Wizz Air

[Aviador]

When jet2 say they won't be basing A321neo CFM powered aircraft at LBA due to "performance issues"

They haven't. It was a member of this forum that said that as hear say.

 

[White Heather]

They haven't. It was a member of this forum that said that as hear say.

Yes, it came from a member who was quite sure and it was stated I believe that LBA would get the A320NEOs, instead of A321NEOs.

Personally I find it hard to fathom why any A321NEO irrespective of engine type would struggle on the routes Jet2 operate, and I sincerely hope he (or rather his informant) was incorrect. I'm clinging to the hope that the couple of A321 training flights into LBA so far are a sign of things to come once the terminal is better able to cope with several aircraft of that size at once, which it certainly can't at present.

 

[Len Fish]

There appear to be three different LEAP engines available for the A321neo and two options from P&W. The LEAP engines have a maximum take off thrust of 32160 pounds, the P&W engines 33110 pounds so in theory on paper the P&W versions operated by Wizz are slightly more powerful than the Jet2 Leap powered aircraft. However, how this translates into their respective real World performance is hard to say although given the similarity in power output I suspect any difference is minimal.

 

[lbaspotter]

I’m lead to believe Jet2’s have mote Airbus A321Neo’s visits booked into LBA for training purposes only at this time.

They won’t be any based at LBA for at least another 18 months.

 

[White Heather]

I’m lead to believe Jet2’s have mote Airbus A321Neo’s visits booked into LBA for training purposes only at this time.

They won’t be any based at LBA for at least another 18 months.

I certainly wouldn't expect them here until the terminal extension is operating at the earliest so some time in 2025. Maybe not before the whole terminal scheme finishes which is 2026.

Anyway, back to Wizz and their woes.....

 

[Statto]

Personally I find it hard to fathom why any A321NEO irrespective of engine type would struggle on the routes Jet2 operate, and I sincerely hope he (or rather his informant) was incorrect. I'm clinging to the hope that the couple of A321 training flights into LBA so far are a sign of things to come once the terminal is better able to cope with several aircraft of that size at once, which it certainly can't at present.

As i recall, the point being made was that Jet2 have a preference to derate the engines on take off in order to preserve engine life / reduce maintenance. So the performance issues only exist if the engines are operating on this reduced power setting. i dont think there was any suggestion that there would be any performance issues at full power. The question is whether Jet2 are prepared to have a different policy for LBA

 

[GolfFox]

Yes, it came from a member who was quite sure and it was stated I believe that LBA would get the A320NEOs, instead of A321NEOs.

Personally I find it hard to fathom why any A321NEO irrespective of engine type would struggle on the routes Jet2 operate, and I sincerely hope he (or rather his informant) was incorrect. I'm clinging to the hope that the couple of A321 training flights into LBA so far are a sign of things to come once the terminal is better able to cope with several aircraft of that size at once, which it certainly can't at present.

They will not struggle with routes from LBA to any of their destinations - but with the CFM engine J2 will be CAT1 only (at this moment in time) as the landing characteristics are apparently different to P&W. (I had this first hand) I recall a discussion a while ago about this aspect. Whether or not that would have anything to do with a decision as to base I have no idea.

 

[pug]

As i recall, the point being made was that Jet2 have a preference to derate the engines on take off in order to preserve engine life / reduce maintenance. So the performance issues only exist if the engines are operating on this reduced power setting. i dont think there was any suggestion that there would be any performance issues at full power. The question is whether Jet2 are prepared to have a different policy for LBA

This is exactly it, it’s not about any perceived shortcomings with LBA, just a concern over operating principles that do have an impact on decisions of how to best utilise assets. Not an issue for Wizzair who quite capably operate easily from LBA. I’m sure we will see more Airbus ops from LBA in the next 2 years though…

 

[lbaspotter]

. I’m sure we will see more Airbus ops from LBA in the next 2 years though…

Now that is a change of tune @pug

Do you know something?

 

[Finger66]

@lbaspotter before I read your post I was thinking the same thing @pug

 

[lbaspotter]

Wizz Air’s LBA Winter 2024/25 Schedule

Wizz Air's Winter 2024/2025 schedule has just been updated which now includes 10x weekly flights on the following 4x Leeds/Bradford routes.

