Leeds Bradford: Wizz Air Flights, New Routes & Schedule Updates

[White Heather]

It seems that Swissport are finally getting sorted at LBA as far as handling the Wizz flights are concerned. Today, we had our regular 3 A321s early morning, and one departed 5 minutes ahead of schedule, one bang on time, and the other just 12 minutes late. A vast improvement on how things used to be.

 

[Brum X]

How are Wizz Air doing at LBA since leaving DSA ?

🤔

 

[YorkshireLad]

How are Wizz Air doing at LBA since leaving DSA ?

🤔

I think they are doing ok. Granted, loads on some flights could be better (especially WRO and CLJ) but on routes like KRK, WAW and OTP they seem to be doing fine (especially OTP)

 

[Brum X]

I think they are doing ok. Granted, loads on some flights could be better (especially WRO and CLJ) but on routes like KRK, WAW and OTP they seem to be doing fine (especially OTP)

That's good, hopefully after a year or so they might expand and offer some other cities/sun routes away from the traditional eastern european cities ?

 

[LBA4EVER]

Apart from the more popular well known eastern european cities such as KRK and OTP most other destinations will probably only sustain 2 possibly 3 flights per week due to pax demand, so expect over time we will see new destinations rather than big increases on current routes.
Ideally though id like to see wizz uk base 2 or 3 of their good performance A321S At LBA operating to the likes of sharm El-Sheikh, hurghada etc esp as easyjet dont seem interested in the airport of which they seem to try routes out the basket from other uk airports.
It would be great to have a good variety of routes operating 2 times per week plus the uk arm of wizz basing a few aircraft flying to some different sun routes.
Wizz i feel are the airline that can do alot out of LBA (if we ever get some sort of decent terminal!) they have alot to offer, i just hope the recent negative press and cutting routes (including at the london airports) does not affect the LBA Operation.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

I don't wish to see Wizz base at LBA. They have cut CWL completely, messed around with DSA, and recently cut route out of both LTN/LGW that were leisure. They would be a basket case as they were out of CWL/DSA and even LGW.

Egypt needs a tour operator to offer the full package something Wizz don't have and don't have intentions to do. As I've also said @LBA Wizz don't really have any brand recognition. If you went out on a Saturday around Leeds in several busy shopping spots and asked "can you name airlines that fly from Leeds" I can guarantee you'd got less then 1% for Wizz Air. They are good for eastern Europe but having trouble otherwise.

 

[LBA4EVER]

I don't wish to see Wizz base at LBA. They have cut CWL completely, messed around with DSA, and recently cut route out of both LTN/LGW that were leisure. They would be a basket case as they were out of CWL/DSA and even LGW.

Egypt needs a tour operator to offer the full package something Wizz don't have and don't have intentions to do. As I've also said @LBA Wizz don't really have any brand recognition. If you went out on a Saturday around Leeds in several busy shopping spots and asked "can you name airlines that fly from Leeds" I can guarantee you'd got less then 1% for Wizz Air. They are good for eastern Europe but having trouble otherwise.

Good points and i agree with much of what you say, but what LBA clearly has over CWL and DSA is population. Many in south yorkshire are clearly aware that wizz has moved north to LBA and together with the huge catchment areas in West Yorkshire im sure the wizz brand name will become known.
Wizz have not really messed about with DSA, again the population just aint there to support certain routes and the airport ended up shutting down although i agree that might be part due to wizz cuts.
I agree most on a saturday night out would probably say jet2 as an lba airline, wizz are new but over time will become more well known, it happens naturally through word of mouth and through those who fly with them.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

Good points and i agree with much of what you say, but what LBA clearly has over CWL and DSA is population. Many in south yorkshire are clearly aware that wizz has moved north to LBA and together with the huge catchment areas in West Yorkshire im sure the wizz brand name will become known.

I disagree. Most didn't know in South Yorkshire didn't know hence why the leisure routes didn't work as they had hoped. The brand doesn't carry and I don't know if that's failure of marketing team or the fact their brand doesn't carry. Or mixture of both.

Wizz have not really messed about with DSA, again the population just aint there to support certain routes and the airport ended up shutting down although i agree that might be part due to wizz cuts.
I agree most on a saturday night out would probably say jet2 as an lba airline, wizz are new but over time will become more well known, it happens naturally through word of mouth and through those who fly with them.

They messed them about. Schedule changes; cancelling flights; delayed flights. It goes on. And the best sort of marketing, word of mouth, always counts in these situations as people always tell other people about bad experiences over good. It's the British nature.

I'm more on about a Saturday during daytime. Most in West Yorkshire, I'd even say Greater Manchester, will name Ryanair and Jet2. Wizz air does not carry and they'd end up packing up and moving on if they opened a base in LBA. Sadly that is how it is.

Wizz expanding the Eastern European offering is more then welcome and I'd advocate that.

 

[Aviador]

I'd say they are doing just fine but very much a case of still bedding in. What some of the Leeds forum members seem to forget is there is a world beyond Ryanair and Jet2 out there. Leeds MUST hang onto a third main carrier if it is to be considered as a serious airport. Competition is good, it has the tendency to bring in more passengers not dilute what's already there. 😉

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

Competition is welcome. I just don’t think Wizz is the right competitor. Other than on its Eastern European routes.

