Ryanair beats Hungarian Wizz Air in Budapest

The fierce competition between the two budget airlines for passengers across Europe is palpable, and in Budapest, it seems Ryanair is gaining the upper hand over Wizz Air in terms of the number of flights launched from the Hungarian capital.

As reported by okosutas.hu, the Irish low-cost airline, Ryanair, is steadily rolling out new destinations from Budapest, outpacing its Hungarian counterpart Wizz Air. By the upcoming summer, it appears that Ryanair will surpass Wizz Air in the Hungarian capital.

A similar scenario unfolded last spring when Ryanair recovered faster from the COVID standstill, whereas it took longer for Wizz Air to rebuild its capacities. By the summer of 2023, Wizz Air managed to catch up with Ryanair, boasting more destinations from Budapest than its Irish competitor.

However, this summer marks a reversal of fortunes. Wizz Air has modified only one of its destinations, switching to Glasgow instead of Edinburgh in Scotland, and announced only two flights to Egypt. Unfortunately, they’ve also cancelled flights to Castellon in Spain for this summer. Their current timetable indicates 60 destinations from Budapest.

Meanwhile, Ryanair plans to maintain ‘winter only’ flights from Budapest throughout the summer, including destinations like Lanzarote and Sevilla. Furthermore, they’re set to introduce new routes to Birmingham, Alicante, Milan-Malpensa and the enchanting Greek island of Skiathos, famous as the setting of Mamma Mia. We wrote about the latter HERE. Their latest announcement includes flights to Faro in Portugal starting this June, with lingering doubts about its sustainability through the summer and into the winter.

Although initial concerns arose about potential route cancellations, such as Warsaw-Modlin, later revelations clarified that these routes would persist.

Comparing their summer timetables, Ryanair’s 2024 schedule boasts 63 destinations, just three more than Wizz Air’s 60. This marks the first time Ryanair will surpass Wizz Air in terms of destinations from Budapest, although it’s worth noting that Wizz Air remains active at the Debrecen International Airport, maintaining a lead across the entirety of Hungary.