Wizz Air to add 23 new routes across two new bases, including its first in Russia
Not content with the 88 new routes reported on by anna.aero since 1 June, Wizz Air has confirmed another 23 new routes.
These 23 routes, almost all brand-new, involve two new bases: Dortmund – a long-standing important airport for Wizz Air – and St Petersburg, its first base in Russia.
Wizz Air will base three aircraft at Dortmund and one at St Petersburg. These two new bases will join five others announced in recent weeks: Bacau; Larnaca; Lviv; Milan Malpensa; and Tirana.
Wizz Air’s determination in ‘growing’ amid the coronavirus crisis is primarily from aircraft being reduced in number at other bases. They must, after all, go somewhere.
Wizz Air’s 23 new routes
| Routing | Start date | Weekly frequency | Direct competition (weekly frequency) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dortmund – Alghero | 8 August | 3 | None |
| Dortmund – Athens | 1 August | 3 | None |
| Dortmund – Bari | 8 August | 3 | None |
| Dortmund – Catania | 3 August | 3 | None |
| Dortmund – Corfu | 2 August | 2 | None |
| Dortmund – Fuerteventura | 3 August | 2 | None |
| Dortmund – Heraklion | 1 August | 3 | None |
| Dortmund – Keflavik | 9 August | 2 | None |
| Dortmund – Lisbon | 9 August | 2 | None |
| Dortmund – Marrakesh | 2 August | 2 | None |
| Dortmund – Naples | 2 August | 2 | None |
| Dortmund – Podgorica | 8 August | 3 | None |
| Dortmund – Rhodes | 1 August | 2 | None |
| Dortmund – Santorini | 7 August | 2 | None |
| Dortmund – Split | 1 August | 3 | Eurowings (see footnote) |
| Dortmund – Suceava | 3 August | 2 | None |
| Dortmund – Thessaloniki | 3 August | 2 | Ryanair (2) |
| Dortmund – Zaporizhia | 2 August | 2 | None |
| St Petersburg – Copenhagen | 18 September | 4 | None (see footnote) |
| St Petersburg – Malta | 19 September | 3 | None |
| St Petersburg – Oslo | 19 September | 3 | None |
| St Petersburg – Salzburg | 18 September | 4 | None |
| St Petersburg – Stockholm Skavsta | 19 September | 3 | None directly; indirectly SAS (Arlanda; 6) |
| Source: OAG Schedules Analyser and each airline’s website. * Based on the same week as Wizz Air begins. Note: Eurowings would ordinarily serve Split from Dortmund during the summer on a twice-weekly basis, but due to coronavirus these have been postponed until 1 September. SAS operates St Petersburg – Copenhagen on a seasonal basis, with its flights ending in August. | |||
Dortmund to have 48 Wizz Air routes
Wizz Air will begin 18 new routes from Dortmund, taking its total from the airport to 48.
Its new routes have a strong emphasis on both summer-sun and year-round sun destinations. Like with other recent announcements, Greece plays an important role.
Summer slots are ordinarily very hard to come by across Greek islands, especially Santorini, so the recent spate of new Greek island services shows another consequence of coronavirus.
Dortmund was Wizz Air’s 10th largest airport by seats last year
Dortmund was Wizz Air’s tenth largest airport by seat capacity last year, just behind Cluj-Napoca. Dortmund had 5% of Wizz Air’s total seats, data by OAG Schedules Analyser shows.
With Dortmund’s growth – and Cluj’s cuts – Dortmund will obviously ascend the carrier’s top-10 table.
With Western European bases now at Luton, Milan Malpensa, and Dortmund, will Eindhoven – just outside of Wizz Air’s top-10 airports – become a base?
Source: OAG Schedules Analyser.
St Petersburg’s new seventh freedoms and e-visas key
Wizz Air’s first Russian base comes after St Petersburg began seventh freedom traffic rights to 29 European countries to kickstart tourism, particularly through LCC development. It also now offers e-visas.
OAG Traffic Analyser indicates that about 1.5 million passengers flew indirectly between St Petersburg and Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe – excluding Russia – last year. Around one-third of CEE traffic flew indirectly.
Wizz Air’s new St Petersburg routes target key unserved markets
Wizz Air’s five new St Petersburg routes – and those previously announced to Bratislava, Budapest, Sofia, and Vilnius – fill important holes in the Russian airport’s network based on good volumes of indirect passengers.
Copenhagen had 36,000 indirect passengers last year, Oslo 29,000, Vilnius 18,000, Sofia 17,000, and Bucharest 12,000 – all pre-stimulation. By Wizz Air standards, that existing volume is a lot.
Looking to the future from St Petersburg, potential new Wizz Air routes include the following, with all airports already in the carrier’s network.
- Dortmund: 42,000 indirect passengers pre-stimulation (combining indirect traffic to/from Düsseldorf and Cologne)
- Geneva: 35,000
- Madrid: 26,000
- Venice Treviso: 22,000 (to/from Venice)
- Lisbon: 22,000
- Karlsruhe: 19,000 (to/from Stuttgart)
- Lyon: 17,000
- Hannover: 14,000
- Bologna: 13,000
- Valencia: 11,000
Wizz Air’s 23 new routes. Source: OAG Mapper.
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