They are dropping a bunch of leisure routes from Luton/Gatwick. If they can’t make it work in those places god help them in the regions.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

I'd say they are doing just fine but very much a case of still bedding in. What some of the Leeds forum members seem to forget is there is a world beyond Ryanair and Jet2 out there. Leeds MUST hang onto a third main carrier if it is to be considered as a serious airport. Competition is good, it has the tendency to bring in more passengers not dilute what's already there. 😉

Competition is good, but they're not going to prosper if they keep diverting and then abandon their passengers. News soon gets around.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Competition is good, but they're not going to prosper if they keep diverting and then abandon their passengers. News soon gets around.

Whilst the airline will want their LBA services to run as smoothly as possible, they also have other concerns. It's not just about their LBA service. If an aircraft diverts (for which there can be many reasons), this can introduce a significant delay into the schedule of that aircraft. This in turn has a knock on effect on routes that the aircraft will serve later., which could all then be significantly delayed. On top of that, you have crew hours. If the aircraft waits at it's diversion airport for passenger to be transferred there, or for conditions to improve at the original destination, the crew could end up our of hours, thus requiring overnight accommodation and further delaying later routes that the aircraft was scheduled for.
It is therefore in the airlines best interest to cancel one flight and get it back to base, than to have significant delays on the remainder of the aircraft's planned services. That way, there is only one flights worth of compensation claims.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Whilst the airline will want their LBA services to run as smoothly as possible, they also have other concerns. It's not just about their LBA service. If an aircraft diverts (for which there can be many reasons), this can introduce a significant delay into the schedule of that aircraft. This in turn has a knock on effect on routes that the aircraft will serve later., which could all then be significantly delayed. On top of that, you have crew hours. If the aircraft waits at it's diversion airport for passenger to be transferred there, or for conditions to improve at the original destination, the crew could end up our of hours, thus requiring overnight accommodation and further delaying later routes that the aircraft was scheduled for.
It is therefore in the airlines best interest to cancel one flight and get it back to base, than to have significant delays on the remainder of the aircraft's planned services. That way, there is only one flights worth of compensation claims.

I understand the above but its not the kind of treatment people have come to expect. Abandoning a plane load of passengers last thing at night, possibly with many expecting to be back at work on Monday maybe with children is not going to promote future bookings. I can't even see Ryanair doing this.

 

[paully]

Have a read of these:

TONY HETHERINGTON: The airline flying above the law - Wizz Air UK

It ignored the claim and did not reply to the court, so judgment was awarded against the airline for £1,542.68. However, the company has ignored this too.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

Newsroom | UK Civil Aviation Authority

Contact the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Press Office for media enquiries and statements. Key contacts include Andrew McConnell, Deputy Director, Communications & Engagement, and the CAA communications team.

www.caa.co.uk

*They currently have over 450 CCJ`s against them and blithely ignore them. The CAA seem unable to deal with them..I wonder if their route reductions are to do with this sort of publicity..This sort of thing makes them toxic and unappealing to customers..They need to change their business model quite frankly.

*The other company operating as Wizz Air UK, not Wizz Air Hungary the topic of this thread.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

And quick @paully.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Have a read of these:

TONY HETHERINGTON: The airline flying above the law - Wizz Air UK

It ignored the claim and did not reply to the court, so judgment was awarded against the airline for £1,542.68. However, the company has ignored this too.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

Newsroom | UK Civil Aviation Authority

Contact the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Press Office for media enquiries and statements. Key contacts include Andrew McConnell, Deputy Director, Communications & Engagement, and the CAA communications team.

www.caa.co.uk

They currently have over 450 CCJ`s against them and blithely ignore them. The CAA seem unable to deal with them..I wonder if their route reductions are to do with this sort of publicity..This sort of thing makes them toxic and unappealing to customers..They need to change their business model quite frankly.

These seem to be relevant to Wizz Air UK. Wizz need to be careful as the public dont make the distinction between the two.

 

[White Heather]

These seem to be relevant to Wizz Air UK. Wizz need to be careful as the public dont make the distinction between the two.

Virtually nobody makes the distinction between Wizz UK and Wizz Europe. The press certainly don't. The same name and livery dont help.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Virtually nobody makes the distinction between Wizz UK and Wizz Europe. The press certainly don't. The same name and livery dont help.

The reputation of the whole brand is being undermined by the way the UK company is behaving.

 

[Aviador]

Wizz Air Hungary

Until we have first hand knowledge of what Wizz Air Hungary is like here at LBA, we should cease making assumptions based on largely inaccurate press reports about Wizz Air UK.

This thread was closed previously because too many people were posting things associated with Wizz Air UK here which is a subsidiary company of Wizz Air Hungary. By definition, although the two companies have the same owner they must trade as separate companies and therefore we must treat them as separate companies here too.

Wizz Air Hungary discussion please, not Wizz Air UK. Discussions relating to LBA only, not anywhere else.

Everyone needs to accept this and move on or I will have to close the thread again.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Wizz Air

Until we have first hand knowledge of what Wizz Air Hungary is like here at LBA, we should cease making assumptions based largely on inaccurate press reports. We do know the press are more often than not hugely inaccurate with their reporting and they frequently report things wrong when reporting anything aviation related.

This thread was closed previously because too many people were posting things associated with Wizz Air UK here which is a subsidiary company of Wizz Air Hungary. By definition, although the two companies have the same owner they must trade as separate companies and therefore we must treat them as separate companies here too.

Wizz Air Hungary discussion please, not Wizz Air UK. Discussions relating to LBA only, not anywhere else.

Everyone needs to accept this and move on or I will have to close the thread again.

I don't think we are making assumptions about Wizz Air Hungary, we are still building up a picture of how they operate at LBA at the moment.

I jumped in on this one because of a post conflating the UK and Hungarian companies.