Low-cost airline Blue Air, controlled by Nelu Iordache, will introduce most new destinations as of March next year, after dropping a number of international flights as part of the streamlining process, writes Business Magazin.
Next year’s summer schedule includes flights to Venice and Catania. “We will also offer again Bucharest-Lisbon flights, which will only be available during the summer,” said Florentina Tatu, public relations manager of Blue Air.
The operator will introduce tri-weekly flights from Bucharest and Bacau (eastern Romania) to Venice. It will also offer a Bacau-Catania flight from March 25 to October 27, 2012, again available three times a week.
Another low-cost airline, Wizz Air, will offer 20 international destinations from Bucharest starting next year. The summer schedule includes flights to Verona departing from Aurel Vlaicu (Baneasa) Airport and to Palma de Mallorca, a destination that attracts 10 million tourists a year. The company will also increase the number of flights from Bucharest and Timisoara to Paris, London, Bologna, Rome and Dortmund. It expects to carry 400,000 passengers to and from Timisoara next year.
On the other hand, low-cost airline GermanWings did not announce any new destination for next year, while rival easyJet, which had been operating flights from Henri Coanda (Otopeni) Airport announced it would leave the Romanian market next January, because, as its marketing manager for Switzerland, Austria and Eastern Europe, Peter Voets, said, the high operating costs made business there unprofitable.
Lufthansa group will introduce its first Bucharest-Berlin flight operated four times a week in the summer schedule of 2012.
Israeli-born Ofer Kisch, the manager of Lufthansa for Central and Eastern Europe said that the company would continue development on the Romanian market because of the 20% increase in traffic and introduce flights to a new destination, as well as double the flight capacity on the Sibiu-Munich route.
Lufthansa carried 615,000 passengers on the local market last year, 10% more than in 2009. Increase in passenger numbers reached 20% in the first nine months of this year.
Tarom and Carpatair have not announced any new destinations yet. The former will introduce a second flight for the Bucharest-London route, also operated by British Airways.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)