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