Air Serbia to end Ohrid operations


Air Serbia will cease its seasonal flights between Belgrade and Ohrid this summer, as it continues to rationalise its operations amid the implementation of its new business strategy. In line with its decision, the airline has discontinued ticket sales for the route, which was resumed in 2016 following a three-year hiatus. The carrier initially operated three weekly flights between the two cities before increasing them to four per week last year. The service primarily relied on transfer passengers, with the airline targeting the Macedonian diaspora in Australia with special fares. However, with the suspension of Air Serbia's Abu Dhabi flights at the end of the 2017 summer season, which served as a feeder from Australia, as well as the recent launch of Qatar Airways' operations to Skopje, loads to Ohrid would have been further affected. On the other hand, the airline will continue to maintain thirteen weekly flights to the Macedonian capital during the height of the summer season.

Despite the suspension of its Ohrid service this year and the discontinuation of its Abu Dhabi flights in 2017, Air Serbia plans to maintain similar operations to that of last summer. It will run one weekly flight less to Dusseldorf, Sofia, Stuttgart and Tirana. Starting May 19, the airline will also amend its Prague operations from ten weekly on the ATR72 turboprop to daily services, with five flights to be maintained by the larger Airbus A319 aircraft, thus providing more overall capacity on the route compared to last year. It comes in response to Hainan Airlines which has been running flights between the two cities with its wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft since last September. On the other hand, Air Serbia will introduce an additional three weekly flights to Zurich this summer, for a total of seventeen per week, up from double daily last year, as well as an extra weekly service to New York for a total of six per week.

Ohrid Airport anticipates for a record year in 2018. Despite losing links to Belgrade, TUIfly will commence seasonal flights from Eindhoven, while Estonia's Nordica will launch operations from Tallinn. Furthermore, Brussels Airlines will replace Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium on services from the Belgian capital, while Corendon will start operations from Maastricht. Meanwhile, Wizz Air will commence year-round operations between Vienna and Ohrid next winter season. Late last year, the Macedonian government said it wanted to focus on developing traffic at Ohrid Airport. It noted, "St Paul the Apostle Airport in Ohrid has untapped potential and we are focusing on shifting traffic to that airport and providing the public with many destinations operated by low cost airlines. It is one of the measures of the government's program. We will continue our efforts in improving air traffic in Macedonia".

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Not surprised.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      Why, what do you know? Inside information?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:09

      Because it was their worst performing route in summer 2016. It's not a major loss since it operated for a few months during summer. Article rightly points out that it would have been even more affected without JUs Abu Dhabi flight.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:18

      Sorry meant to say summer 2017.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    I wonder where they are going to deploy the ATRs? If they now have this one free for four days plus they have one freed up five times per week from Prague which operated for a block time of almost 5 hours they must put them to work somewhere.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      I hope that they actually launch something instead. Maybe they will just keep the plane on the ground.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:18

      A319 will be replaced with ATR on some routes and one A319 will be used for Aviolet instead of two 737-300 which are removed from fleet.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:20

      I see. Yes I read an article here about the B733s being removed and 1 A319 being used instead. Do you know on which routes the ATRs will be used?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:21

      They are also using more A319s on SKG route. I'm also wondering on which routes will these freed up ATRs be deployed on. The selection is rather limited because of their range.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:40

      One leased ATR (YU-ALV) will be returned, so there will be 5 ATRs left.

      Delete
    6. Alen Šćuric Purger11:45

      They can change A319 to ATR on routes to DBV, SPU, TIV, TGD, SKG, ZRH, DUS, FRA, MXP, STR, FCO.

      Some of those are not good option like FRA (to expensive taxes for ATR), DUS (too long), SKG (can not make good connection in wave), ZRH (good LF on A320), but still enough space for change one A319 to ATR operations.

      Delete
    7. Nemjee13:25

      The Atr can't make it to SKG in the noon wave but it can at night. That said, JU is introducing two night departures on the A319 which means that there is quite a lot of demand.

