Wizzair-3

[southside bobby]

Wizz reporting £219m loss for the first six months of the year.

[LTNman]

Small change when it is backup up with UK Plc government cheap money while many UK businesses are struggling and are going out of business, as they didn’t go into this pandemic with billion of euros stuffed into Jersey bank accounts to avoid tax.

[LTNman]

https://norwaytoday.info/news/pilots-union-set-to-start-protest-action-against-wizz-air-on-thursday-they-dont-respect-human-rights/

[LGS6753]

From Travel Mole:

https://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?c=setreg&region=2&m_id=s~T_mdT_Y!&w_id=38325&news_id=2045285

[caaardiff]

New base at CWL with 9 routes

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-wales-55166975?__twitter_impression=true

[pabely]

Wizzair Air Cymru, could be a specific brand?

[BA318]

why? They already have a UK arm. There is no need for another and it would be a pointless waste of money.

[pabely]

No needs for a seperate AOC, just from a marketing point of view.

[southside bobby]

Perhaps would not bode well as no operator with "Wales" or "Cymru" painted on the side of the a/c have lasted too long.

[DC3 Dave]

Wizz do not seem adverse to a special livery.

How about a large image of a Welsh legend? Perhaps Gareth Edwards, Max Boyce or Vaughan Gething....

[TOM100]

Yeah Vague Guessing or even Drippy Drakeford - that’ll get them flying haha (no alcohol to be served though)

[pabely]

Whoever will throw in a couple of quid, it all about getting brand awareness.

[CabinCrewe]

Some of the Wizz schedules for 2021 starting to be adjusted/cancelled.
Worth watching...

[Vokes55]

Not surprising. They’ve failed miserably on more or less everything they’ve done since moving away from the Eastern European market.

There’s only so long you can dump capacity into a non existent market in an attempt to hurt competitors. Their average load out of LGW since they opened the base is 67 passengers, the majority of which would be in the lowest fare bracket.

[PDXCWL45]

Is that average pre pandemic? Not likely to get good loads at the moment.

[Seljuk22]

Also hearing they are far behind Norwegian and SAS on their domestic flights in Norway. Don't think Italy vs. Ryanair, easyJet or Alitalia looks better in terms of load/yield.
At some point they have to make a deciscion to continue losing money or step out.

[AirportPlanner1]

67 sounds quite respectable given the circumstances considering the base only opened towards the end of summer

[Vokes55]

Wizz have seen the pandemic as an opportunity to dump low fares into a crippled market in the hope of gaining market share and to further impact competitors such as easy, Ryanair, Norwegian and TUI. Unfortunately what they didn’t consider is that this pandemic would go on as long as it has. It’s all very well saying “given the circumstances”, but given the circumstances every other airline has chosen to be cautious. Flying 67 passengers on a 220 seat A321 to the Canary Islands is only sustainable for a certain length of time.

Wizz will never be able to get a foothold in LGW because the existing operators won’t let them. We’ve already seen easyJet take ex-Norwegian short haul slots. I can’t imagine they paid a lot for them - it’s in nobody’s interest for any airline to let Wizzair get a foot in the door, and easy aren’t going to make the same mistake they made in Luton.

[mariofly12]

Well, Wizz could have made the same move Easy did and buy Norwegian slots,nobody was stopping them, but U2 beat them to the punch..Or maybe Wizz was counting more on the abolishment of the 80-20slot rule for S21..so far they have added one route..LGW-AGP which i don't really understand what it offers with BA,Easy and TUI already flooding the market with seats...

[Vokes55]

I think Wizzair decided they'd attempt to get the Norwegian Gatwick slots by dumping capacity into the Norwegian domestic market in an attempt to bankrupt them, and then taking the released slots fairly pain free. This is why it was mutually beneficial for Norwegian to sell/give the slots to easyJet. Keeps Wizz out of LGW and nullifies any real reason for Wizz to hang around in Norway, another market which they've failed miserably in (the Norwegian long haul slots at Gatwick would be fairly useless to Wizz).

[SWBKCB]

So are easy one of those pushing for the exemptions to be extended while at the same time buying more slots?

[cavokblues]

mariofly12

I guess with Norweigian's future up in the air and with Wizz's move to develop UK routes to leisure destinations Gatwick - Malaga is a no-brainer. Over a million people flew the route a few years ago so, theoretically, plenty of market for them to grab.

[LGS6753]

Update on Wizzair Abu Dhabi from Routes Online:
https://www.routesonline.com/news/29/breaking-news/294968/wizz-air-abu-dhabi-set-for-launch/

[fanrailuk]

Wizz Air UK are now recruiting cabin crew for all of their bases - LTN, LGW, DSA & CWL.



https://wizzair.com/en-gb/information-and-services/career/cabin-crew-flight-attendant/

[LGS6753]

They will also need a few more G- registered aircraft.

[RedDragonFlyer]

Not necessarily. All of their LGW, DSA and CWL (apart from SSH*) routes are to the EU so they can keep the aircraft based there on the Hungarian register.

*Not sure on the requirements for UK-Egypt. Is it possible to keep that route on an EU register?

[davidjohnson6]

New base at Sarajevo from mid May

[cavokblues]

Retrying the Luton - Sarajevo route which FlyBosnia didn't have much success on the other year. FlyBosnia averaged loads of less than 50 pax per flight only a few months after starting the route. Perhaps Wizz's stronger brand and marketing will make a difference?

[Playamar2]

LGS6753 - One more for the UK arm G-WUKM A321 msn 10283 due late March/April

[TBSC]

And another three.

[Buster the Bear]

Due to continuation of the slot waiver, being denied any further Gatwick access.

[AirportPlanner1]

cavokblues

Perversely having left the EU there is now greater scope for Bosnians to move to the UK than when FlyBosnia operated. But perhaps don’t mention that to the Brexiteers

[CWL757]

Anyone know how the CWL loads are looking?

[Buster the Bear]

https://simpleflying.com/wizz-air-winter-schedule/

[caaardiff]

Anyone have further info on this?
Aside from BAMC, there's no dedicated maintenance space at CWL. Is it St Athan?
https://www.key.aero/article/wizz-air-uk-reveals-four-aircraft-flypast-plans-wales?utm_content=156609690&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-112902517034110

[PDXCWL45]

Someone has suggested elsewhere that the aircraft could be stored at Cardiff for a bit. It's possible the maintenance part could just be line maintenance related to that maybe.

[Buster the Bear]

Storm Aviation. They have a line maintenance base at Cardiff and probably taking the airframes into their care.

G-WUKM was due to be delivered into Luton today, the first A321Neo for Wizzair UK

[pabely]

Arrived LTN 19:57 UTC

[Seljuk22]

Palermo will be a new base with 2 A321 starting June
https://wizzair.com/en-gb/information-and-services/about-us/news/2021/03/04/wizz-air-announces-a-new-base-palermo

[Seljuk22]

4th aircraft for Tirana with new routes to Italy and Scandinavia
https://wizzair.com/en-gb/information-and-services/about-us/news/2021/03/11/biggest-ever-wizz-tirana-network

[southside bobby]

Indigo Partners the largest shareholder in Wizz Air have sold approx half of their stake for £400m.

Some days ago the Wizz COO sold 10,000 shares.

[pabely]

Next A321NEO for Wizzair UK delivered to Luton today.

[shamrock7seal]

Wizz, we need you back at BOH!

Warsaw, Prague, Budapest an Bucharest are key routes we need

[BHX5DME]

Wizz have just announced BHX-LCA twice weekly 321 from Mid May :-)

[southside bobby]

Re Post #42 17.3.21
"Next A321NEO for Wizzair UK delivered to Luton today"

Indeed one Airbus in & one out with a WUK 320 due to ferry from STN to CWL later today for interim storage.

