Wizz Cuts
 

DJ6

Birmingham is below and is similar to the current schedule for the next 2 weeks and as Timmy says Doncaster and Liverpool similar

Iasi - ends 8/1/22 until 27/3/22
Craiova - from 16/1 /22 weekly instead of 2
Cluj - ends 12/1/22 until 2/3/22
Bucharest - back to 2 weekly Tuesday and Saturday8/1-15/2
Wroclaw - ends 8/1/22 - 29/3/22
Warsaw - ends 8/1/22 - 12/2/22
Krakow - ends 9/1/22 - 9/3/22
Vilnius - ends 7/1/22 - 29/3/22
Budapest - seemingly good news as it stays 2 weekly Tuesday and Saturday

They've cut all routes from EDI. However I read somewhere that Ryanair were reporting that, as cases rose on continent and countries reimposed restrictions (even before omicron ), bookings were falling off a cliff.

I've mentioned before, but the constant cuts, timetable changes and flight cancellations doesn't give anyone the confidence to book with Wizz, which then gives a catch 22 situation, as no one will book which leads to more cancellations.

I'd be interested to know if other airlines are cutting their timetable dramatically like this.

It is surely blindingly obvious that the demand for VFR business has fallen dramatically post Brexit, and then compounded by Covid-19.

ATNotts

Whilst I agree somewhat, if this was the case, i'd expect to see the schedules permanently reduced going forwards to perhaps ones that can be sustained, rather than the seemingly month by month cuts they are currently carrying out?

Looking into next summer, the schedules look as busy as they have ever been - whether they have any intention operating them is another matter. Again, I go back to my point regarding cash flow.

Quick look at the headlines…Romania

“Bodies pile up outside hospital morgue as Romania struggles with fourth wave of Covid”

Poland

“Raging Pandemic Sends Half a Million Poles Into Quarantine”

Lithuania

”Lithuania Announces Stricter Travel Rules for All Countries Due to Worsened COVID-19 Situation”

Self explanatory?

A lot of Wizz's core market (Eastern Europe) has very low vaccination rates compared to the UK, France, Spain or Germany so it's not unsurprising that this winter's Covid surge on continental Europe is hitting them harder. With news of this new variant, it's understandable that Wizz has quickly reassessed the situation and realised demand is going to be low/ border restrictions quite strong for a number of months. This is at the time of year which in a normal year would be the quietest which compounds the problem.

What summer 2022 will bring is a complete guessing game. We won't be worrying about the new variant by then, but may be worrying about another one.

Over six million EU citizens applied for UK residency under the scheme which followed Brexit. They will still want to travel between the UK and the country of their heritage to visit family and friends. But the main impediment to this is of course C-19 restrictions which have strangled the market. A good friend of mine has had four attempts to visit Bulgaria cancelled. Now their Christmas trip to Hungary has gone too.

TimmyW

Not if you book their fully flexible fare, money back in your account within 24 hours. All about what people are prepared to pay. Personally during a pandemic, if I couldn't afford a flexible fare, I would not book.

a fully flexible fare is no help if the carrier cancels the route. Sure you get a refund but you then have to pay more buying an alternative ticket at short notice. And you’d get the refund even if you didn’t have the flexible ticket.

If the new variant is possibly far more transmissible as claimed, I would not want to be sitting next to someone who could potentially spend two hours eating a bag of crisps. Add to that a day 2 PCR test with results on day?? and Wizz has a problem just like the other airlines.

ATNotts

Actually Wizz had been introducing new route between the U.K. and Eastern Europe so clearly they are not worried about the Brexit effect.

Aircraft are about the safest indoor places to be. Depending on ventilation and air flow perversely you may be better off in a crowded concert than a quiet cafe. But yes testing requirements are a barrier.

