Blerg wrote:

I wonder if they might launch Ankara at some point. It's a big city, relatively wealthy and from what I understood there is a strong IT industry which usually attracts younger people.

Do you mean that the lT industry which attracts young people, leads to more PAX on that route? If yes, could you explain how?

There are no direct flights between Abu Dhabi and Ankara yet. I wonder. I also wonder why Ryanair and Wizz Air don't fly a lot of routes from Europe to Turkey. They leave it to Pegasus, Corendon, ...
I guess it's because of higher airport and/or flight charges.

It seems like Ryanair simply connects the cheapest airports, caring less about the expected demand there. And not caring much about the high expected demand between airports that charge a bit more ^^

airlinenavigato wrote:

Blerg wrote:

I wonder if they might launch Ankara at some point. It's a big city, relatively wealthy and from what I understood there is a strong IT industry which usually attracts younger people.

Do you mean that the lT industry which attracts young people, leads to more PAX on that route? If yes, could you explain how?

There are no direct flights between Abu Dhabi and Ankara yet. I wonder. I also wonder why Ryanair and Wizz Air don't fly a lot of routes from Europe to Turkey. They leave it to Pegasus, Corendon, ...
I guess it's because of higher airport and/or flight charges.

It seems like Ryanair simply connects the cheapest airports, caring less about the expected demand there. And not caring much about the high expected demand between airports that charge a bit more ^^

Well young people might be more attracted to use Wizz Air to get to Dubai via AUH. It might be a more attractive option for them.

oki. The UAE consists of over 8 million expats. The Emirati population is just 1.15 million.



https://www.globalmediainsight.com/blog ... tatistics/

From that list of 9, here's my two cents ...

India
There are many low-cost airlines on the route already, so the competition would be great, unless picking new cities, the likes of LKO/PNQ/GOI, etc.

Pakistan
Not as many low-cost carriers, again picking new cities could work in its favour e.g. SKT

Bangladesh
Too far perhaps? Not sure.

Philippines
Too far.

Iran
EY pulled out of IKA, and therefore Iran, due to political reasons. Would 5W have the permission to start to IKA/MHD/SYZ? I would imagine that if they could, then EY would jump back in.

Egypt
SSH is an existing station, no start-up effort or costs, I'm sure many would like the all-inclusive style of resorts in that region.

Nepal
A couple of days a week into KTM, perfect

Sri Lanka
A couple of days a week into CMB, perfect, no low-cost carrier competition

China
Limited to URC, which has a high proportion of Muslims which could work in its favour - however I am aware that either G9 out of SHJ or FZ out of DXB tried this and didn't work out. No competition on the route, although CZ fly URC-DXB

Ok. I judge a route if there are many airlines serving it and regarding the minimum prices. And those are HIGH on UAE<>India.

Bangladesh is inside the usual range, that Wizz Air flies today already.

Philippines is too far, even for the presumed 8 hour flights with the XLR.

Yes, I see Iran now as being 'likely' if getting the landing rights

Does CZ have scheduled flights between DXB and URC? Couldn't find.

Maybe Kashgar in China is an interesting destination for 5W?

If within range, Thailand would certainly be an option. I mean, there's a lot of tourism to Thailand so there should be a market there for them. Destinations like Phuket and of course Bangkok (likely Don Mueang) would work for them, even if only seasonal. After all tourism to Thailand is highly seasonal, nobody goes there during the rain season (summer) but a lot of people visit it in the dry season (winter). Bangkok can be made to work year-round I think, and by serving Don Mueang instead of Suvarnabhumi they can offer a unique product. Currently India is the furthest west served from Don Mueang, they can have the entire Don Mueang - UAE market to to themselves.

I think Thailand becomes more likely from 2023 on.

btw I am also in favor of a Wizz Air Thailand. And I have good arguments for that. But that seems to be to far in the future again.