[southside bobby]

Possibly another Airbus leaving the WUK fleet as a 320 as previously is due to fly from STN to CWL later today.

[CWL757]

none are leaving the fleet, they're just in for storage.

[Seljuk22]

Further expansion in Italy announced:

FCO will be a new base with 4 a/c and 32 new destination (e.g. LTN, LPL) starting July.

BRI & CTA will also be expanded from July with additional a/c. W6 has also slots from Linate which are used for domestic routes to BRI & BDS .

Meanwhile the base at AUH has 23 destination, some of them like Muscat, Salalah, Sohag, Nur-Sultan are unique in Wizz network.

Banja Luka will join the network as 3rd Bosnian (others are Tuzla and Sarajevo) destination.

[Seljuk22]

After Trondheim base was closed only a few weeks of operation, Oslo is also no longer a base. Incoming flights from other bases are still operated.

Naples will be a new base with 2 A321 eff 30th July.

[fanrailuk]

Seems the planned JER routes from CWL & DSA have been canned before they’ve begun…

The no-quarantine amber rules probably sent this route swiftly to the graveyard.

[PDXCWL45]

That's ironic and disappointing as CWL social media were advertising it yesterday!

[TimmyW]

Alot of the DSA routes have been pushed back further to September which is strange seeing as travel is opening up. I guess the demand is limited.

[TBSC]

@TimmiW
Some of the Wizz UK aircraft/crew are moved to other CEE bases for the summer because of crew shortage.

[Flightrider]

The no-quarantine amber rules probably sent this route swiftly to the graveyard.

More likely to be a reflection of bookings to Jersey from pretty much everywhere being an absolute disaster, I suspect. What you do / don't need to do for Covid-19 and the frequent changes in Jersey's policy on this seem to have led to a pretty serious setback for the tourism industry.

[USERNAME_]

TBSC

Sofia and Warsaw until the end of July.

[TBSC]

Malta decided that only vaccinated people will be accepted to enter. Slovenia announced today that it will follow suit and I guess other countries will do the same. Not very promising for aviation.

[Banana Joe]

Allowing only vaccinated people to travel is the way to go. Aviation, and many other industries, can't afford another hit.

[TBSC]

That's the way for sure but if that happens this summer, it will be another hit.

[RedDragonFlyer]

I'm not so sure about that. 72% of adults in Wales, 66% of adults in England and 65% of adults in Scotland are already fully vaccinated on the latest numbers. That's a significant number which is obviously moving quickly upwards each week.

The real question is what to do with kids which would/ will have a big impact on travel during the summer holidays. Malta have said all those 12+ need to be fully vaccinated, but the UK only does 18+ as standard or 16+ for those who are vulnerable meaning there's an effective ban on almost all 12-17 year olds traveling there.

The thing is though, whether it hits travel or not, it's probably the most viable path to wider travel across Europe and beyond.

[TBSC]

The UK is only a fraction of the market. Eg. in Hungary 52% of the whole population (not the adults) is vaccinated. The problem is with the "number obviously moving quickly upwards" part because it's not. Very few people are asking for it in the last 3-4 weeks, the government started to donate/lend the surplus stock to other countries. It means that half of the population might be banned from flying soon (and it's a lot worse than that in other countries). That's not a good outlook for aviation IMHO.

[N707ZS]

PCR testing, form filling and the uncertainty your destination might change traffic lights is putting quite a number off.

[Nil by mouth]

This was a useful route that was recently introduced, now cancelled
https://www.gbc.gi/news/wizzair-cancels-gibraltar-luton-flights-over-month-august

[TimmyW]

I just don't see how it is sustainable for them to announce routes and drop them a few weeks later.
I notice their Gatwick based routes now won't operate til September.

Constant chopping and changing. It isn't exactly good for the customer.

[davidjohnson6]

Wizz possibly opened Gibraltar, thinking that people could claim the green list benefits of Gibraltar, but use it as a back door to Spain, and thus avoid quarantine. All done on a nudge and a wink. Yes, naughty for people to be planning to do this, but this kind of thing happens.Yes, potential for being caught with a border stamp, but people probably thought Border Force haven't got the desire to check every page of every passport. I imagine some people might have booked, printed off proof of booking, and then immediately cancelled 7 nights in a Gibraltar hotel, just to wave some paperwork at people

Now that Spain doesn't incur quarantine - and probably won't for the duration of August - people who want to visit the Mediterranean will mainly book flights to Malaga / Alicante. Many of those who booked flights with Wizz between the UK and Gibraltar in August are probably happy that they can get their money back and book to where they actually wanted to go in the first place

Wizz are just reflecting booking habits by the (fraudulent) Great British public

[BA318]

Thats quite a big allegation. The reality is GIB is a small market (6 hotels) and flights have increased substantially. There just isn’t the demand to fill all these services and have somewhere to stay.

If GIB was being used as a backdoor to Spain it would end up Amber listed like other places which have been used as backdoors to other destinations. No positive tests from any green list passengers were received so even if they were all going to Spain they caused no risk to anyone else.

[Dorking]

davidjohnson6

I presume you don`t have a shred of hard evidence to back this up?

[compton3bravo]

I know I keep going on abou it but please can you get your FACTS right please. Wizz have not cançelled the Luton-Gibraltar service the route is suspended for August only returning in September. The Gibralter route is quite unusual with a mix of different types of passengers. The BA Heathrow service is often crammed with ships crews (mainly Asian) using the service to interline at Heathrow as they would need a visa via Spain.
Myself and my partner mainly used Gib because we lived a lot closer than Malaga and often cheaper plus more agreeable flight timings but has been said it has a very limited catchment area. I strongly object to it been used as a back door to Spain, a friend has just been to the UK and back and he said the paperwork, apps etc was ridiculous and Gib is a green destination!

[Jerbourg]

Wizz have axed the new JER services after initially pusing back the start date to late July.

https://www.itv.com/news/channel/2021-07-12/wizz-air-pulls-out-of-routes-from-jersey-to-cardiff-and-doncaster

[22/04]

To be sustainable Wizz air and Ryanair simply have to fill their aeroplanes at the best yield they can so routes do chop and change a lot. In a pandemic the need to do that is even greater.

Easy Jet do not mange to achieve the low cost base of either and therefore look towards customer retention to a larger extent, they thus change things more gradually.

I would hope customers know this is likely now and accept that to get cheaper travel there are some strings attached.

[ajamieson]

Hmm, maybe. Wizz also tried (and have now given up on) Jersey. Seems to me to be a genuine attempt to take people to the very few places they could go at the time of planning. Unfortunately, as BA318 mentioned there really isn't enough accommodation in GIB to soak up the demand, and the testing/paperwork requirements for both GIB and JER have since changed with short notice, putting many off. On top of that, GIB and JER are both already being served by increased services from BA and/or Easyjet, both of whom are longer-established in the specific market. Now that the amber list restrictions have eased, it's hardly surprising that Wizz has cut its losses to look elsewhere.

Even amber-list resorts are now £££ as people book the few places available so personally, I'd be delighted if Wizz continued to open up new and underserved destinations, especially in Balkans, Black Sea and Georgia ... but anyone running an airline is going to stick with safe bets for the forseeable: Canaries, Costa del Sol, Greece.

[Seljuk22]

VCE becomes 7th Italian base with 2 based A321neo starting March 2022
https://wizzair.com/en-gb/information-and-services/about-us/news/2021/10/06/wizz-air-continues-its-expansion-in-italy-with-the-opening-of-its-7th-base-in-venice-br-2-based-aircraft-and-16-new-routes

[TBSC]

Wizz Air CEO calls carbon offsetting ‘a bit of a joke’ yet offers it to customers | Euronews (https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/10/11/wizz-air-ceo-calls-carbon-offsetting-a-bit-of-a-joke-yet-offers-it-to-customers)

A funny thing to say that Wizz doesn't have any flights under 500 km (no short domestic flights) while it takes 5 mins to find a dozen such flights on their route map, the shortest one being only 250km (and domestic).

