Wizz Air Adds Bratislava And Copenhagen To Its Network

The latest expansion and the flights to two new European capitals will increase the Wizz Air network to 116 airports across 38 countries as it continues its rapid growth. Its departure capacity has grown at an average annual rate of 64.4 per cent between 2005 and 2104 from just over 2.5 million seats to almost 17.5 million last year. This year capacity will grow by an estimated 24.0 per cent to over 21.5 million departure seats.

Central and Eastern European low-cost airline specialist, Wizz Air is to add two new European capital cities to its network as it expands its route network from Macedonia with three new routes from Skopje’s Alexander The Great Airport.

The carrier will launch its first flights to Bratislava, Slovakia and Copenhagen, Denmark, as well launch a new route to Berlin Schoenefeld as it reinforces its position as Skopje’s principal carrier and Macedonia’s de facto national carrier. All three routes will be operated on a twice weekly frequency with flights to Berlin commencing from March 21, 2016; Copenhagen from March 22, 2016 and Bratislava from March 28, 2016.

This will be the first scheduled route between Macedonia and Slovakia and will resurrect a link into Denmark that was last served by SAS Scandinavian Airlines over ten years ago in March 2005.

Wizz Air introduced operations in Macedonia in June 2011 with flights between Skopje and London Luton and is now offering a total of 24 routes to eleven countries from Skopje and Ohrid.

Elsewhere, Wizz Air has confirmed it will open a new base at Iasi International Airport, its sixth in Romania. The airline will station a single A320 in the largest city in eastern Romania to increase the number of routes served from Iasi to eight and will triple the seat capacity to 265,000 in 2016. The airline hopes this will stimulate the local job market in aviation and tourism sectors as consumers will have access to more low cost routes.

The new aircraft will facilitate the introduction of a three times weekly link to Bologna and twice weekly services to Catania, Larnaca, Rome Ciampino and Tel Aviv from the start of July 2016. It will also allow frequencies to Milan Bergamo to increase from two to three a week, adding to the significant growth of the Iasi – London Luton route which will grow from two to five weekly rotations from the end of March 2016.

Wizz Air first launched flights in Romania in 2007 and now offers a total of 106 Romanian routes to 16 countries from eight Romanian airports.

“We put Iasi on the map of aviation a year ago and it will now become the sixth Romanian airport where we establish base operations,” said György Abrán, Chief Commercial Officer, Wizz Air. “We have constantly expanded our operations in Romania, developed regional airports, and this announcement once again underlines our commitment to the country.”

The latest expansion and the flights to two new European capitals will increase the Wizz Air network to 116 airports across 38 countries as it continues its rapid growth. Its departure capacity has grown at an average annual rate of 64.4 per cent between 2005 and 2104 from just over 2.5 million seats to almost 17.5 million last year. This year capacity will grow by an estimated 24.0 per cent to over 21.5 million departure seats.

Analysis of OAG schedule data shows that the airline’s top five country markets – Poland, United Kingdom, Romania, Italy and Hungary – account for a 58.0 per cent share of its capacity offering.

Ryanair Starts 21 New Routes In Week Two Of W15/16

Surrounded by Ryanair flight attendants at the celebration to mark the start of Ryanair’s Berlin Schönefeld base on 27 October were: Elmar Kleinert, Head of Operations for FBB; Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, State Secretary in the Senate Administration for Urban Development of Berlin; Kenny Jacobs, CMO Ryanair; and State Secretary Rainer Bretschneider, Airport Coordinator of the State Government of Brandenburg. Image: Günter Wicker.

Ryanair used the second week of the W15/16 season to start 21 new routes from six of its bases – including its new base at Berlin Schönefeld (SXF). These are ‘new, new’ routes as opposed to Ryanair’s definition of new – its definition of new includes routes that were started in S15, but were not operated in the previous winter season.

The average sector length of these routes is 1,599 kilometres (up from 1,436 last week) – with the longest route being the 3,668-kilometre Berlin Schönefeld to Tenerife South (TFS) airport pair (last week it was the 3,846-kilometre Tenerife to Copenhagen route), while the shortest also includes the German capital, this time with the 534-kilometre link to Bratislava (BTS). The average weekly frequency of the new routes was 6.6, down slightly from last week’s result of seven.

Vote for Amsterdam Airport’s fire truck water arch. Vote for Berlin Schönefeld, Bratislava or Warsaw Modlin airports route launch cakes.

IRELAND: Ryanair Kicks Off Athens Winter 2015 Schedule

New route to Berlin, Bratislava, Budapest, Santorini and Warsaw. More flights on 3 other routes including Paphos 2X daily, Rhodes 2X daily, and Thessaloniki 8 X daily.

Ryanair kicked off its Athens winter 2015 schedule, which includes 5 new routes to/from Berlin, Bratislava, Budapest, Santorini & Warsaw as well as increased frequencies on 3 other routes (including Thessaloniki 8 x daily), which will deliver over 2.4 m customers p.a. and support 1,800* “on-site” jobs at Athens Airport.

Ryanair’s Athens winter 2015 schedule will deliver:

5 new routes: Berlin, Bratislava, Budapest, Santorini & Warsaw
13 Athens routes in total
More flights & improved schedules on 3 other routes
2.4 m customers p.a. in total
1,800 “on-site” jobs p.a.

Greek customers and visitors can choose from 13 routes from Athens this winter, while enjoying allocated seating, a free second carry-on bag, reduced fees, a new website, a brand new app with mobile boarding passes, Family Extra and Business Plus, making Ryanair the ideal choice for families, business and leisure travellers.


Ryanair’s Dimitra Apatsidou said: “The winter season is almost here and Ryanair is pleased to celebrate our biggest ever Athens schedule, with 13 exciting routes in total, including our new routes to Berlin, Bratislava, Budapest, Santorini and Warsaw. We’ve also added extra flights on 3 routes, including Thessaloniki, with an eight-time daily service from November and we continue to connect Athens with Europe’s major centres of business.

Greek consumers already choose Ryanair for our low fares, industry leading customer service and great route choice. Now they can also book their summer and winter flights on our improved website and great new app, carry a free small 2nd carry-on bag and avail of our new Family Extra and Business Plus services, as Ryanair continues to deliver so much more than just the lowest fares – with more improvements to come in 2016.

To celebrate the beginning of our Athens winter 2015 schedule and 5 new routes, we are releasing seats on sale from €29.99 from Athens to Berlin, Budapest, Bratislava and Warsaw for travel from November to January 2016 which are available for booking until midnight Friday (6 November). Since these amazing low prices will be snapped up quickly, customers should log onto ryanair.com and avoid missing out.”

Athens Airport spokesperson, Ioanna Papapadopoulou said: "We are indeed delighted with Ryanair's decision to continue its dynamic expansion in the Athens aviation market, during the current winter season, with the establishment of new services and the increase of frequencies. The Athens market has been developing rapidly within the last two years, demonstrating double-digit traffic increases and Ryanair has substantially contributed to this success. On our part, we remain firmly committed to continue supporting Ryanair, as well as all our airline partners, in order to further enhance their very successful presence in our market”.