THE NEW CHEAP FLIGHTS ROUTES: ALGIERS/CAIRO AND FORMER MALTA-PARIS FLIGHTS OFFERED IN GERMANY

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After taking up the flights from Budapest to Malta for the summer season, central European cheap airline Wizzair has announced that it will continue the route during the winter, which is exactly the part of the year when Malta needs to increase the number of tourist arrivals.

Wizzair will certainly put pressure on the long-established Air Malta flights this summer in a consumer market environment in Hungary, which is not exactly easy. To date, these have only been during the summer, supplemented by the now defunct Hungarian flag-carrier Malev as charters.

Air Malta is apparently dropping this route for the winter so it is only with Wizzair that the non-stop flights will continue year-round. We cannot say with any certainty which came first: whether Air Malta first decided not to operate during the winter and then Wizzair took the decision to do so – maybe with the help of some ‘sweetener’ – or if it was after Wizzair’s plans became clear that Air Malta decided to pull the plug, as two carriers means definitely too much capacity during the winter months.

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In a way, Wizzair has positioned itself as the new Hungarian flag-carrier for European services. It can help put the destination ‘on the map’ of customers in the whole central European market.

Not only that, but it is crucial for Air Malta to maintain a good relationship with tour operators – especially in the central and eastern European tourist market. Only through the mix can such a carrier maintain these routes: routes such as Malta-Budapest were initially all developed by Air Malta.

Given its market relevance, Wizzair is a strategic airline acquisition for airport and destination and such an addition, particularly in the Polish source market, further diversifying the field of players, should be welcome. Wizzair operates from a number of central European countries.