[Seljuk22]

7 additional aircraft to be based in Ukraine: Kyiv (+5 to 8 a/c and 12 new destination) and Lviv (+2 to 3)

ODS-LTN to be launched as a new UK route.

VIE will get a 6th aircraft.

[LGS6753]

The Telegraph is reporting this morning that Wizz has ordered 102 additional A321 aircraft with a further 94 on option. The firm orders will be delivered between 2025 and 2027, the options before 2030.
The article says that Wizz plan to expand the existing fleet of 144 to 170 by next September, with an ultimate objective of a 500 aircraft fleet.

[pabely]

Significant are the 27 A321XLRs added to the existing 20 XLRs on order so definitely looking at new markets, Wizzair India next?

[Dannyboy39]

WZZ (or their ultimate owners) are really going for it aren’t they. I know a lot of these will be replacements but at some point there will become saturation unless they diversify into other markets (India, as has been suggested above).

I slightly fear for the likes of EZY post pandemic up against this power and aggression from the East, who tried to buy them out recently. EZY being by far the best (in my opinion) LCC in Europe. For the employees involved, the race to the bottom will continue even more so.

[TimmyW]

More widespread cuts to the UK winter programme. Alot of routes now cancelled or severely reduced until next April.

Only a couple of weeks after the media fanfare of how they are bucking the trend with winter and summer 2022 bookings.

I do wonder how serious they are to the UK market outside of Luton.

[BA318]

The need to quarantine until your test result comes back destroys the weekend citybreak market again. Lots of these PCR test companies were taking a week to get the results back to people last time.

[davidjohnson6]

The counter argument, is that firms taking 5 or more days to return PCR results will see a significant loss of business, while the firms that have in-person testing in an airport terminal and can give a result in approx 24 or 36 hours will take market share

TimmyW - do you happen to have some details as to what UK routes Wizz has either cut or reduced over the winter ? It would be great to have an objective measure of how Wizz's winter schedule compares to their published intention 2 weeks ago - what may be deep cuts to one person, may be trivial to somebody else

[TimmyW]

Doncaster to Riga is one example - a few flights in December and one or two in January, then nothing til early April.

Several from Liverpool.

Same with Gatwick.

Check their timetables.

These frequencies were reduced two days ago, so was before the latest travel restrictions.

It's pretty obvious what Wizz are doing, opening bases everywhere, launching new routes to great media fanfare (look at the Doncaster press release a few weeks ago) to try and get more bookings to improve their cash flow. Then cancel the flights and issue credits, in the hope customers will book one of the few flights they do operate.

EDIT - it seems as it isn't just the UK where they employ this model, read the comments section on this link https://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/11/wizz-air-partially-suspends-planned-new.html

[OltonPete]

DJ6

Birmingham is below and is similar to the current schedule for the next 2 weeks and as Timmy says Doncaster and Liverpool similar

Iasi - ends 8/1/22 until 27/3/22
Craiova - from 16/1 /22 weekly instead of 2
Cluj - ends 12/1/22 until 2/3/22
Bucharest - back to 2 weekly Tuesday and Saturday8/1-15/2
Wroclaw - ends 8/1/22 - 29/3/22
Warsaw - ends 8/1/22 - 12/2/22
Krakow - ends 9/1/22 - 9/3/22
Vilnius - ends 7/1/22 - 29/3/22
Budapest - seemingly good news as it stays 2 weekly Tuesday and Saturday

[inOban]

They've cut all routes from EDI. However I read somewhere that Ryanair were reporting that, as cases rose on continent and countries reimposed restrictions (even before omicron ), bookings were falling off a cliff.

[TimmyW]

I've mentioned before, but the constant cuts, timetable changes and flight cancellations doesn't give anyone the confidence to book with Wizz, which then gives a catch 22 situation, as no one will book which leads to more cancellations.

I'd be interested to know if other airlines are cutting their timetable dramatically like this.

[ATNotts]

It is surely blindingly obvious that the demand for VFR business has fallen dramatically post Brexit, and then compounded by Covid-19.

[TimmyW]

ATNotts

Whilst I agree somewhat, if this was the case, i'd expect to see the schedules permanently reduced going forwards to perhaps ones that can be sustained, rather than the seemingly month by month cuts they are currently carrying out?

Looking into next summer, the schedules look as busy as they have ever been - whether they have any intention operating them is another matter. Again, I go back to my point regarding cash flow.

[Back at NH]

Quick look at the headlines…Romania

“Bodies pile up outside hospital morgue as Romania struggles with fourth wave of Covid”

Poland

“Raging Pandemic Sends Half a Million Poles Into Quarantine”

Lithuania

”Lithuania Announces Stricter Travel Rules for All Countries Due to Worsened COVID-19 Situation”

Self explanatory?

[RedDragonFlyer]

A lot of Wizz's core market (Eastern Europe) has very low vaccination rates compared to the UK, France, Spain or Germany so it's not unsurprising that this winter's Covid surge on continental Europe is hitting them harder. With news of this new variant, it's understandable that Wizz has quickly reassessed the situation and realised demand is going to be low/ border restrictions quite strong for a number of months. This is at the time of year which in a normal year would be the quietest which compounds the problem.

What summer 2022 will bring is a complete guessing game. We won't be worrying about the new variant by then, but may be worrying about another one.

[OzzyOzBorn]

Over six million EU citizens applied for UK residency under the scheme which followed Brexit. They will still want to travel between the UK and the country of their heritage to visit family and friends. But the main impediment to this is of course C-19 restrictions which have strangled the market. A good friend of mine has had four attempts to visit Bulgaria cancelled. Now their Christmas trip to Hungary has gone too.

[Buster the Bear]

TimmyW

Not if you book their fully flexible fare, money back in your account within 24 hours. All about what people are prepared to pay. Personally during a pandemic, if I couldn't afford a flexible fare, I would not book.

[BA318]

a fully flexible fare is no help if the carrier cancels the route. Sure you get a refund but you then have to pay more buying an alternative ticket at short notice. And you’d get the refund even if you didn’t have the flexible ticket.

[LTNman]

If the new variant is possibly far more transmissible as claimed, I would not want to be sitting next to someone who could potentially spend two hours eating a bag of crisps. Add to that a day 2 PCR test with results on day?? and Wizz has a problem just like the other airlines.

[LTNman]

ATNotts

Actually Wizz had been introducing new route between the U.K. and Eastern Europe so clearly they are not worried about the Brexit effect.

[AirportPlanner1]

Aircraft are about the safest indoor places to be. Depending on ventilation and air flow perversely you may be better off in a crowded concert than a quiet cafe. But yes testing requirements are a barrier.

[LTNman]

Until Wizz passengers stand up waiting for the doors to open with the engines switched off so the hepa filters stop working. Anyway this new variant will be already having an impact on passenger numbers regardless of ventilation, as the bigger issue is Day 2 PCR's
https://i.imgur.com/HASM0fa.jpg

[davidjohnson6]

I think people on here are imagining the day 2 PCR test + quarantine-until-negative requirement is going to stop large numbers of passengers flying. It's not. Enforcement of this is almost zero... and Wizz pax were more than happy to fly in spring 2020 when non-business travel was illegal

[LTNman]

I think that the Brits will take notice but as you hint the Eastern Europeans will just carry on as normal.

[adfly]

Nothing like some lazy national stereotypes on a Tuesday evening.

[BA318]

davidjohnson6

There were plenty of exemptions allowing travel and with so few flights many of us had to take routes we wouldn’t usually use to get between destinations.

