Wizz Air will temporarily suspend seven routes from four cities in the former Yugoslavia over the upcoming winter season, with three of its bases affected. The budget airline will pause operations from Skopje to Bremen and Hanover during the winter season, which begins on October 31 and runs until March 26, 2022. Both destinations will be restored next summer. In addition, Wizz will temporarily halt flights to Vaxjo from October 3 until October 31. Existing travel restrictions by European Union member states imposed on passengers arriving from Macedonia have had an impact on demand on certain routes. Despite the suspensions, Wizz will go ahead with the addition of three new points from the Macedonian capital in mid-December, to Turin, Bologna and Bremen, as well as the stationing of a fifth jet in the city.
The airline will also be temporarily suspending operations from Belgrade to both Larnaca and Sandefjord over the winter, the latter having been introduced only this July following several delays. Both Cyprus and Norway have tightened their entry requirements for Serbian nationals in recent weeks. Air Serbia will act as an alternative, with the airline continuing to maintain flights to both Larnaca and Oslo over the coming winter months. Despite the Wizz suspensions, the low cost carrier is still committed to stationing its third aircraft in the Serbian capital this December and introducing four new routes, including Hahn, Billund, Barcelona and Vaxjo.
Wizz Air’s Tuzla base will also be impacted, with the airline suspending operations to Vaxjo and Skavsta in Sweden over the winter. While services to the latter will be restored in late March 2022, flights to Vaxjo are set for a comeback in mid-June. Furthermore, Wizz will be ending flights between Podgorica and Budapest on October 29, with services resuming on June 13 of next year. Network and scheduling changes remain possible. Despite the suspensions, Wizz Air is continuing its hiring spree. After conducting a recruitment drive for cabin crew members across a number of markets in the former Yugoslavia, the airline has announced another round of open days in late September in Tuzla, Skopje, Belgrade and Sarajevo.
Will DY fly to BEG over the winter?
ReplyDeleteYes, it will.
DeleteYes, they continue to fly from Oslo year round
DeleteNow Air Serbia can at least have a pause from the ongoing K.O. from Wizz.
ReplyDeleteWhat is K.O?
Deleteknock out I'm guessing. Although I don't see where Wizz is "knocking out" Air Serbia.
DeleteASL financial result prove that they have been knocked around for years.
DeleteOn all the routes Air Serbia and Wizz Air have directly competed, Air Serbia won in the end. Larnaca and Oslo are the latest two examples.
DeleteI think Malta is the only one where Wizz Air won ... so far.
DeleteLet's see what happens with Barcelona, that will be the next place they clash. It will be similar to Oslo though since there are going to be three airlines competing.
They seem to be introducing and suspending routes near constantly.
ReplyDeleteNothing new from Wizz.
DeleteAnd that's normal. Winter is coming, they don't have the tax payers to pay for their loses and they don't want to lose money!
DeleteThey have Indigo Partners which have been covering their losses for the first 10, 12 years. No different than having tax payers footing the bill.
DeleteAlso, them extoring desperate airports is a form of subsidy.
Wizzair are not losing money. They were even willing to buy part of easyJet.
DeleteDon't forget their powerful base in Luton.
easyJet offer was pure PR on their behalf. Don't forget that Wizz Air absolutely failed in certain Western European markets like Norway or Germany (DTM base closure). The jury is still out on whether they will manage to consolidate their position there, that is beyond Italy and the UK/Luton.
Delete"Also, them extoring desperate airports is a form of subsidy."
DeleteSupply vs demand. If airports had other airlines, they could have put up higher charges. As they don't, they have two options - have the airline at their terms, or have an empty airport.
"No different than having tax payers footing the bill."
DeleteNo difference? Well I guess you are not the taxpayer. One is voluntary payment the other is not.
Yes!
ReplyDeleteVia Oslo, but it can change to direct flights or no flights at all from Oslo and Stockholm.