      Also, JU sends its Atr to OTP despite losing many connections (like CDG).

      Delete
    8. Anonymous13:48

      Iz šupljeg u prazno. They will never get better with what they have. Sort out what fleet you need in years ahead instead of shuffling old things around.

      Delete
    9. JATBEGMEL21:49

      Is there a reason as to why YU-ALV is leaving? theyre short of ATR’s.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous07:42

      With so many ATR flights due to be operated by A319 and an ATE destination cancelled it seems very likely 1 ATR will leave the fleet.

      As far as OHD is concerned I am sure that also Wizz and their new route particularly to VIE makes a difference. Quite certain they had many transfers in that route. Now JU won't be competitive any longer.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:04

    Maybe they launch Mostar instead? Didn't the CEO of Mostar Airport say they were in talks with Air Serbia?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      Even if they do, I don't see how it could be more successful than Ohrid.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      True I'm not sure how it would work out. It would be a low yielding route. There is potential for transfers but with Croatia Airlines starting it is questionable if they would try and compete.

      Delete
    3. Additional SJJ rotation maybe?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:02

      With which plane exactly? They are making cuts because they will have at least 2 less planes in fleet this summer.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:10

    Shame :(

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:10

    Ocekivano

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:12

    So in summer they cut 18 weekly but add 4 so net loss of 14 weekly flights, unless they introduce something new.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      Couple of years ago in the middle of the summer season they announced new routes to Tirana and Pula and increased frequencies to Dubrovnik and Split. So you never know what they might do. They announce new routes quite late.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:18

      They did plan to start Geneva 2x per week but that didn't seem to work out.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:19

      And that is not all. There will be more cuts. Air Serbia will have two less planes this year (two 737-300 are out) and will put one A319 for charters.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:21

      I know that.
      http://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/01/air-serbia-mulls-future-fleet-options.html

      But last summer they used 3 B737s for charters not 4. The fourth was back up for regular fleet.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:39

      @9.17 couple of years ago was a different time for this airline ;)

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:41

      14 weekly is still a big decrease.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:45

      True but much less than last summer.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:36

      Remember that capacity increased last year with the cabin overhaul. You can't view cuts based on number of frequencies. You have to have the amount of capacity that will be offered this summer vs last summer.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:13

    Are they keeping Venice which they launched last year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      Yes. It operated during winter too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:37

      Seems to be doing well then.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:29

      Venecija ce postati sezonska letnja linija

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:32

      They flew to Venice during the winter because they got subsidies from Venice Airport to stay over the winter. They give it to every new airline in the first year. Doubt they will stay next winter but they are doing very well in the summer.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:23

      According to their system, VCE was reduced from 4 to 3 weekly.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:15

    Mostar, tuzla, ankara, krakov, po 6 puta nedeljno na dve jako kratke dve duze staze.
    I ima mesta za jos 5 pw negde sa dva atr. Ukrajina Odesa?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      And all of that with 2 planes less than last year?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:23

      Those two planes were not used for regular service but for charters.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:37

      Krakow? Who on earth is going to fly from Belgrade to Krakow or viceversa?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:31

      @AnonymousFebruary 12, 2018 at 10:37 AM
      Krakov je napopularnija studentska destinacija iz Beograda. Tokom godine vise od 20000 studenata iz Beograda poseti Krakov.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:37

      ^ So you would launch a new route because 20,000 students visit Krakow, 98% which would still use a bus to go there.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:48

      Those 2 737-300 was used for charters, so you think Air Serbia will cut 50% charters or it will use one A319 for charters as they said, so that would make at least one plane less for regular routes, what is at least 21 flights less per week.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:11

      And BWK?

