Wizz Air, the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe has announced the launch of a new scheduled service between Aberdeen and the Polish city of Gdańsk. This will be the airline's first service from Scotland's third largest airport and will complement its existing operation in the country at Glasgow Airport, which like Aberdeen is owned by AGS Airports Limited.

The new route announcement is the latest in a series of moves by the budget airline to reinforce its position as the largest operator in Gdansk and will be the only direct flight between Aberdeen and Poland. Based on Poland's Baltic Coast, Gdańsk is the principal seaport and is the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area. It is a key destination for the Aberdeen energy market.

The new route will launch from June 19, 2015 and will be operated on a twice weekly basis using 180-seat Airbus A320 equipment. Wizz Air already operates flights to Gdańsk from Glasgow Airport where it also offers direct links to Katowice, Poznań and Warsaw Chopin.

“We are delighted to welcome Wizz Air’s new service, offering Aberdeen’s only direct flight to Poland. This is great opportunity for both leisure and business passengers looking to travel for meetings and short breaks," said Carol Benzie, managing director, Aberdeen International Airport.

“We are deeply rooted in Gdansk. Wizz Air - as the largest airline here - has been instrumental in developing the aviation market and infrastructure in Northern Poland over the past decade.”

József Váradi
Chief Executive Officer, Wizz Air

Wizz Air is the largest carrier at Gdańsk’s Lech Wałęsa Airport where it has grown its share of departure capacity over the last ten years from just 24.2 per cent in 2005 to over 40 per cent in each of the last six years. In 2014 it had a 43.5 per cent share of available capacity from the facility, down slightly from 43.7 per cent the previous year.

Over the ten year period Wizz Air has expanded its network from just four destinations to 27 and alongside Aberdeen will add new links in 2015 to Molde (from March 30, 2015), Frankfurt Hahn (from March 31, 2015) and Billund and Brussels Charleroi (each twice weekly from June 19, 2015).

The growth at Gdańsk is made possible by the stationing of a sixth A320 at the Baltic base. This will not just permit the introduction of the three new routes from June 2015 but facilitate an increase in frequency on existing to routes to destinations including Oslo Torp (from 7 to 10 times weekly), Stockholm Skavsta (from 11 to 14 times weekly), Bergen (from 7 to 9 times weekly), Stavanger (from 5 to 7 times weekly), Milan Bergamo (from 2 to 3 times weekly) and Liverpool (from 3 to 4 times weekly).

"We are deeply rooted in Gdańsk. Wizz Air - as the largest airline here - has been instrumental in developing the aviation market and infrastructure in Northern Poland over the past decade. Deploying a sixth based aircraft and creating more local jobs are further milestones of our continuous commitment to the region," said József Váradi, chief executive officer, Wizz Air.

Our analysis shows that Gdańsk was the largest market for passengers from/to Aberdeen during the 12 month period with approximately 16,000 passengers flying between the cities via another airport. Around 10,000 passengers also flew between Aberdeen and the Polish capital Warsaw, suggesting this could be a future market for Wizz Air should it look to grow its operation in Aberdeen.

In the chart, below, we highlight the estimated O&D passenger demand on the Aberdeen – Gdańsk city pair over the past ten years. This shows a market that has offered a sustained level of demand over the past few years. However, there has been a tremendous growth in 2014 with data for the first eleven months of the year up 70.0 per cent versus the same period in 2013. The largest flows have been with SAS Scandinavian Airlines via the flights of Cimber Air.