(GDN) Gdańsk = 2x weekly (Mon & Fri)
(WAW) Warsaw Chopin = 3x weekly (Tue, Thu & Sat)
(OTP) Bucharest = Increased from 2x to 3x weekly (Tue, Thu & Sat)
(CLJ) Cluj Napoca = 2x weekly (Thu & Sun)

Mondays
WZZ1615 = GDN 13:45 – LBA 15:20 / WZZ1616 = LBA 15:55 – GDN 19:10 = A321
Tuesdays
WZZ1315 = WAW 07:05 – LBA 08:55 / WZZ1316 = LBA 09:30 – WAW 12:40 = A321
WMT3015 = OTP 15:40 – LBA 17:30 / WMT3016 = LBA 18:05 – OTP 23:30 = A321
Wednesdays
————————————————/————————————————
Thursdays
WMT3313 = CLJ 06:20 – LBA 07:45 / WMT3314 = LBA 08:20 – CLJ 13:20 = A320
WMT3015 = OTP 06:10 – LBA 08:00 / WMT3016 = LBA 08:35 – OTP 14:00 = A321
WZZ1315 = WAW 07:05 – LBA 08:55 / WZZ1316 = LBA 09:20 – WAW 12:55 = A21N
Fridays
WZZ1615 = GDN 13:45 – LBA 15:20 / WZZ1616 = LBA 15:55 – GDN 19:10 = A321
Saturdays
WZZ1315 = WAW 07:05 – LBA 08:55 / WZZ1316 = LBA 09:30 – WAW 12:55 = A321
WMT3015 = OTP 15:40 – LBA 17:30 / WMT3016 = LBA 18:05 – OTP 23:30 = A321
Sundays
WMT3313 = CLJ 06:20 – LBA 07:45 / WMT3314 = LBA 08:20 – CLJ 13:20 = A320

WZZ = Wizz Air (Hungary)
WMT = Wizz Air (Malta)

 

[Finger66]

Yet more increases for the LBA winter. It just gets better and better. Also very positive from a Wizz perspective and looks like they won't back down against RYR. Healthy competition - I like it!

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Yet more increases for the LBA winter. It just gets better and better. Also very positive from a Wizz perspective and looks like they won't back down against RYR. Healthy competition - I like it!

Shame about the early arrivals though. Never a good thing in winter.

 

[White Heather]

They haven't had many problems here due to fog, usually being happy to do a 32 autoland. Wind is the bigger issue.

 

[northsouth]

Still no sign of Krakow! Hoping for a return I am looking at a long weekend trip but FR flight times would best described as awful on this route

 

[White Heather]

Still no sign of Krakow! Hoping for a return I am looking at a long weekend trip but FR flight times would best described as awful on this route

They still have around 45 aircraft grounded and over 80 need turbine surgery which takes months to complete, but the airline have indicated that they will 'return to growth' during 2025 as aircraft return to service and additional new aircraft are delivered. We were told the route was suspended, so hopefully it'll be back .

 

[alpha.alpha]

I was looking the other day at FR & W6 OTP route for this next week. both showed sold out / high fares. hopefully the route working well for both. Great to see Wizz add again. KRK & KTW would be great to see back. Hopefully we will get more from them.

 

[Finger66]

Well we are regularly told they are happy with LBA so I don't see why not. Despite my previously unfounded personal concerns about Wizz they do seem to be weathering the storm and I am glad they are prepared to put up a fight against FR as they often bully their way though life so great that they are not getting it all their own way

 

[Severn]

They still have around 45 aircraft grounded and over 80 need turbine surgery which takes months to complete, but the airline have indicated that they will 'return to growth' during 2025 as aircraft return to service and additional new aircraft are delivered. We were told the route was suspended, so hopefully it'll be back .

Interestingly, even though they have ~45x aircraft grounded this summer, there have also been a large number of new aircraft delivered over the past year. These new aircraft (plus others that have been leased-in) means that the Wizz Air group are actually operating the same number of aircraft in peak-summer 2024 as they did in 2023 (a total of 174) to operate the schedule.

Wizz Air have closed two bases in 2024 vs 2023 (TZL & SCV), some bases have had their based aircraft reduced (VNO, BEG, VIE, VAR, SOF, CTA,VCE, NAP, WRO, KTW, CRA and CLJ) and some have seen an increase in based aircraft (KUT, AUH, TIA, BUD, LTN, FCO, GDN, WAW, IAS) whilst the rest have remained unchanged.

In summer 2024, Wizz no longer operate routes to LBA from KTW, KRK and WRO which they did in summer 2023. KTW and WRO have 1x less aircraft based this summer vs last, whereas KRK has the same number of aircraft based this year vs last. It will be interesting to see if these routes return, but given the KRK base has the same number of based aircraft this year vs last, clearly the route wasn't stopped due to lack of aircraft? Maybe the route wasn't performing as well as hoped, especially with Ryanair now operating LBA-KRK 5x weekly?

 

[Finger66]

Good summary @Severn and some very interesting points mentioned there. Does possibly put a slightly different slant on certain things. I am sure the W6/FR battle has plenty of life left in it yet which I have previously said can only be good for the customer, fare wise at least