Unexpectedly, Wizz Air closes another Budapest flight, but plans to expand in Central Asian country

Out of the blue, the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air decided not to fly a popular Balkans route from 9 March.

According to Budflyer, a Hungarian travel news media outlet, Wizz Air had suddenly removed the Budapest-Skopje flights from its schedule after March 9. The airline said it had already informed all concerned passengers about its recent decision. However, as usual, the airline did not elaborate on the reasons behind the decision.

Interestingly, Wizz Air recently received North Macedonian government support for its newly-launched routes from Skopje to Lyon, France, Barcelona, Spain, and Stuttgart, Germany.

After Malév, the Hungarian airline, terminated operations in 2012, many Balkan routes were cancelled because other airlines did not believe they were potentially profitable. Therefore, the Hungarian government “entered the market” by financially backing the inclusion of new Balkans destinations like Skopje (North Macedonia), Podgorica (Montenegro), Pristina (Kosovo), and Tirana (Albania).

We wrote before that the Hungarian budget airline decided to cancel or modify at least 20 flights from Budapest. Of course, they did not explain why they decided to terminate flights to, for example, Antalya, Salerno or Sharm El Sheikh. Check out the details in THIS article.

Meanwhile, in a recent interview, CEO József Váradi talked about the airline’s goal to return to Ukraine as the first airline once the war subsides. Check out our relevant article HERE.

Wizz Air would expand in Uzbekistan

We reported multiple times before that the Hungarian low-cost airline has ambitious plans to expand in the Middle Eastern and Asian regions. CEO Váradi and József Rózsa, Hungary’s Ambassador to Uzbekistan, recently held discussions with Uzbek transport minister Ilhom Mahkamov about new flights to and from Uzbekistan.

According to Budflyer, the meeting addressed the options for Wizz Air to operate transit flights from Uzbekistan to Europe and through Uzbekistan. Mr Váradi expressed Wizz Air Abu Dhabi’s interest in increasing flight frequency on the Tashkent-Abu Dhabi route, launching new flights to the cities of Namangan and Urgench, and exploring the possibility of establishing a joint airline in Uzbekistan.

Minister Mahkamov suggested that Wizz Air operate direct flights between Uzbekistan and Hungary and launch a regular flight on the Tashkent-Budapest route by the end of this year. A Tashkent-Budapest flight was announced last May, which we wrote about in THIS article.

Read also:

• Wizz Air to compensate passengers for unfair business practices – click HERE for more