Should Wizz Air launch UK Domestic Flights?

10 June 2021

Wizz Air have today announced the launch of its first domestic routes within the United Kingdom - Cardiff and Doncaster/Sheffield to Jersey, both operate 2x weekly flights between 9 July 2021 and 6 September 2021. Therefore, I look into whether Wizz Air should launch other UK domestic flights?

COVID-19 has led to many restrictions on international travel across the world, with a stronger demand for staycations and domestic travel. In the UK, many airlines have added new domestic flights in 2021 including Aer Lingus Regional, BA CityFlyer, Blue Islands, Eastern Airways, easyJet, Jet2 and Loganair.

Wizz Air are one of the most ambitious airlines in Europe, starting out in Eastern Europe and serving a 'Visiting Friends and Relatives' market, to expanding in Western Europe and serving leisure-orientated routes. In 2020, Wizz Air announced 2 new bases in the UK - Doncaster/Sheffield and London Gatwick, with a third, Cardiff, launching in June 2021. This has taken Wizz Air to 4 bases across the UK and a total of 11 airports served.

Wizz Air has been looking to diversify their network and launch domestic routes in the wake of COVID, and did from Italy and Norway - 2 of the largest markets in Europe for domestic travel due to their geographic nature of long, slim countries resulting in long travel times. Italy has grown from strength to strength, with bases in 5 Italian cities and have recently announced new destinations in the country including Olbia and Lampedusa. However, the same cannot be said for its Norway operation, where its final domestic route was terminated on 13 June 2021. (As seen in my previous article: Wizz Air Norway - What went wrong? (seanm1997.blogspot.com))

Travel restrictions including the UK's traffic light travel system has discouraged many potential passengers from international travel, with staycations becoming a popular choice, as it was in 2020. Jet2 have added five routes to Jersey as a response to the increased demand for staycations whilst easyJet have added domestic flights to Bournemouth, Inverness and Newquay - popular tourism spots. Wizz Air has announced a number of international routes from the UK including Birmingham-Larnaca, Doncaster-Heraklion Liverpool-Burgas and London Luton-Dalaman) and has now followed in the Jet2 footsteps in launching Jersey. However Wizz, Wizz Air may regret not launching other domestic flights, but another major reason to why Wizz Air have not added other UK domestic routes is the UK Air Passenger Duty (APD) (as seen in my previous article: https://seanm1997.blogspot.com/2021/06/will-ryanair-return-to-uk-domestic.html)

The UK APD is currently £13 for short haul economy passengers and is placed on all departing passengers. Therefore, for a return journey, the UK domestic market would be £26 in APD whereas UK - Europe would be just £13. This high APD fare discourages low cost operators due to lack of viability and being able to be more profitable operating UK - Europe flights. However, in March 2021, the UK Government announced a review on the ADP. If lowered, it may see Wizz Air expand in the market.

If Wizz Air expanded into the market - what routes could they launch? I believe there are three sets of routes which could operate:

1. Cornwall and Jersey

2. London - Scotland and Northern Ireland

1. Cornwall and Jersey

A public service obligation (PSO) was previously in place between London and Newquay and operated by Flybe, up to four times a day, before it ceased operation. Across the London-Newquay market, approximately 196,000 passengers flew in 2019. Since then, British Airways operated between London (Heathrow) and Newquay but the PSO has now been suspended until at least the winter season. British Airways and easyJet will operate between London (Heathrow and Gatwick respectively) and Newquay but with a combined 8x weekly flights during peak summer only. With this in mind, the lack of supply could be an attractive proposition for Wizz Air to launch its own London - Newquay route from London Luton.

Additionally, with the travel restrictions, the demand for staycations is increasing. Jersey in the Channel Islands could be an attractive destination, as flying is the easiest and quickest way to reach the island, as well as its premium clientele attracting to a high yield for flights to the island. A summer seasonal route would compete with easyJet but would allow Wizz Air to diversify its Luton offering - which has seen many new routes to Western Europe over the last few years, and complement the new Cardiff and Doncaster/Sheffield routes.

2. London Luton - Scotland and Northern Ireland

The London - Edinburgh and London - Belfast markets are two of the largest domestic markets in the United Kingdom (with approximately 3.37m and 2.50m passengers in 2019 respectively), these routes would be a logical addition for Wizz Air. Wizz currently operate four routes from Edinburgh and one route from Belfast International, thus having an existing presence at the airports. Should Wizz Air be able to add aircraft to its recently launched London Gatwick base or its established London Luton base, it could allow multi-daily flights between the capitals and provide direct competition to easyJet whom already serve the markets.

Wizz Air are still a small player in the UK market compared to easyJet and Ryanair with a lower brand awareness, however, it has ambitions to grow in the country. The airline would need to add more aircraft to the UK and would push for the UK Government to abolish or reduce the air passenger duty fee in order to be a significant presence in the market, however, if they were to launch - some lucrative markets could become attractive to Wizz Air. Additionally, easyJet are very dominant on the main "trunk routes" of UK domestic routes Wizz Air may not be the consumers first choice in this market. Increased competition would be good news for passengers, however, existing carriers may struggle to compete with Wizz Air's pricing. There is a lot for Wizz Air to contemplate for the launch of domestic UK flying and maybe scarred from their experience in Norway. However, time will tell if they want to expand further in the UK domestic market.

Photo: https://wizzair.com/en-gb/information-and-services/about-us/press-office/aircraft
Photo: https://mediacentre.easyjet.com/content-files
Photo: https://www.jet2.com/en/faqs?topic=customer-service&category=press-office-and-media-enquiries