Hungarian low-cost air carrier Wizz Air is reported to be on the brink of entering the Ukrainian market in a move which analysts have labelled as a potential new stage in the development of the Ukrainian air market. As a result of the arrival of the first budget airline on the Ukrainian market, connections with the rest of Europe are expected to intensify and traditional carriers may be forced to lower their tariffs, a process which has already been observed repeatedly in neighbouring countries. The first flights are expected to begin in June from Ukraine’s southern city of Mykolayiv to London’s Luton airport, according to the head of Mykolayiv airport, Andriy Keyan. Officials at Kyiv’s Boryspil and Zhulyany airports were also reportedly in talks on opening flights with Wizz Air.
Mr. Keyan said that at kickoff, tickets to London would cost EUR 30, but later the price would rise to EUR 80, including all fees and taxes, which is still far below the lowest rates now available on traditional carriers. Wizz Air has already hired local senior managers and is looking for pilots, stewards and administrators, said a source at Edelweiss Management Consulting, a recruitment company working on the project.
A whole new budget flight market opening up
Wizz Air is central and eastern Europe’s largest low-price airlines, offering flights from its seven bases in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania on over 100 routes across Europe. The airline currently has 19 Airbus A320 aircraft in its fleet and has contracted orders for more than 70 brand new aircraft to be delivered by 2014. It would be the first large-scale international low-cost carrier to enter the Ukrainian market.
Romania’s Carpat Air, which flies from Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa to Timisoara, uses small 30-seat planes, while low-cost carriers normally use Boeing 737 and Airbus 320 aircraft in 150-170 passenger configurations.
Air officials in Ukraine seemed rather restrained while commenting on the arrival of the newcomer, claiming that most airports are unable technically to host this class of Boeing and Airbus plane, while Boryspil and other major airports, including Simferopol, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhya are widely considered to be too expensive for discount operators. “It is not cheap to fly from the only Ukrainian airports which can receive A320-type aircraft. Any air company would have to charge some USD 100 for a ticket from Boryspil to Krakow not to be out of pocket,” said Serhiy Kutsyi, spokesman for Aerosvit, one of Ukraine’s leading carriers, who described the prospects for budget companies as “difficult.”
Yevhenia Satskaya, a spokeswoman for Ukrainian International Airlines, said that the country’s alternative airports are “not ready to receive the planes of the budget carriers.”
No frills flying likely to appeal to local clientele
Technical difficulties aside, however, most Ukrainians will cheer the arrival of cheaper flights, even though nobody aboard will serve them lunch and they will have to take their luggage with them while booking tickets three months ahead if they want the best price and no money returned for an unused ticket. Many Ukrainians have already experienced the ups and downs of no-frills flights, although they previously had to reach Poland first and then take a budget flight, for example, to London at prices as low as EUR 45.
Analysts are also full of optimism. “Budget airlines are profitable. They save money on food, buy the same planes – and are getting more and more popular. Their penetration worldwide forces traditional carriers to review tariff policies or even launch their own low-cost flights,” said Oleksandr Kava, an independent industry analyst, adding that this is what Lufthansa did by creating its own budget company, Germanwings.
Hen parties coming home to roost
While Ukraine is only now trying out budget services, low-cost carriers run more than 900 routes worldwide connecting some 200 European cities, with every fifth European using the discounters. Warnings, however, are already being sounded against a potential danger posed by discounters. Cheap flights have already made much of eastern Europe an easy target for youngsters dreaming of letting their hair down for a couple of days somewhere far from home, getting drunk and getting loud.
However, not everyone is worried. “Cultured Ukrainians already avoid the places that the stag and hen parties will gravitate towards, and Wizz flies to Split throughout the summer. If they can succeed in connecting Kyiv and the Croatian coast, I’ll live with it,” one observer quipped.
