Flydubai shelves Sarajevo flight plans

Flydubai to skip Sarajevo

Flydubai has cancelled its planned two weekly service from Dubai to Sarajevo. Although flights were to be inaugurated in April, the airline says crew duty times would have been exceeded on the return leg to Dubai. Thus, this would require a mandatory rest period for the crew in Sarajevo, which would increase costs for the no frills airline and make the route unprofitable from the outset. A year ago the airline also considered launching flights to Zagreb but decided against the move due to the same reasons. Within the former Yugoslavia, Flydubai continues to operate flights to Belgrade and Skopje. Currently, the Serbian capital is furthest to the west in Flydubai’s destination network.

Flights from Dubai to Sarajevo were first announced in December last year by Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the CEO of the Emirates Group. Soon after they were confirmed by the airline’s Belgrade office, which covers the entire region of the former Yugoslavia. The news will be welcomed by Turkish Airlines which carries the largest share of passengers from Sarajevo transiting to the Middle East. The Turkish carrier will be operating up to eighteen weekly flights between the Bosnian capital and Istanbul this summer season.

As a result of Flydubai’s latest decision, the airline will operate seven weekly flights to the former Yugoslavia during the 2013 summer season. A total of four weekly flights are planned to Belgrade while services to Skopje will increase from two to three times per week. Nevertheless, Sarajevo will see flights to the Middle East this summer as Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines is set to resume pilgrimage flights to the Bosnian capital while Gryphon Airlines will resume its two weekly service from Kuwait City.

Comments

  1. Meho Puzic09:05

    Sarajevo star alliance loves you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:18

    I would like to suggest to enlarge the aviation news with all the other balkan countries und get rid of poor news that just fill this blog, like Banja Luka with a ridicolous number of pax or some aviation about unlike flight connections promptly denied . Also with some JAT news much ado about nothing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:53

      You are more than welcome to start your own blog if you have a problem with this one.

      Delete
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    ReplyDelete
  4. This reflects really poorly on flyDubai. Do they not complete fully feasibility studies (including flight duration) before announcing their routes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:00

      It does, if you buy their explanation for cutting the routes.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous11:22

    I don’t think this has anything to do with their official reason for not flying (crew duty times). I think it has more to do with the fact that their CEO was shooting his mouth off when he met with that Bosnian banking delegation. They probably didn't have the intention of introducing flights at all and then they had to think of a good reason so the Sheikh wouldn't look like an idiot.

    Anyway FlyDubai has really failed with its pricing. Its prices out of BEG for example are the same as Jat’s a few years ago only here you have the added hassle of changing terminals for transit and baggage restrictions. And I heard their prices will soon go up again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:26

      FZ will introduce some additional Dubai-Belgrade flights during Orthodox Easter period.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:32

      Good observation. Once sheik saw whats sarajevo all about, they made their final move.....

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:33

      FZ became outrageously expensive and that without food or luggage. Right now QR is the cheapest option to fly BEG-DXB and that with a superb service. If this trend continues, FZ is gonna be pushed out of the market (they already fly 3x per week instead of anounced 4) and if QR starts daily (especially direct), TK will loose a huge portion of transit passengers and share the remaining O&D with JU and PC.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:37

      Anon@11:32 +1 LOL :D

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:16

      Pricing policy always reflects relation between supply and demand. So, if prices are high, someone must be paying, i.e. demand is high enough to sustain them. Next step is not losing the battle with QR, but increasing capacity or, rather, sending their flagship product to BEG.

      On the other hand, let's see how QR handles that. 3-weekly is okay for starters, but they can't expect pax loyalty with that schedule.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous18:26

      Wait a second: in the FZ vs QR battle, 4 weekly vs 3 weekly is not significant at all. And transfer in Doha is nor really an issue if you can get "5 star service" for the same price as LCC.
      On the other hand, FZ vs QR vs TK is much more interesting. I completely agree with everyone who says that EK needs to replace FZ if they are serious about this market (which obviously exists as witnessed by strong TK and arrival of QR).
      As for Belgrade-Turkey market, there is enough space for TK, PC and JU - there are many tourists from Serbia who find Turkey increasingly attractive and transfers are going strong. TK probably gets all the premium traffic (business ppl and long haul pax), while JU and PC split tourist market.

      Delete
    7. JATBEGMEL22:01

      I believe FZ was doing ok until th entry of QR. I think that QR like EK is cheaper once one or more stops are made. QR'sproduct will improve only with the opening of the new DOH airport, as the current one is DOHell. QR is able to support ESB alone, and im sure BEG could produce enough demand, I would think its just QR's limited possibilities with their A320 family ac due to their fleet size. Also, do they offer the Serbian market the connections that it needs ex DOH?

