In response to the ceasing of all flights by Romanian low-fare carrier, Blue Air, on the 6th September, both Wizz Air and Ryanair have swept into the vacuum left behind and launched rescue flights.
Wizzing ahead
Wizz Air announced it would be launching rescue fares, as part of its expansion into Romania, in a statement. It will be increasing flight capacity on flights to Bacau, Cluj-Napoca, Iași and Sibiu, all areas where Blue Air used to operate. It has since launched a special website for passengers to book.
“Wizz Air is excited to make such a significant investment into Bucharest and Romania. We know how important it is for passengers to be able to travel, and we want to ensure that customers have a diverse range of options when planning their trips. With 13.8 million seats on sale, providing new and increased low-fare services to 36 destinations from Romania, these actions reinforce Wizz Air’s commitment to the Romanian market, firmly establishing it as the market leader. We now offer close to 200 routes from Romania” said Evelin Jeckel, Acting Network Officer.
Ryanair fares
Meanwhile Ryanair is launching rescue fares until the 31st October, although passengers are only able to get low-fare tickets until the 9th September.
“Ryanair is once again saving the day with rescue fares […]to accommodate customers affected by Blue Air’s sudden ‘suspension’ of operations. While Blue Air are ‘suspending’ flights across Europe, Ryanair continues to operate a full schedule with over 3,000 daily flights delivering industry-leading low fares, choice, reliability and customer service,” said Dara Brady, Director of Marketing and Digital.
What about Blue Air?
Blue Air, has suspended all flights in response to the seizure of all its assets by the country’s Ministry of Environment for not complying with financial regulations and failing to pay a US$2million fine. “Due to an unforeseen situation consisting in the seizure of all the accounts of the BlueAir company by the Ministry of the Environment for non-payment of a fine, the airline company BlueAir Aviation is forced, being unable to pay any supplier, to suspend all flights scheduled to depart from Romania,” it said in a statement.