?
DeleteWhat is the point of them adding extra planes to SKP and BEG when with these suspensions they can just use existing fleet to cover the new routes?
ReplyDeleteMaybe they are adding frequencies on routes already operated.
DeleteThey are adding A320 to BEG so they probably need a smaller plane for many markets.
DeleteIt just means that they will introduce a lot of new routes in summer 2022.
Deleteits PR like yesterday Ryanairs 10mil pax in Zagreb. however once the restrictions are gone they will be back.
DeleteIt's not PR, an aircraft is arriving in December. It is possible that they will park 1 A321 in BEG until summer though.
DeleteWell it's better than last winter when they suspended over 50 routes.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThat should have been a wake up call for SKP since most of those were from SKP. A wake up call that you should not put all your eggs in one basket.
DeleteTrue @anon 9.09. Last November they had no flights to Podgorica at all.
Delete@9.40 they attracted easyJet now.
DeleteI somehow doubt the airport management proactively tried to attract them. They just came on their own, recognizing after a decade the huge potential of Geneva-Skopje flights, which Wizz Air can't operate because of bilaterals.
Deletelol which airport isnt proactive? svasta procitas
Deleteyou can be sure that not only once they have been approached by TAV
Well I'm not so sure how proactive SKP is. In the last 5 years, other than new Wizz Air routes there have been very few airlines. Windrose, Nordwind and easyjet happened, which is poor for a 5 year period.
DeleteIt's interesting the fight between JU and W6 on Larnaca route. One year the one turns the route seasonal, then makes it year round the other year, while the other turns it from year round to seasonal.
ReplyDeleteBecause the market is not big enough for two players once summer passes. In winter it's either one or the other ... at least JU has transfers which help fill seats. It also helps that this winter Cyprus is allowing vaccinated Serbs to enter the country regardless of Serbia being placed in the red category.
DeleteThis is exactly why Zagreb shouldn't become dependant on Ryanair. Low cost Airlines are only reliable when they can fill full an Aircraft. Otherwise they become unreliable.
ReplyDeleteCroatia is an EU member so they are not subject to the same EU travel restrictions as the rest of exYu.
DeleteHe is talking in general. LCC are known for suspending routes short notice, leaving airports if their needs are not met etc.
Deletewait til the incentives stop. they are not as commited to exyu as Wizz
DeleteBEG-MLA is also being reduced to 1 weekly in October. It seems that this winter will also be a tough one in Europe.
ReplyDeleteMLA was actually restored 2 months ahead of schedule. They planned to resume it in November but brought it ahead to September.
DeleteMany routes from SKP are also reduced to one weekly in October.
DeleteTrue. Turku, Paris Beauvais, Bremen, Hanover, Nuremberg, Barcelona and Stockholm Skavsta are all just one weekly from Skopje at the moment.
DeleteThese one weekly frequencies will probably be extended in November too which is the second slowest month in the aviation industry after February, especially in these circumstances.
DeleteWhat happened with their Budapest routes to ex-Yu? Most seem suspended or disconitnued.
ReplyDeleteHungarian subsidies for these flights have ended.
DeleteBudapest-Podgorica operated normally this winter and will return next summer. It's true that some have been discontinued after the subsidies ended but Wizz has kept some routes because they turned out successful.
DeleteLet's hope they actually launch those new routes from SKP and BEG and not cancel them.
ReplyDeleteThose new Swedish routes are looking unlikely because of entry restrictions.
DeleteI believe all of them will start. They are being launch just as Christmas holidays start in western markets and all the gastos will be flying.
DeleteRoutes are being launched in the middle of December. By then the restrictions will be lifted. I don't know how it is in other Balkan countries but the new wave in Serbia has already peaked and numbers are now starting to come down.
DeleteTaking in consideration all the circumstances it is not that bad.
ReplyDeletePRN seems to be doing really well for them. No routes suspended, all operating normally in winter.
