Swiss in major EX-YU expansion

Swiss launching Zagreb, Ljubljana and Sarajevo flights

Swiss International Air Lines has announced the launch of 22 new routes from its Zurich hub among which are Zagreb (daily), Ljubljana (daily) and Sarajevo (three per week). The new flights, which will launch during the 2015 summer season, will be served on a yearlong basis. The announcement was made at a press conference in Zurich yesterday. In a statement, the airline said, “The innovations will give Swiss a highly attractive timetable with more non-stop connections than ever, to meet the needs of the Swiss people, the Swiss economy and the Swiss tourist sector”. The flights will coincide with new seasonal services from Zurich to Podgorica and Banja Luka, which are to be launched in July next year and operated by Swiss’ subsidiary Edelweiss Air.

Swiss International Air Lines’ major expansion into the former Yugoslavia will shake up the market and bring competition to the national carriers of Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Swiss will resume services to Zagreb for the first time in years and joins a growing list of airlines launching flights to the Croatian capital, some of which include KLM, Eurolot and Flydubai. On the other hand, Croatia Airlines will lose its monopoly on the Zagreb - Zurich route. However, both airlines are part of the same alliance and Swiss codeshares on Croatia Airlines flights between the two cities. In Ljubljana, Adria Airways faces a similar scenario as it will have to compete against its Star Alliance partner on the route. Meanwhile, in Sarajevo, B&H Airlines will suffer a double blow as its Sarajevo - Banja Luka - Zurich service will face competition on two fronts. Not only will it battle against Swiss from Sarajevo to Zurich, but it will also have to deal with Edelweiss Air, which will fly between Banja Luka and Switzerland’s largest city during the summer. Unlike its competition, B&H runs its flights with a propeller ATR72 aircraft and offers limited transfer options for its passengers.

All of the abovementioned flights will operate with the 97-seat Avro RJ100 aircraft. Together with its subsidiary Edelweiss, Swiss will operate flights to all capital cities of the former Yugoslavia next summer season. It will offer flights from Zurich to Zagreb, Ljubljana, Sarajevo and Belgrade, while Edelweiss already flies to Skopje and Pristina and will introduce services to Podgorica and Banja Luka. The airline also runs seasonal flights to Split, while Swiss maintains services from Geneva to Belgrade and Pristina as well.

RouteLaunch dateDetails
Zurich - LjubljanaMAR 29Click here
Zurich - ZagrebAPR 15Click here
Zurich - SarajevoMAY 01Click here
Zurich - Banja LukaJUL 03Click here
Zurich - PodgoricaJUL 05Click here

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:05

    Swiss' schedule seems more or less ok as far as Zagreb goes. Have they coordinated it with Croatia Airlines?

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    1. Purger09:55

      No! It is the most stupid schedule I seen. 4 of 7 days route have almost same departure as Croatia airlines where they have code-share. WTF?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:07

      I guess that only shows LX's attitude towards Croatia Airlines. I suppose they are not coming to Zagreb to cooperate but to dominate.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:49

      SPU...

      Meni se vise cini da ce se kordinirati izmedu LX i Ou ( jasno po LH modelu suradnje ) te zadrzati dvije rotacije dnevno nekim danima tri i osloboditi OU avion za neke druge ljetne linije . Mislim da bi trebali pricekati ljetni Ou red letenja prije "analiza"

      Delete
    4. Purger10:55

      jel to ista koordinacija i sinkronizacija kao što i godinama Austrian i Croatia lete dva od četiri leta u razmaku 30 i 60 minuta?

      Uzevši u obzir koliko se trude i kompetencije djelatnika u Croatiji, te status Croatie u Staru, bojim se da je sve stvar stihije, a nikako ne racionalizacije i sinkronizacije.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:03

      Sta se desava sa Ljubljanom? Jel imaju isti stav i prema JP kao i prema OU ili..?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:12

      Ima isto jos jedan problem, OU nema zanimljivih odredista za LX. Ono sto oni mogu da nude dalje od Zagreba je vec prekriveno direktnim letovima, sumnjam da ima toliko potraznje za domacim hrvatskim saobracajem iz Svajcarske... barem ne dovoljno da natera LX da uspostavi direktne letove za Zagreb.

      Ova linija je uglavnom zarad Swiss-a i njihovog cvorista u Cirihu.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:59

      LX flights will be much better coordinated with JP flights. LX flights between two of JP. Great connections via ZHR with 4 *A rotations in LJU.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:11

      So why didn't they do the same in Zagreb. I don't understand their logic.

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    9. Anonymous18:34

      Mozda sad vidite da nelazem kad kazem da CTN se nista ne pita nego je samo iskoriscen od strane Star alliance, konacno neko pametan da potvrdi to Gospodin Purger jedan od retkih ovde sto nevredja nikoga svaka vam cast :)
      JP se malo vise ceni zato sto ih sluzi na linijama za LCJ
      INN-NS

      Delete
    10. Anonymous21:42

      "Ne lazem" se piše odvojeno, "Gospodin" se piše malim "g" bez obzira koliko se čepiš gospodinu.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:22

    Bye bye B&H. Swiss will fly to Sarajevo on exactly the same days as B&H.

