The Donetsk Airport has said that the main reason for the Wizz Air Ukraine airline company’s decision to cancel almost all flights to/from Donetsk was low demand for flights, the Capital publication reports.
As reported, the airline company will suspend operation of flights from Donetsk to Rome, Milan, Larnaca, Budapest, and Dortmund on April 30.
"The Wizz Air Ukraine airline company is operating flights from Donetsk to Kutaisi, Dortmund, Milan, and Rome in March. The current average load factor of aircraft is a little more than 60%... Such figures are inconsistent with the operating scheme of a low-cost carrier,” the press service of the airport told the publication.
The airline company’s manager for commercial operations, Vadym Tretiak, told the publication that Wizz Air Ukraine would operate flights from Donetsk only to Kutaisi (Georgia) from the end of April.
The director of the Friendly Avia Support consulting company, Oleksandr Lanetskyi, believes that the airline company initially overestimated the potentials of the routes that were closed. Lanetskyi estimates that low-cost carriers should have a load factor of about 90%.
According to the press service of the Donetsk airport, Wizz Air Ukraine’s Donetsk base has not been closed. "The base will resume operation from the moment of stabilization of the situation in the region. The airline company’s representative office at the airport is continuing its operation, and there is no talk of reduction of employees,” the press service said.
As reported, instead of Donetsk, Wizz Air Ukraine has decided to focus on Lvov, from where it operates flights on one of its airplanes currently based in Kiev (the Zhulyany airport). The low-cost carrier expected to take delivery of its fifth Airbus 320 airplane at the end of April, but it has postponed the relevant plans.
