After opening two new bases in the UK in recent days, Wizz Air UK’s MD Owain Jones discusses the rationale behind the airline’s increased focus on leisure routes to points in Western Europe.
The LCC expects to fly just a quarter of its normal schedule over the coming months although looking ahead to next summer and two new seasonal bases will open in Spain and Portugal.
British Airways offered more than 4 million departure seats from London Gatwick last year, but the airline has raised the possibility of leaving the airport as it grapples with the COVID-19 crisis.
While its rivals Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways are looking closely at the sustainability of their business models, Qatar Airways shows no signs of slowing its incredible network growth and surprised guests at this year’s Arabian Travel Market in Dubai this week by revealing an additional 12 new markets that should see the airline service in 2018.
The UK Government’s Regional Air Connectivity Fund was launched last year as a way of encouraging new routes to and from UK regional airports and improving connectivity for business and leisure travellers.
The new routes will launch from May 28, 2016 and will operate on a weekly schedule with flights to Ibiza, Malaga and Palma on Saturdays and Faro on Sundays. These are all markets currently served by BA from at least two other London airports – City and Heathrow, while Ibiza, Faro and Malaga are also served from Gatwick.
Irish budget carrier, Ryanair is to significantly grow its activities from Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle airports in the UK next year, introducing a total of ten new routes from the three facilities as part of an expanded offering from the summer schedule.
The low-fare airline will introduce new year-round scheduled holiday flights from Norwich to Alicante and Malaga from March 2016, with the addition of Geneva expected later in 2016. The partnership will see one of Flybe’s stored Embraer E195 jets return to the skies, and planning is already underway to maximise its use by the airport.
Ryanair opened the Copenhagen base at the end of last month as it continues to develop its network offering from primary airports to support business as well as leisure demand. It is initially stationing a single Boeing 737-800 at the airport but expects a further three aircraft to arrive over the course of the year to support its network expansion.
With five based aircraft, Berlin will become the airlines’ 73rd base, and will see the launch of sixteen new routes, bringing the total number of destinations to 22.
Norwegian will make its debut at Birmingham at the end of March 2015 with a three times weekly service from Malaga commencing on March 30, 2015 and a three times weekly route to Madrid following from March 31, 2015. The third route to Barcelona will follow from June 1, 2015 and will be flown on a twice weekly basis.