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    1. Anonymous09:28

      I think this is it for B&H Airlines... I don't see how they can deal with this, especially since they were kicked out of Istanbul and now they will lose their monopoly on the Sarajevo and Banja Luka flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      True. They have a few months to find a solution. This article is very correct when it mentions transfer options. Swiss offers much more than just point to point travel. People will be able to connect onto other Swiss flights.

      B&H has nothing else except for Copenhagen on the world's longest ATR commercial flight... and if Wizz Air comes to Sarajevo next summer they are as good as gone.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:53

      i agree bh is on its leg, even at Sarajevo they play insignificant role, arrival of swiss and wizz should end B&H airline, 2015 will be their last year of operations.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:08

      I don't know if it might be better for JA to actually operate direct flights into Zurich. Maybe something like this:

      Sarajevo-Zurich-Banja Luka-Zurich-Sarajevo.

      It's not like they need the aircraft elsewhere. If there was any sense left in B&H then they would have replaced their Atr with the Q400 a long time ago.

      Delete
    5. Sorry for BH but I'm glad that I have another option for a YYZ-SJJ flights except VIE and IST. On the other hand, several other companies flew into SJJ and gave up very quickly (BA for example)

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    6. Anonymous15:48

      You don't have that option, Swiss does not fly to YYZ.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous16:41

      Air Canada does though. :/

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    8. And upon the first glance it seems that the times will work out as well

      Delete
    9. Anonymous19:09

      It is true what was said yesterday: this is a family fight between LX and OS. Austrian had Balkans as their territory, now they have to compete with Swiss in ex yu. That is the last thing Austrian needs after trouble in Russia/Ukraine market.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous20:55

      OS je imao 59 % putnika za USA i CANADA iz bivsih ex-yu drzava
      LH je imao 31%
      LX je imao 10 % neznam tacno broj ukupnih putnika posto sam zaboravio da nebi nesto lupetao-
      OS ima cak bolji LF na letovima VIE-ZRH-VIE nego LX :)
      INN-NS

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:35

    Excellent aircraft choice for these flights to start with. From what I have heard Swiss will phase out the RJs and introduce Embraer or Bombardiers from Lufthansa (forgot which one of those two) next year.

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    1. Anonymous10:06

      From what I heard it will be both, the Q400s will feature the Star Alliance livery. I guess it's easier like that since they can move around the birds as they please (among Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines).

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:40

      Yeah but some of their flights will be operated by Tyrolean, I think that's the case with Geneva-Lugano flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:36

      Jeste Tyrolean ce leteti za Swiss na liniji Geneva-Lugano 16 puta nedeljno sa Q400
      INN-NS

      Delete
  4. Anonymous10:45

    And what is with Skopje and Ohrid? Why don't contect Swiss Ohrid with Sesonal Flights to Zürich? Are ther some Agreements between the two Counties? I thik there is some potencial from this 2 cities! Ohrid Flights are all Week full on the Helvetic Airplane.

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    1. Anonymous10:47

      If there was any additional demand for FYROM flights I am sure Swiss would have added them.
      The loads might be there but it doesn't have to mean yields are too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:21

      Macedonia. *

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    3. Anonymous11:34

      Swiss has announced seasonal flights to the capital of Macedonia. They will be operated in summer.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:08

      Does not Swiss already fly to Skopje?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:10

      If i am not mistaken it's Helvetic.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:16

      Yes Helevetic, Edelweiss and AirBerlin (Belair) is flying from Zurich to Skopje

      Delete
    7. Anonymous14:39

      If you looking what costs a return ticket from zürich to ohrid, then i belive that is potencial of this route. not only for swiss also so for other Airlines. but why they dont get some sesonal flights (summer and winter) i dont know...

      Delete
  5. Ex-YU Aviation, you forgot to add that Swiss also flies between GVA and PRN.

    A bit surprised that Swiss does not fly to PRN. It used to, it was the first major European airline to do so (Adria not being a major airline). The Swiss market (ZRH, GVA and BSL) is relatively large, well over a quarter of a million pax per year, and Swiss should "boss" the routes out of PRN, yet there are very few decent connections. OS and TK offer much better connections.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Thanks Ex-YU Aviation.

      Also, meant to say the Swiss market is well over half a million pax annually. That's half decent, i.e. over 1,500 pax daily.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous20:28

      @Visit Kosovo

      As an insider from PRN, I would like to ask you why LX doesn't try to sell the tickets by themselves (like OS) instead of local agents for the ZRH-PRN flights? Thanks.

