Low-cost flying high

Low-cost carriers continued to increase their share in the Polish airline market in Q1 2007. According to data provided by the Civil Aviation Office (ULC) budget airlines carried 1.675 million passengers in the first three months of the year - 48.48 percent of the total number of passengers served by Polish airports - marking a growth of 49 percent year-on-year. In the corresponding period of 2006, budget carriers served 1.12 million passengers, which accounted for 43.5 percent of the market.

The total number of passengers served by airlines operating in Poland amounted to 3.43 million in Q1, growing by a third in comparison to the first three months of 2006. Lot Polish Airlines remains the largest airline operating in the country, having carried 1.1 million people and holding a market share of 32.6 percent. However, the national carrier's market share fell by nearly four percentage points over the last 12 months.

Ryanair became the largest low cost carrier in Poland in Q1, overtaking Wizzair. "It took us only two years ... to become the number one among low-cost airlines," Ryanair's marketing director in Central Europe, Tomasz Kułakowski said. The Irish carrier now holds a 15-percent share of the market, after serving 516,000 passengers between January and March. At the same time last year, Ryainair could claim an 8.24-percent share. Wizzair carried 496,000 people in Q1, giving it a 14.45-percent share of the market, down one percentage point from its Q1 2006 market share of 15.48 percent.