Wizz Air and Ryanair battle for dominance in Eastern Europe

Fierce competition is emerging between budget airline giants at Bratislava Airport, as Ryanair quietly adds the same routes to its booking system shortly after Wizz Air’s high-profile announcement.

From late October, Ryanair will expand its Bratislava offering with seven new routes. Starting 26 October, daily flights will operate to Barcelona, and new connections will launch to Lamezia Terme, Palermo and Naples in Italy. The schedule will also feature the Spanish cities of Malaga and Alicante, as well as the Greek capital, Athens – Parameter.sk reports.

The launch of the Bratislava base

Wizz Air’s August announcement was accompanied by a high-profile campaign. On 13 August, the airline held a press conference with executives from Bratislava Airport to unveil plans for its new base.

Airport director Dušan Novota called the launch a “historic milestone” and projected that passenger numbers could grow from this year’s two million to as many as three million over the next few years.

Soon after, the Irish low-cost carrier quietly made tickets available for its seven new routes, doing so without a press conference and just weeks after Wizz Air revealed the same Bratislava services.

Wizz Air pulls out of Vienna

Following the successful base opening in Bratislava, Wizz Air is exiting operations at another nearby capital. After a strategic review, the airline has decided to gradually shut down its Vienna base. The first aircraft will be moved on 26 October, ending services to Bilbao and London Gatwick.

The remaining three planes will be withdrawn from Schwechat by 15 March 2026, marking the complete closure of the base, according to Airportal.hu.

Affected passengers will be offered rebooking or refunds, while the airline will offer job relocations elsewhere within its network to Vienna-based staff.

Wizz Air and Ryanair face off in Slovakia

The two budget carriers are now locked in direct competition in the Slovak market. Wizz Air has stepped up its international services from Bratislava and entered the domestic market, having won the government tender to operate flights between Bratislava and Košice. This route returns after a long hiatus and promises a quicker connection between Slovakia’s eastern and western regions.

The flights will begin in November with nine weekly rotations (18 round trips) using Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft, each with a capacity of nearly 230 passengers. The three-year operation will receive €5.2 million in government subsidies, equating to around €2,000 per flight.

Meanwhile, Ryanair is also expanding its presence at the Bratislava base, launching seven new routes from late October – the majority overlapping with Wizz Air’s new destinations. Ryanair’s longstanding presence at the airport gives it a strategic advantage, offering established routes to destinations such as London, Dublin, and Milan.

Record-breaking traffic at Bratislava Airport

Bratislava Airport is riding a wave of record passenger traffic. In August 2025, it handled 355,658 passengers – an 11 percent increase from the previous year and an all-time August record. For comparison, July 2018 held the pre-pandemic peak with 349,000 passengers – a figure now finally surpassed.

The rise in traffic shows strong market demand, and there is no shortage of passengers. The ultimate winner in this battle will be the airline that wins passengers’ trust and loyalty.

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