Wizz Air has said it is committed to the Balkans after announcing the “difficult decision” to close its base in Tuzla launched back in 2015. The airline will continue to maintain four of its fifteen most profitable routes from Tuzla past mid-September, however, all will be operated inbound by aircraft from other bases. “Wizz Air remains committed to long-term growth in the Balkan region, creating hundreds of jobs while also stimulating the tourism and hospitality industries. In the past twelve months, Wizz Air has announced the allocation of new aircraft to Tirana, Skopje, Belgrade, and launch of new routes to the UK, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Greece, Spain and many more”, the carrier said. It added, “The challenging macroeconomic environment, along with complicated weather conditions in the region, such as frequent fogs which affect operational performance heavily, have, unfortunately, made it impossible to operate a large network from Tuzla Airport and base our aircraft there. We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience that this will cause”.
Over the past eight months, Wizz Air has terminated a total of thirty routes from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the bulk of which were operated from its base in Sarajevo closed in November of last year. The airline will also terminate flights from Stockholm Skavsta to Banja Luka on August 28, while services from Hamburg to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest city will be suspended from late October. As a result, the budget airline will maintain just two routes to Banja Luka over the coming winter. The carrier currently has a contract in place with Banja Luka Airport until the start of the 2024 summer season, which begins in late March of next year. On the other hand, Wizz Air will restore flights from London Luton to Sarajevo in late September, for a total of two destinations from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital, one of which is operated by Wizz Air Abu Dhabi.
Ryanair recently said it plans to significantly grow in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including the Balkans in an apparent challenge to Wizz Air, which dominates in the region. “We want to focus very much on this region. We see that this is going to be a large part of our upcoming expansion. It's pretty hard at this moment to say about the exact numbers, but we hope that the whole region is going to grow at least by 50%", the airline said. Ryanair operates in four out of seven markets in the former Yugoslavia, the only exceptions being Slovenia, Macedonia and Kosovo. Wizz Air is the largest low cost carrier in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia, with Ryanair having the upper hand in Croatia and Montenegro.
Obviously Bosnian market didn't work for them
ReplyDeleteAfter 8 years?
DeleteThey will be almost non existant from BNX this winter too.
DeleteAnonymous 09:06
DeleteOuch!
Don't worry Tuzla Airport's management has woken up and blamed everyone for Wizz Air's exit but themselves. They say how they have secured funds for approach lights. They just forgot to mention that they promised Wizz approach lights to be installed in 2016.
Deletethat was too much capacity in a fragmented market
DeleteTuzla has only itself to blame. The approach lights issue is a major fiasco
Deletelow LF on routes to Nürnberg and Friedrichshafen are to be blamed on approach lights?
DeleteThey can live with a low LF. They can't live with constant diversions, bus transfers for passengers and crew, expense payments, delayed departure and knock on effects
Deletesorry but blaming it only on the airport is just not the full story. Lcc's cannot work with low LF. It is known
Delete4hour delay going out to Istanbul 6hour delay on return to Gatwick once was enough never again already booked my next flight with TURKISH AIRLINES
DeleteTheir main focus in the Balkans now seems to be Tirana
ReplyDeleteRyanair's too.
DeleteThey have 11 planes in Tirana - that is 1 more than SKP and BEG together.
DeleteAre you for real?
DeleteAnonymous 09:23
DeleteThey do actually.
Do they get money to fly from TIA?
DeleteTIA will definitely surpass BEG, SKG and SOF next year. There is a huge expansion and the country is working a lot especially on its coast.
DeleteAs we see with Tuzla, I would be worried when 98% of your growth is based on Wizz Air and Ryanair.
Delete@9.54 yes you can read it online. 100% of all fees in the beginning, they have also discounts if you have low loads
DeleteA. 09:23 - https://bit.ly/43PM2ox
Delete@anon 10.14
DeleteIt seems you keep forgetting how many new flights and destinations were opened in BEG this year and especially that next winter will be much, much better than previous.
I am sure TIA will not surpass BEG and SOF.
TIA will have big passenger numbers but only during summer, BEG and SOF will still end up with more passengers because of year round flights, and both are growing
DeleteTIA won’t be just LCC. They still got BA, Air France, Lufthansa, ITA airways and many more going strong.
DeleteGeez and thats less then SOF and BEG have. just stop this comperison for once
DeleteWhy to stop comparison? TIA is getting close; the comparison is inevitable. And it's interesting to follow. Why so serious?
DeleteProbably because it has absolutely nothing to do with today's article.
DeleteTIA is extremely seasonal, with different profile of passengers travelling compared to SOF and BEG. TIA is more appropriate to compare to the Greek islands or Split.
DeleteTheres a limit to seasonality travel which is fuelled by LCC and subsidies such as seen with wizz and ryan air, they stayed for few years in bosnia then left and even cut routes in Croatia which have a market 3x the size. while BEG just will have an airport to handle 15 million with long haul routes and be regional hub while SOF is also going to expand and modernize one of its terminals to expand growth.
