Low cost carrier Wizz Air will introduce two new routes from its bases in Belgrade and Sarajevo next year. The airline will commence a two weekly seasonal summer service between the Serbian capital and Nice. Flights will be inaugurated on March 29 and run each Tuesday and Saturday. The route had previously been served by Air Serbia on a seasonal summer basis, however, flights were suspended after just one season in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is unclear whether the national airline will eventually restore operations between the two cities. Nice will become Wizz Air’s second destinations in France from Belgrade, complementing its Beauvais operations. The airline had also previously maintained services between the Serbian capital and Lyon but later terminated the route.
Wizz Air is bringing back plans to launch services between Sarajevo and London Luton in 2022. The route had initially been scheduled to launch in June of this year but flights were later pushed back until November before being completely scrapped. The airline now intends on linking the two capital cities from March 29 with a two weekly service, each Tuesday and Saturday. Based on OAG data, London is one of Sarajevo’s busiest unserved routes., with 46% of travellers transferring via Vienna to reach either of the two cities. It is followed by Lufthansa with a market share of 19%, Croatia Airlines with 13% of all transfer passengers and Turkish Airlines with a 6% share between the two city pairs.
Wizz Air has fuelled Sarajevo Airport’s recovery this year after winning a tender to become the beneficiary of a number of incentives after stationing two aircraft in the city. It will gain further discounts if it increases operations in 2022 and 2023. The budget carrier based its second aircraft in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital last week and launched a handful of new routes. On the other hand, Wizz has also grown its presence in Belgrade by stationing a third aircraft in the Serbian capital and introducing a total of nine new routes. Nice is the second new destination the airline has scheduled for next year, in addition to Rome.
Further flight details for the new Belgrade - Nice service can be viewed here, while additional information on the Sarajevo - London Luton flights can be found here.
People wanted less gasto Wizz routes from BEG so now they have NCE added to the list.
ReplyDeletePeople wants Mykonos not Nice, people want destination in Croatia to compete with crazy AirSerbia fares, people want even Tirana over Nice
DeleteWhy was my comment about Serbian tourists in Croatia deleted? It's easily verifiable by looking at YUTA statistics. Fact is that JU mostly carries transfers from the Adriatic coast to BEG so the p2p fare is irrelevant.
DeleteYeah, literally noone trust Wizz anymore; just a joke at this point
ReplyDeleteWizzAir scam really annoying - their main goal is to collect money and for that they are introducing routes that never materialized, always changing times and canceling flights list minute...
DeleteTheir network out of BEG has been more or less stable with minimal changes. They even launched all the routes they announced for December.
DeleteYes and all get suspended in two weeks until April.
DeleteMy beloved Anon 13.29 friend, that is simply not true.
DeleteBEG-BLL resumes 10.02
BEG-HHN operates normally
BEG-BCN resumes 10.02
BEG-VXO resumes 27.03
So for the time being, only route that kind of resumes in April is Vaxjo. I am especially happy about HHN as I believe that route has a lot of potential.
BTW they get suspended from mid-January so that's more like 3-4 weeks, please be mindful of that.
DeleteGood grief, there isn't a single airline that's not cutting flights right now. Did you see the long list of FR suspension in ZAG for this January? Demand is still not recovering and there is too much capacity.
DeleteI wonder if Air Serbia will restart Nice now?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised they start it earlier than Wizz.
DeleteWizz Air also increased BEG-HAM from 2 to 3 and BEG-FMM from 3 to 4 next summer. I have to admit that their network in Belgrade has more or less stabilized in recent weeks. I think now they know what works and what doesn't. Also they are not randomly expanding like a certain LCC in a market nearby.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how JU could not make Hamburg work but Wizz is doing very well. I flew this route in July this year and the A321 was packed to the last seat.
DeleteWizz is much more active in promoting their flights especially on social media.
DeleteGood thing is that JU informed everyone now about the new routes from KVO and INI. Seems like they finally learned a thing or two from their past mistakes.
JU has horrible app and when I tried to book the flight I quit. The worst app I have ever seen
DeleteWith Wizz launching BEG-NCE it's bye bye for JU on this route. There is a new sheriff in town.
ReplyDeleteJU had lots of transfers on this route.
DeleteIf they did then they wouldn't have cancelled it. I could see JU return to Nice because now they get subsidies so they can fight Wizz by making losses.
