Snowstorms hit EX-YU airports

Zagreb Airport shuts down as wild weather grips the region

Heavy snowfall shut down Zagreb Airport yesterday and caused delays across the region. The Croatian capital saw its heaviest snowfall in over half a century. The airport closed from 06.00 until 15.00 when it was reopened for traffic. However, long delays persisted. While winter crews at the airport were working since 3.30, strong winds and flurries made it impossible to clear the runway. Other public transport in the city was also disrupted. Snow was also falling on the Northern Adriatic coast while the rest of the shoreline was hit by strong winds, causing delays in ferry services. Snowfall eased over night and is not forecast for today.


However, heavy snowfall travelled overnight to Serbia. In a statement made this morning, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport said, “There are few delays for arriving flights. Our crews are keeping the runway cleared despite heavy snowfall. However, aircraft de-icing may cause short delays on departure”. It is also heavily snowing in Montenegro where a mini cyclone was also reported yesterday. Bosnia and Slovenia did not escape the snow either, however, there were no major flight disruptions. Furthermore, Priština is being blanketed as well though flights are operating without major delays. Earlier in the week London’s Stansted and Luton airports closed their doors while on Friday airports across Central Europe were also forced to shut down due to poor weather conditions.


In January and February airports across the former Yugoslavia saw unprecedented snowfall and freezing temperatures which disrupted flights for weeks. Passenger numbers nosedived or growth significantly slowed for airports in the region as a result of the weather conditions.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:07

    Btw AZ going to BEG with 2nd daily as of March.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      There is no information anywhere, can you tell us more?


      After Aeroflot announced their own double daily flights Belgrade will considerable improve its SkyTeam presence.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:32

      Well, despite SU going double daily, BEG will lose AF as one the SkyTeam majors.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:33

      Other airlines will go double daily from Belgrade too, not only AZ and SU.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:07

      Air France said that the suspension of Belgrade is only temporary and that they will be back in 2014. Also Jat is increasing its flights to Paris with AF's codeshare.

      Well, Swiss is already double daily. Aeroflot and Alitalia has been announced so who is left? Tarom? flydubai?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:29

      Double daily should be standart to all main airports from capitals. From ZAG you have double daily to:

      LHR/LGW OU + BA
      CDG AF + OU
      AMS on some days during summer OU
      BRU OU
      FRA OU/LH(4 times per day)
      ZRH OU
      MUC OU/LH (4 times per day)
      VIE OU/OS (5 times per day)
      SJJ OU
      SPU OU (5 timed per day)
      DBV OU (5 times per day)
      PUY OU
      ZAD OU
      SKP OU on some days in summer
      IST OU/TK
      FCO OU on some days in summer

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:35

      Here it is only about foreign carriers, JAT flights are not counted.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:49

      Yes well then for Belgrade it is like this:

      SVO: 24 weekly
      IST: 18 weekly
      FCO: 21 weekly
      ZRH: 21 weekly
      VIE: 49 weekly
      MUC: 21 weekly
      FRA: 21 weekly
      LON: 10 weekly

      These are just a few and some of them are in summer and some of them are in winter. I couldn't be bothered to go into greater details.

      Delete
    8. Flying Jack13:01

      I wouldn't be surprised if second daily to BEG by AZ materialize since AZ has excellent LF. I travel extensively between BEG-FCO/LIN/MXP-BEG and can confirm that even C class has more than decent loads. Average LF on both FCO and MIL (operated by JU and AZ) during summer months is over 90% many times reaching full load. I flew BEG to FCO on AZ couple of days ago and LF was some 85%. Having in mind that month of November is far from good for air traffic such a high LF in off season is more than great.

      Speaking of BEG growth, I watched an interview of its ceo couple of days ago on national tv in which he stated that BEG will end 2012 with passenger numbers being equal to ZAG and LJU both while in 2013 that growth will be even more significant as BEG may expect to end 2013 as cumulative score of ZAG LJU and SJJ. At that moment reporter asked him on the facts he had based the statement and he responded that ongoing negotiations with airlines gave him belief to claim so. Respecting discretion of negotiating parties involved he was not allowed to reveal which airlines were about to start their operation or to increase capacity.

