The FINANCIAL — Wizz Air announced on December 15 five new West Balkan routes from Budapest that will commence in April 2017.
The new routes will connect Budapest with five capitals of the countries in the West Balkan region: Skopje in Macedonia, Podgorica in Montenegro, Tirana in Albania, Prishtina in Kosovo and Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Flights are already on sale and can be booked on wizzair.com
Earlier this year the National Ministry of Development enacted that a public service obligation is imposed, and announced a public procurement tender for operating the routes connecting Hungary with important economic routes in the region. The tender invitation was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Wizz Air applied for the bid and the concessions were awarded last week, according to Wizz Air.
Being the hometown airline of Hungary, Wizz Air has constantly expanded its operations in Hungary. The airline currently operates two Hungarian bases in Budapest and Debrecen with a total of 11 aircraft in the country and recently announced an additional aircraft to join the Budapest fleet from April 2017, employing more than 1,000 people in flight crew, cabin crew, office and supporting functions. Over the past twelve months until 30 November 2016, Wizz Air carried 3.4 million passengers on its low-fare Budapest routes, further supporting over 2,300 local indirect jobs. Apart from today’s announcement Wizz Air already announced four new routes to be launched in 2017 including such attractive destinations like Faro, Hanover, Bergen and Lamezia Terme.
The new routes will connect the countries directly, boost bi-directional tourism and establish an important link for trade and business between Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tickets on the new routes are already on sale from just HUF 5,990* and can be booked on wizzair.com To celebrate the announcement Wizz Air also announced a 20% sale off all Budapest routes if booked until midnight on 15 December
Speaking at a press conference in Budapest, József Váradi, Chief Executive Officer of Wizz Air, said: ”Today’s announcement further underlines our commitment to Hungary as de facto Hungarian national carrier. In the past few months we have made several major announcements including basing a new aircraft at Budapest in April, revealing the unique Budapest livery that is designed to promote the city with Budapest 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Bid elements, announced four new routes to start in 2017 and today we add another 5 strategically important routes to our Budapest network. Today’s announcement is the result of a first ever example of imposing a public service obligation in aviation industry in Hungary. We believe that this unprecedented example will help stimulate economic and business relations between the countries as well as further improve accessibility to Budapest where WIZZ has the most diverse network, offering 59 routes to 28 countries.”
