Wizz Air

[Ray Finkle]

I've had a quick look through some seat maps from GLA, DSA, LPL and they're all roughly around the late 80's to early 90's. One thing Wizz do it put bums on seats. Aberdeen is slightly lower and surprisingly Glasgow - Bucharest was only 74%, it must be doing well though as it goes A321 soon. I didn't bother with Luton as there are just too many.

Although were are relatively new to the Wizz network the fact that we are already on par with the more established DSA and GLA shows how well they are doing.

The Wizz routes that they currently have that we don't are Cluj, Gdansk, Katowice, Kosice, Lublin, Riga and Vilnius. We already have Gdansk, Katowice and Vilnius with Ryanair, although a little competition could be a good thing. I can see all of the others at BHX in time.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Wizz Air Makes More of Central and Eastern Europe Accessible to Birmingham Airport Passengers.

Wizz Air, the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe, has recently celebrated inaugural flights to three new routes from Birmingham Airport.

Adding Sofia, Bucharest and Wroclaw to the total list of low-fare destinations means the airline now travels to Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary from Birmingham.

The beautiful Polish city of Wroclaw is accessible twice a week from Birmingham Airport with flights on Mondays and Fridays. The city is famous for having more than 100 bridges and one of the largest urban squares in Poland. Fares start from only £15.49 one-way including taxes and non-optional charges.

The capital city of Sofia, the largest city of the Republic of Bulgaria, departs twice weekly on a Sunday and Wednesday making it easy to explore this ancient city. Founded thousands of years ago, today the capital continues to develop as the country’s cultural and economic centre. Seats with WIZZ are on sale now with one-way fares from Birmingham Airport available from only £28.49.

Bucharest, the bustling metropolis of Romania’s capital city, known for its tree-lined boulevards, glorious buildings and many fantastic bars and restaurants can now be visited twice a week. The route will depart Birmingham Airport on a Wednesday and Sunday. Fares start from £28.49 one-way including taxes and non-optional charges.

Tom Screen, Head of Birmingham Airport's Aviation Development, said: "We’re delighted to be able to add these fantastic cities to our list of Central and Eastern European destinations accessible from Birmingham Airport.

“Having launched only in September last year WIZZ is one of the fastest growing carriers here and it is continuing to go from strength to strength. It’s easy to understand why the carrier is popular with our passengers as it offers low-cost fares to great cities making it an ideal airline for those looking for city breaks or to visit family and friends in Europe.”

Tamara Mshvenieradze, Corporate Communications Manager at Wizz Air, said: “We are delighted to see such quick development and demand of our Birmingham routes. The most recent commencements to Wroclaw, Sofia and Bucharest are perfect city break destinations for our customers who wish to explore the hidden gems of Central and Eastern Europe. Offering outstanding value for money the capitals of Bulgaria and Romania boast beautiful architecture, delicious local cuisine and friendly people. Our friendly crew looks forward to welcoming you on board a WIZZ flight with a smile this summer!”

To book your seat on a Wizz Air flight from Birmingham Airport please visit www.wizzair.com

https://birminghamairport.co.uk/med...-accessible-to-birmingham-airport-passengers/

 

[nwoody2001]

Some impressive growth figures for Wizz this financial year....

Underlying profit +53%
Number of passengers +21%
Average load factor 88.2%

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/WIZZ/12828409.html

 

[Ray Finkle]

Very impressive.

Looking at the seat maps and the Wizz loads have been astonishing in the last few weeks.

Today's Sofia has just one seat left going back.

Tomorrow's Warsaw is 90% in and 93% out.

Tomorrow's Budapest is 93% in and Sold Out going back.

Bucharest has also seen loads in the high 90's, which is great to see considering Blue Air are also almost full.

Half term will no doubt help this week but it's been like this for a while. Long may it continue

 

[nwoody2001]

This is at least one airline that should be VERY happy with BHX, surely growth is on the cards for them in the future!!! We exceed their network average loads consistently, proof of ever it was needed tat there's plenty of demand in our catchment!!!

 

[Brum X]

Hopefully WizzAir will go from strength to strength at BHX and increase there choice out of the airport very soon. Yeah some pretty impressive load's on most of there flights.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I'm looking forward to seeing the A321's, seems like they can't come soon enough

 

[BHXsupporter]

This is when you will see many more of them Ray

Wizz fleet plan shows scale of shift to A321
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/wizz-fleet-plan-shows-scale-of-shift-to-a321-425729/

 

[nwoody2001]

interesting article... its always been assumed (in my eyes at least) that the loco model is dependant on 737/320 units of between 170-190 seats. However, wiz appear to be committing to replace their entire fleet and grow with 321 and 321neos, of between 230-240 seats. That's a pretty big upscale when you think that's a aircraft capacity increase of circa 40%.

240 seats is a lot to fill on a thin route, but I suppose wizz' model is based around high capacity routes. interesting!

 

[Ray Finkle]

Only one seat left on today's Wroclaw and tomorrow's Budapest is sold out.

 

[IanFarquharson]

POZ – 171 / 173

BUD – 179 / 170

WAW – 176 / 171

Not bad !

 

[IanFarquharson]

Those were todays (31st) seat maps

POZ – 171 / 173

BUD – 179 / 170

WAW – 176 / 171

Not bad !

 

[Ray Finkle]

Seat maps for tomorrow (Saturday).

Birmingham to Warsaw Sold Out

Warsaw to Birmingham Sold Out

Birmingham to Budapest 95%

Budapest to Birmingham Sold out

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Seat maps for tomorrow.

Birmingham to Warsaw Sold Out

Warsaw to Birmingham Sold Out

Birmingham to Budapest 95%

Budapest to Birmingham Sold out

I assume at that, Wizz Air could actually be turning people away

I'm fairly sure it's not half term, so I can only think that a frequency increase/aircraft upgrade is needed.

Kevin

 

[Ray Finkle]

Warsaw goes A321 from September and Budapest goes A321 from October. Both should see higher frequency for S17.

We have Ryanair entering the Warsaw market (albeit to Modlin) from September, what's the betting on them restarting Budapest next year?

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Warsaw goes A321 from September and Budapest goes A321 from October. Both should see higher frequency for S17.

We have Ryanair entering the Warsaw market (albeit to Modlin) from September, what's the betting on them restarting Budapest next year?

Thanks, Ray

I do try and keep up with all of the upgrades to services, but it's starting to get bewildering (in a good way!).
Also, I've felt for a long time that Ryanair need a 'kick up the pants'! Hopefully, this is not an effort to see other airlines off a route and then fall back.

Regards

Kevin

 

[thunderchild]

Great loads from Wizz.

And just to add Sofia also goes A321 from Feb 17 and I wouldn't be surprised if Bucharest went the same way.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I forgot to add today's Poznan.

Birmingham to Poznan 99% (2 seats left)

Poznan to Birmingham Sold out

 

[Ray Finkle]

Might as well do tomorrow's flights.

Sofia to Birmingham 95%

Birmingham to Sofia 96%

Bucharest to Birmingham 99%

Birmingham to Bucharest 95%

 

[nwoody2001]

so come on Wizz Air, what you got in store for BHX in S17... surely we've proved ourselves to them?