Wizz Air

[TheLocalYokel]

The Wizz seat selector is currently showing the following loads for the next four rotations.

Saturday

Katowice-Bristol 91.1%
Bristol-Katowice 90%

Sunday

Sofia-Bristol 87.8%
Bristol-Sofia 89.4%

Warsaw Chopin-Bristol 87.8%
Bristol-Warsaw Chopin 91.1%

Monday

Kosice-Bristol 78.3%
Bristol-Kosice 79.4%

 

[Aviador]

Considering Ryanair had an advertising campaign saying byebye to all the various European carriers, Wizz don't seem phased at all and just plough on with expansion regardless.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Haven't looked at the Wizz seating plan for a while but I've just had a look at this evening's Kosice, which has had slightly disappointing loads at times in the past.

Outbound is so-so at 85.5% seats taken but inbound shows only two spare seats including 'mine' in the test booking which equates to around 99% seats taken. With the CAA stats disappearing along with England's inglorious exit from Euro 16 it's impossible to calculate monthly load factors these days.

 

[Seasider]

At least the CAA will eventually come up with the goods!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

At least the CAA will eventually come up with the goods!

I think we'd make a good double act. Remember Jewel and Warriss?

 

[Seasider]

I think we'd make a good double act. Remember Jewel and Warriss?

I do indeed.!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

April 2016

CAA stats now published at long last. Looking at three of BRS's four Wizz routes (Warsaw Chopin didn't begin until May this year) the numbers are set out below

Katowice (3 x weekly)
4036 passengers, average load 155.2, load factor 86.2%

Looking backwards from February to July last year (for some reason I didn't calculate March on any of the Wizz routes) when the route began, the monthly load factors were: 87.4, 88.7, 94.1, 78.5, 86, 89.7, 94.4, 94.4

Kosice (2 x weekly)
2516 passengers, average load 139.8, load factor 77.7%

Looking backwards from February to October last year when the route began, the monthly load factors were: 86.7, 86.9, 76, 61, 78

Sofia (2 x weekly), average load 149.1, load factor 82.8%

Looking backwards from February to January when the route began, the monthly load factors were: 84.9, 78.9

 

[TheLocalYokel]

May 2016

CAA stats finally published. Looking at BRS's four Wizz routes the numbers are set out below:

Katowice (3 x weekly)
4075 passengers, average load 156.7, load factor 87.0%

Looking backwards from May to July last year (for some reason I didn't calculate March on any of the Wizz routes) when the route began, the monthly load factors were: 87.0, 86.2, 87.4, 88.7, 94.1, 78.5, 86, 89.7, 94.4, 94.4

Kosice (2 x weekly)
2746 passengers, average load 152.5, load factor 84.7%

Looking backwards from May to October last year when the route began (but no March), the monthly load factors were: 84.7, 77.7, 86.7, 86.9, 76.0, 61.0, 78.0

Sofia (2 x weekly)
2729 passengers, average load 151.6, load factor 84.2%

Looking backwards from May to January when the route began (but no March), the monthly load factors were: 84.2, 82.8, 84.9, 78.9

Warsaw Chopin (2 x weekly) commenced 15 May this year
*1569 passengers, average load 156.9, load factor 87.2%

*Ryanair's route to Warsaw Modlin at 3 x weekly was not affected by the Chopin start-up. It carried 4821 passengers (1% more than in May 2015), average load 185.4, load factor 98.1%.

 

[Ray Finkle]

S17 starting to be uploaded but not bookable yet. As it stands:

Warsaw is showing as 2x weekly on Wed and Sun.
Katowice is showing 2x weekly on Tue and Sat with a third flight operating Thursdays from June 22nd until September 14th.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

S17 starting to be uploaded but not bookable yet. As it stands:

Warsaw is showing as 2x weekly on Wed and Sun.
Katowice is showing 2x weekly on Tue and Sat with a third flight operating Thursdays from June 22nd until September 14th.

Thanks, Ray

If that is all there is going to be it means that Kosice and Sofia have been axed, and Katowice reduced in that this summer it ran 3 x weekly from late March.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Sofia still isn't available from BHX yet either (neither is OTP) so I'd say that it is still to come. Hungary and Poland must be the first batch of bases to be released.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

June 2016

Katowice: 4252 passengers, average load 163.5, load factor 90.8%

Kosice 2632, 164.5, 91.4%

Sofia 2821, 156.7, 87.0%

Warsaw Chopin 2900, 161.1, 89.5%

As with May, Ryanair's existing route to Warsaw Modlin was not adversely affected. It carried 4798 passengers, average load 184.5, load factor 97.6%

 

[Aviador]

Ryanair's existing route to Warsaw Modlin was not adversely affected

If only we were privy to the yield information.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

If only we were privy to the yield information.

Absolutely right. Ryanair have axed more than one route from BRS that had regular monthly load factors in the high 90s%, with Bratislava being one of the most recent.

Load factors are the only measure we outside an airline have though of establishing if there is a market in terms of bodies. If Ryanair and Wizz offered giveaway fares on these routes and the load factors were poor then obviously there would be no market for any airline to tap into in the first place.

Krakow is another example. Until this summer easyJet operated the route on its own but was joined by Ryanair this summer. In June this year the two airlines carried 9,509 passengers compared to June 2015 when easyJet carried 3,808 which gives a rise of 152%.

Leaving aside the yield, what fascinates me is where did all the extra passengers come from? Would they have used an another airport, if so the closest would be Birmingham or London, or would hey have not travelled at all?

I've made similar points when, for example, Vueling began flying from CWL to the likes of Alicante, Malaga, Palma and Barcelona. Given that a lot of 'Welsh' people use BRS one might expect the BRS routes to these places to have taken a hit, but they didn't, and I'm talking about the last four years from the time Vueling went to CWL. Most of the time the BRS loads on the same routes have continued to rise.

 

[Marko1]

Kosice now on sale for summer 17. Twice weekly mon and fri

 

[Marko1]

Sofia released for summer 2017. Increasing to 3 x weekly

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Sofia released for summer 2017. Increasing to 3 x weekly

That's encouraging. At least all four routes are now operating next summer as well as through the coming winter.

It looks as though the Thursday flight doesn't begin until 22 June. Similar to Katowice that rises to 3 x weekly from 2 x weekly that week.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

July 2016

More good passenger figures:

Kosice 2985 passengers, average load 165.8, load factor 92.1%

Katowice 4390 passengers, average load 168.8, load factor 93.8%

Sofia 2927 passengers, average load 162.6, load factor 90.3%

Warsaw Chopin 3111 passengers, average load 172.8, load factor 96%

As with May and June, Ryanair's Warsaw Modlin route was not affected at all with 4872 passengers carried, average load 187.4, load factor 99.1%

 

[Marko1]

With excellent figures like this it makes you wonder why they haven't introduced more routes.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

With excellent figures like this it makes you wonder why they haven't introduced more routes.

Presumably the yield. Even if the yield is good at BRS they might judge they can get even better yields elsewhere.

When the new Wizz routes began to be announced last year there were rumours that around six routes would feature. Kosice, a strange choice in my eyes, seemed to struggle at times in the winter and was reduced to weekly for a few weeks in mid winter. Bratislava is a better known Slovakian city and handy for Vienna, although easyJet now flies to Vienna of course, but the Slovakian capital has no Wizz base.

Ryanair dropped Bratislava despite monthly load factors in summer well into the 90s% which shows that very high load factors are no guarantee of a successful route, particularly with Ryanair.