Other considerable big groups of expats in the UAE inside the 2250nmi range are people from:

Jordan 250,000
Iraq 100,000
Lebanon 80-150,000
Somalia 50,000
Turkey 10,000
Ethiopia 100,000
Kenya - 50,000
Nigeria - 20-50,000
Uganda - 40,000
Sudan - 79,000
Uzbekistan - 14,000
Russia - 10,000

The UAE are also said to be a major tourist destination for Russians
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatri ... b_Emirates

airlinenavigato wrote:

Russia - 10,000

The UAE are also said to be a major tourist destination for Russians
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatri ... b_Emirates

With W6 already having stations in KZN, LED and VKO, they could be some easy goals to kick to start with for 5W's adventures in to Russia. All cities are reached from DXB, but only one from AUH. Even closer, the likes of ROV and AER could get a look-in out of AUH as well, a bit closer too. Once or twice a week should probably suffice, nothing more than that.

YES!

New destinations! The new ones are Tirana and Sarajevo. Sarajevo already served by many Middle East carriers. Tirana was in the Top 3, Sarajevo was 'likely'. Sarajevo was also named by SCQ83.

Wizz said they want to grow regarding Abu Dhabi's safe list.
This is the current safe list:
https://visitabudhabi.ae/en/plan-your-t ... -countries

I hope Northern Macedonia comes on the Green List soon. Lviv (Ukraine) and Varna (Bulgaria) already are.

Bahrain is on the safe list. Could accelerate it to fly there.

Tuzla is just 3 hours away from Sarajevo. So it goes into 'medium likely'. Banja Luka is 5 hours away from Sarajevo, so it stays in 'likely'.

This is the current list:

--- Top 3 for the very next ---

Skopje Northern Macedonia
Lviv Ukraine
Varna Bulgaria

--- very likely ---
Dhaka Bangladesh
Colombo Sri Lanka
Kathmandu Nepal
Aktobe, Aktau / Atyrau Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Uzbekistan
Timisoara Romania
Corfu
Hurghada / Sharm el Sheikh

--- likely ---
Banja Luka Bosnia & Herzegovina
Iran
Ethiopia
INDIA
Bahrain
Kazan Russia
Zanzibar
Kuwait-City
Yekatarinburg Russia
Aqaba Jordan
Tbilisi Georgia
Shymkent Kazakhstan
South Western Russia
Aswan Egypt
Assiut Egypt
Antalya
Amman Jordan
Podgorica Montenegro
Split Croatia
Malta
Iasi Romania
Sarajevo Bosnia & Herzegovina
Beirut Lebanon
Phristina Kosovo
Dalaman Turkey
Bodrum
Moscow
other Russian airports not far from the northern Kazakh border
Karachi Pakistan
Islamabad Pakistan
other airports in Pakistan
other airports in Turkey
Brasov Romania (from 2022)
BUD-TSE-PEK

--- medium likely ---
Tuzla Bosnia & Herzegovina
Mahé Seychelles
Kashgar China
Nigeria
Uganda
Sudan
Iraq
Warsaw
Dubrovnik Croatia
Kos Greece
Zakynthos Greece
Kefalonia Greece
Kalamata Greece mainland
Marsa Alam
Zaporizhzhia Ukraine
Krakow
Kosice Slowakia
Lublin Poland
Craiova Romania
Sibiu Romania
Bacau Romania
Targu Murhes Romania
Charkiv Ukraine
Istanbul
Constança Romania
Burgas Bulgaria
Preveza Aktion Greece
Doha
Saudi Arabia
Tanzania
Kenya
Malé Maldives
Other airports in Turkey

--- Forum's favorite ---
Ürümqi

Being that 3L's AUH-SJJ was a short (very, very short) seasonal route, once they are off the route then it is 5W's for the taking. Good tip on TIA as well by the way!

Will need to see how ODS goes in Ukraine before they announce a third destination - however I would imagine its definitely on the cards. Who knows where they will end up next!

Yeah, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi gonna serve SJJ only until Sep 15.
With flight prices >300€ ...

Flydubai from DXB also from >300€.

While Wizz offers both routes already from 30/40€.

Both routes are operated by 5W even though both are also W6 bases.

They just announced Sarajevo and Tirana from Abu Dhabi.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSKBEGyq3Jl/

I doubt Wizz Air will expand East.