[misteredin2]

Has anybody been contacted for the cadet pilot assessment? (fATPL, Low hours, NTR)

I applied in march and it still says application under review. I keep hearing that they are only assessing candidates with type at the moment, does anybody know any different?

[Banana Joe]

What I last heard is that Non-Type Rated candidates may be called from January onwards.

[davidjohnson6]

Do Wizz plan to keep any aircraft or crew stationed in Ukraine overnight, after mid January, or is it only ever turns of under an hour ? I'm thinking particularly about airports other than Lviv...

[FGE319]

Do Wizz plan to keep any aircraft or crew stationed in Ukraine overnight, after mid January, or is it only ever turns of under an hour ? I'm thinking particularly about airports other than Lviv...

Lviv and Kyiv IEV are bases, all flights to/from HRK, KBP, ODS and OZH are from other bases along with selection of flights at the 2 bases.

[gdiddy]

This article seems to have gone under the radar...

Back in November, WizzAir revealed the new seats they have the ordered for the new A321XLRs.

It seems they are continuing with the extremely high density seating on the new longer range aircraft and will be light weight, slimline seats, which do not necessarily equate to a comfy flight for these longer flights I assume the A321XLRs will be operating.

Economy Class & Beyond - WizzAir selects Geven’s SuperEco seat for A321 aircraft (https://economyclassandbeyond.boardingarea.com/2021/11/17/wizzair-selects-gevens-supereco-seat-for-a321-aircraft/)

[pabely]

Were you expecting Business Class or Lie Flat? Not really Wizzair style.

[CCFAIRPORT]

new routes from Dubai for 2022

Catania
Cluj-Napoca
Katowice
Krakow

[Buster the Bear]

84 routes culled. https://simpleflying.com/wizz-air-route-cuts/

[Buster the Bear]

New Polish route. https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/wizz-air-to-launch-new-flights-from-poland-26881

[BA318]

According to Seanm1997 on Twitter, Wizz have bought 15 daily slots at LGW from Norwegian. They will base an additional 4 aircraft there.

[CW247]

So, the slots that Norse need were given by Norwegian to Wizz? :ouch:

[FRatSTN]

So, the slots that Norse need were given by Norwegian to Wizz?

Couldn't say for sure but I'd assume it's more the ex-Norwegian short-haul slots and maybe some of the later evening turns that Wizz will have secured.

[Vokes55]

The short haul slots went to EZY last year, so I’d assume it’s the long haul slots - utterly useless for a based aircraft operation

[BA318]

Wizz have a lot of destinations beyond the typical low cost Eastern Europe - Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Almaty.

The new BA ops will also operate at all sorts of unfavourable times so if the prices are right it will still work.

[davidjohnson6]

15 daily slot pairs with 4 based aircraft suggests a high proportion of short haul flying... not places which are 7 hours flying time away

[BA318]

15 daily slot pairs with 4 based aircraft suggests a high proportion of short haul flying... not places which are 7 hours flying time away

I know but it was to demonstrate they have a wide choice of destinations to use the slots for. They are also reported to have said they will use aircraft from other bases in addition with Budapest being named.

[Seljuk22]

Previously the mentioned routes in the article were planned. Maybe they might launch UK domestic routes or shorter ones like CRL, EIN, CGN, DTM, BVA?
https://simpleflying.com/wizz-air-london-gatwick-expansion/

[Vokes55]

Let’s be realistic, all they’re going to do is dump capacity on bucket and spade routes in an attempt to trash yields for the competition. If it’s based aircraft it’s going to be Malaga, Faro, Palma, a couple of Greek islands, Milan and the Canaries.

Which is a shame because there are plenty of gaping holes in the route map south of the river, such as Warsaw and most of the Balkans, that would be most useful for Gatwick.

[Alteagod]

Maybe some domestic to keep BE out of LGW or shorter European routes maybe possibly or not

[compton3bravo]

Personally I cannot see Wizz doing domestic but who am I, as for the other routes Eastern Europe must be the main priority as people have said an awful lot of competition to Spain etc. although they are already scheduled to fly to Malaga.

[pabely]

I doubt BE are on any WUK radar. The map on the simply flying linked article would still be current in having strong feed to Eastern Europe.

[BA318]

I doubt BE are on any WUK radar. The map on the simply flying linked article would still be current in having strong feed to Eastern Europe.

Simply flying have no info. It’s incredibly poor as a source.

Wizz did enter the Norwegian domestic market but it didn’t last long.

[pabely]

Simply flying have no info. It’s incredibly poor as a source.

The Image comes from OAG which is a more respected source though.

[Vokes55]

Wizz did enter the Norwegian domestic market but it didn’t last long.

Only to compete with Norwegian in an attempt to finish them off and get their Gatwick slots. As soon as that didn't work, they pulled out. There's only so long you can fly empty aircraft around to try to damage a competitor.

[Link Kilo]

Personally I cannot see Wizz doing domestic but who am I, as for the other routes Eastern Europe must be the main priority as people have said an awful lot of competition to Spain etc. although they are already scheduled to fly to Malaga.

I wonder if they might do BFS and EDI since those two airports, along with LGW and Wizzair, were co-signatories to a letter requesting a return to the 80/20 slot rules. BFS and EDI aren't directly affected by such rules, but perhaps Wizz have said to them 'We'll serve you from LGW if we can get more slots there".

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-must-reinstate-airport-slot-rules-say-gatwick-wizz-2021-11-09/

[TBSC]

There's only so long you can fly empty aircraft around to try to damage a competitor.
There is only so long you can fly empty aircraft around and try to get away with shady employment practices. Have basically the whole country against you with even the PM calling travellers to boycott you resulting load factors around 20%. Divert much as your OM designed for CEE simply bans operation in conditions the locals flying in and out without problem. Then leave the whole country in a hurry (like two weeks notice) a day before the local CAA would conduct a hearing/audit about the mentioned practices. It had nothing to do with Norwegian.

[Vokes55]

There is only so long you can fly empty aircraft around and try to get away with shady employment practices. Have basically the whole country against you with even the PM calling travellers to boycott you resulting load factors around 20%. Divert much as your OM designed for CEE simply bans operation in conditions the locals flying in and out without problem. Then leave the whole country in a hurry (like two weeks notice) a day before the local CAA would conduct a hearing/audit about the mentioned practices. It had nothing to do with Norwegian.

And why do you think they entered the Norway domestic market in the first place? It had everything to do with Norwegian.

[TBSC]

Norwegian was already dead by that time. Itt was because of a hundred aircraft being grounded for covid and another twenty being delivered each year without prospect of flying. They thought domestic flying was the way ahead against travel restrictions between countries. That's why they launched large scale domestic ops in Norway and Italy. As usual they got it wrong. Norway is cancelled, Italy just got chopped. 60-70 aircraft are still on ground with 2-3 new deliveries each month. Next stint is LGW and then god knows what.

[LGS6753]

If they've got 70 aircraft grounded, it's surprising they have subchartered Titan at Luton.

[Buster the Bear]

Wizz will launch six new daily routes on 27 March – Faro, Palma, Vienna, Rome, Milan and Tel Aviv. Daily Chania flights will start on 7 April followed by daily Larnaca flights on 11 April.Other additions include:


Naples (four-times-weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, starting 27 March)
Funchal (twice-weekly on Mondays and Fridays, starting 28 March)
Bari (twice-weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays, starting 29 March)
Podgorica (four-times-weekly on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, starting 7 April)
Catania (three-times-weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, starting 8 April)
Mykonos (four-times-weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, starting 12 April)

Wizz’s additional Gatwick aircraft will also operate several existing routes, including Malaga and Athens. In total, Wizz will offer 22 seasonal and non-seasonal routes at Gatwick.

