easyJet launch Helsinki and Portuguese domestic routes

easyJet have today put on sale three new routes for the winter 2008 season, featuring their first flights to Helsinki and also their first domestic route in Portugal. From the beginning of November, easyJet will launch the only low-cost route between the United Kingdom and Helsinki when they launch daily flights from London (Gatwick). From 27 October 2008 they also will begin flying between Lisbon and Funchal, and from Madrid to Sofia.

New easyJet winter routes from Manchester and Gatwick

easyJet have put two new winter routes on sale from their Manchester base to Geneva and Sofia, both starting from 11 December 2008. They will also begin flying from London (Gatwick) to Lyon from 03 October.

Girona to Sofia with Wizz Air

Wizz Air will begin flying between the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, and Girona later this year. They will launch twice weekly flights on this route from 15 September 2008.

Further easyJet expansion at Milan Malpensa

easyJet will add four new routes from their Milan (Malpensa) base this winter. From 01 October 2008 they will begin flying from Milan (Malpensa) to Sofia, Copenhagen, Lamezia-Terme and Brindisi.

New Flybaboo routes to Ibiza, Sofia and Vienna

Flybaboo continue their summer expansion with new routes from their Geneva base to destinations in Spain, Bulgaria and Austria. From 16 June 2008, they will begin flying from Geneva to Ibiza, Vienna and Sofia.

Brussels to Sofia with Wizz Air

Wizz Air will expand their operation from the Bulgarian capital Sofia by launching a new route to Brussels (Charleroi). They will begin flying on this route from 24 July 2008.

Wizz Air to expand Bulgarian operation

Wizz Air will expand their base at Sofia next year, with the announcement that they will launch new routes in July 2008, and increase frequencies on existing routes. From 12 July they will launch new routes from Sofia to Varna, Milan (Orio al Serio), Valencia, Barcelona and Izmir.

Two new routes for Clickair

clickair will launch two new routes from their Barcelona base next year. They will begin flying to Oviedo, and also the Bulgarian capital Sofia from 01 February 2008.

Wizz to move flights to Rome (Fiumicino)

Wizz Air will move their flights from Budapest, Tirgu Mures and Sofia from Rome (Ciampino) to Rome (Fiumicino) on 28 October 2007. This is due to new traffic limitations placed upon Rome (Ciampino) airport.

Bari expansion for MyAir

Italian low-cost airline MyAir will launch four new routes from Bari this winter. From mid-December 2007 they will begin flying to Amsterdam, Brussels (International), Athens and Madrid. They are also due to launch flights from Bari to Sofia in March 2008.

easyJet to fly to Bulgaria and seven new routes

easyJet will begin flying to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, this winter. They will begin flying three times per week from London (Gatwick) 06 November 2007. They have also put new routes on sale from Liverpool to Innsbruck and Lisbon, from Basel to Marrakech and Oporto and from both Milan (Malpensa) and Geneva to Marrakech.

Dortmund to Sofia with Wizz Air

Wizz Air will begin flights this Autumn between Dortmund in Germany and Sofia in Bulgaria. They will begin flying this route from 29 October 2007.

SkyEurope to open base at Vienna

Despite only being a short distance from their Bratislava base, Central European low-cost airline Sky Europe will open a base at Vienna from 25 March 2007. Traditionally, Vienna has been ignored by many low-cost airlines due to the high landing fees that airlines must pay to fly there.

From March 2007, Sky Europe will fly from Vienna to Barcelona, Amsterdam, Brussels (International), Paris (Orly), Nice, Venice (Treviso), Florence, Rimini, Bucharest (Baneasa), Sofia, Athens, Thessaloniki, Larnaca, Zadar, Dubrovnik and Split.

Italian flights to Morocco with MyAir

Italian low-cost airline MyAir will begin flying from their Venice (Marco Polo) base to Marrakech and Casablanca in Morocco from 25 March 2007. They will also launch flights from Bologna (Guglielmo Marconi) to Madrid on the same day. On 28 February 2007 they will also begin flying from Venice (Marco Polo) to Bordeaux and Sofia.

