Birmingham: Wizz Air Flights, New Routes & Schedule Updates

[Ray Finkle]

I assume we'll hear soon then if it's a Dec start :smile:

Will they be taking on Ryanair at BRS who already fly to Modlin?

It's great to see both airports gaining more routes and frequencies so soon, lets hope it's just the start :good:

 

[nwoody2001]

both routes???

He is indeed correct, Poznan is on the mobile/tablet website.... 2x Weekly (Mon/Fri) commencing on the 18th December!!!!

 

[Ray Finkle]

Sorry I meant BHX and BRS, both having seen expansion in recent days.

Flight times for Poznan, as said 2x weekly on Mon and Fri.

W6 1907 POZ 06:10 BHX 07:30
W6 1908 BHX 08:00 POZ 11:10

Great find Marko1, thanks very much :good:

 

[Ray Finkle]

Poznan is now bookable on the main website :smile:

Times are as above until April when is switches to Tuesday and Saturday with the times below.

POZ 20:00 BHX 21:15
BHX 21:45 POZ 00:50

 

[User001]

Wizz seem to be doing very well from BHX, offering some good routes.

I just wish MAN and wizz could come to an amicable deal, they have met a few times with both sides saying no. MAN won't drop to their price and wizz won't increase to MAN's price. Why they can't meet halfway is a source of frustration.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Swap MAN for BHX and Wizz for Easyjet and it's how many of us on here have felt for a while. Swings and roundabouts I guess.

Looking at the announcements on Facebook and there are quite a few people asking for Bucharest - BHX. It's one route I'd love us to get, alongside Prague. A couple have asked for Katowice and Lublin.

Tomorrows Warsaw and Saturdays Budapest are both more or less full inbound. It's looking around 85%ish for both outbound at the moment.

 

[User001]

But at least BHX has an Easyjet presence, even if it is just a token BFS/GVA/GNB.

It's harder to get them there in the first place than to expand, so the framework is done.

While MAN has the bigger Ryanair and Easyjet presence, BHX now has a full house of what I call the power 5 (Ryanair, Easyjet, Norwegian, Wizz and Vueling). There are other 'large' low costs like Jet2, Iberia Express, WOW air and such, but, the big 5 are the big players, and treat them right, you have the makings for something good.

The question is, can BHX now replicate this low cost success on the long haul market? They have built up an impressive short haul low cost carrier list! Making it a force to be reckoned with now, so much so, that, without making it a MAN vs BHX sentiment, but, I think MAN really has to look over its shoulder, as BHX has the potential to really come steaming up behind it.

Long haul wise, Westjet is ripe for the taking. The B737 is perfect to serve BHX-Canada. Air Canada rouge are moving on up, Air Asia X looking long haul again, and lastly, Scoot are looking at ULH now.

As a staunch MAN fan, I would have said they had a better chance. But, BHX, hmmm. After the recent flurry of announcements, BHX looks like they have been busy in the background! It's been a while since BHX has had this sort of run, and MAN is awfully quiet on the rumour front at the moment.

 

[thunderchild]

I do wonder if the arrival of Vueling, Wizz etc is making EZY sit up and take notice?

Interesting comment about MAN/Wizz coming down to cost considering BHX has always been labelled an expensive airport to operate - given the sudden influx in loco's I wonder if things have changed?

What's been pleasing is that so far these carriers have proven to be more than a one season wonder which is normally the case - each airline has added frequency or routes, even VLM has added one! Hope it continues.

 

[Ray Finkle]

BHX has plenty of gaps in the market to exploit, even now we lack Prague, Lisbon, Oslo, Stockholm and smaller, but still popular destinations such as Porto and Florence/Pisa. It's been this way for a while though so it makes you wonder, "why now?" Possibly no major capital expenditure planned for the foreseeable meaning sweeter deals can be offered, combined with lower oil prices suddenly means BHX is an attractive offer? Europe is building but there are still holes to be filled.

Long haul is a different matter. Air Asia have been spoken to but I believe it's very early days, even on the off chance something does happen it may take a number of years. I think we have to remember that BHX is a total newcomer to the ultra long haul market and up until 18 months ago it just wasn't possible. Unlike MAN there is no historical data of direct flights to bolster their efforts demonstrated by the route they are taking to try and get flights to China. We just need one brave airline to take a chance and prove it can be done, after all they told Emirates BHX would never work.

What concerns me is the leisure market. Thomas Cook are clearly in bed with MAG so are out of the question for now, it's just slightly concerning that they haven't managed to persuade Thomson to add a 2nd 787, although with Cancun now 2x weekly and Punta Cana coming back it's heading in the right direction. Cuba and Las Vegas are still desperately needed. Alot of hope is on Norwegian for these types of routes but they'll only happen if they give us a 787 and so far I've seen no mention of it.

Canada is another one that is lacking with Toronto underserved and Vancouver missing. Air Transat have expanded around BHX and Rouge and Westjet have added but so far we're still waiting. I'd also like to see Emirates get a little competition going east.

BHX is definitely riding a wave at the moment so we'll see what happens over the next 12 months or so.

I do wonder if the arrival of Vueling, Wizz etc is making EZY sit up and take notice?

If Norwegian give us something substantial (i.e. a base) then I think they'll have to take notice.

It's always baffled me why Easyjet have a full ticket desk at BHX when they only have one year round route? You would assume that it's being paid for and the staff don't come for free.

 

[Ray Finkle]

http://www.anna.aero/2015/08/14/ryanair ... st-market/

The link above is to an article about Ryanair becoming the number one airline in Poland and the possible challenge to that by Wizz.

Wizz have recently announced a new route from Bristol to Warsaw Chopin which will be in direct competition with Ryanairs existing Warsaw Modlin service. It will be interesting to see how Ryanair react to this.