[TBSC]

If they've got 70 aircraft grounded, it's surprising they have subchartered Titan at Luton.
As of this very monent (the day of the year when the demand is far the highest) there are 99 flying out of 149 in the fleet. It's usually around 70-80. With 250 routes supended for January-March it will only be less than that (and more deliveries are on their way).
The answer is crew (or an AOG).

[davidjohnson6]

In Jan/Feb 2020, did Wizz have a substantial number (ie more than 10) of aircraft either grounded or with very low hours utilisation per week, due to seasonal low demand for travel ? Ryanair's fleet utilisation was far from 100% at the time

I'm wondering how much of Wizz's grounded fleet is due to Covid... and how much is because leisure travel in Europe in winter just has low demand

[TBSC]

out of 149 in the fleet.
Correction: out of 150 in the fleet (as another one was delivered by Airbus today) which will become 151 in a few days.

[Stuart2468]

Have Wizz changed the seating policy? I booked cheap (extremely cheap) flights a few days back to fly out to gran Canaria tomorrow, and like always I choose the basic fare. But when I try to check in, and allow wizz to choose my seats, it forces me to have to pay for them. It seems there is no way around having to pay for them.

[Buster the Bear]

https://simpleflying.com/wizz-air-170-aircraft-summer-2022/

[TBSC]

Surely it would not be hard to check basic facts (like the current number of aircraft) before writing such a piece.

[MDS]

Does Wizz Air have any competence in managing their schedule, or is it quite normal to cancel flights without notifying customers less than two months before flying?

I booked DSA-AGP-DSA a couple of days ago for 27/3 and 30/3, and I've found out today (without any call or text to myself) that they've cancelled the 30/3 and subsequent Wednesday flights.

Considering Doncaster is one of their 'new' bases, the constant chopping and changing of their schedules indicates a poorly run airline that throws darts at the wall (pertaining to destinations) and has no regard for when those darts just fall off the wall.

Lots of big announcements about adding new routes and expanding rapidly whilst quietly slicing away at existing bookings/routes with no regards to their passengers.

Considering the well publicised negative treatment they give their pilots, the fact they hold their customers with such contempt is very telling.

Perhaps a bit of market research regarding route viability before entering into contracts with passengers wouldn't go amiss.

[pabely]

I'm no expert but they can do what they want up to 14 days before departure.
TUI recently have been cancelling flights just days before so you have been lucky!
Not enough bums on seats mean running at loss = probably canx.

[TBSC]

Yeah, the evergreen phrase about "cash positive flying". How come they managed to make a loss of 200 odd million Euros in the last quarter then?

[Vokes55]

Wizz have snuck four more LGW routes in to Bourgas, Varna, Palermo and Venice, whilst increasing frequencies on Milan, Larnaca and Vienna.

More capacity dumping on already served routes whilst missing glaringly obvious unserved markets like Warsaw, as well as dumping Gdansk and Cluj which had 80%+ load factors pre-pandemic. I wonder how much cash they have to burn in this pursuit of market share and brand recognition.

[davidjohnson6]

Is demand for flying strong enough in Warsaw to be worth adding a few aircraft to Poland ?
Would UK airline employees criticise if Wizz dumped capacity on leisure routes from France or Germany ?
I don't know the Polish market that well... but it's clear that in the second half of last year, Wizz significantly overexpanded - perhaps sending aircraft to Ciudad Real or Teruel might have been a better choice

[TBSC]

They live on forward bookings (and transforming that money to "credits" with constant schedule changes). It will only continue as they announced recently that they plan the summer season with 170 aircraft (vs the current 150). The winter schedule (until the end of March) was butchered back in December - omicron is used as an excuse while it was barely a theoretic thing on 05DEC when they did it - but I quess the summer schedule will get the chop sooner or later, it's just a question of time.
I think vokes meant the LGW-WAW/GDN flights.

[cavokblues]

Perhaps a bit of market research regarding route viability before entering into contracts with passengers wouldn't go amiss.

Probably cheaper and less hassle for them to announce a route and see how it performs booking wise. If it's a poor performer than just can it! Not great for the paying passenger but I guess that's the way these large loco carriers work these days....

[TimmyW]

They live on forward bookings (and transforming that money to "credits" with constant schedule changes). It will only continue as they announced recently that they plan the summer season with 170 aircraft (vs the current 150). The winter schedule (until the end of March) was butchered back in December - omicron is used as an excuse while it was barely a theoretic thing on 05DEC when they did it - but I quess the summer schedule will get the chop sooner or later, it's just a question of time.
I think vokes meant the LGW-WAW/GDN flights.

This seems to be the case, what I dont understand is why they don't just bin off some bases or routes, such as Doncaster - most of the routes will have been put back almost two years before they operate. Whats the point?

[Vokes55]

Is demand for flying strong enough in Warsaw to be worth adding a few aircraft to Poland ?
Would UK airline employees criticise if Wizz dumped capacity on leisure routes from France or Germany ?
I don't know the Polish market that well... but it's clear that in the second half of last year, Wizz significantly overexpanded - perhaps sending aircraft to Ciudad Real or Teruel might have been a better choice

Yeah I just meant a route from Gatwick. Aside from being the most populous city in Poland, Warsaw is the gateway for anybody traveling as far West as Lodz (3rd most populous city, but close to zero connectivity), more or less the whole of the country to the East of Warsaw, including Bialystok (no airport) and as far South as Lublin. Plus everywhere in between. Put simply, almost half of Poland uses Warsaw as their main entry point.

Given the large Polish population south of the Thames and the hassle (and expense) of getting to Stansted or Luton, it's a gaping hole in Gatwick's route network. It's been operated by Norwegian and easyJet in the past, but WAW has very high fees and Polish flights generate very little auxiliary revenue, so even though load factors were good, there was always more money to be made elsewhere for them. But Wizz have three daily flights (pre-Covid) into Luton, even just moving one of those to Gatwick would capture a huge market.

But instead they'd rather dump cheap capacity into routes competing with easyJet in an attempt to capture market share and take passengers away from them. It's what they've been doing in Luton for the last five years or so, and it's what they're going to try to do in Gatwick now too. Their take over bid unmasked their intentions, but given that more or less everything Wizz has touched since they ventured out of their core East Europe market has been a catastrophic failure, one wonders how long the magic money tree will last.

[Seljuk22]

2 more aircraft and 8 in total for Tirana and Kukes as a new airport for Wizz
https://wizzair.com/en-gb/information-and-services/about-us/news/2022/02/04/wizz-air-adds-2-new-aircraft-to-tirana-and-starts-flights-from-kukes

[TBSC]

Kukes airport is purely a vanity project, even the local airline could not make it work because of the operational shortcomings/limitations.

[N707ZS]

Has there always been a £15 administration fee when booking per flight.

[ajamieson]

No, and I'm willing to bet it's per person, too? Is this included in the up-front price and then detailed at the pre-payment page, or is it completely separate?

One of Wizzair's habits is constantly evolving the charges and benefits for ancillary services (WizzPriority, seating etc) so that it's pretty difficult to keep track of the value of each add-on. The cancellation and refund fee is set at 60 Euro per person per sector and can only be processed by telephone through a call centre with a super-premium call rate. While this is not illegal, and is all set out in the small print, it is clearly designed to prevent most customers from bothering; a couple on a weekend break would need to have spent 240 Euro or more on their original fare to break even on a refund.

Still, £19.99 flights are a bargain, eh? :E

[N707ZS]

Yes £15 per person per flight two returns £60 then add the rest so no flight for 4.99 Euros.

[1sky]

What flights do you see the new administration fee charged on? I haven’t come across it yet.

[N707ZS]

Doncaster flights have them £7.50 so I must have miss calculated at two pax, but still there.

[1sky]

A quick sample booking from Doncaster shows the fare displayed in the flight selection the exact same as the final payment screen (assuming no additional adds ons are selected).