      Based on what he has said and based on current passenger data for the above mentioned apts that would mean additional 600-800 000 passengers more in 2013 or impressive growth rate going between 15 and 20%.
      Even if another aircraft joins W6 Belgrade base, even if SU and AZ increase capacity even if some other airline do the same we still have void that could be filled only with a large metal going daily to BEG. Rumors say it is EK replacing FZ from mid summer 2013.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous19:21

      OK than comparation for flights with more than 7 frequencies per week

      More in ZAG then in BEG
      DBV: ZAG 32, BEG 4
      SPU: ZAG 31, BEG 6
      FRA: ZAG 28, BEG 21
      MUC: ZAG 28, BEG 21
      LON: ZAG 20, BEG 10
      PUY: ZAG 16, BEG 3
      CDG: ZAG 16, BEG 11
      ZAD: ZAG 15, BEG 0
      SJJ: ZAG 14, BEG 7
      BRU: ZAG 12, BEG 4
      AMS: ZAG 10, BEG 7
      SKP: ZAG 10, BEG 9
      PRN: ZAG 8, BEG 0
      CGN: ZAG 8, BEG 0

      More in BEG than in ZAG
      VIE: BEG 49, ZAG 35
      TIV: BEG 35, ZAG 0
      TGD: BEG 28, ZAG 3
      SVO: BEG 24, ZAG 7
      FCO: BEG 21, ZAG 10
      ZRH: BEG 21, ZAG 14
      IST: BEG 18, ZAG 14

      Delete
    10. Anonymous19:45

      BEG to CDG is 14, not 11.

      You also forgot SKG, LCA, DXB, OTP, MLA, BRN, STR, DUS, TXL,CPH, ARN, OSL... these are just some from the top of my head.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous19:58

      comparation for flights with more than 7 frequencies per week, all those are less than 7 frequencies...

      CDG is 14? It is not confirmed by JAT, and as AF will not fly on that route. As you can see it is summer time-table.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous20:16

      DUS is always daily in summer, departure at 08:05.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous20:38

      Also in summer W6 is 4 times per week and JU 9, so it makes it 13 not 10.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous20:57

      In summer 2012 JU will operate a total of 12 weekly flight to London.

      Belgrade - Heathrow:
      1234567 10:35-12:40 // 13:40-17:25
      -----6- 11:15-13:20 // 14:15-18:00
      ------7 18:10-20:15 // 21:15-01:00

      Belgrade-Gatwick:
      ---45-- 18:10-20:15 // 21:15-01:00
      1------ 18:35-20:40 // 21:40-01:25

      Delete
    15. Anonymous21:01

      Brussels is six weekly on Jat, not 4. Departures from Belgrade:

      -234--7 at 04:55
      1------ at 08:05
      ----5-- at 15:00

      Plus there is also Wizz Air to CRL.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous21:06

      Skopje will be 11 weekly not, 10.

      Delete
  2. Belgrade airport workers do a great job keeping the airport open in snow and ice. Congratulations.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:27

    Flydubai is set to be replaced with EK metal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:41

      Details! Source?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:59

      Source: wishful thinking ;)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:04

      I will wait for your comment in the second half of 2013 ;)

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:41

      Whoose comment? BEG already has enough to hit 4million by 2013.
      all new for 2013 and confirmed,

      Qatar A320
      Pegasus 738
      Aeroflot A321 + A320 double daily
      Wizz to Bazel
      Wizz to Greek seaside
      Flydubai going daily
      Jat is there to pitch in too

      Plus there is more to come

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:49

      No way that FZ will fly daily, more realistic is QR starting direct flights to Doha, maybe even daily. And, yes, plus more and more to come.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous10:42

    That picture of Jat aircraft is not today's, right? If I am not mistaken that is a B734 which left the fleet in 2009.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:49

    Do not forget that Jat is defacto sky team player while it is experiencing pax growth. Dont get your hopes too high becuase you may get ran over just as LH by EK.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:00

      What do you mean LH by EK? Also even if EK does launch Belgrade there is little impact on Jat as they are out of the market. It is QR and TK that will have to worry.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous11:58

    FZ confirmed with six weekly to BEG. Daily is not that hard to pull off. We still have to see about AZAL and EK.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:12

      Let's not forget that FZ is adding a lot of extra flights during the holidays this year. It means there is more than enough demand.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous12:04

    How is BA doing at Zagreb? I highly doubt croats would pay such high fares to fly with them over the pond.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:11

      Aren't they launching the route today?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:04

      I wont be flying BA. to Zagreb. OU offer a far superior product, and I say this as being English! Croatia should be proud of their airline!

      Delete
    3. High fares over the pond? I found a return ZAG-LHR-JFK ticket for 477€ in Jan/2013. LAX 525€. Of course, you have to be flexible with your dates.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous14:21

    I can nowhere find such BEG statement as quoted in the text. De-/Anti-icing is counted as flight time, I see no reason for BEG to comment on this. BEG is cleaning RWY and maneuvering areas and it would be reasonable that they comment on that. BEG could comment if there are problems with de-/anti-icing service it provides but it's not the case. Other depends on the carriers and the level of their equipment. For e.g. JU could hardly operate even this operations if BEG hasn't provided them with a de-/anti-icing vehicle hence their two vehicles are more than useless.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous16:56

    That's JAT Tehnika who provides de/anti-icing service for JAT, it is not Belgrade Airport.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous08:17

    Propaganda..... They got the dc10 hangar to hide three 737 inside. Other hangar too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perhan08:51

      Yah man
      Some catholic propaganda.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous07:03

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

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