Until Wizz passengers stand up waiting for the doors to open with the engines switched off so the hepa filters stop working. Anyway this new variant will be already having an impact on passenger numbers regardless of ventilation, as the bigger issue is Day 2 PCR's
https://i.imgur.com/HASM0fa.jpg

I think people on here are imagining the day 2 PCR test + quarantine-until-negative requirement is going to stop large numbers of passengers flying. It's not. Enforcement of this is almost zero... and Wizz pax were more than happy to fly in spring 2020 when non-business travel was illegal

I think that the Brits will take notice but as you hint the Eastern Europeans will just carry on as normal.

Nothing like some lazy national stereotypes on a Tuesday evening.

davidjohnson6

There were plenty of exemptions allowing travel and with so few flights many of us had to take routes we wouldn’t usually use to get between destinations.

Has anybody been contacted for the cadet pilot assessment? (fATPL, Low hours, NTR)

I applied in march and it still says application under review. I keep hearing that they are only assessing candidates with type at the moment, does anybody know any different?

What I last heard is that Non-Type Rated candidates may be called from January onwards.

Do Wizz plan to keep any aircraft or crew stationed in Ukraine overnight, after mid January, or is it only ever turns of under an hour ? I'm thinking particularly about airports other than Lviv...

Lviv and Kyiv IEV are bases, all flights to/from HRK, KBP, ODS and OZH are from other bases along with selection of flights at the 2 bases.

New Seating for the A321XLRs
 

This article seems to have gone under the radar...

Back in November, WizzAir revealed the new seats they have the ordered for the new A321XLRs.

It seems they are continuing with the extremely high density seating on the new longer range aircraft and will be light weight, slimline seats, which do not necessarily equate to a comfy flight for these longer flights I assume the A321XLRs will be operating.

Economy Class & Beyond - WizzAir selects Geven’s SuperEco seat for A321 aircraft

Were you expecting Business Class or Lie Flat? Not really Wizzair style.

new routes from Dubai for 2022

Catania
Cluj-Napoca
Katowice
Krakow

84 routes culled. https://simpleflying.com/wizz-air-route-cuts/

New Polish route. https://www.thefirstnews.com/article...m-poland-26881

According to Seanm1997 on Twitter, Wizz have bought 15 daily slots at LGW from Norwegian. They will base an additional 4 aircraft there.

So, the slots that Norse need were given by Norwegian to Wizz? :ouch:

Couldn't say for sure but I'd assume it's more the ex-Norwegian short-haul slots and maybe some of the later evening turns that Wizz will have secured.

The short haul slots went to EZY last year, so I’d assume it’s the long haul slots - utterly useless for a based aircraft operation

Wizz have a lot of destinations beyond the typical low cost Eastern Europe - Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Almaty.

The new BA ops will also operate at all sorts of unfavourable times so if the prices are right it will still work.

15 daily slot pairs with 4 based aircraft suggests a high proportion of short haul flying... not places which are 7 hours flying time away

I know but it was to demonstrate they have a wide choice of destinations to use the slots for. They are also reported to have said they will use aircraft from other bases in addition with Budapest being named.

Previously the mentioned routes in the article were planned. Maybe they might launch UK domestic routes or shorter ones like CRL, EIN, CGN, DTM, BVA?
https://simpleflying.com/wizz-air-lo...ick-expansion/

Let’s be realistic, all they’re going to do is dump capacity on bucket and spade routes in an attempt to trash yields for the competition. If it’s based aircraft it’s going to be Malaga, Faro, Palma, a couple of Greek islands, Milan and the Canaries.

Which is a shame because there are plenty of gaping holes in the route map south of the river, such as Warsaw and most of the Balkans, that would be most useful for Gatwick.

Maybe some domestic to keep BE out of LGW or shorter European routes maybe possibly or not

Personally I cannot see Wizz doing domestic but who am I, as for the other routes Eastern Europe must be the main priority as people have said an awful lot of competition to Spain etc. although they are already scheduled to fly to Malaga.

I doubt BE are on any WUK radar. The map on the simply flying linked article would still be current in having strong feed to Eastern Europe.

Simply flying have no info. It’s incredibly poor as a source.

Wizz did enter the Norwegian domestic market but it didn’t last long.