Wizz Air expands in Romania as local airlines suffer

Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air, the biggest air carrier in Romania by number of passengers, opened on Thursday, October 29, a new base in the Eastern Romania city of Bacau.

Wizz Air will operate 13 routes to six countries from Bacau and put up for sale 5,000 tickets at a price of RON 39 (EUR 8.99) for selected flights from the city.

“Just ten days ago, we operated our first flight from Bacau to London Luton, and today we are delighted to announce the launch of our base with a network of 13 routes. Wizz Air’s growth in Romania reflects the new market environment and provides extra diversification of the offer to the clients’ benefit,” said Andreas Sebok, chief supply chain officer of Wizz Air.

The company will operate flights from Bacau to seven airports in Italy, as well as to the UK, Germany, Denmark, Cyprus and Belgium. On many of these routes, Wizz Air will compete directly with Romanian airline Blue Air, which also has an operational base in Bacau.

Blue Air has been struggling due to financial problems this year, deepened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has asked the Romanian state for financial support, but the help came rather late in the form of state guarantees for loans, and with many conditions attached.

Meanwhile, the other major Romanian airline, state-owned Tarom, has been struggling financially for many years and the pandemic only made things worse for the company. On Thursday, October 29, Tarom announced it would cancel many domestic and international flights scheduled in November due to the “complicated current context.”

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