It is possible there is some form of administration fee in the fare breakdown but there is no attempt to add on a new fee at the very end (like EasyJet used to do).

[davidjohnson6]

Ukrainian airspace is substantially closed to civilian traffic. Military activity seems to be starting. Wizz has 3 A320s on the ground at Kyiv Zhuliany airport...wonder what will happen to those aircraft

[AirportPlanner1]

Looks from FR24 they were planning on getting them out, but events obviously moved too quickly.

[TBSC]

Ukrainian airspace is substantially closed to civilian traffic. Military activity seems to be starting. Wizz has 3 A320s on the ground at Kyiv Zhuliany airport...wonder what will happen to those aircraft
Plus one ín Lviv.

[Pain in the R's]

I have to question the mindset of Wizz when they put making money at the top of its priorities.

[davidjohnson6]

Making money should be high in the priority list, but those aircraft should have been based outside Ukraine, with no overnight stays in Ukraine
I'm wondering if somebody will try to get the A320 out of Lviv to maybe Rzeszow despite Ukraine's air space being closed. Yes, naughty, but missiles being fired on airports is also naughty

[TBSC]

I don't think that fying in a war zone would make the owner of the aircraft and the insurance company very happy. There is no shortage of vintage 320 ceos in the world right now. However risking the life of the crew would be a whole different issue.

[LTNman]

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/ukraine-war-upends-flights--stokes-fears-for-airline-staff--jets/47377112

[LTNman]

I don't think that fying in a war zone would make the owner of the aircraft and the insurance company very happy.

I would think aircraft destroyed by war on the ground would be an exclusion to the policy just like my car.

[davidjohnson6]

Wizzair continue to sell tickets on their website for flights to/from Ukraine or Russia on dates less than a week away. Fares to Ukraine are predictably very cheap.
It seems highly unlikely that flights will just resume at the same frequencies as before in just a few days time. They still have 4 A320s trapped in Kyiv and Lviv.

Why are Wizz doing this ? I know they can claim war as a get-out clause for EU261 but it still seems dishonest. By selling something they clearly won't be able to provide, they damage their credibility and appear like con-artists.

[TBSC]

They need €/$/Ł. Losing what little credibility they have left does not seem to be an issue. EASA let them do it so why not.

[TimmyW]

When do Wizz usually release their winter schedules?

Not much available for this winter as yet

[pabely]

Last year it was on 18th Feb so it looks late!

[UnderASouthernSky]

Possibly unsure of how many hulls they will have in their fleet by October.

[SealinkBF]

Don't think this has been printed here.

Wizz Air offers 100,000 free flights to refugees from Ukraine and says four planes are stuck in the country (inews.co.uk) (https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/travel/wizz-air-flights-refugees-free-ukraine-planes-stuck-kyiv-lviv-1493362)

[TBSC]

Another 14 routes from Vienna are cancelled (after the 12 chopped three months ago).
Vienna: Wizz Air is deleting many destinations from the 2022 summer timetable - Aviation.Direct (https://aviation.direct/en/wien-wizz-air-streicht-viele-destinationen-aus-dem-sommerflugplan-2022?)

[RedDragonFlyer]

Vienna was bound to be a blood bath with Ryanair, Wizz and Austrian all in the running,
That was obvious the day Wizz and RYR announced they were going to go head to head against each other on multiple routes.

[TBSC]

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/WIZZ/ukraine-further-update/15356157

[mariofly12]

Another 14 routes from Vienna are cancelled (after the 12 chopped three months ago).
Vienna: Wizz Air is deleting many destinations from the 2022 summer timetable - Aviation.Direct (https://aviation.direct/en/wien-wizz-air-streicht-viele-destinationen-aus-dem-sommerflugplan-2022?)

Actually it's 15..They cancel Athens too after the 25th of March

[davidjohnson6]

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/WIZZ/ukraine-further-update/15356157

I am a bit confused. The news release via RNS to investors seems to say that all flights to/from Ukraine have been withdrawn from sale, without an end date. However, large numbers of routes to/from Ukraine seem to be on sale on the Wizz website from 1 June

A cynic might say Wizz have issued a press release so as to look good to media... but are actually still happy to take money from credit cards for something they appear to say they are not doing

Is there something I am missing here, so as to square the circle ?

[TBSC]

Minus 26 routes from Vienna but the new Abu Dhabi-Mattala Rajapaksa flight will make up for the loss.

[1sky]

Meanwhile two 2 addition al Ryanair aircraft in Vienna (+15 routes). Obvious who is winning that one at the moment.

[pabely]

The latest load factors, Feb 2022 shows across the group WZZ were 91% whereas RYR was 88% which would imply more bums on seats. I know that doesn't mean profits but if Vienna is weak then it makes sense moving aircraft to more profitable markets. Was not Austria one of the very last EU counties to pull back from travel restrictions due to covid? Anyhow I can't see Austria being a particularly busy Inbound or Outbound destination currently. I'm sure RYR were offered a great deal, they do not go anywhere without a gift of a deal from the airport..

[LGS6753]

https://www.routesonline.com/news/29/breaking-news/298061/wizz-air-seeks-aoc-for-new-malta-subsidiary/

[davidjohnson6]

Anyone able to give a rough estimate of the potential tax saving by putting maybe 30% of its UK/Hungarian fleet into a Malta-domiciled company ?

[LTNman]

I doubt Wizz could put any of its U.K. based aircraft into a Malta based company.

[pabely]

Malta Air (Ryanair) Max 9H-VUA started it's working day today from STN so I assume no issue having Maltese registered aircraft.
French Law have a good article about benefits of registration with 9H-

[SWBKCB]

Malta Air (Ryanair) Max 9H-VUA started it's working day today from STN so I assume no issue having Maltese registered aircraft.

There will be for Wizz UK if they want to meet their UK licence obligations. The same issue as Ryanair had with Ryanair UK

[pabely]

Ryanair UK aircraft tend to fly to non EU destinations, example Morocco whilst being based in UK. Perhaps Wizz Air UK are looking at such routes from UK eg Egypt ?
Then the EU routes could use Maltese AOC with resulting tax benefits.

[Gurnard]

Malta Air (Ryanair) Max 9H-VUA started it's working day today from STN so I assume no issue having Maltese registered aircraft.
French Law have a good article about benefits of registration with 9H-
No - 9H-VUA actually began its day in BGY. (Not wanting to detract from the WZZ thread but the point may be relevant.)

[TartinTon]

Ryanair UK aircraft tend to fly to non EU destinations, example Morocco whilst being based in UK. Perhaps Wizz Air UK are looking at such routes from UK eg Egypt ?
Then the EU routes could use Maltese AOC with resulting tax benefits.

More likely to feed their AUH hub with the LRs that start arriving soon.

[TBSC]

More likely to feed their AUH hub with the LRs that start arriving soon.
My bet is obviously money but also moving away from Hungary (to have a backup organization in case the ruling party wants to leave the EU).

[pabely]

Happy Birthday Wizzair UK https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/business/cheap-flights-on-offer-as-luton-based-wizz-air-celebrates-18th-birthday-with-flash-sale-3700718

[LTNman]

Only a cheap flights if you travel with just a toothbrush and can walk to the airport.

[davidjohnson6]

Only a cheap flights if you travel with just a toothbrush and can walk to the airport.

I think you are being a bit negative. Mrs Johnson and I managed to do 4 days in Spain this month with just 2 small pieces of (free) hand luggage and 1 item of (paid) cabin baggage. No other extras. Mrs Johnson likes her make-up and doesn't wear the same clothes twice on a trip. The price was very reasonable. Public transport in Europe generally works well and is normally low price. The bus between Chisinau airport and Chisinau in Moldova takes 40 mins to cover 8 miles, runs twice per hour and costs 9 pence one way as of this month (yes, really). Costs can be kept down if going for just a few days and you think carefully about what you really need.

