Wizz Air

[Wrightfly73]

I really think we will see more from Wizz at BHX for Summer 21 !

Today's announcement of a Cardiff base is very positive.

 

[IanFarquharson]

I really think we will see more from Wizz at BHX for Summer 21 !

Today's announcement of a Cardiff base is very positive.

Dont bank on it !

 

[JENNYJET]

I fear that as with Monarch and Flybe, once critical mass has been achieved, the banks or the benefactor pulls the plug and another repatriation exercise will follow! Jet2 is ever growing and Wizz is just building and something will come along to scupper things, this year it was Covid, the previous failures were finance issues. God forbid, I do NOT wish for another Monarch situation but I expect something whilst not seeing it coming and the regionals will suffer the most damage as per usual!

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

@JENNYJET you share the same sentiments. I fear it's going to be the purple giant that does get it. They are doing what Norwegian where doing years ago and now look at Norwegian.

 

[Coathanger16]

@JENNYJET you share the same sentiments. I fear it's going to be the purple giant that does get it. They are doing what Norwegian where doing years ago and now look at Norwegian.

I'm not so sure you can compare Wizz to Norwegian. The latter was more reckless with their expansion and tried to do too much. There does seem to be a bit more of a strategy with Wizz Air - they've opened new bases at Doncaster and Cardiff, both relatively small airports that were lacking good connections, with another at Gatwick. They've already taken on easyJet at Luton and are now more or less the same size as them and are holding their own. Think the plan is to do the same at Gatwick, and from what I've seen so far, I think they'll be able to.

As for BHX, I'm still on the fence as to whether or not the airport should want a Wizz Air base.

If you look at their LGW, DSA & CWL bases, the destinations that are served from all 3 are the typical sun & sea destinations in Spain & Greece. Does BHX really need yet another based airline serving those destinations? A few years ago we had Ryanair, TUI, Thomas Cook, Monarch, Jet2, Norwegian & Vueling operating the same routes and look how that ended. Just 3 of those 7 airlines are still serving those routes, Vueling has retreated to just serving their mega hub at Barcelona, Norwegians pulled out completely, and 2 have gone bust.

Yes Wizz might fill in some gaps like Lisbon and Athens, but at what price? We all hail Jet2 as being BHX's saviour, but a part of me wonders if they've grown too big at BHX. Any airline opening a new base at BHX will almost certainly want to serve some of those sun & sea destinations, but has Jet2 made it too difficult for other airlines to enter those routes?

How can 2/3 flights per week compete with 13/week to TFS or 17/week to PMI that Jet2 operate?

 

[JENNYJET]

I was thinking along the line of Easyjet coming in to those new bases of Wizz and forcing them out due to Easy being an established and well known operator, and there are calls for Easyjet to expand at BHX possibly upsetting Ryanair in the process. Is this perhaps the cause of dither upstairs?

 

[Brum X]

Dont bank on it !

Don't bank on it, it was only a few weeks ago we were saying looking forward to seeing more from Wizz, so what's changed now ? So basically Wizz have already lost interest in BHX and looking elsewhere, lol

Not having a moan with you Ian, this is more towards BHX. But you really couldn;t make it up.

 

[jfy1999]

Don't bank on it, it was only a few weeks ago we were saying looking forward to seeing more from Wizz, so what's changed now ? So basically Wizz have already lost interest in BHX and looking elsewhere, lol

Not having a moan with you Ian, this is more towards BHX. But you really couldn;t make it up.

The posts by @Coathanger16 and @JENNYJET got me wondering whether Wizz think easyJet are vulnerable and that it’s worth turning the screw on them as they’ve already been doing to Norwegian. The bases at LTN, LGW, and potentially MAN and EDI would support that theory, as would CWL which competes with easyJet at BRS.

 

[IanFarquharson]

Don't bank on it, it was only a few weeks ago we were saying looking forward to seeing more from Wizz, so what's changed now ? So basically Wizz have already lost interest in BHX and looking elsewhere, lol

Not having a moan with you Ian, this is more towards BHX. But you really couldn;t make it up.

A lot can change in a few weeks !

 

[Ray Finkle]

I'm not so sure you can compare Wizz to Norwegian. The latter was more reckless with their expansion and tried to do too much. There does seem to be a bit more of a strategy with Wizz Air - they've opened new bases at Doncaster and Cardiff, both relatively small airports that were lacking good connections, with another at Gatwick. They've already taken on easyJet at Luton and are now more or less the same size as them and are holding their own. Think the plan is to do the same at Gatwick, and from what I've seen so far, I think they'll be able to.

As for BHX, I'm still on the fence as to whether or not the airport should want a Wizz Air base.

