Losing Optimism, Wizz Air Cancels New Flights from Lviv

775 0
The Budapest-based low-cost carrier canceled flights between the Lviv airport and Milan, Naples, Rome, Vilnius, Memmingen, Bratislava, and Budapest.
Photo: social networks

Photo: social networks

Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air has reduced the number of flights from Ukraine in the winter flight schedule for 2021-2022. According to the analysis of the airline’s reservation system, conducted by travel media Lowcostavia.com.ua, Wizz Air canceled 20 destinations from Ukraine in the period from January to March 2022.

The company made such a decision despite the previous optimistic plans of expansion in the Ukrainian market, following the October open sky agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. In particular, Wizz Air announced their intention to more than double their service in the country from four to eleven base aircrafts, add nine new routes from Lviv and create 84 jobs in the city. 

«Not only Europe is de facto fully open to Ukraine, but a new market has opened up for the whole of Europe. Therefore, we expect that the scale of tourism in Ukraine will grow.» -Robert Carey, CEO of Wizz Air said at the time, in an exclusive interview with Tvoe Misto/Lviv Now.

Read also: Wizz Air’s American president talks about new Lviv routes and plans to overtake Ukrainian international airlines. Exclusive interview

But less than two months later the company cancelled some flights from all cities in Ukraine where it’s operating, in particular Lviv. Flights to Milan, Naples, Rome, Vilnius, Memmingen, Bratislava, and Budapest were canceled from the Lviv airport, though lately in Lviv many had been talking about trying to take advantage of the new opportunity to cheaply and swiftly to go to the Italian capital, in particular. 

List and cancellation periods of Wizz Air flights:

  • Lviv – Milan Malpensa (Italy) – from January 14 to March 5
  • Lviv – Naples (Italy) – from January 10 to March 5
  • Lviv – Rome (Italy) – from January 10 to March 8
  • Lviv – Vilnius (Lithuania) – from January 10 to March 8
  • Lviv – Memmingen (Germany) – from January 10 to February 26
  • Lviv – Bratislava (Slovakia) – from January 11 to March 27
  • Lviv – Budapest (Hungary) – from January 17 to March 12

Wizz Air has also postponed flights to new destinations several times. And this is not the first reduction of the flight program from the Hungarian airline. Earlier, in August and September 2021, Wizz Air canceled and postponed the resumption of a number of flights until March 2022. Among them are flights:

  • Lviv – Billund (Denmark) was canceled from January 8 to March 26
  • Lviv – Katowice (Poland) – canceled from January 4 to March 6
  • Lviv – Lisbon (Portugal)
  • Lviv – Tallinn (Estonia)
  • Lviv – Catania (Italy)

Also, there are currently no tickets on sale for several flights from Lviv to Verona in Italy and Szczecin in Poland. In total, Wizz Air canceled more than 35 routes from Ukraine by March next year. Wizz Air does not currently comment on the cancellation or change in the schedule of such a significant number of flights. Nonetheless, Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair still operates flights to most of these cities from Lviv.

We will add that the Danylo Halytsky International Airport in Lviv recently announced the launch of a number of new domestic flights. In particular, Ukrainian low-cost carrier Air Ocean Airlines, using Ukrainian-built planes, will fly not only to Kyiv, but also to Kharkiv and Zaporizhia. It is unknown at this time whether a direct connection between Lviv and the Dnipro will be opened. Read the details in the story.

You can book Wizz Air flights here

Translated by Vitalii Holich

You can read a Ukrainian language version of this story here.

Follow Lviv Now on Facebook and Instagram. To receive our weekly email digest of stories, please follow us on Substack.

 



Читайте також:
+
Щодня наша команда працює над тим, щоб інформувати Вас про найважливіше в місті та області. За роки своєї праці ми довели, що «Твоє місто» - це медіа, якому справді можна довіряти. Долучіться до Спільноти Прихильників «Твого міста» та збережіть незалежне медіа для громади. Кожен внесок має значення!