European airports have seen an increase of flights from low cost airlines to Eastern Europe, according to aviation data crunchers OAC. Their report showed a 14% increase in travel in Eastern Europe in February from this time last year. Most of them were between Poland and the UK.
More than 50 percent of this growth was from flights form Stansted and Luton airports to small regional airports in Poland, along with growth to Birmingham and Bristol airports.
With Poland showing the strongest growth in the Eastern European market, there is still plenty of potential in this market, with potential growth in other Eastern European countries like Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Czech Republic. Hungary currently holds the highest share percentage at 60%, with Poland following at 54%.
With RyanAir and Wizz Air being the most competitive in those markets they have quietly begun to squeeze out the competition. The two low cost airlines combined would control 13 percent of the market with their combined routes to the area.
With growth continuing at 9% per month since February 2014, the low cost airlines have shown a definite upward growth for the region, in particular to Poland with seats increasing from 858,076 to 1,266,388. From February 2010.
With continued growth such as this, these markets will continue to become more attractive to holidaymakers as well as those that live n those countries, increasing exposure and paving way for deeper penetration into formerly inaccessible countries. Low cost airlines continue to take advantage of this and are constantly expanding their reach into this fairly untapped market.