DeleteOh you didn't notice something called the coronavirus pandemic.
DeleteThey did have manu transfers, especially Russia. They even resumed the route for a shkrt period in July 2020 in the middle of the pandemic.
DeleteAnon@09.14 - they are already making losses, so I'm not sure whether their game is to continue or even to make worse, the current situation with regards to losses.
DeleteSo many experts here.
DeleteLet's hope Sarajevo-London will finally work.
ReplyDeleteWhy did they delay it in the first place?
DeleteWhat other reasons can there be other than weak sales. Remember Air Bosna also tried it and they had abysmal loads.
DeleteThe entry requirments for the UK are very strict (and expensive). If that does not change by March, I think they will delay it again.
DeleteOne of the main issues are visas.
DeleteBut you have visas from all other non eu ex-Yu countries and their London flights seem to work just fine. Both with legacies and LCCs.
DeletePerhaps they have bigger diasporas and from markets like Serbia, London flights are also used for transfer purposes to the United States and Canada.
DeleteGood luck.
ReplyDeleteDidn't even realise W6 started 9 new routes from BEG this year. That's quite a lot.
ReplyDeleteWizz Air has really done wonders for Belgrade. They opened many markets JU simply ignored. Just look at their success in Heraklion, Santorini, Abu Dhabi and so on. They have expanded BEG's network quite a lot this year. BCN, NCE and FCO are really wonderful additions.
DeleteBCN and FCO are already served from BEG.
DeleteI would not agree in full here. Abu Dhabi service is utilizing the plane that is based in Abu Dhabi. It was mentioned here before that rotation for AirSerbia plane is too long and that it just was not sufficient in the current situation.
DeleteHeraklion and Santorini are nice Wizz just opens Greek islands one by one and then shut them down when the initial wow factor and interest die down. Where is Corfu now?
BCN, NCE and FCO are lovely additions but also nothing new. There was a demand, already recognized by AirSerbia. JU is short on planes at the moment and the connecting traffic needs to rebound, pandemic and all. JU will be back there in full.
I am always thrilled to see good competition, I just strongly dislike the launch and then killing the route if it does not work well in short period of time... which is what LCCs do. It gets tiring after a while.
Are you for real? Corfu was served a decade ago for one season. Both Heraklion and Santorini are already on sale for next year so it seems the wow factor is still there and Serbs can't get enough of Wizz Air.
DeleteAlso before there were two players on BEG-FCO, ITA left so WIZZ stepped in. They are keeping pressure on JU to prevent them from going wild with their fares. Same with BCN, the market is large enough for three players.
@ Anon 09:50 I do not where did you hear that Wizz shut down Heraklion, when flights were full almost all summer https://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/07/trip-report-wizz-air-belgrade-heraklion.html?m=1
DeleteIs there really demand between Belgrade and Nice?
ReplyDeleteSeasonally it seems so.
DeleteSurprised Austrian had the most passengers to London from Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteWhy? It's one of SJJ's main airines.
DeleteTheir significance will erode with Wizz base, Lufthansa launching Frankfurt and Swiss' artival.
DeleteAustrian's significance is fast eroding across Europe.
DeleteI'm surprised there is no JU on the list of connecting airlines.
DeleteIt will erode even faster since Wizz and Lauda are not showing signs of slowing down. OS' CEO quit last week and is moving to Westjet. He is leaving LHG after whooping 16 years. Many are saying that LHG is sailing towards a deep crisis and they have been cutting flights in recent weeks.
DeleteIt also doesn't help they totally destroyed their product so it will be even more difficult to compete with their fares.
@10,39
DeleteJU is not on the list because the SJJ flights don't connect with LHR.
JU's London flights are outside of any usual transfer wave because they are historical slots at Heathrow inherited from Jat and are owned by Air Serbia.
DeleteThe more new roites the better.
ReplyDelete*routes
DeleteWhat are the fares like?
ReplyDeleteI think around €18 or €19 one way. Those are the lowest of course, as the plane fills so will fares jump to much,much higher values.
DeleteIts around EUR 60 one way
DeleteWhich routes are you talking about? :D Belgrade - Nice or London - Sarajevo?
DeleteIs Sarajevo-London also seasonal?
ReplyDeleteNo year round
DeleteNice
DeleteThere goes the story of only Air Serbia being able to bring passengers and income to Serbia. Wizz can do it too for a much cheaper price without any subsidies!
