Buster the Bear

Katowice to Luton initially one a day. You can buy now on line. More routes to follow?

www.wizzair.com

LTNman

or at http://217.33.132.150/index.shtml for those who can't speak Polish

I see http://www.airpolonia.com.pl/index.php?lang=en already fly this route to Stansted. Is there enough passengers for two airlines or will it all end in

LGS6753

I guess it'll all be down to marketing. Wizz look professional judging by their website's contents.
Let's hope they win!

Air Polonia only operate Stansted-Katowice 3 times a week, Wizz operate Luton-Katowice daily.
But Air Polonia operate from Stansted to other Polish cities (not seven days a week) including Warsaw.
Wizz's website is better and quicker.
Air Polonia will charge £106.38 for a round trip on 7-11 June, Wizz will charge £48.30.
Air Polonia will charge £106.38 for a round trip on 14-19 July (no flight on 12th July, my original choice), Wizz will charge £80.30.
Wizz flights are 0730/0805 in/out of LTN, APN inbound is 0845, outbound 1455.
Wizz operate newish A320s, APN 734s.

None of the above is conclusive, but I'm with Wizz.

WHBM

I see that alongside "London" in the Wizzair timetable they have a column headed Code which says "LUT", same for "Milan" with "BGY" alongside. No explanation at all. Unless you are knowledgeable about aviation you will not know that these are peripheral airports, not the main ones. At least Ryanair does say the actual name in smaller type underneath.

Sorry LGS6753, website doesn't look professional at all in this respect.

LTNman

Seems clear to me. If you try and book a seat it says London Luton. If you look at airport access it shows how to get to Luton. What more do you want

wawkrk

Katowice is not the most exotic location in Poland.
Old factories,lots of polution.
I imagine that it is too expensive for the locos to fly to the nearby LOT stronghold city of Krakow (45mins)which is a beautiful tourist location and Polands second city.It also supports direct flights to the USA.

wawkrk

WHBM

I want information explained where I am looking at it in the timetable, not elsewhere on different pages that are not even linked or cross-referenced.

Only explaining "London" is Luton when you try to book is pretty shady practice.

Buster the Bear

Peripheral airports?

Luton is London!

I am sure that Wizz are not shady!

Central London is 60 min away from the Luton tarmac including coach and train from the time you land. About the same time as landing at Gatwick and Heathrow. I will miss out Stansted as it's rail link alone, takes over an hour and this does not take you to the centre of London! Do not even mention the M11/M25!

From my Polish knowledge, Katowice has one of the biggest population centres. Those OLD polluted areas are now real centres of capital/jobs. Gdansk is another well populated centre not served via Lo-Co's.

Good luck to all at Wizz!

Shame about painting your planes in the same colours as the blouse/skirt combination worn by the voice of the ATIS at Luton!

LTNman

I think someone is making a fuss over nothing as you can’t make a booking without being clearly told which airport is being used.

Powerjet1

Easy or someone, give us a daily Luton-Prague. Now that would be a winner!!!!!!. Just about served from every uk airport bar LTN/LPL.

Buster the Bear

powerjet1, I totally agree, Prague is a beautiful destination, such a shame that easyJet do not fly from Luton to there.

I did not here anything via the local media about the launch of Wizzair from Luton. There is a very large Polish community locally who will need to know of its future operations.

Powerjet1

Buster

Nothing on the airport website either, but that is hardly surprising- TBI take so long to up date anything. Still quoting airport stats for 2001 !!!!. Also, according to the website, Volare still fly to Rimini & Venice from LTN. Come on TBI marketing dept, get with it.

phnuff

LTN is as much London as Gatwick is London

Powerjet1

I take it all back.

TBI have announced on Luton's website, the launch of flights by Wizz starting 19 May between Luton & Katowice.

Interestingly, CEO Josef Vrandi said 'This is only the first step. We anticipate operating many more flights between Eastern Europe & London Luton Airport and these will be announced in due course.

Let battle commence!!!!!

Towerman

Hmmmm

I dont think Wizz have even got their aircraft yet - A320's I recall. Seem to have heard these are all A320's whose previous operators went belly up.

Where are they in the maintenance and preparation cycle ??

Buster the Bear

Towerman says " I dont think Wizz have even got their aircraft yet - A320's I recall" I think various photo's on www.airliners.net prove that they have a plane due into service quite soon?



I understand that this aircraft could well be HA registered, giving us a clue to another destination and I believe thier chief man is ex Malev?

wizzard01

All under control!! (Lufthansa is maintenance provider)

Just check out the new website: www.wizzair.com

WHBM

Hmmm, suggest re-reading my comments about their "bait and switch" tactics. It's not a discussion about whether Stansted is closer than Gatwick or not, it's that the website doesn't tell the average punter at all which airport they will be using until they actually come to book it. Same for Bergamo.

By the way, don't get too excited about the size of their fleet at this stage. The schedule on the Wizzair website requires the use of just one aircraft for all operations.

Buster, I can't see how your claim about Liverpool Street station (terminal of the Stansted train) being "Not in the centre of London" holds up.

LTNman

No different to BA as they don’t tell you which airport they use until you are well into the booking process. Don't believe me then try booking a seat to New York.

WHBM

I just did. And as soon as I entered my from and to dates the offered flights for those days correctly state which airport is being used for each flight. And flights to Moscow (first place I could come up with of where BA do not use the airport you first think of) likewise specify Domodedovo. And the BA timetables for these places correctly explain the airports used.

Come on, guys, the same as my comments about the Wizzair timetable applies to us all here. Let's try and be accurate.