[USERNAME_]

Titan 321 G-POWW covering flights from LGW tomorrow due to crew shortage.

[Vokes55]

Not a single Wizz UK flight left Gatwick within an hour of schedule yesterday and it’s threatening to be the same again today.

[TBSC]

My bet is obviously money but also moving away from Hungary (to have a backup organization in case the ruling party wants to leave the EU).
There you go. Orban just announced that the state will "take the extra profit" from certain organizations (banks, insurance companies, food chains, etc) including airlines to fund the budget deficit. The shareholders of Wizz must be over the moon. Malta here we come.

[USERNAME_]

Seems that DSA base is being closed, or reduced significantly, from mid June.

[CabinCrewe]

well that didn't last long. Though I could maybe have put a small wager on it.

[MDS]

Thought I'd give Wizz another go, booked a return flight to Malaga back in March (for two weeks time) and opted for the Wizz Air discount club.

Now they've cancelled most of the routes from DSA, are happy to refund the flight money, but have pocketed the discount club cash and don't include it in the refund.

Great stuff. Fleeced by this pathetic outfit.

[TimmyW]

This is a DSA issue rather than WizzAir

[SWBKCB]

This is a DSA issue rather than WizzAir

How so? I would imagine Wizz are arguing that the discount club covers all their flights, and not just those from DSA?

[TimmyW]

How so? I would imagine Wizz are arguing that the discount club covers all their flights, and not just those from DSA?
They've pulled out of Doncaster as the airport weren't able to meet their commercial requirements as per the contract agreed.

[SWBKCB]

But the point MDS was making with regard to Wizz Air was their refusal to repay his discount club costs - hence "Great stuff. Fleeced by this pathetic outfit."

Maybe stop rubbing your hands with glee and read the post you are responding to?

[MDS]

I understand their T&C's and it's my fault for agreeing to them in the first place.

It still doesn't change the fact I feel like I've been partially scammed. It is what it is though. Lesson learned I suppose.

Rebooked out of Leeds with a substantial fare increase in tow.

[TBSC]

There will be more of it. Wonder what the excuse will be in case of other airports.

[Vokes55]

Over half of their (WUK) flights out of LGW cancelled yesterday, the rest but one ran with significant delays. 2/9 cancelled today, 3/9 over 3 hours late.

Gatwick have stopped allocating them airbridge stands at peak times due to the disruption they’re causing occupying stands for prolonged periods.

[mikkie4]

Having used SEN in the past, maybe its time to give us another look

[Buster the Bear]

They've pulled out of Doncaster as the airport weren't able to meet their commercial requirements as per the contract agreed.

Not according to this report!

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/local-news/wizz-air-cancels-large-number-24140321

[SWBKCB]

Not sure what you're getting at Buster, part of the Wizz statement in your linked article says - "This decision is unfortunately a result of Doncaster Sheffield Airport indicating that it is unable to guarantee the terms of its commercial agreement with Wizz Air."

[2Planks]

If you read the full article, lower down it says it will help Wizz stabilise their programme elsewhere. It's based on a press release so blame someone else first, the first rule of PR.

[Vokes55]

I’m sure giving their pilots and crew a week’s notice to move their lives down to Crawley will really help retention levels.

[compton3bravo]

Or even Luton, heaven forbid. Seriously I think is more to do with lack of sales on leisure routes. I think somebody said a little while ago there was one route and they hadn't one single sale.

[ATNotts]

The behaviour and timing of the decision to essentially withdraw Wizz UK operations from Doncaster is both reprehensible and cynical in equal measure. Cynical as this weekend in UK is exactly the right time to "bury bad news" when the media is totally preoccupied with a certain celebration; reprehensible since 7 days is hardly reasonable notice to give; had they announced the base would close in, say 4 weeks, that would at least hive given the passengers unfortunate enough to have paid them good money a chance to make alternative arrangements. I would suggest that the airport management at Cardiff may be worrying more than a little presently.

Given their behaviour I would counsel anyone thinking of doing so from booking Wizz flights unless it were to be 24 / 48 hours ahead of the departure date since they are obviously totally untrustworthy as a business, and frankly make Ryanair and Michael O'Leary appear corporate and personal saints respectively in comparison.

[davidjohnson6]

Hungarian Parliament passed a new law to create a departure tax from Hungarian airports. About 10 euros to EU, UK, Ukraine, Moldova, Albania and former Yugoslavia. 25 euros to fly anywhere else from Hungary. Comes into effect in July 2022

[Buster the Bear]

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/air/wizz-air-boosts-staffing-levels-in-bid-to-minimise-disruption

[Vokes55]

I wonder which “supply chain issue” caused only 3 people to turn up to a cabin crew recruitment event in LGW recently, of which none took the job.

[lfc84]

Failure of the remuneration supply chain probably

[TBSC]

According to their final result notice Wizz Air know just about everything about their people.

"Our team includes more than 50 different nationalities at all levels in the organisation."
"The Wizz Air team includes over 75 different nationalities at all levels in the organization."
"We have recruited in excess of 2,200 staff since the start of the last fiscal year and are
projecting to be a team of 6,700 people by the end of Summer 2022, up from around 4,000
people pre-COVID-19."

As far as I remember the 1000 people fired because of the covid was 19% of the workforce
therefore it was hardly around 4000 pre-covid.

[sr71bbc]

Hello everyone I wish you all well,

anyone help me with advise or tips for wizzinterview in Budapest this month,especially the test
applied as experienced A320 fo

thankyou everyone

[Spanish eyes]

Tell them that you are a company person and are more than happy to fly when fatigue sets in.

[Severn]

Wizz Air Bases

Below is a list showing where current fleet of 153x aircraft belonging to Wizz Air, Wizz Air UK and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi are currently based.
I'm sure this number fluctuates a little, but hopefully if gives a good overview (bases with over 5 or 10 aircraft have been highlighted):

Romania - 28
Bucharest Otopeni (OTP) - 11
Cluj-Napoca (CLJ) - 6
Iasi (IAS) - 5
Craiova (CRA) - 2
Timisoara (TSR) - 2
Bacau (BCM) - 1
Sibiu (SBZ) - 1

Poland - 22
Warsaw Chopin (WAW) - 8
Gdansk (GDN) - 6
Katowice (KTW) - 5
Kraków (KRK) - 2
Wroclaw (WRO) - 1

Italy - 19
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) - 5
Milan Malpensa (MXP) - 4
Catania (CTA) - 3
Naples Capodichino (NAP) - 2
Venice Marco Polo (VCE) - 2
Bari (BRI) - 2
Palermo (PMO) - 1

UK - 17
London Luton (LTN) - 11
London Gatwick (LGW) - 5
Cardiff (CWL) - 1

Hungary - 14
Budapest (BUD) - 13
Debrecen DEB - 1

Albania - 8
Tirana (TIA) - 8

Bulgaria - 8
Sofia (SOF) - 6
Varna (VAR) - 2

North Macedonia - 5
Skopje (SKP) - 5

Austria - 4
Vienna (VIE) - 4

UAE - 4
Abu Dhabi (AUH) - 4

Bosnia and Herzegovina - 4
Sarajevo (SJJ) - 2
Tuzla Int'l (TZL) - 2

Serbia - 3
Belgrade (BEG) - 3

Lithuania - 3
Vilnius (VNO) - 3

Cyprus - 2
Larnaca (LCA) - 2

Georgia - 1
Kutaisi (KUT) - 1

Ukraine - 4 (Aircraft are stuck in Ukraine)
Kyiv Igor Sikorsky (IEV) - 3
Lviv (LWO) - 1

Note - 7x aircraft not listed above are currently in maintenance, being repaired or are standby aircraft (in BUD, OTP, GDN, KTW, MXP, KUT)

[cavokblues]

I see Wizz have launched flights to Nepal from Abu Dhabi.

