Ryanair to launch Buzz later this year

There will be a new Buzz in the air later this year as Ryanair rebrands its ultra-low-cost Polish subsidiary in bright yellow. Ryanair Sun, which flies on a Polish Air Operator’s Certificate,  says it will adopt the new moniker in the northern autumn as well as launch its own website and app. The standalone business unit obtained its AOC at the beginning of 2018 and started operating for leading Polish tour-operators in summer of that year with a fleet of five aircraft. That has grown to 17 planes and the carrier expects to have 25 aircraft operating this summer providing charter flights and scheduled Ryanair services. Buzz is one of four airlines of the Ryanair Holdings Group, alongside Ryanair DAC, Laudamotion and Ryanair UK. READ: Boeing has 'complete confidence' in MAX software fix. “Over the last 15 years, Ryanair has grown to become Poland’s biggest airline, thanks to the unbeatable combination of the lowest fares, best customer service and largest route network – and we now expect that Buzz will be Poland’s No.1 airline,” Buzz chairman Juliusz Komorek said in a statement. The move comes after Ryanair earlier this year predicted  is predicting a summer of weaker European airfares and airline failures It also posted its quarterly loss since 2014 due to excess winter capacity and lower ticket prices. The company said that it could not rule out further cuts to fares, especially if there were unexpected Brexit developments. “We do not share the recent optimistic outlook of some competitors that summer 2019 airfares will rise,’’ it said. “In the absence of further EU airline failures, and because of the recent fall in oil prices (which allows loss-making unhedged competitors to survive longer), we expect excess short-haul capacity to continue through 2019, which will we believe lead to a weaker – not stronger – fare environment.” The airline noted that higher oil prices and lower airfares had seen “a wave of EU airline failures” including Primera, Small Planet and Azur (Germany), Sky Works (Switzerland), Cobalt (Cyprus)  and Cello (UK). It said bigger airlines such as Wow, Flybe and Germania were urgently seeking buyers or, like Norwegian, refinancing to survive. “We expect more closures and airline failures in 2019 due to overcapacity in the European market, which is causing continued fare weakness,’’ it said.