Everyone knows that Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is Wizz Air's bread and butter, despite the ULCC increasingly focusing on Western Europe, the UAE, and elsewhere since the pandemic struck. But who's number one in CEE: Wizz Air or that juggernaut, Ryanair? For this, I examine multiple data for winter 2022.

Wizz Air versus Ryanair

ULCC Wizz Air is 31% bigger than Ryanair in CEE this winter if measured by roundtrip seats for sale, according to OAG data. (For straightforwardness, I've included the Caucasus.)

Wizz Air has grown CEE capacity by 8% versus pre-pandemic winter 2019 against 'only' 3% for Ryanair. Except for the worst of the pandemic, never has the gap between the pair been so big. Back in winter 2013, the difference was less than 1%. In winter 2019, it was 24%.

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Jointly serve 12 CEE countries

Analyzing winter schedules shows that Wizz Air serves these nations while Ryanair doesn't: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, North Macedonia, and Slovenia. For Ryanair, only Croatia isn't served by Wizz Air, but it is in the summer.

Ryanair previously had flights to Slovenia (Maribor; 2007-2008), Georgia (Kutaisi, Tbilisi; 2019-2020), and Armenia (Yerevan, Gyumri; 2020).

Wizz Air and Ryanair jointly serve 12 CEE nations, as summarized in the following table.

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Where is each ULCC dominant?

With 5.7 million roundtrip seats, Poland is overwhelmingly Ryanair's number one nation and it has flights to 12 airports. Put another way, 43% of Ryanair's CEE capacity involves Poland. Poland is so dominant for the ULCC that it is three and a half times the size of its second nation, Hungary. In contrast, Romania is number one for Wizz Air, where it's four times as large as Ryanair.

For the 12 countries they both serve, the table below shows where they're dominant. Ryanair is top in seven and is 'only' 11% smaller in Wizz Air's spiritual home, Hungary. In fact, it is Hungary where they're both closest together in terms of seat gap.

Serbia, Estonia

Notice how tiny Ryanair is in Serbia, a country it began serving in 2016. It only serves Nis, with winter routes from Malta, Milan Bergamo, and Stockholm Arlanda. For Wizz Air, Estonia is the smallest country of the 12 they jointly serve. It launched Tallinn in 2018, with five winter routes from Kutaisi, London Luton, Milan Malpensa, Rome Fiumicino, and Venice Marco Polo.

Where would you like the two ULCCs to grow? Let us know in the comments.