Wizz Air Abu Dhabi was set up with the agreement of the AD government (which owns Etihad). Same for Air Arabia AD.

I see those two carriers as the future for AUH whenever Etihad+Emirates merge and move to DWC. Wizz Air focusing on the West and Air Arabia on the East, with some overlap in short-haul destinations in the Middle East.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

They just announced Sarajevo and Tirana from Abu Dhabi.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSKBEGyq3Jl/

Already covered in this thread

SCQ83 wrote:

I doubt Wizz Air will expand East.
[...]
Wizz Air focusing on the West and Air Arabia on the East, with some overlap in short-haul destinations in the Middle East.

Do you have proofs for your claim? Varadi, the boss of Wizz Air stated multiple times, they want to expand to the Indian subcontinent.

I wonder how they are doing on AUH-BEG. I know they are boosting it to 3 from October but FZ is boosting BEG to 9 in the second half of August. Hopefully Wizz is doing as well.

Blerg wrote:

I wonder how they are doing on AUH-BEG. I know they are boosting it to 3 from October but FZ is boosting BEG to 9 in the second half of August. Hopefully Wizz is doing as well.

5W flies from BEG from 19€,
FZ from 299€.
The choice is clear for me

As 5W is increasing it to 3 weekly, do you find AUH-INI likely?

—

myki wrote:

With W6 already having stations in KZN, LED and VKO, they could be some easy goals to kick to start with for 5W's adventures in to Russia. All cities are reached from DXB, but only one from AUH. Even closer, the likes of ROV and AER could get a look-in out of AUH as well, a bit closer too. Once or twice a week should probably suffice, nothing more than that.

Alright. LED is a bit to far for their 6 hour range. The other airports I can also imagine.

These are the Russian airports inside the 6 hour range being served from DXB now or before the outbreak:


I see 5W serving a good portion of them

airlinenavigato wrote:

Blerg wrote:

I wonder how they are doing on AUH-BEG. I know they are boosting it to 3 from October but FZ is boosting BEG to 9 in the second half of August. Hopefully Wizz is doing as well.

5W flies from BEG from 19€,
FZ from 299€.
The choice is clear for me

As 5W is increasing it to 3 weekly, do you find AUH-INI likely?

—

myki wrote:

With W6 already having stations in KZN, LED and VKO, they could be some easy goals to kick to start with for 5W's adventures in to Russia. All cities are reached from DXB, but only one from AUH. Even closer, the likes of ROV and AER could get a look-in out of AUH as well, a bit closer too. Once or twice a week should probably suffice, nothing more than that.

Alright. LED is a bit to far for their 6 hour range. The other airports I can also imagine.

These are the Russian airports inside the 6 hour range being served from DXB now or before the outbreak:


I see 5W serving a good portion of them

Don't think INI could work, A321 is too much of an aircraft. A320 could maybe, just maybe, make it and only like three months in the summer. Belgrade is connected with southern Serbia by highway so you can be at the airport from Nis in around 2.5 hours.

I actually wouldn't be surprised if EK replaces FZ in BEG once covid passes. They were already in negotiations with BEG management so who knows.

airlinenavigato wrote:

YES!

New destinations! The new ones are Tirana and Sarajevo. Sarajevo already served by many Middle East carriers. Tirana was in the Top 3, Sarajevo was 'likely'. Sarajevo was also named by SCQ83.

Wizz said they want to grow regarding Abu Dhabi's safe list.
This is the current safe list:
https://visitabudhabi.ae/en/plan-your-t ... -countries

I hope Northern Macedonia comes on the Green List soon. Lviv (Ukraine) and Varna (Bulgaria) already are.

Bahrain is on the safe list. Could accelerate it to fly there.

Tuzla is just 3 hours away from Sarajevo. So it goes into 'medium likely'. Banja Luka is 5 hours away from Sarajevo, so it stays in 'likely'.

