Central and Eastern European low-cost airline specialist, Wizz Air will celebrate ten years of operations in the Romanian market next summer with its largest network offering from the country. The budget airline has confirmed new summer 2016 routes from both Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca and frequency growth in many existing markets.

Wizz Air made its debut in the Romanian market in July 2006 when it introduced flights to Tirgu Mures from Budapest and now offers flights from eight Romanian destinations comprising, Arad, Bucharest Henri Coanda, Cluj-Napoca, Constana, Craiova, Iasi, Sibiu, Tirgu Mures and Timisoara covering 95 routes to 15 different countries and offering more than two million annual seats from the country.

From March 28, 2015 the carrier will introduce a new twice weekly link between Cluj-Napoca and Munich Memmingen, while from May 20, 2015 a twice weekly service will also be introduced between Bucharest and Hamburg Lubeck, followed from May 21, 2015 by a twice weekly offering between Bucharest and Galsgow.

Alongside the three new Romanian routes, Wizz Air will also boost frequencies across a number of existing markets such as from Bucharest and Timisoara to London Luton and between Cluj-Napoca and Nuremberg, strengthening tourism and business relations between Romania and other parts of Europe.

Wizz Air’s Romanian network will also benefit from the introduction of a new Airbus A321 bringing additional capacity thanks to the aircraft’s larger size. During the 2016 summer peak season, the Bucharest base fleet will consist of four A320s and four A321s with the latter type deployed on some of its busiest Bucharest routes, such as to London Luton, Brussels Charleroi, Rome Ciampino and Madrid.

Our analysis of OAG Schedules Analyser data shows Wizz Air’s rise in the Romanian international market since its debut in 2006. In 2013 it increased its marketshare of international capacity beyond the 30 per cent figure, rising to 33.3 per cent last year: it is scheduled to rise to 34.6 per cent in 2015, based on current published schedules having boosted its own capacity by 17.2 per cent.