.
ReplyDeleteThere’s a shadow above that part of their European map.
DeleteThey fly from all ex-Yu markets except Macedonia and Bosnia but they are definitely not as competitive as Ryan and Wizz in this part of the world.
DeleteWhat are you talking about @09.17 and 09. 26? Easy is the second biggest operator in Croatia. They have something like 20 services out of SPU and DBV each. They fly to PUY, ZAD, BEG, PRN, TIV, too. Used to fly to ZAG. Started flying to this region with RJK something like 15 years ago.
DeleteOther than Croatia, their presence is woeful.
DeleteBravo Wizz
ReplyDeleteLet's hope these new routes actually launch
ReplyDeleteUntil 2 weeks before the flight, you never know. They usually cancel 15-17 days before the scheduled departure.
DeleteThis is a huge number of new routes in these circumstances.
ReplyDeleteSeems like the A321 will be flying quite a lot of routes from BEG this summer based on seat maps on their site.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the huge Italy-Kosovo market, I am shocked there were no flights from Rome.
ReplyDeleteThere are on occasion when the family mafia tour operators organize them through no name airlines.
DeleteSo where could we see the next Wizz base? Split? Banja Luka?
ReplyDeleteAll their Split routes are seasonal.
DeleteMy guess is Wizz will open a base in BNX next.
DeleteIf they see potential.
DeleteHorrible news for OU because now they won't make any money in summer. I expect large losses, probably around 10 million in Q2 and Q3 on top of 14 million loss in Q1.
ReplyDeleteQ4 will be bad, just bad because of FR.
LCCs seem determined to make them disappear.
Delete"Horrible news for OU"
DeleteFor years OU has LCC competition on these routes, and it was far larger then 3 pw to SPU and DBV. Vueling opereated 4 daily in total from FCO to DBV and SPU.
What will happen with the Tuzla base?
ReplyDeleteFrom the article:
DeleteJozsef Varadi, said. He added, “We still intend on being aggressive in targeting market share where opportunities arise and plan to stick with all of our bases”.
He can say what he want, but they have reduced ops from Tuzla and are introducing SJJ and BNX.
DeleteIssue with Tuzla is that the airport hasn't done a lot of things promised. Wizz Air isn't very happy with them.
DeleteThey are staying in Tuzla.
DeleteOnly OMO seems to be on no ones radar
DeleteMostar - Hahn?
DeleteIt would be nice but nothing for now.
DeleteThat's what he said before closing the other seven (or so) bases too.
DeleteWill they start flights from Zagreb?
ReplyDeleteIf they are going to start flights this summer they musts announce them soon.
DeleteImpressive extension in Rome: Wizz opens a base with 4 A321. 32 new routes from FCO across 19 countries in addition to the current 25 routes (FCO and CIA). I doubt any old/new italian national airline can be successful in Italy.
DeleteAt least they are growing in the region
ReplyDeleteIt's a big gamble with all these new routes. Let's hope it works.
ReplyDeleteWhy a gamble? If it doesn't work they will just terminate it. No big deal. The alternative would be for their planes to sit grounded.
DeleteWhat is interesting is that W6 is actually making FCO their latest base. Interesting expansion to Egypt and Iceland. Traditionally, the Canary Islands and in the region they are expanding to 3 Romanian cities and resuming SOF.
ReplyDeleteSmart move, as they know those destinations are on the future bucket list of Alitalia.
I guess they smell blood with Alitalia. It's interesting they didn't focus much on Fiumicino until now.
DeleteYes, absolutely agree. They probably know that AZ is returning next year and quickly making those routes mature.
