Wizz Air further expands in Ukraine

European low-fares airline to launch three new services from Kyiv to Germany and Austria (Wizz)

In response to a growing demand for low fares air travel amid increasing competition in the Ukraine market, Central and Eastern European low-cost carrier (LCC) Wizz Air is introducing three new routes from Kyiv to Germany and Austria.

Taking on rivals Lufthansa Group and Ukraine International Airlines, Wizz has announced three new daily services from the Ukrainian capital to Berlin, Frankfurt and Vienna, commencing in October.

With its third Airbus A320 allocated to Kyiv this summer, Wizz now offers 23 routes to 11 countries from Kyiv, including services to Tallinn and Lisbon that will commence in June.

Wizz Air started operations from Igor Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport (formerly Zhulyany Airport) in 2008. After 10 years of operations, the airline – branding itself as ‘the pioneer of low-fare air travel in Ukraine’ – now flies to 30 destinations in 11 European countries from the Ukraine cities of Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv.

In the first three months of 2018, the airline enjoyed an 82 per cent increase on last year’s passenger numbers on its Ukraine routes. Wizz will offer more than 1.5 million seats from Ukraine this year, a 95 per cent year-on-year improvement.

Meanwhile, challenging Wizz Air’s ‘leading LCC in Ukraine’ claims, Ryanair, Europe’s largest discounter, has also recently revealed ambitious plans for the Ukraine air travel market. It is scheduled to start services from 10 destinations to Kyiv and from five airports to Lviv in October.

The Ireland-based airline intends to launch services to two or three more Ukrainian airports, and may eventually open dedicated bases at Kyiv and Odesa. Further plans include the setting up of a local maintenance base and an IT division. Ryanair could even go as far as creating a local subsidiary to operate domestic flights within the country.