Air Serbia says “tough” Wizz Air its main rival
Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, has said Wizz Air is a “tough player” with the two carriers being Belgrade Airport’s largest airlines. Both Air Serbia and Wizz Air have significantly expanded from Nikola Tesla Airport this year, with the national airline launching over twenty new routes in 2023, while the budget carrier based its fourth aircraft in the city and added a handful of new routes, while increasing frequencies on existing services. “Wizz Air is our biggest competition in Belgrade. Compared to 2019, Wizz Air increased its capacity by 190%. Our capacity is 30% higher than before the pandemic. Wizz Air is a tough player in Belgrade. We compete with each other on several routes. Sometimes we win, sometimes they win. There are also routes where our offers complement each other. We are open to competition because then we are forced to improve our efficiency and change our approach to the customer”, Mr Marek said.
Air Serbia and Wizz Air currently compete directly against each other on ten routes. They include Berlin, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Rome Fiumicino, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Heraklion, Larnaca, Lisbon and Malta. In addition, the two indirectly compete on several routes where they operate from different or nearby airports including the likes of London, Stockholm and Milan (as of next Tuesday). “Competition from Air Serbia does not impact us that much because our cost base is much lower, so we are happy with the set-up and competition is always good. It keeps us on our toes, and it is an upside for customers because they have greater choice. We are always happy to compete. As long the cost base is low it’s always fine to compete”, the budget airline said.
Ryanair is present in Serbia at Niš Airport but does not operate out of Belgrade, which it has said is too expensive. According to Mr Marek, competing against Ryanair or Wizz Air does not make much difference. “For me, honestly, it doesn't matter whether the competition is Ryanair or Wizz Air. There aren’t many airports in the Balkans where these low cost airlines compete against each other. In Zagreb, in terms of low cost carriers, Ryanair dominates. In Belgrade it is Wizz Air. The markets of the former Yugoslav countries are not yet mature. The airlines see this and do not want to engage in a direct challenge through price stimulation”.
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