Delete4 aircraft in FCO and as you can see the expansion is not small at all:
WIZZ AIR’S NEW ROUTES FROM ROME FIUMICINO
DESTINATION
DAYS
LOWEST FARE*
STARTS
ROME FIUMICINO – LONDON LUTON
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday
24.99 EUR / 21.99 GBP
1 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO – LIVERPOOL
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
24.99 EUR / 21.99 GBP
1 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - EINDHOVEN
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday
24.99 EUR
2 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - SOFIA
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday
19.99 EUR / 38.99 BGN
16 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - TEL AVIV
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
29.99 EUR / 119 ILS
16 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - CASABLANCA
Monday, Friday
34.99 EUR
16 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - MARRAKESH
Tuesday, Saturday
34.99 EUR
2 November 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - MYKONOS
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
24.99 EUR
1 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - SANTORINI
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
24.99 EUR
1 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - CORFU
Monday, Friday
24.99 EUR
2 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO – ZAKHINTOS
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
24.99 EUR
1 5 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - HERAKLION
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
24.99 EUR
16 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - LARNACA
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
24.99 EUR
1 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - FUERTEVENTURA
Thursday, Sunday
39.99 EUR
15 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO – TENERIFE
Tuesday, Saturday
39.99 EUR
3July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - SHARM EL SHEIKH
Thursday, Sunday
39.99 EUR / 48.99 USD
15 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - HURGHADA
Tuesday, Saturday
39.99 EUR / 48.99 USD
17 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - ALEXANDRIA
Tuesday, Saturday
39.99 EUR / 48.99 USD
17 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - KHARKIV
Wednesday, Sunday
24.99 EUR / 859 UAH
18 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - PRISTINA
Wednesday, Sunday
29.99 EUR
18 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO – ANTALYA
Thursday, Sunday
34.99 EUR
15 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO – BODRUM
Wednesday, Sunday
34.99 EUR
18 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - KEFLAVÍK
Monday, Friday
39.99 EUR
16 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - TIRGU MURES
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
24.99 EUR / 119 RON
1 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - CONSTANTA
Monday, Friday,
24.99 EUR / 119 RON
2 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - SATU MARE
Tuesday, Saturday
24.99 EUR / 119 RON
17 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO – DUBROVNIK
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
24.99 EUR / 189 HRK
1 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - SPLIT
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
24.99 EUR / 189 HRK
2 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO – FARO
Wednesday, Sunday
29.99 EUR
4 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO – NICE
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday
24.99 EUR
2July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO – PRAGUE
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday
19.99 EUR / 529 CZK
2 July 2021
ROME FIUMICINO - TALLINN
Monday, Friday
19.99 EUR
2 July 2021
Wish them all the best!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see their third plane in BEG once they decide to base it
ReplyDeleteConsidering they planned to introduce 9 routes with third plane but then cancelled that, it is still very good that they are launching 5 new routes this summer :)
DeleteI expect that they will again announce bringing 3rd plane back to BEG very soon.
DeleteI excpect nothing from Wizzair .
DeleteAny chance they might open Osijek? Didn't Osijek have an LCC tender?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/02/osijek-airport-issues-public-call-to.html
DeleteI know about that but what is the result?
DeleteNothing so far. Seems like it failed.
DeleteThey are adding new routes each week.
ReplyDeleteThey are really building up their presence in Split.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice but it's all for a couple of months.
DeleteWell their planned year-round Dortmund flights didn't work out.
DeleteI fear there is insufficient demand for year long flights.
DeleteCould we see more new routes?
ReplyDeleteI think 28 in total from ex-Yu is quite good.
DeleteThe rate they are going, very likely.
DeleteI think more SJJ routes may be delayed because entry into the EU by the end of May won't be allowed.
ReplyDeleteOnly 3 routes have been moved by a month. The rest start next week.
DeleteFlights are starting normally next week.
DeleteOther airlines were smart to park planes and cancel orders. Wizz was getting new planes during crisis so they are desperate to open new routes. Indigo ownership is down to 8% and headquarters moving from Geneva to Hungary, those are signs Wizz is not going to be moving tons of profit like they did in the past.
ReplyDeleteInteresting perspective. I assume they are moving to Hungary because of costs?
DeleteHow many planes do they have on order.
DeleteWasn't Wizz always based administratively in Budapest?
DeleteThe control was moved to Switzerland on paper to benefit from the swiss taxation system.
DeleteAs far as I can see, they seem to be planning to restore all routes once things calm down.
ReplyDeleteQuestionable. Some routes may be discontinued in favor of new ones.
DeleteShame on Wizz Air, omits the Skopje base. Although Macedonia has no national carrier, Wizz Air enjoys the conveniences of the Macedonian air market as if it were a national air carrier. You caused great disappointment to the Macedonian consumers / passengers.
ReplyDeleteFor years, Macedonian citizens have been expecting you to introduce the three most important destinations from Skopje Airport, which at the moment are:
1) Skopje-Geneva
2) Skopje-Prague
3) Skopje-Ljubljana or Klagenfurt
4) Skopje-Madrid
3) Restore the connection with Salzburg
SKP is pure gasto airport. Don't get too picky now.
DeleteKlagenfurt and Madrid important? Lol!
DeleteAs Anon 21:09 said, SKP has and always was a highly gasto airport as it also acts as an alternative airport to PRN.
Don't also forget that W6 downsized both their fleet and aircraft before the pandemic.
Flights to DOH and DXB are temporarily halted, and 1 weekly E145 KBP service seems enough. We will see how Moscow performs.
As for W6, if there are no new subsidies soon, we are unlikely to see any destinations soon.
I met many Macedonians when living in Prague so Skopje-Prague could definitely work.
Delete