Low cost carrier Wizz Air is considering expanding its footprint in the former Yugoslavia in the coming months and has held talks with government representatives and aviation stakeholders in Macedonia, Kosovo and Slovenia in recent weeks. The airline is looking to make up for lost capacity resulting from the war in Ukraine and is putting focus on a number of markets. The carrier is preparing to take part in the Macedonian government’s tender to subsidise the launch of new routes, which it has won on all three previous occasions. Tender procedures are likely to kick off towards the end of next month or early June with Wizz considering flights from Skopje to either Ljubljana or Maribor, as well as a destination on the Croatian coast, Prague and the resumption of some routes previously discontinued by the carrier from the Macedonian capital. New services from Ohrid are also expected.
Commenting on its planned expansion push in the region, Wizz Air’s President, Robert Carey, recently said, “As one of the largest airlines in the region, we have visited a number of cities, such as Pristina, Skopje and Tirana, and held talks with authorities. Part of our job is to add as many new destinations as possible”. As recently reported, Mr Carey said the airline is planning to open a base in Pristina in the near future. “We have been operating out of Pristina for several years. We try to offer the best possible service, new destinations and grow continuously, in cooperation with Pristina Airport and the government”.
Wizz Air is also considering adding more seasonal routes to Split, from which it has grown in recent years with new services having been introduced primarily from the Polish market. This time around the carrier is studying potential new operations from Vilnius and Kaunas in Lithuania to Croatia’s second largest city. “The Balkans are one of our success stories. We will look at new opportunities in the region as long as we are satisfied with the marketplace”, the company said. Apart from new routes, the airline is also looking at poaching experienced pilots from the region to satisfy its growing network and incoming new aircraft.
Great news. Let's hope other ex-Yu cities are included as well.
ReplyDeleteThose new routes from SKP would make sense.
ReplyDeleteSKP will boom again , OHD too.
ReplyDeleteDo, they open new route from Skopje and get money for it... How long they have to keep it after the subsidies expire? How long after they can apply for the subsidies for the opening of the same route?
DeleteAnyone know how many of the routes they opened in the first call are still live and how many not.
Since they have so many aircraft on order I assume they will keep expanding in the region.
ReplyDeleteHow many aircraft will they take delivery of this year?
DeleteAnd again no plans to expand from Ljubljana :(
ReplyDeleteMaybe it gets Skopje flights, but maybe they move that to Maribor too.
DeleteMaribor MBX is a better choice as it offers lower airport charges and Graz GRZ has no low-cost flights.
DeleteMaribor is the perfect choice.
DeleteHopefully they not just add Skopje but other routes too.
DeleteI also think MBX is an excellent choice. They should just build a small railway extension (some two three kms) from the main (Southern) railroad from Hoče to MBX and make a regular connection via Maribor to GRZ extended to Graz Hauptbahnhof and the other way to Celje and Ljubljana.
DeleteUnfortunately a rail connection from Ljubljana to LJU won't happen anytime soon (as an ideal train, connecting MBX and LJU).
DeleteTuzla Airport is going to lose Wizz if it keeps acting the way it is. They are constantly changing CEOs, they haven't done the approach lights...
ReplyDeleteFew routes have already moved from Tuzla to Sarajevo base.
DeleteAgree, Tuzla Airport and its management are a mess. But Wizz recently chased out Ryanair from starting flights there so I assume they will stick to it there for some time.
DeleteI hope the new subsidies at SKP go to a different airline.
ReplyDeleteThe tender is made in such a way that no one else is interested. No one else has ever applied for them. So it will go to Wizz Air for sure.
DeleteThe moment Wizz realizes that another lcc has ambitions to open routes from SKP they will react. Just remember how they knocked out Ryanair with opening those 3 new routes (and Ryan moved to Nis)
Delete@9.08 the tender is to base an aircaft and start new routes. Read the tender first before u start conspiracies. MK tenders are the most transparent in non-EU exYu
DeleteAre they going to bring back those flights from Budapest to ex-Yu cities?
ReplyDeleteNo those are gone. Subsidies have ended for those routes.
DeleteSuch a shame they suspended those the ex-Malev routes from BUD in the balkans, right after the subsidies ended. TIA, PRN and SJJ were full of self-transfer pax.
