Bulgarian Air Carrier to Compete with Low-Cost Wizz Air
Nothing about LTN yet but:
The Bulgarian carrier Hemus Air will launch low fare flights from the capital Sofia to Vienna, Leipzig, Stuttgart and Köln, it emerged days after the entry of the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air on the Bulgarian market.
The aviation company is developing the software for the on-line booking, Bulgarian daily 24 Hours reported Monday. The tickets will be sold via Internet and the price of part of the seats will be set up to EUR 20.
Wizz Air is a new European low-cost airline focusing on the markets of Central and Eastern Europe. The Hungarian company will execute three Sofia-Budapest flights weekly as of September 2005 and will work separately from the Hungarian Maleev that is already on Bulgaria's market.
Tickets are already being sold online varying from EUR 19.99 to EUR 29.99. As part of a promotion the company will issue 10,000 tickets to Budapest at the price of EUR 1. Together with airport dues, the cost of the flight to Hungary's capital adds up to EUR 25.
Wizz has also declared its interest in launching flights to Bulgaria and Romania after the two countries sign an "Open Sky" agreement.
Bulgarian aviation companies, who are small and mobile, can easily become low-cost carriers, said Mihail Zahariev, Secretary General of DG Civil Aviation Administration. In his words, in two years they will have to prepare for a serious battle with international companies.
Bexx Air, the first low fare air charter company in Bulgaria, was closed in September last year on charges that the firm was operating without license and has never even tried to legitimize its business in Bulgaria.