      As for the DXB connections, either way with JAT or FZ there would be a need of a change in terminal, be either JAT at Terminal 1 or FZ at Terminal 2 in DXB. Just now FZ cannot offer the proper connections to say Australia as JAT was able to offer.

      As for the BEG-Turkey market, BEG-IST itself is low yielding to which I isnt attractive to TK. What attracts TK to BEG is the endless oportunities for pax to connect ex IST which brings the extra cash.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous11:41

    Why doesn't Air B&H launch the route with its own Atr-72, the route could operate as Sarajevo-Beirut-Dubai.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:45

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:20

      Would it be posdible, talking about range? It would take them 5-6 hours just for BEY-DXB.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:14

      They could make it to BEY with serious weight restrictions. I know that JA used to send their Atr to Rhodes, that is 50 minutes away.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:28

      Seriously? Imagine 6 hours on an ATR-72... For that route you'd need 2 crews, no way it could ever be profitable...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous22:56

      I was joking when I wrote it btw.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous12:04

    Exactly. Same goes for ZAG. Who can even announce a route before evaluating if it's techically feasable? Ali da ne blamiraju ni Zagreb ni Sarajevo samo jave kako "ipak nece leteti zbog crew duty times" iako svi znamo that it is because of extremely poor loads/sales.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous12:14

    Da ne blamiraju ni Zagreb ni Sarajevo....a ti valjda radiš u Flydubai-u pa si tako siguran u to šta pričaš,samo nek se lupa.(inače Flydubai leti 3puta na dan krcat putnicima iz beograda)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:44

      nedelju, ne na dan, nemoj ni ti da preteruješ :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:49

      This is not about how and how much they fly from BEG (though when they do, planes are mostly full indeed) - but about that they simply don't fly to Zagreb
      or SJJ at all and never will - and certainly not cause of crew duty times. I mean, do you really want to believe they didn't count their 2+2 before announcing the route? No you idiots, that was just enclosed in the agreement that if sales are poor they'll just blame it on "crew duty times recalculated" for not making bad publicity and never launch it before burning piles of money flying empty planes to ZAG, SJJ or SKP (where subsidies and not number of passengers saved the day).

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:53

      The only cities that can work for FZ in SE Europe are BEG and OTP, maybe SKG. As you see they even didn't bother to consider SOF, let alone ZAG. SKP will be cut once the subsidies dry out or fares will skyrocket.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:58

      So what is your point?

      They did not think about crew rest in advance for SJJ - so they are dilatants

      or they did not know what are SJJ and BIH - so they are dilatants.

      Come on! Theay are everithing but not dilatants!

      And ZAG was never announced as destination, so they did not find anything, after annoucing. Even more ZAG is better connected to Middle East than Belgrade concerning 7 flights by QR per week and 3-4 flights to TLV by several companies (some of those even with wide-bodied).

      Not to mention 16 flights to Japan this year with 777 or 340 and some 8-10 from Korea with 747.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:15

      Yup, that makes you 0,065 wide-body per day for ZAG on yearly basis. Very impressive!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous14:29

      So, in BEG you have:
      FZ 4x per week
      QR 3x per week (so far)
      TK 14x per week
      PC 4x per week
      JU 2x per week (TLV)
      Giving you a total of minimum 27 weekly departures to the Middle East. But according to you, 7 (QR) + 5 (TK) and some TLV charters from ZAG are "better"?
      Seems like in Croatia the whole sense of logic is inversed, might be because of the shape of the country...

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:35

      Pegasus will fly daily from S13.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous17:07

      Of course you also have 14 flights per day to IST from ZAG.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous19:47

      The OU's flights to IST are operated with a dashes. Keep in mind there is OA in BEG that brings in mea traffic. Also QR is bumping BEG as soon as they move in their new place.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous20:07

      Are you drunk?!
      What do you want to say...
      I understand nothing of your ridiculous post.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous20:11

      Learn some English.

      Delete
    12. JATBEGMEL22:16

      FZ never announced itself the launch of either ZAG or SJJ. SJJ was probably an intention/plan for FZ to consider, confirmed by the Belgrade office (and that itself is only soo credible). Its not FZ's poor planning, as FZ is a profitable and innovative airline endlessly expanding since they opened.

      Im surprised to see how BEG doesnt affect crew rest hours itself, it does border the limits but a long enough delay has resorted in crew spending the night in Belgrade as seen previously. I feel sorry for the crew operating BEG as it must be one VERY long day for them.

      Who has more of what is irrelevant, both are different markets, just like New York is to Bangkok. The 'patriotic' diaspora should learn that they are a shame to their countries! Molim da manite vise sa vasim komentarima.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous23:06

      CTN fly IST with Q400 during winter, but with A320 during summer. Concerning OA, CTN fly ATH 3-4 times per week during summer.

