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Both Norwegian and SAS have drastically lowered prices where Wizz Air flies.
– If you go to Tromsø, Norwegian sells tickets for 199 crowns throughout Christmas, so the competition works. We have seen a 30 percent increase in bookings to Tromsø this week and 50 percent the week before. There is also good pressure on Bergen and Trondheim.
That’s what Terje Berge, Finn Reise’s commercial director, says. You see a sharp drop in prices on all air routes that controversial Wizz Air has established routes on since November.
To check the price differences, Nettavisen has selected some travel examples (see below). As can be seen from this, prices have dropped drastically, but as Berge points out, only after Wizz Air has started flying:
Almost 2000 crowns more expensive before Wizz Air
All prices listed here are without seat reservation, but including cabin bag, which increases the price on both Wizz Air and Norwegian (NOK 70 and NOK 100 per trip, respectively) The cheapest ticket is chosen and the time of day varies:
Oslo – Tromsø – departure 12.11, return home 15.11
- Wizz Air: 568 kr.
- Norwegian: 648 kr.
- On the last weekend of October, the same trip with Norwegian costs NOK 2398
Oslo-Bergen – departure 12.11, return home 15.11.
- Wizz Air: 348 kr.
- Norwegian: 598 kr.
- On the last weekend of October, the same voyage with Norwegian costs NOK 2,378
Trondheim – Bodø – departure 7.1., Return 10.1.
- Wizz Air: 848 crowns
- SAS: 998 crowns
- In November, before Wizz Air starts flights on this route, the lowest price for the same trip is NOK 1,898 with SAS
Also read: Wizz air opens eight new routes
– It is positive that something is happening. The people of Tromsø do not indulge in cheap tickets; it has always been many thousands of crowns to get home at Christmas, says Terje Berge.
CHEAP NOW: – There will be more and more flights and prices will stay low for a while. You shouldn’t ignore the fact that there will be tickets for one tier, says Finn Reise’s commercial director Terje Berge.
Photo: Finn Reiser
– There may be tickets for a level
Berge points out that only in destinations where Wizz Air is establishing itself now do prices drop.
– If you go to Evenes or Bardufoss, for example, it is as expensive as before. But it clearly shows that the competition works.
– Can Norwegian and SAS keep prices so low over time?
– They have to be competitive. We’ll see what happens. But at those prices, planes fill up, no matter what LO says. People forget about unions when they have to pay with their own wallet.
Aviation analyst Hans Jørgen Elnæs stated on Nettavisen last weekend that cheap tickets do not necessarily mean that one of the companies is competing out of the market, but rather that more people are traveling by plane due to increased access to cheap tickets. and affordable. Berge agrees:
– We already see that Wizz Air has stimulated bookings. There will be more and more flights and prices will stay low for a while. You should not ignore the fact that there will be tickets for one level! In any case, Wizzair has 55 percent of its income other than ticket sales.
Also read: It will challenge the Norwegian market: they can be plane tickets for 10 crowns
– Compete on different terms
It is not unnatural, or something new, for a low-cost company to also push competitors’ prices down, says Anneli Nyberg, deputy director of the Parat union:
– It is very easy to understand that customers want low prices. Maybe you can finally make the trip that you couldn’t have otherwise paid for. But it shouldn’t be unreasonably cheap, so it’s at the expense of employee conditions and salary levels, because some have to pay the extremely low prices, Nyberg says.
The aviation market was already in trouble before the crown, emphasizes the deputy from Parat. Initially, Parat organizes around 2,400 cabin crew and 1,700 pilots in Norway, but as is well known, many are fired due to the crown situation.
– We had airfares even before this, which were extremely low. It is natural for competitors to follow, just like when Rema and Coop follow Kiwi, but it is clear that such strong pressure in a market that is already on its knees does not necessarily have a positive effect on everyone, says Anneli Nyberg.
Also read: Sissener thinks Norwegian is going overboard: – Money is flowing
Nyberg, therefore, believes that it is essential that competition takes place on a level playing field:
– As we have seen so far, the conditions are not the same and then the competition with Wizz Air is perceived as biased. They have not followed the usual Scandinavian rules of the game in how they have treated employees, and that is what worries us, Nyberg says.
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