Low cost carrier Wizz Air has removed two routes from its Belgrade network from early October until the start of the 2023 summer season in late March of next year. The airline has suspended ticket sales on services from the Serbian capital to Vaxjo and Sandefjord. The last flights to the two cities for this year are on October 1 and October 2 respectively. Despite initially removing services to Larnaca for the winter as well, the airline has restored ticket sales and increased operations between the two cities to three per week. Further changes remain possible. The carrier will have three 230-seat Airbus A321 aircraft based in Belgrade during the winter.
The budget airline launched services from Belgrade to Sandefjord near Oslo during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in July 2020. At the same time, Air Serbia responded with the introduction of flights to Norway’s capital. Since then, Norwegian Air Shuttle has also restored operations between Oslo and Belgrade. Air Serbia has been successful on the route, which it launched with two weekly frequencies. This July, it ran up to five weekly rotations between the two cities. Wizz Air’s service to Vaxjo in Sweden was launched in December of last year, following several delays. It will continue to maintain operations to Skavsta, Gothenburg and Malmo in Sweden.
Despite the suspension of two routes, Wizz Air will boost frequencies on select destinations from its Belgrade base this coming winter season. In addition to the abovementioned Larnaca, which will run three times pe week from December, the budget carrier has also increased services to Abu Dhabi to four per week from October, as well as to Skavsta and Malta to four per week from December. Overall, at this point, Wizz Air plans to maintain flights to eighteen destinations from Belgrade. Operations to Nice, which were launched in March, will continue to be maintained throughout the winter months. The route was previously served by Air Serbia on a seasonal summer basis but was discontinued during the Covid-19 pandemic and eventually taken over by Wizz.
To be honest, between Vaxjo and Nice and happy that Nice will stay over winter.
ReplyDeleteI’d be happy to have Nice, too.
DeleteHope Nice will wok for them in winter.
Delete*work
DeleteBooked tickets to Nice in October. Middle fare (with 20kg baggage) was 130 euros return.
DeleteIs there a Serbian diaspora in Nice and south of France?
DeleteNot sure how many Serbian diaspora there but know there is pretty big Russian community which will probably use the service, if transfer times fit into SVO times
DeleteSo it means Air Serbia defeated them in Oslo.
ReplyDeleteNo, it means OSL defeated TRF. There is also Norwegian on the market which does well and JU has not managed to beat them. Quite the contrary actually, DY increased its presence in BEG this year.
DeleteWell let's wait and see. DY only restored flights this year.
DeleteYes but they have been flying to BEG for over 10 years, if not more. Also their financial problems are gone since they made a lot of money in the last quarter. They increased BEG-OSL to 3 and 4 flights per week and ARN-BEG operates this year the whole summer season and not just 2.5 months like in the past.
DeleteDY is not getting any weaker in BEG. Let's see if they eventually add CPH-BEG.
True, let's see. I think there is enough room for both DY and JU.
DeleteIndeed and it's a shame JU has only an expensive interline with SK. I suppose DY has transfers from the domestic market. Maybe Bergen could work down the line in summer.
DeleteI think the issue is TRF that is too far away and it costs a lot to actually reach Oslo.
DeleteI would personally pay more to AS or Norwegian and save on train tickets from TRF to Oslo.
Eh, they already have flights to lots of places in Sweden, and Oslo in Norway, so not a big deal
ReplyDeleteNot surprised about Oslo, it's not just Air Serbia that does well but DY as well. I guess here it's not so much Air Serbia's success as is OSL's. People don't even want to fly from that village in the middle of nowhere when they have 7 to 8 weekly flight Oslo's main airport.
ReplyDeleteWizz Air always struggles when they don't get preferential treatment.
Not to mention that trains in Norway are expensive. Even Gardermoen, the main Oslo airport is not that close to the city and express train ticket isn't that cheap.
DeleteWhat's going on with Wizz Air. Why are they cutting so many routes across their network this winter?
ReplyDeleteThey grew too fast. Launched a lot of routes which obviously didn't make sense.
DeleteNot even just in the winter.
DeleteThey are a private owned airline and that's why whenever they don't make money , they simple suspend the route . They don't have their government to cover teir loses as Air Serbia have.
DeleteMaybe they should do a better job at selecting and researching routes. They are cutting many routes across their network.
