Wizz Air suspends 50 EX-YU routes

Wizz Air is in the process of suspending up to 50 routes to and from the former Yugoslavia, with every city it serves in the region affected. Skopje is seeing the largest number of cancellations, followed by Tuzla, Ohrid, Podgorica, Belgrade, Niš, Pristina, Ljubljana, Split and Sarajevo.

During November, the carrier will no longer serve Podgorica as all six of its routes from the Montenegrin capital will be suspended, however, some are scheduled to resume in December. The carrier has again delayed the launch of its new flights from Milan to Pristina, which are now set to commence on 19 December. The budget airline has also suspended its service between Dortmund and Split, which was launched this summer and was envisaged to run throughout the winter season.

Several routes still in operation such as Memmingen – Podgorica, Vienna – Ohrid and Stockholm Skavsta – Skopje, will be suspended in two weeks’ time for the winter season. The carrier plans to restore some of its routes in November and December, although this is likely to change. The majority of the flights are not due to recommence until the 2021 summer season in late March. The carrier is in the process of resuming some routes that were temporarily cancelled over the summer including Skopje – Turku and Belgrade – Larnaca, while Skopje – Nuremberg, Skopje – Copenhagen and Belgrade – Baden Baden will restart at the end of the month.

Despite shrinking its operations in the former Yugoslavia, the airline is growing elsewhere in Western Europe, most recently announcing the launch of domestic flights in Norway. Wizz Air suffered a near-60% drop in passenger numbers in September, the month in which it had been hoping to step up its recovery. According to the airline, its capacity remained 40% lower than the same month last year. This October, the airline is only flying 50% of its capacity. It does not foresee operating at a higher capacity during the winter if current pandemic curbs remain. However, its existing operations are significantly larger than those of most other European airlines.