Wizz Air’s EX-YU suspensions grow to over forty routes

Low cost carrier Wizz Air is in the process of temporarily suspending over forty routes from its network out of the former Yugoslavia, in addition to the planned new destinations which have, for the most part, been deferred. It comes as a result of weakening demand on the back of a surge in Covid-19 cases across the continent, fears over the new Omicron strain of the virus, as well as the reintroduction of travel restriction and testing requirements. The airline’s winter operations will be affected across all markets it serves in the former Yugoslavia, including Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Slovenia.

Wizz Air President, Robert Carey, said travellers are waiting longer to book tickets, making it harder for the airline to gauge near-term demand. Mr Carey noted this trend has been witnessed throughout the pandemic and is now being heightened by the new Omicron variant. “Passengers are assessing whether they will be able to travel amid new border closures. Customers are booking closer and closer in. Every week it feels like it gets one day closer to departure”, Mr Carey said. However, Wizz Air is upbeat and has its sights set on increasing demand next summer.

Operational routes throughout the entire winter season from its biggest base in the former Yugoslavia, Skopje, are Charleroi, Copenhagen, Basel, Beauvais, Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund, Hahn, Friedrichshafen, Hamburg, Baden Baden, Memmingen, Eindhoven, Sandefjord, Gothenburg, Malmo and London Luton, however, many will be maintained with a trimmed-down schedule. All other routes have been affected by partial or full suspensions. From Ohrid, only Basel will be operational throughout the winter season, which runs until March 26 of next year. From its Tuzla base, Wizz Air will be flying uninterrupted to Basel, Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund, Hahn, Memmingen, Malmo and Skavsta, while routes operational throughout the winter months from Sarajevo include Copenhagen, Basel, Dortmund, Memmingen, Eindhoven, Basel and Abu Dhabi.

From Belgrade, the airline will continue to run services to Basel, Dortmund, Baden Baden, Memmingen, Eindhoven, Malmo, Skavsta, Abu Dhabi and London Luton throughout the winter, albeit some with fewer frequencies than originally planned, while from Niš flights to Basel, Dortmund and Memmingen continue to run as initially scheduled. Wizz Air will only link Podgorica with Dortmund throughout the winter, with all other routes from the Montenegrin capital having been affected. On the other hand, from Pristina, services to Vienna, Basel, Dortmund, Memmingen and London Luton will run as per normal, while Baden Baden, Milan and Rome will all be impacted by temporary suspensions. Finally, Wizz will go ahead with the launch of its new service from London Luton to Ljubljana on December 13 with a reduced schedule, while Charleroi will only be maintained until January 7, after which it will be suspended until the start of the 2022 summer season.