      Concerning widebodies, yes it is not that much, some 40-45 flights per season (JAL, Korean, EL AL, Air Europa, TAP), and that is not big number in ZAG. But how many of those you have in BEG?

      Delete
    14. Anonymous23:16

      BEG:
      FZ 4x per week
      QR 3x per week (so far)
      TK 14x per week
      PC 4x per week
      JU 2x per week (TLV)
      = 27 weekly departures to the Middle East.

      But your information for ZAG is not true:

      QR 7x per week
      TK 7x per week
      OU 7x per week to IST with A320
      OU 3x per week to TLV (it is not charter)
      LY 1x per week to TLV (it is not charter but regular flight with 757 or 767)
      = 24 flights

      Let me remind you that PC is LCC so it is not airlines to make connections

      Delete
    15. Anonymous23:35

      It is not correct data for BEG either:
      + JU 4x per week to IST
      =31 weekly departures to the Middle East

      Delete
    16. Anonymous23:57

      "Let me remind you that PC is LCC so it is not airlines to make connections"

      Who told you that lie? Same goes for G9, FZ and others, right, because they are LCC? Just allow yourself to show us how dumb you are.

      PC offers a huge network of connecting flights as far as Dubai, Kazakhstan, Iran or Ukraine - almost better than FZ. Is it jealousy speaking or your brain?
      In my opinion PC is one of the greatest arrivals to BEG in years, now you can fly to places like BEY from BEG with convenient connecting times and without spending a fortune on damn TK, even people from Zagreb can come to BEG to fly on PC. Besides, SAW airport is very very pleasant, much better than IST.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous00:12

      How can you be that hypocrite, counting seasonal summer flights as scheduled? LY flies ZAG only in the summer and that with 737. OU also flies TLV in summer only, giving you the number of 21 weekly departure vs. 31 this winter season. But what counts is not just the number of departures but destinations that can be reached directly - from BEG you can reach IST, DXB, DOH and TLV without a single stop, while from ZAG all you have are IST and DOH (and TLV in summer without any connecting possibilities like what PC or others offer from BEG).
      As for the wide-bodies, BEG sees more cargo wide-bodies than ZAG passenger charters altogether, you just have to browse A.net.

      Secondly, i didn't knew that ATH counts as Middle-East, but who knows perhaps it feels that way if you fly on OU's flagship the mighty Dash 8.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous00:32

      Pegasus Airlines is starting SAW-BEG today with 738 in the system. Hope TK is gonna suffer now from all sides.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous00:40

      There is no point in BEG vs. ZAG talks, one has just to look the internet pages of both airports:

      http://www.beg.aero/путници/летови/доласци.335.html (47 landings)

      http://www.zagreb-airport.hr/content/arrival.aspx

      Delete
  9. Anonymous12:36

    Sarajevo has all the posh airlines flying there;-). Star Alliance is the biggest and best alliance! I hope we will find tomorrow morning the latest news from jat's meeting!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous03:29

    Wow Beg is so f#$%@ fabulous!!!! This topic is about Sarajevo but it always has to turn how BEG is great and ZAG and other ports suck!!!! Well done Serbs,bas pokazujete svoje pravo lice! Bagging the shit out of others tells me you as a nation have an issue and lack of self dependence....Who wants to fly on a budget airline to DXB anyway!!??? FlyDubai will never be introduced because it's a far too long flight for a budget airline and pax would still look at other options due to comfort and service. Ocigledno Srbija nema problem stim zato su i poslali budget airlines a ne EK, sto se nece desiti uskoro...samo sanjate...BEG je za EK selo!!!! Halo probudite se!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous03:32

    Seasonal or no seasonal flight...there is still a bigger demand for Croatia than the BIG HUB of Belgrade!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous03:50

    I think it is stupid to compare Zagreb with Belgrade, Zagreb airport has fewer international connections and flights and this is reflected in number of destinations on offer as well as number of passengers.

    Number of flights to middle east at this point is quite irrelevant for Zagreb what really counts is number of flights and number of routes there are, with only 28 routes out of Zagreb there should be more emphasis on attracting more airlines as well as pushing domestic carriers to do better and offer more routes.

    Zagreb really should be offering at least 50-55 routes, with 30-32 airlines using Zagreb airport throughout the year. If Zagreb can achieve that in next 5-7 years than numbers will go up fast.


    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous07:15

    50-55 routes...lol.....Melbourne Airport has 27 airlines and u expect Zagreb to handle 30-32 airlines....Zivio Beograd OPET!!!! Ha...svaka cast!!! Keep on picking on Zagreb since u guys have nothing better to do!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous08:13

    2012

    Croatia 7.00 Million Pax
    CTN 1.95 Million Pax

    Serbia 3.35 Million Pax.
    Jat 0.75 Million Pax.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:45

    Zadnji post je sve objasnio

    ReplyDelete