This is the current list:

--- Top 3 for the very next ---

Skopje Northern Macedonia
Lviv Ukraine
Varna Bulgaria

--- very likely ---
Dhaka Bangladesh
Colombo Sri Lanka
Kathmandu Nepal
Aktobe, Aktau / Atyrau Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Uzbekistan
Timisoara Romania
Corfu
Hurghada / Sharm el Sheikh

--- likely ---
Banja Luka Bosnia & Herzegovina
Iran
Ethiopia
INDIA
Bahrain
Kazan Russia
Zanzibar
Kuwait-City
Yekatarinburg Russia
Aqaba Jordan
Tbilisi Georgia
Shymkent Kazakhstan
South Western Russia
Aswan Egypt
Assiut Egypt
Antalya
Amman Jordan
Podgorica Montenegro
Split Croatia
Malta
Iasi Romania
Sarajevo Bosnia & Herzegovina
Beirut Lebanon
Phristina Kosovo
Dalaman Turkey
Bodrum
Moscow
other Russian airports not far from the northern Kazakh border
Karachi Pakistan
Islamabad Pakistan
other airports in Pakistan
other airports in Turkey
Brasov Romania (from 2022)
BUD-TSE-PEK

--- medium likely ---
Tuzla Bosnia & Herzegovina
Mahé Seychelles
Kashgar China
Nigeria
Uganda
Sudan
Iraq
Warsaw
Dubrovnik Croatia
Kos Greece
Zakynthos Greece
Kefalonia Greece
Kalamata Greece mainland
Marsa Alam
Zaporizhzhia Ukraine
Krakow
Kosice Slowakia
Lublin Poland
Craiova Romania
Sibiu Romania
Bacau Romania
Targu Murhes Romania
Charkiv Ukraine
Istanbul
Constança Romania
Burgas Bulgaria
Preveza Aktion Greece
Doha
Saudi Arabia
Tanzania
Kenya
Malé Maldives
Other airports in Turkey

--- Forum's favorite ---
Ürümqi

Polish airports on this list are to me a totally random selection. Why would WizzAir want to fly from WAW having there competition of three other airlines flying to UAE? Why would they pick Krakow, given that KRK is predominantly an inbound tourism airport and that Wizzair already covers UAE from KTW, being approx. 1,5 hour on a highway from central Krakow? Why would they pick Lublin, a very small airport in a region that counts among least wealthy in Poland, but has a 2 hour highway connection to WAW? I expect most of the lcc flying to LUZ are subsidised by the local regional authorities whose ambition (and a costly one) is to have an international airport. I don't expect them willing to pay higher subsidies required to make a longer flight like this viable..

artflyer wrote:

Polish airports on this list are to me a totally random selection. Why would WizzAir want to fly from WAW having there competition of three other airlines flying to UAE? Why would they pick Krakow, given that KRK is predominantly an inbound tourism airport and that Wizzair already covers UAE from KTW, being approx. 1,5 hour on a highway from central Krakow? Why would they pick Lublin, a very small airport in a region that counts among least wealthy in Poland, but has a 2 hour highway connection to WAW? I expect most of the lcc flying to LUZ are subsidised by the local regional authorities whose ambition (and a costly one) is to have an international airport. I don't expect them willing to pay higher subsidies required to make a longer flight like this viable..

Are there currently scheduled flights between Warsaw and Abu Dhabi? Couldn't find any.

The minimum one-way non-stop prices on WAW<>DXB are 240€.
Wizz' minimum prices from AUH are around 30€. A big difference.

Krakow is in case Wizz wants to increase the frequency in KTW and they see that a third of the passengers are from Krakow. Then it makes sense to keep KTW 2-weekly and introduce KRK 2-weekly.

In poor cities people are more willing to work in a more wealthy country. Lublin is now some driving hours way from 240€ fares.

Anyway all Warsaw, Krakow and Lublin are in the 'medium likely'. They are one of the least likely new destinations in the list.

—

Regarding the UAE:
This is the population pyramid including expats



Doesn't look healthy

airlinenavigato wrote:

artflyer wrote:

Polish airports on this list are to me a totally random selection. Why would WizzAir want to fly from WAW having there competition of three other airlines flying to UAE? Why would they pick Krakow, given that KRK is predominantly an inbound tourism airport and that Wizzair already covers UAE from KTW, being approx. 1,5 hour on a highway from central Krakow? Why would they pick Lublin, a very small airport in a region that counts among least wealthy in Poland, but has a 2 hour highway connection to WAW? I expect most of the lcc flying to LUZ are subsidised by the local regional authorities whose ambition (and a costly one) is to have an international airport. I don't expect them willing to pay higher subsidies required to make a longer flight like this viable..

