Wizz Air and FlyOne have sharply reduced their operations in Romania, cutting a combined 14 routes in near-simultaneous moves that surprised the market. The cancellations affect services from Bucharest and other Romanian cities, including links to Paris, Germany, Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the UK.
Wizz Air said it would close six connections, including one that never started operating, while FlyOne cancelled eight of its 11 routes from Bucharest. The decisions come despite Romania having been seen as a growing market for both airlines.
The latest cuts raise questions over demand and commercial performance on several routes, especially on Wizz Air services from Bucharest Otopeni and Bucharest Baneasa, and on FlyOne’s network from the Romanian capital.
Wizz Air, the Hungarian low-cost carrier, has been expanding in eastern Europe since leaving Abu Dhabi. Romania has been one of its key markets, where it has built a network of routes aimed at both leisure and visiting-friends-and-relatives traffic.
Among the routes Wizz Air has cancelled is Bucharest to Orly in Paris. The airline still operates services to Beauvais, which it says remains its Paris-area option, but the airport is far from central Paris.
It has also dropped Bucharest to Pescara, Bucharest to Bratislava and Bucharest to Wroclaw in Poland. The Wroclaw service was not operated from Bucharest Otopeni but from Bucharest Baneasa.
In western Romania, Wizz Air also ended the Timisoara to Birmingham route, which had only started on 21 May. It has likewise cancelled Craiova to Memmingen in Germany, a service that had not yet begun operating and had been due to launch next month.
FlyOne, a low-cost airline based in Chisinau, Moldova, has also scaled back sharply. It unexpectedly cancelled eight of its 11 routes from Bucharest, in a move that points to possible internal operational problems.
The airline had only recently been building a larger presence in Romania, so the decision marks a significant retreat from the market. No specific reason for the cancellations was given in the source text.
The cuts come as airlines continue to review weaker routes across Europe in search of better-performing markets. For Romania, the reductions are notable because both carriers had recently shown interest in expanding there.
Wizz Air’s cancellations affect a mix of trunk and secondary routes, while FlyOne’s action removes the bulk of its Bucharest network. Together, the changes leave passengers with fewer low-cost options from several Romanian airports.
Industry watchers will now look to see whether the airlines restore any of the suspended links or replace them with new routes elsewhere. For now, the cancellations underline the pressure on carriers to keep aircraft full and profitable.
