Wizz Air will smoothly conquer Romania
Professionals forecasted the bankruptcy of Blue Air, the Romanian low-cost airline way earlier than the company issued its announcement. However, it seems that only the Hungarian ultra-low-cost airline, Wizz Air, would like to fill the market gap. The Hungary-based company’s greatest European rival, the Irish Ryanair, remained undecided.
Wizz Air started to recruit in Romania almost immediately
Wizz Air recruited 300 flight attendants in Romania this year. Furthermore, on 28 October, they started a recruitment campaign during which they concentrate on the Eastern counties of the country, including even the poorest one, Suceava. The aim is to fill the market gap opened by the bankruptcy of Blue Air, which previously dominated the region. Therefore, Wizz Air opened a base in Suceava with two Airbus A321neo planes. Now, they offer flights from 11 Romanian airports. Furthermore, a new Airbus A321neo plane will arrive in December at the Iaşi base, connecting the capital of Romania’s Moldova region with Memmingen, Basel-Mulhouse and Copenhagen.
Wizz Air’s Romanian recruitment campaign focuses on Bacau (Bákó) and Botoşani. However, they will not forget Bucharest, Cluj Napoca (Kolozsvár), Craiova, Sibiu (Nagyszeben), and Timisoara (Temesvár) either, turizmus.com said.
The eastern regions of Romania are crucial for the airline because these are the poorest territories where many people choose to work in other states of the European Union. Thus, regular flights to popular European destinations are important. Workers do not mind which low-cost airline they will have to pick.
Moreover, Wizz Air wanted to attract the flight attendants and pilots of Blue Air already back in September. They offered high salaries and professional development opportunities.
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Moldovan base to close due to Russian attacks
Based on the statistics of news.ro, Bucharest’s Henri Coandă International Airport registered 226 delays (> 60 mins) between 20 and 26 October. 150 of them were Wizz Air flights. Out of the six cancelled flights in that period four were Wizz Air. The explanation listed technical reasons and the ongoing strikes at the Italian airports.
Even so, it seems Wizz Air has no competitors in the Romanian market. Ryanair is concerned with its domestic problems. They held a recruitment day in Bucharest on 28 October but wanted to hire only mechanics for several European bases. That means they do not intend to expand on the Romanian market.
The other Romanian airline, Tarom, has been unprofitable for years. For instance, in the first half of 2022, their loss exceeded 40 million euros. Romania’s transport minister, Sorin Grindeanu, has been talking about the necessity of restructuring the airline for a long while, but without any substantial measures.
Meanwhile, aerotime.aero wrote that Wizz Air would close its Moldovan base at Chisinau International Airport (KIV) for an “indefinite period”. That means ceasing flights to Paris (BVA), Brussels (CLR), Basel (BSL), and Turin (TRN). But they said they would continue to operate one-way flights to Chisinau from various European cities. Wizz Air reasoned the decision with the insecurity of Moldova’s airspace violated by Russian missiles launched at Ukraine from Russian ships earlier in October.
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Source: aerotime.aero, turizmus.com