European low-cost carrier, Wizz Air has announced Birmingham Airport as the eighth UK airport on its destination map.
Wizz will start flights to Warsaw and Budapest from the West Midlands-based airport from September, as the airline progresses towards operating from primary airports within the UK.
Both routes will be operated twice-weekly, with Warsaw operating Mondays and Fridays from September 14 and Budapest on Tuesdays and Saturdays from September 15, 2015.
Birmingham Airport’s aviation director, William Pearson has said that the airport is delighted to welcome Wizz Air: "Both cities, known for their rich history and distinctive architecture, will prove to be a big draw for passengers who are looking to book a short city break,”
“We expect these new services to be popular with business travellers too, due to the twice-weekly frequency,” he added.
A spokesperson for the airline said that the European carrier is thrilled to be adding another airport to its diverse UK network.
“This will give consumers in the West Midlands the opportunity to explore two of the largest capital cities in central and Eastern Europe, both renowned to offer excellent value to travellers,” they added.
The European low-cost carrier has previously flown to smaller UK airports in general, with its largest base at London’s Luton Airport, where it is the second largest carrier. The London regional airport accounts for more than a ten percent share of Wizz Air’s total network capacity, ahead of its developing bases at Katowice, Budapest and Warsaw.
Our analysis of OAG Schedules Analyser data shows the airlines continued expansion to the UK, particularly from Doncaster Sheffield, where the number of departure seats has rapidly increased since its arrival in 2006. Initially the carrier operated a single route between the Yorkshire-based airport and its base in Katowice, though now offers a total of 11 destinations in 2015, with the greatest number of frequencies between Doncaster Sheffield and Katowice, Gdansk and Poznan.
The airline has grown its network across a number of European destinations, most recently adding Aberdeen and Bristol in the UK, offering a total of 2,760,960 departure seats from the UK in total in 2015, compared to 434,880 total departure seats in 2005.
Wizz switched Glasgow Prestwick for Glasgow International in 2013, and the addition of Birmingham suggests the carrier is focussing on serving larger airports and primary airports as part of its expansion.
The airline’s order for 110 Airbus A321neo aircraft at the Paris Air Show will provide additional capacity for Wizz Air’s further growth, as well as allowing the airline to replace current aircraft in service.
Meanwhile, Birmingham Airport has recorded the busiest May in its history as over 900,000 passengers passed through the terminal last month. The arrival of Wizz marks the return of its non-stop link to the Hungarian capital, Budapest and meets with growing interest in leisure travel to the city. With the addition of the Birmingham link, the Central Eastern European city will now see more than 100 weekly services to eight of the UK’s airports.
The Hungarian gateway recorded a significant 32 per cent jump in UK visitors during the traditional low season of Q1 2015. Expecting to serve considerably more than 330,000 British visitors this year, the UK is firmly established as the second largest country served from Budapest Airport.
“Since Ryanair ended its service in 2012, we’ve been working hard to restore our direct link with Birmingham Airport. We served almost 10,000 indirect passengers from Birmingham last year, and with an expected overall potential market for the direct link forecast to be some 31,000 passengers," said Balázs Bogáts, head of airline development, Budapest Airport.
"We are extremely expectant that it won’t be long before we will be announcing a frequency increase on the route,” he added.
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