Are there currently scheduled flights between Warsaw and Abu Dhabi? Couldn't find any.

The minimum one-way non-stop prices on WAW<>DXB are 240€.
Wizz' minimum prices from AUH are around 30€. A big difference.

Krakow is in case Wizz wants to increase the frequency in KTW and they see that a third of the passengers are from Krakow. Then it makes sense to keep KTW 2-weekly and introduce KRK 2-weekly.

In poor cities people are more willing to work in a more wealthy country. Lublin is now some driving hours way from 240€ fares.

Anyway all Warsaw, Krakow and Lublin are in the 'medium likely'. They are one of the least likely new destinations in the list.

—

Regarding demographics in the UAE:
This is the population pyramid including expats



Doesn't look healthy

I meant WAW-DXB-WAW: Emirates plus LO plus FZ.

I do not know where from do you have these prices. I had no trouble in finding rates (with luggage) for WAW-DXB-WAW that are lower than 240 euro you claim to be the minimal one-way price. And anyway it is difficult to seriously compare it with prices that are Wizzair lead prices. How many tickets does Wizzair offer at the price of 30 euro? Well, applying your logic there should be no competition on any routes Wizzair flies.

I did not say that people are migrating from Lublin. For a couple of years now the net migration in Poland is positive (more people migrate back to Poland than out). I just said Lublin is among the least wealthy, so I do not see any major tourism originating from Lublin that could not be better dealt via WAW.

I do not buy your idea of KRK supplementing KTW. From far abroad these airports do not differ, but believe me each of them has some specialisation, not only geographical. There must be some good reasons, why KTW will next year have direct links to Cuba, Tailand, Mexico or Zanzibar and KRK none of that (still being the second biggest Polish city).

In brief, I see no chance of any Wizzair route from UAE to Poland apart from existing KTW (the latter may get more frequences). What I could imagine is FZ starting (apart from existing KRK and WAW), POZ, GDN or WRO.

I wrote about one-way prices. Legacy carriers offer return trips for a lower price than booking both trips separately. Still 370€ return is considerably higher than the average return fare of WizzAir.

As you don't see more Polish airports connected by WizzAir from Abu Dhabi, that is near my opinion (-> one of the least likely mentioned in the list)

Heading back east briefly, even though UAE has reopened for many (not all) to travel from India to the UAE, I still think it is a bit too volatile now for 5W to open up routes there. Happy to eat my hat if they start up tomorrow though and you can all say that I was wrong

hehe
Wizz opened a lot of new routes and bases in Europe during the plague.

UAE<>India is opening up partly. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal aren't on Abu Dhabi's Green List.

The vaccination including expats in the UAE is quite advanced:

81% have at least one shot. 73% are fully vaccinated

airlinenavigato wrote:

hehe
The vaccination including expats in the UAE is quite advanced:

81% have at least one shot. 73% are fully vaccinated

... with a questionable home-brew vaccine that isn't recognised by the likes of Ireland, Germany, France, etc. etc.

Once the ISC countries appear on the green list for AUH, then I think that would be the catalyst for them to start looking to the right on the map.

myki wrote:

airlinenavigato wrote:

hehe
The vaccination including expats in the UAE is quite advanced:

81% have at least one shot. 73% are fully vaccinated

... with a questionable home-brew vaccine that isn't recognised by the likes of Ireland, Germany, France, etc. etc.

Once the ISC countries appear on the green list for AUH, then I think that would be the catalyst for them to start looking to the right on the map.

Those are all EU countries. Recognizing vaccines is done on EU level, they got the EMA (European Medicine Agency) for that. This ensures that the entire EU has the same policy when it comes to recognizing vaccines.

