Wizz Air halves Belgrade fleet as airport 'becomes too expensive'

Wizz Air announced (03-Apr-2014) the halving of Belgrade capacity after airport charges rose by 40%, with the carrier claiming that this makes "Belgrade Airport the most expensive in Wizz Air's base network". Wizz Air plans to reduce frequencies to a number of destinations and discontinue the following two routes on 06-May-2014 - see Route Changes Table for more information:

• Belgrade-Brussels Charleroi: Twice weekly service;
• Belgrade-Oslo Sandefjord: Twice weekly service.

Wizz Air's airbase in Belgrade opened in 2010 with one A320 and five routes. The airline grew its base by adding a second new A320 in 2012 and by offering 12 international routes at present. Wizz Air's passenger traffic at Belgrade Airport increased by over 800% from 2010 to over 480,000 passengers in 2013, while the overall airport traffic grew by 31%. Wizz Air stated: "The continued access of Serbian consumers to low cost air travel is now jeopardised by the airport's refusal to further incentivise low cost air travel, affordable to all consumers. Instead, the airport prepared a tailor made incentive scheme that protects one high fare airline and its transfer passenger focused business model. Wizz Air regrets this decision as it does not benefit those passengers seeking the lowest fares." The Belgrade based aircraft will now be based in Riga. Wizz Air executive VP John Stephenson, said: "Today is a sad day for Serbian consumers and for Serbian tourism. We believe that access to low fare air travel is good for Serbia but sadly this belief is not shared by Belgrade Airport." [more - original PR]