ReplyDeleteThat's a myth. Wizz needs subsidies in general.
DeleteWizz Air and Air Serbia competing on many routes makes sure neither one of the two goes crazy with their fares. Let one put pressure on the other, it's healthy for the market and will make BEG more attractive to the wider catchment area.
DeleteI don't agree.
DeleteStill unreliable. They made massive cuts in their network especially in Malpensa. They also cut many Greek routes and cancelled Skopje-Barcelona. Similar to many airlines,they need cash at any cost to keep on surviving. Ryanair has proved to be much more stable than them in many ways because they can afford flying emptier planes and they do not have 230 seaters.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see more and more route announcements for both cities.
ReplyDeleteWhat other routes have been announced from Sarajevo?
DeleteSarajevo Airport management is in talks with many airlines so I'm sure we will see more announcements for next year.
DeletePlus the opening of the new terminal should help attract more airlines.
DeleteHow many destinations will Wizz have from Belgrade next year?
ReplyDelete24 in summer (if no other routes are added)
DeleteThat's a respectable number when you are competing with a relatively strong home airline.
DeleteWizz is going after Air Serbia routes. Air Serbia should stop pretending their networks are complementary and how there is room for both airlines at Belgrade. There is not. Only one can survive. Wake up Air Serbia and start treating Wizz as an enemy.
ReplyDeleteHahaha because they treated them like a friend until now? JU obliterated Wizz to places like Larnaca and Oslo so they are fighting with them big time.
DeleteThey didn't treat Wizz as a friend, they pretended there is room for coexistence. Air Serbia should start treating them as an enemy actor and act accordingly.
DeleteJU and W6 are 2 different airlines. W6 focuses on O&D while JU goes after transfers as well as O&D. JU didn't do well in HAM but W6 seems to be doing good, while the opposite is true for LCA. There is room for both, and that option should be there to keep prices from going crazy. Competition with Wizz is good for JU, and they have done well reacting to competition.
DeleteThere will be no room for both in 5 years. Wizz will open routes in the next 5 years to most cities where it can legally compete with JU. It's not just a competition, it's a fight for extinction. That can't be good for JU and it can't be good for BEG, just look at LJU without a flag carrier. Competition between W6 and JU at BEG being good is now a myth.
DeleteSeems Wizz is quick in covering suspended routes from BEG. First Abu Dhabi, then Nice.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Turku will be next to replace Helsinki :D
DeleteTurku was planned and abandoned.
DeleteDidn't Wizz also try Tuzla-London?
ReplyDeleteYes, it failed.
DeleteIt was first year round, then seasonal and then it got cancelled.
DeleteWhat I find interesting is that Wizz is not following the list of destinations it originally planned to launch in 2020 with the third plane.
ReplyDeleteThey have launched three routes that were planned in 2020 expansion - Barcelona Sandefjord and Hamburg.
DeleteWhich are the ones which they haven't launched?
DeleteLisbon, Cologne, Milan, Turku, Charleroi and Friedrichshafen.
DeleteIf they are not quick enough, Eurowings will introduce Cologne.
DeleteIf I remember correctly from an article here, Cologne was Belgrade busiest unserved route in Europe.
DeleteI hope, Friedrichshafen will be served soon.
DeleteThis route makes sense. There are thousands of Serbs living in the southern France region.
ReplyDeleteI don't think diaspora is their main target, southern France was extremely inaccessible until JU launched NCE. They performed well so W6 wants a piece of the cake for themselves.
DeleteI'm sure the diaspora will contribute too.
DeleteHow big is Bosnian diaspora in London area?
ReplyDeleteI think over 60, 000 Bosnians in United Kingdom
DeleteThanks
DeleteGreat timetable for Belgrade Nice service. Hope it will materialize
ReplyDeleteWould have been better if it was Friday - Monday schedule for city break.
DeleteWell, not that far from Milan, Switzerland/Ticino.
ReplyDeleteWizz Air's Sarajevo base has been developing nicely. I didn't know this bit mentioned in the article about them getting addition discounts if they add more flights next year so I'm guessing we will see more new routes.
ReplyDeleteHope both will stick
ReplyDeleteNice to see W6 add a non gasto route to Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteMost of those seem to be seasonal.
Delete