AIRLINES Wizz Air/Ryanair
HUNGARY
It seems there’s more than enough room in Budapest for these two rival LCCs. Wizz Air CEO József Váradi and Ryanair CMO Kenny Jacobs share their plans WORDS EDWARD ROBERTSON
F
or Ryanair, March presented another opportunity to advance its long declared plan of
driving expansion in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).
The airline announced it will open a
base at Vilnius Airport in Lithuania on October 30 with two aircraft, at a cost of $200 million as part of a plan to grow traffic out of the airport by 16%. The airline is predicting the plans will deliver 1.5 million passengers per annum once they have been rolled out. And while CEE presents welcome
opportunities, how does Ryanair’s encroachment affect rival, and regional, low-cost carrier (LCC), the Hungarian Wizz Air? Since its inception in September 2003,
Wizz Air has grown to the extent that it is now operating 65 aircraft out of 116 airports in 38 different countries. A total of 22 of its 24 bases are in CEE. Its last full-year results for the period ending March 31, 2015, showed it carried 16.5 million passengers, up 18% year-on- year, generating an underlying net profit of
18 ISSUE 3 ROUTES NEWS 2016
routesonline.com
¤146 million off revenues of ¤1.23 billion. However, and somewhat surprisingly for two such big rivals, they seem remarkably relaxed about one another. Ryanair CMO Kenny Jacobs tells
Routes News the airline is increasing the number of routes out of Wizz Air’s home airport at Budapest to 19 as it targets a 16% increase in passenger numbers to 1.8 million within the next two years.
He adds: “I won’t go as far as to say
we’re parking our tanks on their lawn, but we will be going head-to-head more in the next two years. We welcome all competition whether it is low-cost competition or legacy competition.” Jacobs says Ryanair is in a strong position to take on any airline in Europe, particularly after a strong winter following a number of changes by the airline. Fewer aircraft were grounded during
the traditionally slow season while network changes to more primary airports proved effective.
Getting scheduling out earlier helped drive Ryanair’s bookings and the decision
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