Costs and protectionism hindering Wizz in Belgrade
Low cost carrier Wizz Air has said that high airport costs and government protectionism of Air Serbia are preventing it from developing at its Belgrade base. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News, the airline's CEO, Jozsef Varadi, said, "I think the significant issue in Belgrade that has hindered our development there is the cost of the airport relative to its peers. It is a high price airport and we need to see costs coming down. As we are bringing in more passengers and operations to the airport, we need to be at least in line with what we are paying at similar places. I think that is one issue. We will see what VINCI will bring into the party. I don't know".
The CEO added, "I think the Serbian government has taken steps towards protecting Air Serbia's business and I think they are trying to put some pressure on competitors like ourselves. These two factors are really holding us back in Belgrade. Nevertheless, we are totally committed to the market and we hope to see some improvements of commercial terms in the marketplace and certainly that would attract us with more capacity". Wizz Air carried 745.000 passengers on its flights from Serbia in 2017 and put some 900.000 seats on sale from the country this year.
The low cost airline expanded its operations from Belgrade last year when it based a second aircraft in the city and launched four new routes. The expansion came three years after it decided to significantly slash its services from the Serbian capital following a public spat over fees. This resulted in the airline relocating one of the two aircraft it had stationed in Belgrade. At the time, the carrier said the city had become one of the most expensive in its network and accused "wannabe monopolists" Air Serbia and Etihad Airways of being behind the surge in fees. Since last year, Wizz Air has discontinued flights from Belgrade to Nuremberg and Friedrichshafen, and turned its year-long service to Larnaca into a seasonal summer route.
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