DeleteTIA-BUD is still operating.
DeleteSKP is back too
DeleteTGD too it seems. So only SJJ and PRN didn't return.
DeleteThey are really late to the party in Croatia.
ReplyDeleteWill they be adding any new routes to Nis?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't seem like it.
DeleteThis is great news for the whole region :)
ReplyDeleteNot so much for the local airlines though.
DeleteAny chance for flights to Mostar?
ReplyDeleteThey are in talks with W6.
DeleteWill they consider Zagreb and competing against Ryanair?
ReplyDeleteI think it is too late for them to enter the game and compete against Ryanair.
DeleteIn ZAG has to be different from all the other exYU capitals. And the policy of where to fly from (and to) the exYU space iz different with Wizz and Ryanair.
DeleteTo the average person this is great news. They are allowing more and more people to fly, visit family and even see something outside of their boarders. What a difference a few years makes.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI hope they introduce some of the routes from their planned 2020 Belgrade expansion that never happened, like Lisbon.
ReplyDeleteMost of the routes that they planned then have actually been launched. Although I agree Lisbon would be nice.
DeleteLet's see if any of these new routes launch. They have become known for scheduling and then cancelling routes.
ReplyDeleteThey launched all the new routes they had planned for summer so far.
DeleteTrue they already started Rome - Podgorica, Belgrade - Nice, Sarajevo - Luton and Belgrade - Rome in the last week.
DeleteWill their Belgrade-Nice flights be year round or seasonal.
DeleteYear round
DeleteExcellent. Thanks. I wonder if JU will be able to compete
DeleteWish them all the best!
ReplyDeletelol they will fly anywhere if paid.
ReplyDeleteOf course, if paid why wouldn't you?
DeleteI heard they're coming back to OSI
DeleteI would really like to see them expand in continental Croatia.
ReplyDeleteThey tried out of Osijek.
DeleteI heard they're coming back to OSI
DeleteI think for SKP what they will do is re-launch the destinations they had before such as Barcelona advertise them as "new routes". It will nice to see some real new additions such as another destination in UK and Nice for example, at least for the summer season. I'm also not sure if they plan to launch Abu Dhabi from Skopje or they canceled that for the time being
ReplyDeleteThey will probably do that but I doubt it's just going to be old routes. They usually launch 4 new routes when each tender comes along so I expect to see some new additions. The ones mentioned - PRG, LJU/MBX and (probably) SPU make sense.
DeleteBCN was halted once when the previous tender was delayed.
DeleteWizz will open a base in PRN next without doubt. And I expect they could be very successful there, almost like in TIA.
ReplyDeleteThey are only flying to Basel 3 weekly , PRNs number one dest with 4-7 daily. Its not like there isnt competition for gasto routes
DeleteTheir new Abu Dhabi flights to Belgrade and Sarajevo are performing really well. I'm surprised they haven't added more to the region. With FZ and QR out of the picture, I would have expected them to start Skopje.
ReplyDeleteWe want VIE-BEG!
ReplyDeleteThat is a route that is very much needed. It would end the monopolistic prices that JU and OS are charging us.
DeleteThat would be very bad news for JU and OS on this route.
DeleteI would be happy with Bratislava too.
DeleteJU has responded very well to many new routes Wizz has launched. I'm sure they would find a way to compete against them in Vienna too.
DeleteBEG-VIE would be extremely difficult for Wizz.
DeleteOS and JU would dump prices again, just as they did with Niki. Wizz would in no way be able to compete on frequencies, so they would have to compete on price. They would need to fill 180+ seats, which wont be easy, considering the other options available. Belgrade and Vojvodina is easily accessible by road from Vienna, and is roughly the same travel time as flying, if not quicker. VIE-INI works due to the longer driving distance. This is without mentioning that both OS and JU have the transit market also filling seats on their flights.
Wizz is positioning itself in the right way targeting ex yu
ReplyDeleteI like that they have a wide range of routes from BEG. Gasto and leisure.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can notice this year, they are really going after Air Serbia and have launched competing routes. Rome, Barcelona, Nice...