Can the aircraft they have on order be sent to any of their affiliate operations?

It just feels a bit strange to see them focusing so much on the Middle East. Are they struggling to see growth opportunities within the EU?

[pabely]

Hardly see a great focus in Abu Dhabi. 4 frames which is static number. Just trying new things which LCCs do all the time.
It always going to be tough at that base with competition having very deep pockets.
WUK have taken 4 new frames in 2022 to support their UK operations and the original WZZ have taken new aircraft as well, but returned some older CEOs to leasors.

[cavokblues]

Probably a knee jerk reaction from me. I just didn't think we would ever see the day with European locos going out to Nepal.

[davidjohnson6]

Pegasus Air based in Istanbul fly to Kyrgyzstan.
Vueling used to (I think) fly to Ghana
Air Arabia stretch from Morocco to Bangladesh
Scoot stretch from London to Sydney

Perhaps worth remembering that Budapest is a long way east of the UK, and for people in Wizz's head office, they will tend to look a lot further east than UK residents

[Buster the Bear]

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/air/wizz-air-to-trim-summer-fleet-utilisation-by-5

[AntonyCole]

Does anyone know why G-UKG is sitting in Frankfurt with passengers being given no information or compensation? The flight on the route PDV-LTN was supposed to arrive before midnight yesterday. I'm worried about my cousins who have been told to 'try and survive' at Frankfurt airport. This is after 3 hours of sitting on the plane at Frankfurt Main and then told they would depart to Luton at 7am, then 2:15pm, now 7pm.

[Buster the Bear]

https://www.romania-insider.com/wizz-air-12th-aircraft-bucharest-base-2022

[Buster the Bear]

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/air/wizz-air-imposes-tactical-capacity-cuts-as-quarterly-losses-deepen

[Buster the Bear]

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/air/wizz-air-defends-safety-rules-against-pilot-work-harder-claims

[davidjohnson6]

I've been looking through FR24 on Wizz flights at Gatwick - there seem to be numerous cases of Wizz flights due to go out of LGW to EU destinations in the afternoon departing Gatwick a few hours late, even when the aircraft has been sitting on the ground at Gatwick for a few hours prior to scheduled departure. Yes, it could be aircraft suddenly going tech, but it would be odd for tech issues to be focussed particularly on LGW

Are the delays because of lack of crew ? Something to do with LGW ATC ? Flights being held at the gate to wait for pax who are stuck in security screening queues ? Not enough ground staff to dispatch flights ? Something else ?

[PAPI-74]

Every airline is suffering from all of the above, at the same time. They all have a snowball effect.

[Seljuk22]

A 7th aircraft will be based at Sofia.

In July available capacity exceeded 5 million with 4,760,725 passengers carried (LF 89.7%).

Fleet contains now more than 160 aircraft.

[Dannyboy39]

I've been looking through FR24 on Wizz flights at Gatwick - there seem to be numerous cases of Wizz flights due to go out of LGW to EU destinations in the afternoon departing Gatwick a few hours late, even when the aircraft has been sitting on the ground at Gatwick for a few hours prior to scheduled departure. Yes, it could be aircraft suddenly going tech, but it would be odd for tech issues to be focussed particularly on LGW

Are the delays because of lack of crew ? Something to do with LGW ATC ? Flights being held at the gate to wait for pax who are stuck in security screening queues ? Not enough ground staff to dispatch flights ? Something else ?
LGW summer delays are nothing new. Pre or post covid. It’s why I deliberately avoid the place in these months because [on easyJet particularly], nothing runs to time.

[Buster the Bear]

More bad press for Wizz.

https://ukaviation.news/wizz-air-pilots-pressured-staff-hiding-from-customers-and-no-margin-for-problems/

[davidjohnson6]

Wizz to resume flights to Moscow on 03 October 2022

[Pain in the R's]

Rather despicable act when Ukraine is under attack. The airline has no shame.

[SWBKCB]

Wizz to resume flights to Moscow on 03 October 2022

From where?

[davidjohnson6]

From where?
Abu Dhabi in the UAE

[Pain in the R's]

I hope the airline makes big losses on this route

[Buster the Bear]

I am sure if the Eastern European customers knew this of despicable act, they would look to book with another airline. Wizzair boss has lost the plot!

[pabely]

Turkish are flying vast numbers of flights to/from Moscow for Russians, don't stop any Western customers using them for their hols!

[inOban]

I believe all the Gulf airlines continue to fly. dubai is full of Russians

[LTNman]

This is an EU airline and sanctions are meant to be in place. This is the airline that had 3 aircraft and staff trapped in Kiev, as Russia sent in invasion forces. The war carries on with thousands of civilians killed that affects the whole world while this airline just doesn’t care, as it heads back into Moscow. Putin’s favourite EU airline no doubt.

[pabely]

Technically only 49pc owned by Wizzair holdings.

[SWBKCB]

This is an EU airline and sanctions are meant to be in place. This is the airline that had 3 aircraft and staff trapped in Kiev, as Russia sent in invasion forces. The war carries on with thousands of civilians killed that affects the whole world while this airline just doesn’t care, as it heads back into Moscow. Putin’s favourite EU airline no doubt.

It'll be operated by the Abu Dhabi subsidiary, so not an EU airline. We all know sanctions are applied selectively, so not nice but legal.

[TBSC]

G-WUKP vs ice.

G-WUKP after arrival to Catania yesterday.

[1sky]

A few LGW routes that were previously on sale for this winter incl SOF and VAR are now not available.

[runway30]

Wizz to resume flights to Moscow on 03 October 2022
I will now boycott Wizz, I hope others do too.

[Pain in the R's]

Wizz is showing support for a country that is crippling its business.

[BA318]

According to Reuters, WizzAir has now dropped plans to resume the Moscow route following public pressure.

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/wizz-airs-abu-dhabi-venture-suspends-plans-resume-russian-flights-2022-08-19/?taid=6300a2acd746240001059b6c&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

[LTNman]

This is a classic example where corporate greed was prioritised.

[davidjohnson6]

Many senior managers will try to balance the desire for profits against wondering what public reaction will be.

Emirates currently fly to Moscow, so one could argue that Wizz is leaving money on the table by not flying from Abu Dhabi. Equally, Wizz is a European company, not Emirati. There are arguments both in favour and against Wizz flying Abu Dhabi - Russia, depending on your perspective.

It's remarkably common for corporations, unsure of the public reaction, to announce something will happen on a small scale, and see what happens in the press... and make sure they have some suitable excuse for withdrawing their plans if need be.

[TBSC]

CFO resigned.
Leadership Update - 08:00:05 22 Aug 2022 - WIZZ News article | London Stock Exchange (https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/WIZZ/leadership-update/15594687)

[PAPI-74]

Damn.....I read that the first time as CEO had resigned.
Champaign is back on ice.

[davidjohnson6]

Share price down 10 % compared to yesterday. Investors always get nervous when a CFO resigns - he/she knows things that are not public and investors will be concerned the CEO may be acting on ego rather than in the interest of shareholders

[Buster the Bear]

Wizz to commence services to Saudi Arabia.

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/wizz-air/budapest-airport-serves-three-cities-in-saudi-arabia-with-wizz-air/

https://www.laranews.net/wizz-air-set-to-launch-20-new-routes-in-saudi-arabia/ (https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/wizz-air/budapest-airport-serves-three-cities-in-saudi-arabia-with-wizz-air/)

[Seljuk22]

Also a Saudi AOC is on the cards:
https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/118776-hungarys-wizz-air-ponders-saudi-aoc-after-route-expansion

Suceava will become new base in mid December with 2 based aircraft while Sofia will get a 7th and Iasi a 4th aircraft in December.