Much attention as Routes meets is on the development of the low-cost sector in central Europe after SkyEurope's long battle to stay afloat was finally sunk at the start of September. SkyEurope had latterly been operating out of its Bratislava home base, Prague and Vienna, but mounting financial problems finally caught up with the carrier causing it to suspend operations.
Thisis the highest profile low-cost carrier casualty in Europe since Scandinavian operator Sterling collapsed last October, prompting a glut of activity by carriers such as Norwegian and Cimber Sterling - which took on assets of the old Sterling operations - to expand at its Copenhagen base.
Central European budget rival Wizz Air has been strengthening its presence at one of SkyEurope's former bases. Wizz established itself at Prague earlier this year and has already laid out plans to base two Airbus A320s at the airport. It is now planning to put a third A320 into Prague next year and plans to open new routes from June 2010, increasing its capacity at the airport by nearly 50%.
Wizz had also announced plans to start its first flights from Bratislava, serving Rome Fiumicino from 22 September, adding that further route development is subject to a "satisfactory airport deal".
Irish carrier Ryanair already has a strong presence at Bratislava, where it serves 16 routes, and it also operates four routes from Prague. It has no immediate plans to add services as a result of SkyEurope's demise, but says it will talk to any airport which has been left with a schedule gap if they can support low-cost services.
"We are interested in that [Central European] market still, but in the last year we have focused a lot on Spain, Italy and Germany," says Ryanair. "We are going to continue to grow there, but obviously we are going to look grow elsewhere. We already have a footprint [in Central Europe] and it's only a matter of time before we grow that footprint."
UK budget operator EasyJet, which operates five routes from Prague and two from Vienna has no plans to pick up any former SkyEurope routes at the moment.
For its part, Prague Airport says SkyEurope's share of operations at the airport slipped to around 5% this year and these services are gradually being replaced.It does not expect the collapse to have a significant effect on the airport.
Source: Flight Daily News
