Ryanair announces Vilnius and Bucharest routes from Southend

Like Wizz, Ryanair will operate a five-times weekly service to Romanian capital Bucharest from the Essex airport, and a three times weekly to Lithuanian capital Vilnius compared to Wizz’s twice-weekly service.

Both new routes will get under way in November.

It comes after Ryanair this week added Georgia to its route network, flying to capital Tbilisi from Milan and Cologne and to second city Kutaisi from Bologna and Marseille.

Wizz has responded by announcing its own Kutaisi routes from Cologne and Bologna.

Ryanair’s Bucharest and Vilnius flights lead in from £14.99pp while Wizz’s services start from £16.99pp.

David O’Brien, Ryanair’s chief commercial officer, said the move came as part of the airline’s plans to expand into Eastern Europe, and allowed passengers to book flights as far out as March 2020.