Germanwings summer 2007 schedule on sale

Germanwings have put flights on sale until the end of October 2007. This includes a number of new routes from their Stuttgart, Cologne-Bonn, Berlin (Schoenefeld) and Hamburg (Fuhlsbuettel) bases. Flights begin from the end of March.

From Cologne-Bonn they will begin flying to Alghero (Sardinia), Zadar (Croatia), Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Bucharest (Baneasa) (Romania), Sofia (Bulgaria), Bourgas (Bulgaria), Varna (Bulgaria) and Kavala. From Stuttgart they will begin flying to Bastia (Corsica), from Hamburg (Fuhlsbuettel) to Palma and from Berlin (Schoenefeld) to Bourgas (Bulgaria), Verona (Villafranca) (Bulgaria) and Balaton  (Hungary).

MyAir announce new routes to Romania and Bulgaria

Italian low-cost airline MyAir will begin flying from Catania to Bucharest (Baneasa) (Romania) and from Bologna (Guglielmo Marconi) to Sofia (Bulgaria). These new routes will commence on on 19 December 2006 and 17 February 2007 respectively.

MyAir to fly from Italy to Sofia

Italian low-cost airline MyAir is to begin flying to the Bulgarian capital Sofia. They will begin flying from both Milan (Orio al Serio) and Rome (Ciampino) from 15 February 2007.

Wizz Air add Rome to Sofia flights

Wizz Air will begin flying a direct route from Sofia to Rome (Ciampino) next year. They were previously flying via Budapest, but as of 02 March 2007 they will fly three times per week.

MyAir to fly from Italy to Bulgaria and Romania

MyAir will launch 5 new routes on 13 April 2006. They will begin flying to Sofia in Bulgaria from Bologna (Guglielmo Marconi) and Milan (Orio al Serio), and to the Romanian airports of Timisoara, from Venice (Marco Polo) and Milan (Orio al Serio), and to Bucharest (Baneasa) from Rome (Ciampino).

SkyEurope to fly to Bulgaria and Romania

Next week, Wizz Air will begin operating their first flights from Budapest to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. Today SkyEurope, one of the largest low-cost carriers in Central Europe has announced that they too will begin flying to Sofia, from their Bratislava base.

They will begin flying to Sofia on 09 December 2005. SkyEurope will also begin expanding into Romania by launching a route from Bratislava to Bucharest (Baneasa) on 12 December.

Wizz Air moves in on Kaunas

Wizz Air will launch a route from Warsaw to Kaunas on 01 December 2005. Following a similar model to their recently announced new route to Sofia, they are offering flights to Kaunas from 6 additional airports.

Wizz will offer connections to Kaunas from London (Luton), Paris (Beauvais), Stockholm (Skavsta), Dortmund, Liverpool and Malmo (Sturup). This will involve a change of aircraft at Warsaw (and collection and re-checking of baggage).

While airlines are aware that many passengers may ‘unofficially’ transfer from one flight to another, perhaps interchanging at a major hub such as London (Stansted), most of the low-cost carriers do not endorse this behaviour for cost-saving reasons. Wizz Air appear to be embracing it, and it will be interesting to see how this area of their business develops.

Hemus Air to enter low-cost market?

Bulgarian airline Hemus Air (formerly a state-owned airline, but now under private ownership) has reacted to Wizz Air’s announcement to launch routes from Budapest to the Bulgarian capital - Sofia, with a decision to launch low-cost services.

They are said to be considering flying from Sofia to Vienna, Stuttgart, Cologne-Bonn and Leipzig using a budget airline model.

Wizz Air adds Sofia to their network

Wizz Air will add a new route from their Budapest base to the Bulgarian capital - Sofia. This will be the first European low-cost connection to Sofia since the demise of the Bulgarian budget airline Bexx Air.

They will begin flying this new route from 19 September 2005. Wizz are also offering ‘official’ connections from London (Luton) and Frankfurt (Hahn), which allow passengers to change planes at Budapest.

Bexx Air replace Niederrhein with Liege

Due to complications regarding landing regulations at Niederrhein, Bexx Air have moved their flights to the Belgian airport of Liege. Their Bourgas to Niederrhein flight due to launch this summer will therefore be replaced by Bourgas to Liege, with Sofia to Niederrhein being replaced by Sofia to Liege.