Central and Eastern European low-cost carrier Wizz Air has announced it will introduce a long expected new route from Budapest to the Russian capital Moscow after finally being designated as the Hungarian carrier to serve the restricted market following the collapse of Malev Hungarian Airlines. It has been a long drawn out process but could mark the first steps in a wider expansion of the budget carrier’s network in Russia as it seeks to take advantage of new growth opportunities through its ‘Go East’ network strategy.
This has already seen the carrier introduce or announce new links from Budapest to Ukraine, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Egypt in the last year alone. Wizz Air will initially operate a five times weekly link between Budapest and Moscow from September 23, 2013 and will serve Vnukovo Airport in the Russian capital.
According to the carrier its Russian debut will create the potential for stimulating trade, business and tourism between Russia and Hungary. It says it selected Vnukovo International Airport ahead of Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo for the flight as the facility has quick and easy access to Moscow city.
"The opening of the Budapest-Moscow route is a landmark event for Wizz Air’s ‘Go East’ expansion as it will make the airline’s debut in Russia. It also enhances Wizz Air’s position as the ‘home town airline’ for Hungarians by offering more choices and more low fares to travelers,” said József Váradi, Chief Executive Officer of Wizz Air.
Wizz Air’s current network consists of 37 routes from Budapest representing over 2.4 million seats in 2013. “We remain highly committed to continue to develop our route network, to create new employment and engage with new business activities in Hungary as it would be expected from Hungary’s largest airline,” he added.
Malev had previously operated regular flights between Budapest and Moscow Sheremetyevo, a route that continues to be served from the Russian side by national carrier Aeroflot Russian Airlines. It had also provided a complimentary service to Moscow Domodedovo between March 2008 and March 2009 but subsequently moved this operation to St Petersburg, while Ekaterinburg was also linked to the Hungarian capital up until May 2009.
According to MIDT data, an estimated 100,000 bi-directional O&D passengers travelled on the Budapest – Moscow Sheremetyevo route in 2012 when Aeroflot was the sole operator, down 9.1 per cent from the previous year when Malev also served the route. However, Aeroflot’s own traffic increased 89.4 per cent between the two years as it has picked up the traffic from the former Hungarian flag carrier.
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