Romanian carrier Blue Air has suspended all flights out of Romania until September 12. The airline’s bank accounts have been blocked by authorities for failing to pay a €2million fine from Romania’s National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC) for cancelling more than 11,000 flights between April 2021 and April 2022. Blue Air is challenging the fine but in the meantime without access to its accounts, it has been unable to pay suppliers.
Blue Air entered a debt restructuring agreement in 2020 due to losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, Wizz Air has announced the “significant expansion in Romania”, adding five aircraft to its base in Bucharest, as well as increasing capacity on flights to Bacau, Cluj-Napoca, Iași and Sibiu. As part of this growth, the airline will also launch new routes from Bucharest to Athens, Prague and Larnaca and will increase frequencies on over 30 existing routes.
The first of the five new Airbus A321 aircraft to join the Romanian fleet will arrive at the start of October. Once all the aircraft have been delivered, Bucharest will have a total of 17 based aircraft, and Wizz Air will have 2.6 million additional seats on sale from the Romania market. The aircraft will support increased frequencies on over 30 routes to key destinations, including London, Rome, Milan, Barcelona, Paris, Brussels-Charleroi, Dortmund, Eindhoven, Madrid, and Tel Aviv.
In addition to this expansion, Wizz Air has also launched rescue fares for Blue Air customers, following its suspension of flights from Romania.
“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.
Also in Romania, Tarom Air is reported to be in a critical situation having not yet received €90 million rescue funds promised from the government. Tarom Air has already received €54 million in state aid since the pandemic.