Wizz Air opens Suceava base, its eighth in Romania; it now has 12 routes and two based A320 aircraft

Wizz Air has opened its eighth base in Romania, the airline’s number one European country. It’s at Suceava, situated in the far north of the country around 60 kilometres from the Ukraine border. With two stationed A320ceos, it joins other bases at Bacau, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Iasi, Sibiu and Timisoara. Of course, Suceava is not a new airport in Wizz Air’s network: it has served it since 2016. The new base comes as Ryanair plans to end Suceava flights in March; the two carriers compete directly on three routes this winter.

Wizz Air has 12 Suceava routes

Wizz Air’s first Suceava route in August 2016 was from London LTN, swiftly followed two months later by Milan BGY. It is no surprise that they remain its leading routes from the airport. Wizz Air will benefit from the end of Ryanair to BGY, likewise also to Rome CIA, Brussels CRL and Venice TSF. Using data from Wizz Air’s website, its 12-strong network is as follows:

• Bologna: 2-weekly
• Brussels CRL: 2 (started on 16 December)
• Dortmund: 2 (3 in summer)
• Eindhoven: 2 (started on 17 December)
• Larnaca: 2 (resumed on December)
• London LTN: 12 (10 in summer)
• Memmingen: 2 (3 in summer)
• Milan BGY: 4 (7 in summer)
• Paris BVA: 2 (started on 15 December)
• Rome FCO: 2 (5 in summer)
• Tel Aviv: 2 (starts on 9 January)
• Venice TSF: 2

Note that it has switched Rome flights from Ciampino to Fiumicino. Other Suceava routes that no longer exist include Doncaster Sheffield and Vienna.

Up to six sectors per aircraft each day

When all routes are operational in mid-January, Wizz Air’s Suceava-based A320 daily rotations will be as detailed below. Some London flights use Luton based aircraft. Most aircraft will be operational by 06:50 each day, but there are exceptions, such as the second A320 on Thursday (07:40), while on Tuesdays, the second aircraft has no flying until the evening. Generally, aircraft end for the day between 01:30 and 03:05, really helping to increase daily utilisation.

Wednesday and Thursday are especially quiet days and have periods of much inactivity, while there’s some extremely busy days. For example, on Saturday, one A320 covers 9,903km, with block time of 16h 40m.

Monday:

A320 #1: Brussels CRL (06:10-12:50); Venice TSF (13:50-18:25); London LTN (19:40-02:50).

A320 #2: London Luton (06:45-13:55); Tel Aviv (18:25-01:30)

Tuesday:

A320 #1: Larnaca (06:10-12:05); Dortmund (13:10-18:35); London Luton (19:55-03:05).

A320 #2: Eindhoven (06:50-12:45), Bologna (18:40-23:50)

Wednesday:

A320 #1: London LTN (06:45-13:55); Bologna (16:50-21:50).

A320 #2: London LTN (19:40-02:40)

Thursday:

A320 #1: Paris BVA (06:10-12:45); Rome FCO (13:35-18:55); London LTN (19:40-02:50).

A320 #2: Memmingen (07:40-12:30)

Friday:

A320 #1: Brussels CRL (06:10-12:50); Venice TSF (14:20-18:55); London Luton (19:40-02:50).

A320 #2: London LTN (06:45-13:55); Tel Aviv (14:40-21:45)

Saturday:

A320 #1: Eindhoven (06:50-12:45); Dortmund (13:45-19:10); London LTN (19:55-03:05).

A320 #2: Paris BVA (06:10-12:45); Larnaca (13:30-19:15); Milan BGY (20:25-01:35)

Sunday:

A320 #1: Memmingen (06:50-11:40); Bologna (12:25-17:25); London LTN (19:40-02:50).

A320 #2: London LTN (06:10-13:20); Rome FCO (14:45-20:05); Milan BGY (20:40-01:50)