@11.50 its never related but its just thrown in every day regardless what topic it is
DeleteAmazing how many routes they discontinued from Bosnia.
ReplyDeleteRyanair has discontinued several routes too (after just 6 months of flying to TZL). So I'm not so sure the problem is in LCCs.
Delete"committed to Balkans" but not so much to the ExYu region of the peninsula. Got it.
ReplyDeleteWell they added a plane in BEG just this week and will add one in Skopje too.
DeleteThat would be just 1 plane more than what they currently have in TIA alone.
Deleteyes but they will consolidate there too
DeleteAnonymous 09:20
DeleteSource for that?
Yes, I have a feeling both will eventually reduce ops from TIA.
DeleteOh OK, you have a ...feeling!
DeleteYes, it happened everywhere where both went to head to head and saw big growth in short period of time.
Deletejust like in VIE
Deletejust like in SOF
DeleteYou have a feeling, obviously you haven't seen seasonal and out of season activity at TIA.
DeleteIt is unlimited potential...
Pleaseee someone explain me why can't Wizz come to ZAG? It can compete against Ryanair with same routes or even better with more "exotic" routes. No need to base planes in ZAG but some routes from spain, uk, or some south countries, why not? It works in Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar (i think). Why can't it work in ZAG?
ReplyDeleteThey said that Zagreb is too expensive for them.
DeleteWhy would it come to ZAG when it can compete from LJU with no competition there and subsidies available?
DeleteZAG is offering subsidies for several routes, and all are perfect for Wizz.
Deleteyet Wizz won't come because?
Delete@9.23 Which are the destinations again?
Delete@9.34 +1
DeletePrague, Tallinn, Berlin, Budapest, Riga, Vilnius, Luxembourg, Stockholm (Arlanda or Skavsta airports), Tirana, Pristina, Reykjavik, Tbilisi, Kiev (when it reopens), Chisinau and Yerevan.
Deletewasnt DTM offered from ZAG?
DeleteNo
DeleteThanks. Indeed, many routes are Wizz friendly.
DeleteAccording to the incentives model airlines are obliged to pay the full airport fees and only after the 12 month period they will be reimbursed by the airport. That's why not a single airline applied for this and none of those routes have been launched.
DeleteCoastal airports are operated by the state, therefore their charges are kept significantly low in order to support the tourism activities in these cities and to increase the no. of air travelers compared to the ones arriving by car. Considering the high demand by the foreigners during the peak summer months, it's no surprise that Croatian coastal airports serve almost all airlines in Europe in summer.
DeleteZAG is operated by a private consortium with certain investment and concession fee obligations according to the concession agreement. Therefore its accounting is quite different than the state run airports, resulting in higher airport charges (speaking of high charges, all privately run airports in our region -ZAG, LJU and BEG- have charges at similar level). BEG maintains the enormous volume discounts in its incentive scheme or pricelist, resulting in keeping state owned Air Serbia and its long-term partner Wizzair happy. ZAG has issued an aggressive (but temporary) incentive program few years ago resulting in Ryanair to arrive and base in the city. LJU cannot afford that due to its size and the ownership relation between Fraport and LH group.
Why does Wizz not come to ZAG? First of all, due to the relatively high airport charges, there has to be either an incentive program or state subsidies to reduce the airlines' ground costs (to repeat again, Croatian coastal airports' charges are so low and the demand is so high during summer months that they even LCCs do not require incentives to operate). As far as I remember the airport has recently issued a new incentive program for connections to capital cities. Perhaps this could attract Wizz following the leisure destinations' party, somewhere in autumn. Besides, despite the image of strong, sustainable and growing company image, it is known that things are not going so good for Wizzair since the pandemic. Every company's risk appetite is related to its financials.
Thanks for your detailed explanation.
DeleteYou wrote "ZAG has issued an aggressive (but temporary) incentive program few years ago resulting in Ryanair to arrive and base in the city. "
Do you know how long incentive program wil last?
According to the google research (I recommend everyone to do that before posting questions) the incentive model can last five years, if conditions are met. That means until 2026 max.
DeleteI expect they will grow considerably from PRN next year with the abolishment of visas. They are already the number one airline in PRN.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI have no doubt they will open a base in Pristina sooner or later.
DeleteNo airline at the present can afford to open new base. Literally all carriers have problems with lack of staff (flight crew, cabin crew, office workers you name it…) and can barely service their existing networks.
Delete^ true
DeleteIf not this year, for 2024 PRN will be a new base for Wizz.
DeleteKosova free visa 2024
DeleteWizz is strongly focused on SKP , new stats saying they have until June 61% of the Macedonian market and will finish this year with probably around 1.5 m pax , they will also add 7th plane next year and introduce new routes as well.I can also see almost all of their routes now are daily ...With all this I am sure for now we will not see Ryaniar here.
ReplyDeleteWell the one time they wanted to come, they were chased away.