DeleteThey need to launch ATH and VIE.
DeleteIt's great to see more competition on the market and I hope more will follow. I hope they start some regional routes to lower the fares and force JU to be more competitive.
Delete@10,01
I doubt either will work for Wizz. It will be interesting to see how long they last on BEG-CIA.
For VIE, JU and OS outlived Niki on the route previously. They lowered their fares until they got rid of Niki.
ATH has both JU and A3, who have decent O&D fares with decent connections offered at both ends.
BEG-PRG would be great to see.
Best hopes for MBX!!
ReplyDeleteI wonder what their average LF is on flights from/to ex-yu at the moment.
ReplyDeleteMe too. I would like to see how some of their individual routes are performing.
DeleteYearly averages are similar to the network ones, cca 86-87%, give or take a couple of points for no-shows. It's the yield that counts, observed as revenue per seat, not the LF.
DeleteThe only market in the region that is missing from their route map is ZAG!
ReplyDeleteThat's big brother's kingdom now.
DeleteI agree, there is no point in entering the ZAG market now.
DeleteI would add Split- Eindhoven! Split is still not connected to Eindhoven and all other Croatian destinations from Eindhoven are booming... so I think this would be a very succesful add.
ReplyDeleteSurprising that there are no SPU-EIN flights.
DeleteDo they have any year round route in Split?
DeleteEIN is a great destination, works from anywhere.
DeleteWell done Wizz.
ReplyDeleteAt least they are growing in the region
ReplyDeleteThey're gambling
ReplyDeleteOn what?
DeleteNew ex-Yu routes :D
DeleteWould love to see them expanding their network in Ljubljana!
ReplyDeletethey should first create one
DeleteFor that to happen, Ljubljana would have to approach them with a good deal. Like Sarajevo.
DeleteMaybe they already have.
DeleteLol are you serious?
DeleteI'm reading in this article:
ReplyDeletenew flights planned from Ohrid.
Cool!
Any idea where to?
Rumors are a destination in Italy.
DeleteLol where are all these runours coming from.
DeleteI see Hahn, GOT and CRL.
Maribor - Split route would be awesome if it comes true.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't count on it. It is not even mentioned in the article.
DeleteIt is mentioned as Croatian coast.
DeleteYeah, from Skopje. We have the same name btw.
DeleteWhy do we say that Macedonia is too small for a national carrier?
ReplyDeleteRegarding hubs, SKP is surrounded by hubs in ATH, IST and BEG. SKP was never built with intentions to be a transit hub.
DeleteCatering to the O&D market, Macedonian market is not high yielding, which explains the absence of a number of legacies. Low cost carriers have the advantage of bulk aircraft orders and hubs all over Europe, no Macedonian carrier could adequately compete without losses. Add to that the rampant corruption in our neighborhood and a national carrier would probably do more damage to the market than create any benefit. Air Montenegro in their 6 months of operations for 2021 lost 4.9 million Euros, not to mention the 30 million Euro start up capital it received. For Macedonia, that kind of cash would be better invested in attracting more frequencies on current carriers such as A3 and JU, or bringing in airlines such as LH, LX, HV, KL, RO.
Thank you very much for your very clear explanation, now I understand better.
DeleteWill they ever consider seasonal routes from OHD?
ReplyDeleteThere is some potential there
while SPU seems the obvious choice Pula/Rijeka have bigger gasto potential from SKP and could also serve parts of SLO diaspora
ReplyDeleteAgree that. Even JAT had operated RJK-SKP, once weekly, DC-9, for several years
DeleteThey recently launched expansion plans in CLJ, TIA, BOJ and OTP. The Romanian Italian connections are strengthened because of the huge diaspora in Italy.
ReplyDeleteAs for OHD, yes, there is room for more destinations but with the developments of the Albanian airports it will be complicated.
I would be great to see Transavia France in SKP or OHD. They already fly to LJU, TGD, TIV, SPU, DBV, ZAD, TIA
ReplyDeletePula airport could be a great destination to add for WizzAir.
ReplyDeleteWill there be any new ex-yu route to/from Berlin?
ReplyDeletewhy does wizzair no longer fly from Eindhoven to tuzla??
ReplyDelete