Does it mean that Sky Europe plan to reduce operations in Krakow
It has been a public secret there, only now it became official. Sky Europe leaves Krakow in favour of Vienna. The operational base in Poland will be terminated [
in search for customers with thicker purses (living in Vienna, apparently)]. Not much new in this article, the airport's chief is optimistic, and so on.
To my mind, the Sky's cost structure is to blame, not Krakow Airport (and passengers) alone. The article's interpretation is pretty naive: the carrier's load factor has been 87% only. Is it the reason? I think this is pretty good, actually. Once again: Sky is maybe a low-price carrier, but when the low-cost issue is being imperfect (and it's true), the debt rises. Avoiding of Ryanair by the retreat to Vienna might be not enough to save them.
What the article doesn't say is that the number of routes from KRK will be reduced VERY drastically. From about 20 to... maybe one or two.
Unofficially, there were many expectations that an other LCC would fill the gap instantly, such were rumours in Krakow. There were the negotiations with Norwegian to create a base there, it's not imminent, however. After some positive talks with Ryanair, it could have been them, it's been almost a certainty a month ago. But most recently the atmosphere worsened a bit, it seems that some conditions weren't fulfilled on the both sides and the one to replace Sky in this beautiful Polish city will be Centralwings, not FR. Still waiting for more official news, however.
Hey, where is Ryanair's Boeing with "Good bye, Sky Europe" inscription? Is it still flying?