Agreed the vaccines that were used in many countries aren't on the EU green list, therefor these people don't count as being vaccinated. Only Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson are recognized as far as I'm aware of. I've got the Pfizer vaccine myself, I'm fully vaccinated. However I'd still be a bit weary to visit countries where people have been vaccinated with questionable vaccines. They might work or they might not, I'm just not taking the risk.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

myki wrote:

airlinenavigato wrote:

hehe
The vaccination including expats in the UAE is quite advanced:

81% have at least one shot. 73% are fully vaccinated

... with a questionable home-brew vaccine that isn't recognised by the likes of Ireland, Germany, France, etc. etc.

Once the ISC countries appear on the green list for AUH, then I think that would be the catalyst for them to start looking to the right on the map.

Those are all EU countries. Recognizing vaccines is done on EU level, they got the EMA (European Medicine Agency) for that. This ensures that the entire EU has the same policy when it comes to recognizing vaccines.

Agreed the vaccines that were used in many countries aren't on the EU green list, therefor these people don't count as being vaccinated. Only Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson are recognized as far as I'm aware of. I've got the Pfizer vaccine myself, I'm fully vaccinated. However I'd still be a bit weary to visit countries where people have been vaccinated with questionable vaccines. They might work or they might not, I'm just not taking the risk.

Well if reports are to be trusted a large number of hospitalized Israelis have been vaccinated with Pfizer. So we might not rush to condemn the Chinese vaccine which was pretty effective in slowing down the death rate and the number of infections in Serbia ... that is until holidaymakers started returning from Croatia and Greece with the virus.

AUH-BAH has been announced. There is a travel corridor between the UAE and Bahrain so no quarantine at either end for those with applicable vaccines, same as UAE also has with Greece and Serbia. The other is Seychelles but I think that would be a long shot to be announced ... but hey, who knows!

myki wrote:

AUH-BAH has been announced.

cool. Bahrain was in 'likely' and you were the one, who also brought it up as a Gulf country. Bahrain is in the Middle East, which was mentioned by more users.

Wizz flies AUH->Bahrain one-way from 18€, while other airlines charge over 170€.

Let's see when Bahrrain gets the first hostels

I rearranged and added a good amount of predictions:

--- Top 3 for the very next ---

Kuwait-City
Doha Qatar
Skopje Northern Macedonia

--- very likely ---
Beirut Lebanon
Amman Jordan
Phristina Kosovo
Dhaka Bangladesh
Shah Bangladesh
Varna Bulgaria
Kazan Russia
Rostov-on-Don Russia
other airports in Russia
Bodrum Turkey
Antalya Turkey
Ankara Turkey
Dalaman Turkey
Shymkent Kazakhstan
Assiut Egypt
Iran
Saudi Arabia
Karachi Pakistan
Islamabad Pakistan
other airports in Pakistan
Lviv / Kharkiv Ukraine
Colombo Sri Lanka
Kathmandu Nepal
Aktau / Atyrau Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Uzbekistan
Corfu Greece
Hurghada / Sharm el Sheikh Egypt

--- likely ---
Tanzania
Timisoara / Iasi Romania
Kenya
Sudan
Southern Sudan
Eretria
Nigeria
Aktobe Kazakhstan
Malé Maldives
Banja Luka Bosnia & Herzegovina
Ethiopia
INDIA
Zanzibar
Aqaba Jordan
Tbilisi Georgia
Aswan Egypt
Podgorica Montenegro
Split Croatia
Malta
other airports in Turkey
BUD-TSE-PEK

--- medium likely ---
Comores
Osmani Bangladesh
Tivat Montenegro
Qabala Azerbaijan
other airports in Bangladesh
Chad
Somaliland
other airports in Oman
Tuzla Bosnia & Herzegovina
Mahé Seychelles
Brasov Romania (from 2022)
Kashgar China
Uganda
Iraq
Warsaw
Dubrovnik Croatia
Kos Greece
Zakynthos Greece
Marsa Alam
Zaporizhzhia Ukraine
Kosice Slovakia
Lublin Poland
Bacau Romania
Burgas Bulgaria

--- Forum's favorite ---
Ürümqi

Anyone know what airlines, aircraft and capacity we have between AUH/DXB and Bahrain right now? Who will they compete against?

