Ryanair vs Wizzair. Are the gloves finally off?
Hello,
It has been mentioned here (and elsewhere) many times in the past that Ryanair and Wizzair seem to have tried to avoid each other as much as possible. Some have pointed to the involvement of TPG in both companies as a possible explanation.
In the last couple of days Ryanair have launched Poznan to Barcelona, Oslo RYG and Rome CIA; Eindhoven to Gdansk, Krakow and Kaunas and also Vilnius to Barcelona, all of which have a substantial overlap with existing Wizzair routes. Do you believe in coincidences, or is it really the case that there are very few untapped markets left for LCCs in Europe?
It's not one way traffic: Wizzair also recently launched Luton to Brno and Lodz, which were Ryanair monopolies to London until that point.
I count over 30 routes where there is a substantial overlap between the two carriers. Here's the list - it's mainly routes from Poland and Lithuania at the moment (Ryanair gave up Budapest, Prague and Warsaw and are weak in Romania and Bulgaria compared to Wizzair):
W6 Route / FR Route
---------
KTW - BGY / KRK - BGY
KTW - FRL / KRK - BLQ
KTW - FCO / KRK - CIA
KTW - BCN / KRK - REU
KTW - MAD / KRK - MAD
KTW - BVA / KRK - BVA
KTW - TRF / KRK - RYG
KTW - NYO / KRK - NYO
KTW - LPL / KRK - LPL & KTW - MAN
KTW - LTN / KRK - STN & KTW - STN
KTW - DSA / KRK - LBA
KTW - EIN / KRK - EIN
POZ - BCN / POZ - BCN
POZ - FCO / POZ - CIA
POZ - TRF / POZ - RYG
POZ - LTN / POZ - STN
WRO - FRL / WRO - BLQ
WRO - LTN / WRO - STN
WRO - TRF / WRO - RYG
LCJ - LTN / LCJ - STN
GDN - EIN / GDN - EIN
GDN - TRF / GDN - RYG
GDN - DSA / GDN - LBA
GDN - LTN / GDN - STN
VNO - EIN / KUN - EIN
VNO - BGY / VNO - BGY
VNO - LTN / VNO - STN
VNO - BCN / VNO - BCN
VNO - FCO / VNO - CIA
RIX - TRF / RIX - RYG
RIX - LTN / RIX - STN
BRQ - LTN / BRQ - STN
Are we seeing the outbreak of a serious skirmish? If Ryanair are being predators (perish the thought!), are Wizzair strong enough to withstand the pressure (as they did successfully on Gdansk to Liverpool and Stockholm in the past)?