      Delete
  6. JU520 BEGLAX16:41

    In ZAG and especially LJU LX is not necessary. Both have a good set up to ZRH with code shares for GVA flights.
    Definitely 4 dailys ZRHLJU wont be necessary especially since all JP flights soon will be operated with CR9.

    On the other side LX will limit interline deals for ZRHZAG ZRHLJU and route most of the passengers on their own flights. A good example what Star Alliance Cooperation is really worth. Most of the legacy carriers are loosing money and ground on European routes. So not really understandable why LX does not focus on cooperations with Star Alliance partners such as JP or OU.
    For me flying ZRHLJU will definitely prefer the new CR9 over the old Avro 100 liners which currently are making almost weekly bad headlines. Definitely time is h

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:04

      There is also the question of how much money are Adria and Croatia actually making on their Zurich flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous18:47

      JU520 BEGLAX
      Zar ne trebaju njihovi Avro 100 da idu na D-CHECK mozda posle LX bude leteo sa CS100 =D
      INN-NS

      Delete
  7. Purger18:40

    Evo jedne zgodne statistike udjela u prometu ZLZ za 2013. godinu:

    1. Croatia Airlines 1.427.209 putnika, 62,1% udjela, -6,26% u odnosu na 2012.
    2. Lufthansa, 242.850, 10,5%, +6,22%
    3. Austrian Airlines, 125.121, 5,4%, +4,98%
    4. Germanwings, 104.740, 4,5%, +3,95%
    5. British Airways, 82.377, +3,5%, +2,85%
    6. Air France, 70.742, 3,0%, +6,40%
    7. Turkish Airlines, 63.781, 2,7%, +10,24%
    8. Qatar Airways, 49.830%, +2,1%, +6,53%
    9. Aeroflot, 36.445, 1,5%, +0.61%
    10. Norwegian Air Shuttle, 32.314, 1.4%, +8.24%

    Dakle svi su rasli osim Croatie, čak i Aeroflot usprkos uvođenja viza.

    Interesantno je da je Qatar usprkos liniji via BUD punio 68,3 putnika po letu, uz porast od skoro 7%.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:48

      So what I understand is that Croatia Airlines is the only one with less passengers well that means the management has failed so When bad Management, Ceo gets Fired. Maybe not in Croatia .

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:03

      Za to je kriva zlocinacka LH koja zeli svakoj drugoj aviokompaniji samo zlo , pa evo rasturili su OS :( .
      Gospodine Purger jel smete barem da kazete flotu Air Croatie =D
      hvala unapred :)
      INN-NS

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:52

      Croatia Airlines Fail

      Delete
    4. Purger00:25

      Naravno da znam sa čim će letjeti, ali ne smijem još reči. Samo ću naglastiti da je to savršen avion za početak letenja. Radi se o jetu, koji nije nepoznat na našim prostorima.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous01:19

      Purger
      Nadam se da ce onda berm jetom leteti za BEG a ne turbopropom i ako se to vise isplati :)
      INN-NS

      Delete
    6. Purger, tell these Air Croatia guys that they can't have white text on light blue background on their website.

      Also, I mapped out their destinations:

      Besides ZAG-Stockholm, all of their sectors are easily in the range of turboprops. If they really do decide to get a jet, I predict that they will last less than a year. They need ATR72-500s.

      http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=ZAG-DUS%0D%0AZAG-FCO%0D%0AZAG-MXP%0D%0AZAG-PRG%0D%0AZAG-BEG-OTP%0D%0AZAG-ARN-HEL&R=&PM_q=*&PM=*&MS=wls&MP=&MC=&PC=&PW=&PT=&RC=&RW=&RS=&DU=mi&DM=&SG=&SU=mph&EV=&EU=kts

      Delete
    7. Yes but if they get an Atr now then they will be shooting themselves in the foot since they would restrict any future growth to the destinations which are within the range of the Atr.

      Of course, adding two different kinds of aircraft is not desirable when you are a start-up, especially not when you are based in low-yielding Balkans.

      What I don't understand is if they will be based in Zagreb or if they will operate some charter flights as well?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:50

      Wrong numbers you have.
      why?
      total number of pax. is 2,235,409
      but on web of zagreb airpor 2,300,231
      and in your total missing IBERIA,TAP,VUELING

      Delete
  8. Anonymous18:50

    I was so happy (at first) to see that Edelweiss Air/Swiss starting all these flights, especially to BNX (although only seasonally) which would mean that you can connect form anywhere purchasing ticket with one company (which is not the case with B&H Airlines), however everything went down the drain when I saw their prices - RIDICILOUS, although perfect connection in Zurich but £ 1500 for a return flight LON-BNX ?????!!!!!! I have found LCY- ZRH (return) Swiss and BA for 100 and ZRH-BNX (B&H Airlines) return for 180£ ........

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:03

      Don't despair, this is still a new route which was added into the system only a few days ago. They probably did not place all the tariffs into the system, given them another months, probably less.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous21:24

    Looks like that thay will entirely change the old departure area

    ReplyDelete

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