ReplyDeleteBut they only have a few routes from Pristina. So you can't compare it to bases like SKP., BEG and TZL where they have based aircraft and big networks.
DeleteSituation will stay this way until EU starts permanently opening borders.
ReplyDeleteNo surprise
ReplyDeleteunfortunate
ReplyDeleteWinter is coming!
ReplyDeleteI don't think the suspension of Bremen and Hanover from Skopje has anything to do with travel restrictions considering they will keep flying to another 10 cities in Germany normally. These two are already reduced to just one weekly.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why they fly to Hanover and Hamburg at the same time.
DeleteTrue. They are just 150km apart. In Wizz Air's book, that's the same city.
DeleteThey ran out of routes to open
DeleteLCCs have to have a very high LF to make a profit on a flight. Simple as that.
ReplyDeleteWhile state-owned airlines in exyu don't have to make profit at all.
DeleteI also don't think they will resume Skopje - Larnaca and Skopje - Malta in November as scheduled. They keep pushing the resumption dates further and further.
ReplyDeleteIt probably won't start until March 2022.
DeleteThings seem to be going backwards.
ReplyDeleteTheir focus is shifting westwards.
ReplyDeletewith little success
DeleteTheir balance sheets beg to differ.
DeleteWizz is bleeding a lot of money
DeleteBirocrates from eu will have virus despite all this stupid travel measures... diletants
ReplyDeleteThey need another serious LCC in SKP, TZl and BEG to wake them up.
ReplyDeleteWhy do they need to wake up? They are opening new routes from all three this winter.
DeleteThat is bad news for ExYu airports.
ReplyDeleteGood news for competitors.
DeleteThere are no competitors on these routes from SKP, TZL and TGD.
DeleteHope all the routes are restored as planned.
ReplyDeleteThey will
DeleteIn the article it says the flights are already scheduled for next summer.
DeleteYes, tickets are already on sale.
DeleteQuite surprised about TZL and Skavsta. Wizz sends A321 from there to BNX. And TZL flights were quite well performing.
ReplyDeleteI guess launching Skavsta from Sarajevo didn't help.
DeleteStarting Stockholm from other cities in Bosnia definitely had an impact. Plus there is a possibility they might start flights from Mostar too.
DeleteWould not be surprised if they move their Tuzla base to Banjaluka at this point.
DeleteThey recently said they are committed to TZL and won't be closing it down.
DeleteI am surprised that BNX has two airlines that fly to Stockholm over winter. Wizz to Skavsta and Ryanair to Arlanda. And both fly on the same days, Tuesdays and Saturdays
DeleteMore to come
ReplyDeleteIt all really depends on how the travel restrictions pan out over winter.
DeleteAre they suspending routes elsewhere or just ex-Yu?
ReplyDeleteYes, there are cancellations here and there everywhere.
DeleteAnon 14.06
DeleteWhat's the point of your comment? How is one supposed to know what is being reduced by simply going to their website. You would have to know all of the frequencies by heart and I doubt many know that.
Pity
ReplyDeleteFor once LJU isn't on the list of route cancellations.
ReplyDeleteNice to see Wizz restarting LTN-LJU.
ReplyDeleteNow LJU needs LHR to go year round, and new airline for STN. Ryanair most likely.
DeleteLHR year round is pretty useless, unless it would be a daily flight to cover some connections.
DeleteMost tourists or Slovenians in the UK prefer LCCs, as they are cheaper and get you to final destination quicker (15 minutes holding in LHR is nothing unusual + all the mess on the ground).
I don't think this is a big loss. These cancellations will be made up for with the launch of new routes in December.
ReplyDeleteThey have scheduled many routes in the past year only to cancel or delay them.
DeleteThat need better internal planning.
ReplyDelete*they
Deletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uIH03EI9dbU
ReplyDeleteWhen BEG to BGY ? Waiting since years
ReplyDelete