DeleteWizz Air has Orban. To this day no one knows how much they got for those China flights to bring material for covid. It's a government secret, I wonder why.
DeleteAlso W6 had Indigo Partners covering their losses and that fund is probably richer than the Serbian government. Also, Wizz Air AUH is owned by the Abu Dhabi Fund so they get state aid.
Wizz gets significant support and incentives from various governments, local authorities and airports.
DeleteMaybe its crewing issues? They don't have people to fly all those planes
DeleteThey need better internal planning.
Delete^ Most airlines do at the moment.
DeleteThere is obviously a place for both JU and Wizz at LCA. I guess Air Serbia's flights are mostly made up of Russian transfers
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying there aren't transfers but they started growing frequencies well before the war. I think a lot of people are looking at some alternative summer destinations to the traditional ones, which is why Spain was so popular this year.
DeleteCyprus was extremely popular among holidaymakers this year. Those are the main passengers on this route. Russians make up a certain share of the passengers but their number is blown out of proportion. Also, JU always had a lot of transfers to LCA from Paris, Copenhagen and Germany.
DeleteI flew once from LCA with a lot of transfers continuing to New York. Don't know if it was a one off or they have some feed from/to New York too.
DeleteMind you I remember the flight being at some ungodly hour from LCA. 4AM or something like that.
DeleteI flew with Wizz this year to and from LCA to BEG on both flights A321 was full
DeleteYes, JFK has become a popular transfer option from Cyprus. Demand is not that small, two decades ago Gulf Air even operated LCA-JFK for a while.
DeleteBoth JU and W6 were full this summer. By mid June most Sunday flights with Wizz were sold out for the next two months.
JU was in a better situation as they ended up boosting LCA from 6 weekly to 10.
And how many flights will JU have to LCA this winter?
DeleteWizz prices going up, punctuality and customer care going down. Air Serbia is a good choice.
DeleteWizz Air's punctuality to LCA was atrocious this year because they operated it as the third flight of the day. I don't think 15% of all their LCA flights operated on time. Most had at least an hour delay. Air Serbia performed much better. They also had delays but they were up to an hour. Their 10.20 departure from BEG was always on time as it didn't have many connections leaving from BEG.
DeleteI flew with Wizz this year to and from YYZ to BEG on both flights A321 was full
DeleteWinter us coming!
ReplyDeleteIs it?
DeleteIndeed it is. A cold one too.
DeleteAnd pLandemic one, probably
DeleteAir Serbia is slowly pushing their BEG share down. I would not believe this a few years ago. Instead of expansion, Wizz is stagnating in BEG which is primarily due to Air Serbia being very aggressive lately and responding to market changes on a weekly basis.
ReplyDeleteWell they did first upgrade their A320 fleet to A321 and then they stationed their third plane in BEG less than a year ago. They also launched new destinations, some of them worked some of them didn't.
DeleteThey are not overexpanding like they tend to do in some other places. Don't forget that in BEG they don't get special treatment and discounts.
BEG is the only base in ex-Yu where they don't get subsidies or special discounts. One should keep that in mind.
Delete- In Skopje they get government support and TAV incentives for being the biggest airline with barely any competition
- In Sarajevo they won a tender (tailored to their needs) to get money for basing a plane and launching new routes
- In Tuzla they have been getting incentives from the start which is why Tuzla is still highly unprofitable 10 years after the base opened
They are using BEG incentive scheme, the same one as JU, so it's not like they have same fees like DY, i.e.
DeleteFrom what I know, in order to get JU-style subsidies, you need to have at least 900.000 passengers per year. I might be wrong but I know it was tied to a certain number. With three high density A321s in BEG this should not be impossible for them.
DeleteBEG has strong negotiating possition so it could make the take it or leave deal. Wizz is making some money obviously, otherwise it would gone away.
DeleteIsn't Wizz getting lower prices for using jetbridges in BEG instead using remote stand
DeleteWizz A321ceo capacity is 230 seats, not 220. Neo has 239
ReplyDeleteHow many seats does Wizz Air have on offer from BEG this year?
ReplyDeleteNot a big loss to be honest
ReplyDeleteNice to see Malta doing well for them considering how long it was suspended due to Covid.
ReplyDeleteIt was suspended for so long because Malta had a ban on Serbian citizens entering the country until this summer.
