Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air is to launch five new flights from Kyiv this year, the company’s deputy CEO Stephen Jones said at a press briefing in Kyiv on April 27.
Wizz Air will fly to Lisbon and Tallinn three times a week starting from June 1. The airline will then launch daily flights to Frankfurt and Berlin Schönefeld on July 1, and to Vienna on Oct. 28.
In addition, Wizz Air will launch new flights from Lviv to Dortmund, Germany, and Polish cities of Gdansk and Katowice, as well as from Kharkiv to Katowice and Dortmund.
In total, Wizz Air flies from Ukraine to 33 destinations in 11 countries, making it the largest low-cost airline working in Ukraine. The company plans to add a third Airbus 321 to its Kyiv fleet, boosting its total investment in Ukraine to over $300 million.
Appointed as a deputy CEO of Wizz Air six months ago, New Zealand native Jones was in Ukraine for the first time. He said Ukraine is one of the most important markets for Wizz Air.
He couldn’t say, however, whether the airline would reopen its Ukrainian subsidiary, which had closed in April 2015 due to the political instability, hryvnia devaluation, and economic crisis in the wake of the 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution and the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine in the Donbas.
“I can’t tell you when it’s going to happen,” Jones said. “Our plan is to grow our fleet to 300 aircraft by 2028. To deploy those aircraft we will need to open up new markets.”
The new flights and routes are part of Wizz Air’s preparations for the arrival in Ukraine of a major competitor – the Irish low-cost giant Ryanair, which has confirmed that it will start flying in October from Kyiv and Lviv to 15 European cities.
Eight of the Ryanair flights are on Wizz Air routes. But the Hungarian airline says it has confidence in its business model, which has allowed the company last year to grow by 24 percent and carry 30 million passengers.
“We keep our costs low, and that allows us to keep prices low, which makes air travel more affordable and stimulates people to travel more,” Jones said.
“It is a competitive industry. We believe that the lowest cost will prevail, and we think it’s a winning business model. We focus on our own business, and we don’t worry much about things we can’t control.”
In Kyiv, Wizz Air is based at Ihor Sikorsky International Airport (formerly Zhulyany). So far, the two have been satisfied with their partnership.
Valeriy Polishchuk, the deputy director of the airport, said Wizz Air was its main partner, operates 35 percent of all flights. Last year Sikorsky airport saw 2 million passengers, and it hopes to have at least 300,000 passengers more this year.
“The visa-free regime with the European regime was a huge boost,” Polishchuk told the Kyiv Post. “And the signing the EU – Ukraine Open Skies Agreement will give an even bigger boost.”
On April 26 Sikorsky airport received the first direct flight from Tallinn by the Estonian flag carrier Nordica. The airline decided to add a second airport to its schedule in addition to its daily service from Kyiv’s main airport, Boryspil International Airport.
Foreign airlines have recently tended to favor Sikorsky airport over Boryspil, which blocked the Ryanair deal for a year in the interests of its main customer, Ukraine International Airlines.
Poland’s LOT, Italy’s Alitalia, Belarus national carrier Belavia now fly to both Boryspil and Sikorsky.
“I believe our airport is more conveniently located, it’s closer to the city center,” Polishchuk explains. “We are also smaller so it’s easier to manage. And we have comfortable terminals.”
