By Jace Moseley
Wizz Air Expands With Domestic Flights in Norway
As low-cost and ultra-low-cost carriers around the world continue to add new routes in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wizz Air has posted some of the most notable and aggressive expansions. Following numerous other new route and base announcements, Wizz Air has announced its newest expansion plan.
The carrier, headquartered in Budapest, Hungary, will launch three domestic routes in Norway. Although Wizz Air has previously served Norwegian destinations, it will be the first time that the airline has operated domestic flights within the country.
The new route additions will be out of Olso’s Gardermoen Airport, with flights to each city starting on Nov. 5. The carrier will fly to Bergen, Norway and Tromso, Norway twice daily. The airline will also operate a single round trip between Oslo and Trondheim, Norway each day.
Trondheim and Bergen have been popular targets for Wizz Air expansion over the past couple of months with each city seeing an additional three destinations added to their route maps.
In an interview with Norwegian radio station NRK, Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi said, “We will offer an alternative to travelers in Norway. A more efficient, cleaner and more sustainable alternative.”
The airline is also starting flights from Oslo to St. Petersburg, Russia on Dec. 15.
With the addition of the three domestic routes and St. Petersburg, Wizz Air will serve eight different destinations from Oslo. Currently, Oslo is one of the airline’s 38 bases across Europe and Asia and its only in Norway.
Wizz Air will operate the flights with an Airbus A320 aircraft that will be based in Oslo. The airline’s A320s are laid out in an all-economy configuration featuring 186 seats.
Wizz Air will not be alone in operating these routes, which feature competition from three carriers with a large presence in the Norwegian market. Norwegian Air Shuttle, Scandinavian Airlines, and Widerøe all operate these same domestic routes. While Wizz Air will be flying multiple times a day to each city besides Trondheim, their daily frequencies pale in comparison to those of their direct competitors. At the time of writing, Norwegian Air Shuttle is scheduled to run about 13 round-trips per day between Oslo and Bergen in November. SAS is scheduled to run up to 17 round-trips per day between the two cities.
While it takes more time, Oslo is also connected to both Bergen and Trondheim by train service.
The addition of a fourth carrier flying between these cities will see a crowded market become even more diluted. In a time where airlines are struggling to fill planes, it remains to be seen if these domestic routes can sustain four carriers, with two of them being low or ultra-low-cost carriers.
Being from Seattle, Jace was bitten by the aviation bug at a young age and never outgrew it. Although none of his family is in the industry, he has always wanted to work in aviation in some capacity. He currently in college studying air traffic management.
