Wizz Air cuts flights from a Balkan country, closes its base

Wizz Air will further reduce the number of flights from Bosnia and Herzegovina for the winter season starting on 29 October. The Hungarian-based low-cost airline will operate only 17 flights a week from the Balkan country in the winter season, compared to 54 flights a week in the same period last year. Wizz is also closing its base in Tuzla.

The Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air operates scheduled flights mainly within Europe. It also operates some intercontinental routes to the Middle East and Africa. However, these routes have one end point in Europe, balk.hu writes.

Wizz Air to restructure Bosnia

Wizz Air will close its base in Tuzla from mid-September, resulting in the closure of twelve routes, according to ExYuAviation, a portal dedicated to air traffic in the former Yugoslav region. Wizz Air will discontinue flights between Frankfurt-Hahn and Tuzla as of 30 October, bringing to twelve the number of flights to Tuzla that will be discontinued.

According to reader comments, the current five flights a week to Frankfurt-Hahn will be reduced to two next month and cancelled altogether from October, possibly because the service is heavily based on seasonal diaspora traffic, balk.hu writes. From its former base in Tuzla, the low-cost airline will now only fly to Basel, Dortmund and Memmingen.

Abu Dhabi-Sarajevo flight to discontinue in October

Wizz Air is also discontinuing its Abu Dhabi-Sarajevo flight, which was launched in 2021. The last flight between the two cities is scheduled for 28 October, but it is possible that the service will be reinstated on 31 March 2024. According to comments, passenger traffic will be shifted to the Belgrade-Abu Dhabi flight, which is already full of Croatian passengers, who will be joined by Bosniaks.

On the positive side, the low-cost airline will re-launch its twice-weekly service between London Luton and Sarajevo from 25 September.

Republika Srpska is also concerned

Wizz Air will also cancel flights between Banja Luka and Stockholm Skavsta, with the last flight scheduled for 28 August. Also on 28 October, the flight between Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest city, and Hamburg will be discontinued, but Basel and Dortmund will remain as destinations.

For Republika Srpska, the fact that Wizz Air has a contract with Banja Luka airport until the 2024 summer season, i.e. until next March, may pose some difficulties. This means that the two parties will have to negotiate an extension of the contract.

Wizz Air, which has been the largest airline in Bosnia and Herzegovina for many years, will this winter be in a dead heat with Turkish Airlines in terms of weekly flights, with only three more flights per week than its low-cost rival Ryanair.

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