If you look at their LGW, DSA & CWL bases, the destinations that are served from all 3 are the typical sun & sea destinations in Spain & Greece. Does BHX really need yet another based airline serving those destinations? A few years ago we had Ryanair, TUI, Thomas Cook, Monarch, Jet2, Norwegian & Vueling operating the same routes and look how that ended. Just 3 of those 7 airlines are still serving those routes, Vueling has retreated to just serving their mega hub at Barcelona, Norwegians pulled out completely, and 2 have gone bust.

Yes Wizz might fill in some gaps like Lisbon and Athens, but at what price? We all hail Jet2 as being BHX's saviour, but a part of me wonders if they've grown too big at BHX. Any airline opening a new base at BHX will almost certainly want to serve some of those sun & sea destinations, but has Jet2 made it too difficult for other airlines to enter those routes?

How can 2/3 flights per week compete with 13/week to TFS or 17/week to PMI that Jet2 operate?

I feel the same way about a potential Wizz base.

On one hand BHX doesn't exactly seem to have airlines queuing up to fill the missing routes and if the opportunity is there to get based aircraft and the likes of LIS, ATH and MXP back then maybe it shouldn't be allowed to slip away. On the other hand when you look at the gaps left by Flybe, are Wizz really the ones to step in? We desperately need some of the German and French routes back along with the likes of the Isle of Man and for that you are well into easyjet territory.

In an ideal world I'd love to see an easyjet base with Wizz increasing frequencies on their existing routes and adding a few more from other bases. Bacau, Catania, Debrecen, Bari, Larnaca, Milan, Timisoara, Gdansk, Katowice and Varna are all Wizz bases and any of those could slot in very nicely at BHX. An easyjet base could then offer a return of Milan, Lisbon, Berlin and Madrid along with some French routes and maybe even Gibraltar.

Jet2 have conquered what was still up for grabs when it comes to the holiday market and we definitely don't want a return to seven airlines all on the same routes whilst others remain empty but if anyone has ever looked at seat only with Jet2 on some of the sun routes the prices can be eye watering. I'm not criticizing Jet2 in any way as their business model is selling holidays and TUi are similar but it maybe means that there is room for one more in the seat only market?

 

[Karl C]

Ray, this is so true. Whenever I want to fly back to the UK, I look first at Jet2 and Tui to BHX. Both expensive. Then I look at Turkish Airlines to BHX.... outrageous! Then I look at LHR and it's so much cheaper. This Xmas I'm flying home with BA to LHR from Istanbul on a 788 in business class and it's cheaper than economy to BHX with TK...go figure. It's BHX first then LHR. Any other airport is not considered.
I've lost count how many times I've hoped for easyJet to start BHX-DLM. Give the incumbents a lil run for their money and bring down the prices that they charge for their flight onlys.

Bit early, but it has been a strange old year.......Merry Christmas everyone

 

[Ray Finkle]

This Xmas I'm flying home with BA to LHR from Istanbul on a 788 in business class and it's cheaper than economy to BHX with TK

Stories like this seem all too common and just reinforce the perception that 'Birmingham is an expensive airport to fly from'.

 

[JENNYJET]

Not meant to be a Like, nothing to warrant a thumbs up but something is wrong or Turkish are quite a wonderful airline if Business class is cheaper to Heathrow, crazy economics.

 

[Karl C]

Niche routes....niche prices! If Pegasus were to start from Sabiha then maybe prices might come down...fingers crossed

 

[IanFarquharson]

Niche routes....niche prices! If Pegasus were to start from Sabiha then maybe prices might come down...fingers crossed

Not in the near future

 

[Ray Finkle]

HA-LYK is on it's way from Iasi, due 17:57.

 

[Wrightfly73]

Tomorrow sees the start of Riga! Great to see that destination available from Birmingham after being on the wishlist for so long.

5 departures from BHX with Wizz tomorrow: Wrocław, Warsaw, Riga, Cluj & Bucharest.

Vilnius also due to start on Saturday.

 

[JENNYJET]

I remember Riga as having a reputation from the Soviet days, always mentioned after spying scandals, great to see it on BHX boards and Moscow next please!

 

[Ray Finkle]

Vilnius starts today although the inbound isn't due until 21:15. Looking at the seat maps it's showing 72% outbound which, given the circumstances, is a healthy load, especially when you take into account those that maybe haven't checked in yet.

Three Wizz flights today with Krakow and Craiova being the other two.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Another update but further changes are likely.

Iasi returns 7th Feb weekly on a Sun, 2x weekly from March.
Craiova returns 9th Feb at 2x weekly.
Cluj-Napoca returns 12th Feb, 2x weekly from March.
Bucharest continues on Fridays until 8th Feb when it goes back to 3x weekly.
Wroclaw returns 12th Feb at 2x weekly.
Warsaw returns 12th Feb, 3x weekly from March.
Krakow, Vilnius, Riga and Budapest all return in the first week of March.