Budapest is the home turf of the ambitious and successful low-cost airline Wizz Air. In seven years, the Hungarians want to operate 300 aircraft and carry 100 million passengers a year. Even industry leader Ryanair has a hard time competing against Wizz.
That is why the Irish low cost carrier is closing their base in Budapest at the end of November. But it will not give up entirely. Instead, Ryanair's Polish subsidiary Buzz is establishing a base in Budapest this winter, according to a presentation seen by aeroTELEGRAPH. Buzz's advantages is on Central and Eastern Europe and a lower cost base, according to the presentation.
Lower costs than the competition
Ryanair is optimistic that Buzz is an effective competitor against Wizz Air. The base in Budapest could achieve lower costs than the competition, they say. «From 1 December, the Ryanair base operations at Budapest will be run by Buzz, an independent airline within the Ryanair Group. This operational change will not affect the number of routes or flights Ryanair offers to or from Budapest», confirms a spokesperson to aeroTELEGRAPH.
A year ago, the Irish had already announced that they would expand their Polish charter subsidiary - from five to 25 jets. And it seems like that is not the end of the story. In the presentation Ryanair states that Buzz has big growth plans in all of Central and Eastern Europe.