DeleteWhat's more impressive is that this route does well despite Ryanair flying year-round from INI to MLA. I guess Malta is a popular destination in addition to the large diaspora we have over there.
DeleteI neve understood the appeal of Malta. Its beaches are rocky and it is so humid and hot in summer it is unbearable.
DeleteDidn't they also cancel BLL during the winter?
ReplyDeleteNo, Billund was cancelled during the summer.
DeleteWas Billund just recently launched from Belgrade?
DeleteYes in December last year but than it was suspended till March because Wizz cut something like 50 routes from ex-Yu because of Covid. Then they suspended it in July until next year.
DeleteStill hoping that they will finally launch LIS
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey would be the best solution for this route.
DeleteGive us new routes Wizz!
ReplyDeleteShame
ReplyDeleteThey are really lacking crew
ReplyDeleteWhat a surprise. They are constantly playing with their network. No point in buying tickets in advanced with this airline.
ReplyDeleteAgree. They seem to be introducing and suspending routes near constantly.
DeleteSame old same old from Wizz
DeleteIt is interesting that Wizz introducing a lot new routes from Romani to Italy. I now that they have a huge diaspora, but I think that there are a lot options from BEG to Italy. Florence, Bologna...
ReplyDeleteJU beat them to it by opening Bari, Bologna and Trieste this year. With so many routes in Italy, the market would probably be saturated.
DeleteSometimes I think JU is launching routes to dissuade Wizz from launching them.
DeleteThey definitely are.
DeleteThe same what OU is doing in ZAG against Ryanair LOL!!!
DeleteUnfortunate :(
ReplyDeleteHope all the routes are restored as planned.
ReplyDeleteThey will
DeleteI don't think this is a big loss. Four flights per week, replaced by increases on other routes.
ReplyDeleteCorrect. Unfortunately, Sarajevo faired much worse.
DeleteThe way they are dealing with passengers is atrocious. At least these are pre cancelled flights but they are cancelling a lot of flights at the gate around Europe and just leave people stranded.
ReplyDeleteWizzair is a joke
DeleteWizz Air a joke with hundreds of new modern aircraft and destinations? Ok
DeleteThis summer most of the Airlines were atrocious. My daughter was on a group school trip to Europe from Canada. Last leg of the trip was Lisbon. Group arrived at the Check In at 7:00 am for Air Canada flight to Montreal. Air Canada Rep just said your flight is cancelled please come tomorrow.No offer for help for hotel, for a day, Nothing. Absolutely horrendous behaviour ,almost to the point that you would think that Airlines is paying them for a flight and not vice versa. Parochial attitude.
DeleteMight have something to do with their 450 million EUR loss this year.
ReplyDeleteRyanair is also cancelling routes even with better financial performance.
DeleteWizz Air needs to get a grip. They are the worst option for passengers. If they don’t launch LIS, DUB, SNN, OPO, etc. soon BEG should invite Easyjet
ReplyDeleteSNN? They don't even fly from DUB to anywhere.
DeleteSandefjord is anything but Oslo. I cant believe Wizz and the likes advetise it as Oslo. It would be like advertising Divcibare as Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteIt's typical of LCCs to mislead where you will actually land.
DeleteThey are adding flights from other cities. It is possible that they still announce some new routes for next winter from some ex-yu cities.
ReplyDeleteYes, today they announced new routes from Suceava.
DeleteThey announced a base from Sauceava. There goes one of Sarajevo's planes.
DeleteWhen does it open? This winter or next summer?
DeleteThis winter
DeleteFrom December
DeleteIt's good news for Air Serbia!
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteVaxjö will come back next summer .
ReplyDeleteDespite all the hate here on the blog this route is a success .
This place is probably the rarest destination Wizz flies to and that they can fill a plane with over 200 people from there talks for itself ..
It just proves that there is a lot of potentially successful routes that we have never thought about
DeleteThere are*
DeletePure gasto route, that's all there is to it. Nothing rare or special, it also has flights to SKP, PRN and TZL.
DeleteYeah, but if Wizz hadn't started operating these flights, we would never think about the possibility that a route to a random Swedish city with the population of 60k could work like that tho
DeleteI know it's unrelated to Belgrade, but is WizzAir ending Billund-Tuzla this autumn? Is it just a temporary winter break, or is the route being abandoned alltogether?
ReplyDeleteWith Wizz Air i guess all these flights will come back next summer .
Delete