Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ryanair Holdings Plc and EasyJet Plc, Europe’s biggest discount airlines, may add services in central Europe as the collapse of Slovakia’s SkyEurope Holding AG sparks a tussle for market share in the region.

Wizz Air Ltd., a Hungarian low-cost carrier, is already adding flights from the Czech capital Prague and is looking at expanding in Slovakia and commencing services from Vienna. Ryanair said it will consider opportunities in the area and EasyJet said occupancy on its flights should increase.

“Ryanair and to a lesser degree Wizz Air will be the two that have the capacity to move into that marketplace if they can get the right deal,” said Joe Gill, an analyst at Bloxham Stockbrokers in Dublin.

SkyEurope filed for bankruptcy Aug. 31 after it ran short of funds, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. The airline began operations in 2002, expanding to carry about 3.7 million people a year to 29 destinations from Prague, Vienna and the Slovak cities of Bratislava, Kosice and Poprad.

“The sharks are circling,” said Stephen Furlong, an analyst at Davy Stockbrokers in Dublin. “There will be a pick-up in volumes and passengers for the stronger airlines, notably Ryanair, who fly to and from Bratislava.”

SkyEurope, which was listed in Vienna and operated a fleet of Boeing Co. 737s, was granted creditor protection at a Slovakian court hearing on June 22 and said July 16 it was in talks with investors to secure fresh funding.

Dublin-based Ryanair said it’s keen to hear about the cost of operating to the airports that SkyEurope served.

‘Good Deals’

“The fact that SkyEurope has gone under opens up opportunities for really good low-cost deals at the airports they operated to,” spokesman Stephen McNamara said in a telephone interview. “There will be gaps there at those airports and we are more than happy to take advantage.”

Ryanair currently has no routes from Vienna and only four from Prague, according to its Web site. The carrier serves 16 locations from Bratislava, including London Stansted, Rome, Milan Bergamo and Frankfurt-Hahn.

Wizz will add 11 flights in Prague, taking the total to 57 a week, under an agreement with airport operator Letiste Praha AS, spokeswoman Natasa Kazmer said. The Budapest-based carrier will station two planes there and add a third next spring. It’s also in talks about adding Vienna to its network and boosting connections from Bratislava.

“We have to look at two issues -- market size and whether we’re able to reach an advantageous agreement,” Kazmer said.

Prague Position

SkyEurope provided about 5 percent of traffic at Prague’s main Ruzyne airport, Letiste spokeswoman Eva Krejci said today. She declined to say whether airlines other than Wizz Air are interested in taking up routes from the city.

EasyJet, Europe’s second-biggest discount carrier, serves Stansted and London Gatwick from Vienna and five destinations from Prague. It doesn’t currently operate to Slovakia.

“We analyze routes on a continual basis and if we feel there is a financial outlook for us to operate on those routes then we would certainly take them up,” Andrew McConnell, a spokesman for the Luton, England-based company, said yesterday.

EasyJet sees a jump in custom on Prague-London, Prague-Milan and Vienna-London flights, where it competed with SkyEurope.

“They are very busy routes and with a competitor no longer in operation we would expect to see more people traveling on them,” McConnell said.

Bloxham’s Gill said EasyJet’s ability to exploit the collapse of SkyEurope may be limited by a lack of spare planes.

Ryanair, EasyJet, Wizz, Czech Aerolinie AS and low-cost Czech carrier SmartWings are among carriers which have offered to transport stranded SkyEurope passengers on existing routes for fees ranging from 25 euros to 90 euros ($36 to $129).

SkyEurope had a net loss of 18.4 million euros in the quarter ended March 31, versus 17.2 million euros a year earlier. Flughafen Wien AG, which runs Vienna’s main airport, cut off SkyEurope on Aug. 14 after it failed to pay bills. Letiste stopped providing services in Prague on Aug. 31.

To contact the reporters on this story: Beth Mellor in London bmellor@bloomberg.net; Lenka Ponikelska in Prague at lponikelska1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 2, 2009 03:55 EDT