It looks like 11 daily departures including Sharjah:

https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s ... A&curr=EUR

(Google Flights DXB,AUH,SHJ -> BAH non-stop, Sep 9, sorted for departure time)

Emirates with a Boeing 777 ^^

—

As there were questions recently about the Wizz Air range from AUH:

This shows on a map where the migants to the UAE come from:


https://www.pewresearch.org/global/inte ... tocks-map/

Considerable groups inside the flight range are outside of Europe.

But isn't there a stringent bilateral with India?

Wizz speaks about "regulatory hurdles" flying to India.

The UAE want an open skies agreement with India.

Air Arabia from Sharjah and Flydubai already go to India. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi has Indian cities in their destination list, even though not yet bookable.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/simpleflyi ... ctive/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thehin ... 9.ece/amp/

The Seychelles are on Abu Dhabi's Green List.

What makes the Seychelles likely or unlikely to be connected?

I gonna start:
- It's inside the typical range
- The runway is 3km long
- No LCC serves the airport so far. Just Arkia to Tel Aviv (Wiki)
- Flydubai and Air Arabia do not serve it
- In 2014 the airport had roundabout 700.000 passengers
- On booking.com the price per night for 2 persons in the rather low price segment is around 70€ per night.

There was an update for the Abu Dhabi Green List. These were the changes for countries inside the typical range that don't have Wizz routes from AUH:

The Maldives are not on the list anymore.
Added was Malta.

airlinenavigato wrote:

There is the (limited) kiwi.com guarantee. And some airports like BGY, BER and BUD support self-hubbing.

Be careful booking through Kiwi.com though. Here's a news article (in Dutch) about them:

https://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nieuws/ ... -aan-boord

Ryanair has denied boarding to several passengers that booked through Kiwi.com because their boarding cards, that were given out by Kiwi.com, were deemed invalid. Ryanair urges people to book their tickets on their own website and not on third party websites like Kiwi.com. People that have booked a Ryanair flight through Kiwi.com are urged to contact Kiwi.com to ask for their booking number so they can check-in directly with Ryanair. That is the only way of checking in that is accepted by Ryanair, the boarding cards that are given out by Kiwi.com are not accepted.

It's no secret that Ryanair does not want their tickets to be sold through third party sites, that often charge a higher price for them than Ryanair does. For Ryanair the price is a marketing instrument that is being disrupted by third party sites, ideally they wouldn't sell their tickets through third party sites at all but they can't prevent that from happening. Still, the fact that those passengers were denied boarding shows that booking through a third party site can only cause trouble. Had those passengers booked directly with Ryanair, there would not have been a problem.

This is why I never use sites like Kiwi.com for my bookings. A protected self-transfer sounds nice, but if that means they handle my booking with the airline then no thanks. I do that myself, I don't want them to do that for me.

ok. for just searching flights i still like kiwi.com much

—

I wonder if Wizz gonna do something for the Dubai World Expo. Like flying some routes to DXB instead of AUH. Or announcing some new routes to DXB/AUH. As far as I see it, travelling between Dubai and Abu Dhabi is restricted currently and Dubai is less restrictive regarding entry regulations.

The expo is from October 1 to March 31.

Kuwait and Jordan are new on the Abu Dhabi Green List. Could be, that Wizz gonna announce a route to there soon.

Also the boss of Air Arabia based in Sharjah calls for an Open Skies agreement with India.

"Ali further added that regulatory hurdles put up by India were preventing Air Arabia from launching direct flights from Ras Al Khaimah to India."

"Over the next 20 years, international traffic to and from India is expected to almost quadruple from its pre-pandemic levels, to around 240 million annual passengers."

Wizz wants a piece of that.


interesting article about the flight regulations between the UAE and India:
https://gulfnews.com/business/aviation/ ... 9898325244

The UAE will issue tourists visas for all countries again. For people who are vaccinated.



