Wizz Air, Europe's fast-growing ULCC, only began serving Albania in April 2017, with just one route (Budapest) for the first year. It wasn't until July 2020 that Tirana became a base. The additional aircraft will enable it to serve Kukës (its second destination in the country) with four routes, together with two new routes from Tirana and higher frequencies. The growth brings to 43 its route network from the country – including to Abu Dhabi – expanding its already substantial 51% share of Albania's market.

Kukës joins its network

Wizz Air's four new routes from Kukës are detailed below, all driven by visiting friends and relatives (VFR) demand. They'll be served on a 'W' pattern using Tirana-based aircraft, such as Tirana-Vienna-Kukës-Vienna-Tirana. Only Basel will have direct competition, with Air Albania to operate twice-weekly from March 29th. The routes are:

  1. Kukës (KFZ) to Karlsruhe (FKB): 2x weekly from June 1st
  2. KFZ to Basel (BSL): 2x weekly from June 3rd
  3. KFZ to Memmingen (FMM): 2x weekly from June 4th
  4. FKZ to Vienna (VIE): 2x weekly from June 4th

Kukës, which opened in April 2021, appears to struggle from few navigational aids (including no ILS), while its runway width is just 30 meters (98 feet). It seems it may suffer in the winter, not helped by its location amid mountains.

It appears more of an airport created for political reasons than commercial necessity. It is in a very sparsely populated area of the country, yet located not overly far from multiple Wizz Air airports. Pristina is 63 miles (101km) away, Tirana 80 miles (128km), Ohrid 98 (158km), Podgorica 129 miles (208km), and Skopje 132 miles (213km). All four routes are served from Pristina and (of course) Tirana, the closest airports.

Wizz-Airs-Albania-route-map-1
For greater readability, this excludes Abu Dhabi. The new routes are shown in blue. Note that Rome Ciampino (CIA) ceases at the end of February. Image: GCMap.

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Two routes added from Tirana

Wizz Air will begin two additional routes from the Albanian capital, bringing to 38 its route network from the airport. The additional links are to Germany and Italy, as shown below. While Friedrichshafen will be a new link for Tirana, Rimini has a long history from the airport with a motley collection of carriers. Since 2004, Albatros Airways, Albanian Airlines, Belle Air, Itali Airlines, Ernest, and Blue Panorama have all served it. Albawings (Albania's third-largest airline this year) will resume the Rimini twice-weekly from May 14th.

  1. Tirana (TIA) to Friedrichshafen (FDH): 2x weekly from April 11th
  2. TIA to Rimini (RMI): 2x weekly from April 14th (RMI is a new airport for Wizz Air)
Wizz Air's development in Albania (excluding the two new aircraft)
In 2019, Wizz Air had six in every 100 seats for sale to/from Albania. In 2022, that has risen to 51 in every 100, excluding the two extra based aircraft. Source of data: Cirium.

Wizz Air has 51%+ of the Albanian market

The ULCC's development in Albania has been swift, helped by small and fragile local airlines. These include the country's flag carrier, Air Albania, which took to the sky in 2019. According to Cirium data, the Wizz Air Group has over 3.2 million seats for sale in 2022, five times as many as Air Albania.

As large numbers of Albanians (and those of Albanian heritage) in Italy and Germany, it is no surprise that the two nations account for about eight in ten of Wizz Air's seats. It now serves 15 airports in Italy and eight in Germany. While they dominate the top-10 most-served routes list, the number-one destination is London Luton, as follows. It'll rise to 19-weekly this summer, so nearly a three-daily operation.

  1. TIA to Luton (LTN) has the most seats for sale in 2022
  2. TIA to Milan Malpensa (MXP)
  3. TIA to Bergamo (BGY)
  4. TIA to Bologna (BLQ)
  5. TIA to Treviso (TSF)
  6. TIA to Pisa (PSA)
  7. TIA to Rome Fiumicino (FCO)
  8. TIA to Verona (VRN)
  9. TIA to Memmingen (FMM)
  10. TIA to Charleroi (CRL)

What do you make of Wizz Air's expansion in Albania? Let us know in the comments.