DeleteOn that time it was just political motivation from our politicians and way how to make tender money, but buy the time and todays reality is that SKP cant work without Wizz and its a cruitical airline ..and now is money laundering too but they managed it so nice :)
Deleteyeh money laundering... with not a single penny spent this year on them
DeleteThey run to places where the passengers do not expect 10 EUR airfares.
ReplyDeleteWizz Air has a habit of packing up and leaving after a few years.
ReplyDeleteEvery LLC has
DeleteEvery carrier has that habit, except for the national ones. They work for money. If the money's there, they'll stay.
DeleteThis year they also shut their base in Chisinau.
ReplyDeleteWith a threat of FR at some point starting to expand in ExYu, it makes sense W6 priorities lay in securing a strong position in big and important bases like BEG and SKP. It must be expensive competing in small markets like TZL and SJJ and winning there has no significance compared to potentially losing the position in big bases. And with the industry booming they can easily find new routes for the planes if small Balkan towns are underperforming
ReplyDeletemakes sense. They have strengthen their routes even more to keep off potential competitors
DeleteDoes anyone know how long did Wizz fly to previously in Zagreb?
ReplyDeleteI believe from 2008 or 2009 until 2011.
DeleteI forgot they even flew to ZAG.
DeleteEasyjet used to fly too.
DeleteI think under pressure from real owners (read US private equity) they need to squeeze profits more efficiently hence focus on larger bases in the Balkans, like BEG. FR does put some pressure and I think internal structures are different, it was nicely noted few months ago by djafte kurafte blog.
ReplyDeleteIt's simple, while Ryannair is making winners again, Wizz Air has huge losses. And in the Ex-Yu it is not easy to get higher profits per ticket, since the customers are price sensitive and use the bus/car a lot
Delete*winners = profits (sory)
DeleteEven easyJet is profitable. Wizz is in deep trouble.
DeleteTime for easyjet to enter the region more agrresively :D
ReplyDeletelet them find us on the map first
DeleteWell easyJet flies to Slovenia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria and Greece so I'm pretty sure they know where we are.
DeleteThey fly to Serbia and Montenegro too.
DeleteAnd Serbia and Montenegro too. So what do you mean by let them find us on a map??
DeleteWishing Ryanair a lot of success against Wizz.
ReplyDeleteOh no !! No Ryanair and Wizz Air, they both are the same rascals. They are not really interested in any local thoughts and feelings but only in maximum profit. They are not interested in cheep tickets for their passenger but only in holding down their competitors and possible local projects. They fight against the managements of under-served airports for specially good conditions - often to be read as blackmailing. And if they don't fill the planes by more than 85% after a year or so of covered subsidies, they are gone, leaving a trace of destruction in the local economy. Be aware.
DeleteDramatic much?
DeleteBtw, ALL airlines work for profit and if there's none or not enough, they'll leave, make no mistake.
Not dramatic at all. ALL airlines work for profit. ALL except Croatia Airlines. And they are not leaving to anywhere and their entire history is mistake after mistake.
DeleteThe only thing that airports in the region should understand is not to rely on ONE airline. Banja Luka and Nis got the idea. Wizz and/or Ryan can pack up and leave as they please.
ReplyDeletethey are reducing in both too
DeleteAnd how is that working out for BNX? It will have barely any flights at all this winter.
DeleteWith visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens I expect Ryanair or Wizz Air to develop from Pristina as of January 1st and make a base there
ReplyDeleteWizz is volatile as bitcoin
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/gz7IPTf1uts
Wizz is only committed to where profits are.
ReplyDeleteThis concept is alien to people in Ex-Yu.
DeleteWhat seems alien to Wizz is concept of paying reasonable fees to the airport so that airport can grow terminal, improve runway, nav etc
DeleteAll for me and none for you concept is not sustainable.
As any company should be
DeleteWizz Air removed Kukës, Albania, from its system following the end of its 4 routes:
ReplyDelete▪️Basel
▪️Karlsruhe
▪️Memmingen
▪️Vienna
General downsizing it seems
Wizz moving to middle east. Opening arabia like crazy and even flights to iraq
DeleteWizz Air will be just fine in the Balkans. Tuzla was not a major base for them.
ReplyDeleteYou can't be serious? It was their only base in Bosnia. They have no bases in Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro. Now they are left with Belgrade, Skopje and Tirana.
Deletemaybe the times of small micro bases are gone who knows. They concentrate on fewer big ones
DeleteBulgaria, romania and greece are balkan too
DeleteOk, sad that Bosnia didn't work out for them but I hope this means they wiill put more focus on other markets in the Balkans.
ReplyDeleteThose other markets know same thing can happen to them without warning.
DeleteThing is that Tuzla's WizzAir flights to Germany would always be booked, literally to the brim. This is BS in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteTuzla is the 17th base Wizz closed through the years. No point to invest in airport infrastructure if they can leave you alone in a blink of an eye. They did not mind the weather for 10 years and it suddenly became an issue now? Truth is they have serious losses and need to cut the flesh. And SKP has ILS and weather minima issues as well... should they brace for impact as well?
ReplyDeleteWhich bases have they closed?
Delete