Looks like the Wizz expansion from AUH can continue

https://mobile.twitter.com/NCEMAUAE/sta ... 1115315205

Not that they had started, however I see that CLJ, CTA and KTW are moving from AUH to DXB. I guess this means these routes will now be run from W6 (which I believe CTA was going to be anyway). BUD, OTP, and SOF are currently flown from DXB and were to move to AUH (by 5W or W6, unsure) however it looks like those are also staying as a DXB route.

The routes from BUD, CTA, CLJ, OTP, KTW and SOF have always been operated or have been supposed to be operated by W6. So it's easy for Wizz to let the routes simply be flown to DXB instead of AUH.

All other destinations except Bari are flown by 5W. The reason for the move could be the expo.

I am in favor to remain some routes to Dubai instead of AUH. Some flights arrive in AUH after midnight and there is no bus that time from AUH to Dubai anymore. And the choice of accommodations in Dubai is bigger than in Abu Dhabi.

With an Dubai entry stamp tourists get a 21 days visa-free stay in Oman. Instead of 10 days visa-free or paying 20 OMR (44€) for 30 days.

airlinenavigato wrote:

The routes from BUD, CTA, CLJ, OTP, KTW and SOF have always been operated or have been supposed to be operated by W6.

Yep it makes sense for any W6 base to fly to DXB, and AUH if they wish. From AUH, 5W can then go to any existing W6 station PLUS any new station, especially those south and east that W6 cannot reach.

Wizz need to be careful about the AUH-DXB mix on their network. If all the big cities (ie bases) get routes to DXB while the small cities (non bases) get AUH, there will be a clear "AUH is not the best place" message. AUH management or Abu Dhabi Govt may see this as not honouring the deal they had with Wizz, and start retaliating against Wizz

davidjohnson6 wrote:

Wizz need to be careful about the AUH-DXB mix on their network. If all the big cities (ie bases) get routes to DXB while the small cities (non bases) get AUH, there will be a clear "AUH is not the best place" message. AUH management or Abu Dhabi Govt may see this as not honouring the deal they had with Wizz, and start retaliating against Wizz

I thought the same. For changing the operation from 5W to W6 for a destination, they need to change the schedules of W6 planes and may kick out other destinations served by the W6 base.

5W serves these W6 bases:

Tirana
Sarajevo
Larnaca
Kutaisi
Chisinau
Belgrade

just 6 out of 25 destinations that 5W goes to.

I think it got less likely that these operations go to W6 and DXB, as Dubai and Abu Dhabi have now the same entry regulations for vaccinated tourists entering the country.

I wonder, how long W6 gonna fly to DXB.

For next week Wizz has 15 flights to the UAE bookable (+2 compared to this week). To 10 destinations (+1). TIA and BAH gonna be commenced.

The next flight to Santorini is moved to June 2022 (!)

airlinenavigato wrote:

The next flight to Santorini is moved to June 2022 (!)

Yeah for many airlines, the Greek Islands are highly seasonal. If EY loses their A320s, I wonder if 5W could see a longer 2022 season, or alternatively a beefed-up schedule of an extra flight or two a week, to the likes of JTR and JMK.

okay. All Greek Islands have their next 5W flight in June 2022. And are going to be served for just 3 months.

The same btw also for Lublin - Burgas

—

If 5W sticks to their schedule, they gonna need more planes than they currently have from the last week of October on.

There was NO aircraft delivery for 5W this year so far.

https://m.planespotters.net/airline/Wizz-Air-Abu-Dhabi

In the following week, after a months lasting break, Sofia will be served again. And there gonna be departures from Thessaloniki.

The next big spike is going to be in the second week of October. By then, again after an absence for months, flights from KTW and CLJ gonna be back. And they're going to commence the service to CTA, SJJ and ODS.

airlinenavigato wrote:

These eased entry regulation are only for people who got vaccines that are WHO approved. The Russian Sputnik isn't. And in Russia people cannot get a foreign vaccine. So it could take a while until there gonna be new Wizz routes from AUH to Russia...

Approved by the WHO are:
- BioNTech
- Moderna
- Oxford
- Sinopharm
- Sinovac
- Covishield
- Janssen

https://covid19.trackvaccines.org/agency/who/