Financiarul

 

Low-cost airlines will register traffic of almost two million passengers in 2007, with the market share of air transport in Romania being on continuous rise, according to operators' estimates.

 

''This year we'll register some 900,000 passengers and the traffic in the low-cost segment will reach about 1.8 million passengers, allowing for the fact that many low-cost airlines have destinations to Romanian cities such as Cluj or Bacau,'' Stefan Mladin general manager of the Bucharest-based Aurel Vlaicu airport told Rompres on October 19.

 

Therefore, the traffic will go up by some 25 percent in the low-cost segment, from some 1.4 million passengers in 2006 to some 1.8 million passengers in 2007.

 

In the first half of the year, low-cost airlines transported 900,000 passengers over 316,000 in H1, one year ago.
Romanian air traffic could therefore reach 9.5 million passengers. Low-cost airlines are expected to hold a17-percent market share of the total air traffic in Romania, at a comparable level to the European Union's traffic, after holding an 8-9 percent share of the total air traffic at mid-2007.

 

The main airlines on the Romanian market are Blue Air, with a share of 44 percent, which estimated in 2007 traffic of 900,000 euros, followed by the Hungarian airline Wizz Air, which estimates a market share of 22 percent and 500,000 passengers, followed by MyAir, Italian company with an 18-percent share and 350,000 passengers. Operating on the market are other five airlines such as Easy Jet, which became operational in September, with the flight Bucharest-Milan that stakes on 75,000 passengers by the end of the year. The Slovakian airline SkyEurope, which transported 35,000 passengers in 2006, forecasts a 30-percent rise this year.

 

Operating on the Romanian market is also Italian company Alpi Eagles, along with German Wings, the low-cost division of Lufthansa and Click Air, the low-cost division of Spanish airline Iberia.

 

Other two operators are expected to enter the Romanian market, Irish company Ryanair and Air Belin. Italian airline Meridian might operate flights Bucharest-Milan.