Wizz Air’s capacity is up 9% this summer, but 25 routes have left the network completely to help make room for over 60 new ones. A further 26 routes have relocated to nearby airports. Most of Wizz Air’s network growth is coming from markets where Ryanair does not have much of a presence, if any, though Budapest is a notable exception.
Nantes in western France has welcomed three million passengers in a year before, but what is different this year? And just how many cakes did Budapest Airport bake to welcome Ural Airlines from Ekaterinburg?
Wizz Air’s fleet will reach 40 aircraft this summer but how are they distributed across the airline’s 15 bases? Which country markets are the most popular from the bases and how much competition does the airline face from easyJet and Ryanair in its ‘home’ markets?
Japan’s new low-cost airline Peach celebrated winning anna.aero’s Route of the Week award for its recently launched first international route, while two European airports baked cakes for two different celebrations. Pula Airport welcomed another new airline, Jet2.com, to the Croatian airport, while Budapest Airport celebrated that CSA Czech Airlines has served the Hungarian capital for 75 years (!).
We all know that Ryanair starts lots of new routes every year, but what about the routes they drop? We take a closer look at how this summer’s network compares with a year ago to see which country markets are growing fastest, which are shrinking, and which airports have lost most routes. Also, which airports have gained most new routes?
Central Europe’s three big airports at Budapest, Prague and Warsaw have all been in the news this year, but how do their growth rates compare if we look at the period 1998-2011? How have other capital city airports in Central Europe developed in recent years? Which airport has seen an eight-fold increase in traffic thanks to which airline?
Just one week after Malev ceased operating we’ve compiled a list of some 44 new services that have already been announced. This includes 26 by Ryanair which at present are still not 100% confirmed. But which other carriers have stepped up and which country markets look set to benefit most?
This morning’s announcement that Malév ceased operations leads us to analyse how a Malév sized ‘hole’ at Budapest Airport might be filled. Which destinations did Malév have a monopoly on? What proportion of the airline’s capacity did that represent, and which carriers might be interested in taking over these routes?
anna.aero’s Editor unexpectedly got the chance to have a one-on-one chat in Budapest with Ryanair’s flamboyant CEO. So we gave him an award in recognition of his airline’s contribution to new route development, and in return he gave us some insight into Ryanair’s current network strategy, the impact of volatile fuel prices, and why the airline has returned to Budapest.
According to Ryanair their relationship with some airports is a bit like a marriage. You fall out, you make up. Budapest would appear to have ‘kissed and made up’ as Ryanair returns after an 18 month hiatus. Three of the five new routes are to the UK but how has the UK – Hungary market developed since the mid-90s?
How has Wizz Air’s network from its home base in Budapest developed since it launched services in 2004? How many destinations will it serve this summer, at what frequency, and facing what competition? Which are the airline’s newest route, and which routes have been tried and abandoned over the years?