There are rumours that two more routes to BHX are to be announced before the end of the year, if that is true then I wonder if they may go after Ryanair on Katowice and/or Gdansk?

It would be nice to get something new, personally I'm hoping for Bucharest and Riga, but Katowice is a big base for Wizz whereas Ryanair only have BHX and STN to the UK. Wizz are also the largest operator out of Gdansk, although Ryanair do have a larger presence there to the UK with BHX, STN, LBA, BRS, EDI and a seasonal MAN.

 

[nwoody2001]

Poland along with the rest of eastern Europe will be an interesting one to watch. the link above is fascinating. Rpoutes to polcand represent approx. 25% of all pax travelling through both Stansted and Luton which just goes to show how many pax are passing through those airports to Poland. Assuming LTN is now carrying 11m and STN 22m, that's 8.25m pax passing from north London to Poland, and that is 8.25m which is a huge chunk out of the BHX catchment. Polish traffic only represents 2.8% of pax through BHX, so at 10m pax annually, that's circa 280,000 pax. lord if we could just claw 500,000-1,000,000 pax from between LTN and STN, that would have a huge beneficial impact on BHX...

great food for thought and just goes to show what potential there is!!!

the good thing with wizz is that they seem quite happy to just add routes quite quick... Bristol has has 2 routes announced over the last 2 months!

 

[Ray Finkle]

It's quite an eye opener isn't it? I think it shows the huge untapped potential.

Wizz were barely into their first week of operations when Warsaw got a frequency upgrade and Poznan was added. I think Lublin can't be too far away and it's only a matter of time until we see Katowice and possibly Gdansk.

Looking elsewhere Slovakia has potential. Wizz carried 14964 pax to Kosice from Luton in Aug so you're talking 150-180,000 pax per year. If BHX could take a few of those back and add some more from our own region it could do very well. Bratislava has always had decent numbers for Ryanair.

Romania is also another untapped market. Luton had 42409 pax to Bucharest in August (Blue Air and Wizz), Stansted had 22527 on Ryanair, Liverpool and Doncaster saw between two and three thousand each. I think it would do well out of BHX.

Other capital cities for the future could include Sofia, Riga, Tallin and Prague. Vilnius could also compete with Ryanairs current Kaunas service.

This is a massive opportunity for BHX, I really hope they grab it with both hands.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Mr Pearson reveals that BHX and Wizz had initial discussions at a 'Routes' conference a couple of years ago and have worked together to get to where we are now. Based upon new route performance the demand for BUD and WAW has been 'exceptional' and 'further markets are being developed' :smile:

Speaking to Routesonline in Durban at the World Routes Saturday Reception at the Greyville Race Course, William Pearson, aviation development director, Birmingham Airport confirmed that the airport’s attendance at our regional and World events had helped secure the arrival of Wizz Air in the midlands.

"The relationship with Wizz began as a result of discussions at a Routes conference a few years ago and since then we have been working with the team to develop route network opportunities from Birmingham. The demand on Warsaw and Budapest, which both launched this week, has been exceptional based upon new route performance.”

The success of Wizz Air’s two routes has already seen the introduction of a third with flights to Poznan due to be introduced from the end of the year and more links could be added by the low-cost carrier. The airline will offer a twice weekly service on the Poznan - Birmingham route from December 18, 2015.

“We are pleased to announce that further markets are being developed, with Poznan going on sale already for a December launch. We are extremely pleased that Wizz has recognised the potential from Birmingham and look forward to strengthening the relationship and network in the coming year," added Pearson.

Full article: http://www.routesonline.com/news/29/bre ... irmingham/

 

[nwoody2001]

and its always nice to read lines like "...and more links could be added by the low-cost carrier" ...I wonder what else Wizz will have up their sleeve!!!

 

[Ray Finkle]

Tomorrows Warsaw currently has only 4 seats left inbound and looks around 82%ish outbound.

At the moment Fridays Warsaw is around 90% inbound and 86% outbound.

 

[nwoody2001]

interestingly, ive been look at the timetable for the new Poznan flights and something occurred. the timings are below:

W61907 POZ0610 – 0730BHX 320 15
W61908 BHX0800 – 1110POZ 320 15

this means the a/c will arrive into BHX at 7:30 and leave at 8:00 every Mon and Fri. I thought the benefit of away based airlines like Wizz was that they would pass through the airport at quieter times. aren't Monday and Friday mornings the businest times at bhx???

 

[Ray Finkle]

It shouldn't be too bad throughout the winter, the times and days then change at the end of March for the summer period.

Tuesdays and Saturdays.

W6 1907 POZ 20:00 BHX 21:15
W6 1908 BHX 21:45 POZ 00:50

 

[BHXsupporter]

Re: Wizz Air to Poznan

Please tell me that friendly taxi drivers can take passengers at 0100 h to hotels who don't mind check-ins even later!

 

[Jon Dempsey]

I thought the benefit of away based airlines like Wizz was that they would pass through the airport at quieter times. aren't Monday and Friday mornings the businest times at bhx???

I flew to Malaga at 6:30 in the morning on a Malaga based Ryanair a couple of years ago.

 

[nwoody2001]

The good news keeps coming from Wizz

Birmingham (BHX) - Bucharest (OTP) Starts on 22nd May 2016 2x weekly (Wed/Sun)

Wizz will now be providing 9x weekly departures out of BHX next summer with WAW 3x weekly, BUD 2x weekly, POZ 2x weekly and OTP 2x weekly.... that's circa 14,500 seats a month or 175,000 seats annually which weren't there last year.

Wizz seem to be committed to BHX and happy to see where they can take them... to launch 2 additional routes within a month of launching your first 2 routes is pretty impressive!!!