      Delete
    8. Aэrologic12:44

      The idiots thinking in the way "who is gonna fly to Krakow" were the ones who brought the airline to the position where it is today. Instead of expanding to new markets they're losing ground in places they used to be dominant player. KRK is the heart of a huge metropolitan area of Poland that includes Katowice (2 million people) and its distance from BEG is similar to LJU. LOT is gonna fly to SKP this summer, doesn't that give you any clue?

      JU is an airline in total disarray that might end up the same way that Malev did. Unless they disconnect from Etihad decision-making, Serbian primitivism and Yugo-nostalgia that considers Ex-Yu as the analogue of regional flying/market interest and overhaul the whole management and commercial department. That is a long shot. We're not in 2013 any more and Aegean and LOT have already become the dominant regional players.

      http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=beg-lju%0D%0Abeg-krk&MS=wls&DU=mi

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:54

      Your proposed network of far flung places in the former Soviet Union would bury the airline in a month. Just because you on occasion fly there does not mean they are supposed to introduce those routes and neither would they fill planes up.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous13:08

      Ponavlja se prica sa Nisem. I dalje mnogi putuju sa Lastom i Nis Ekspresom ali barem 300k koristi avion sada kad postoji. To sto ce studenti koristiti i dalje autobuse ne znaci da ljudi koji poslovno putuju tamo ce ici automobilima i autobusima. Poljska roba se dobro prodaje u Srbiji. Ne mora ni da se leti svaki dan u nedelji tamo. I imaju turisticke ture tamo kao i za Veneciju. Krakov je pogodan za ATR.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous13:24

      It didn't bankrupt LOT, CSA or Austrian.

      Delete
    12. Aэrologic13:25

      KRK is a far flung place in the former Soviet Union?

      Delete
    13. Anonymous13:33

      I'm talking about destinations you always list here.

      Delete
    14. Aэrologic13:39

      Well, how come they didn't bankrupt other airlines which constantly seem to be increasing frequencies there? Or are they just nuts, unlike Air Serbia?

      Delete
    15. Anonymous13:48

      You are comparing Austrian and Air Serbia. Austrian with how many aircraft, how many destinations, how many long haul destinations, how many daily flights to Germany and how big of an expat and immigrant community with Air Serbia...

      Delete
    16. Nemjee14:01

      Look at Aegean and where they are today compared to where they were some years ago. How many Middle Eastern destinations have they added from a country whose economy was completely destroyed while facing increased competition from lowcost carriers? How many transfer passengers have they added in recent years?

      How come A3 managed to thrive in Tehran, Cairo, Alexandria, Tel Aviv, Yerevan, Tbilisi...

      Everyone can make it as long as they have a vision and as long as they know what they want from a certain market.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous14:08

      Again you are comparing apples and oranges. Greece a country with millions of tourists each year and Aegean which handles a large portion of those tourists each year shuttling them via Athens.

      Delete
    18. Aэrologic14:09

      Well, they didn't arrive there from day one. Nemjee's post answers to all the rest. JU has much lower costs than Austrian.

      Fact is, Air Serbia is unable to sell places anywhere even in its home market such as Ohrid, (unless that's also in the former Soviet Union?). Now that may point out to a more systematic and endemic problem.

      Delete
    19. Nemjee14:12

      Just because a country has a lot of tourists doesn't mean every airline will manage to make the most of it. If I was wrong then Cyprus Airways wouldn't have gone bankrupt while Air Malta or Croatia Airlines wouldn't be struggling to make ends meet.

      Delete
    20. Anonymous14:15

      Besides, tourists is for how much months in a year.

      Delete
    21. Aэrologic18:02

      Let's not even talk of Alitalia. Basically you've provided us with zero arguments other than 'it's impossible'. Your argumentation is empty and doesn't go beyond one single level. Fact is, every airline or company is presented with a certain set of challenges and opportunities. In the case of Air Serbia that ratio was pretty favourable. It is the duty of each airline's management to judge and balance those and make the most out of the equation. Air Serbia wasn't able to make it and that's not the fault of Aegean or the market. They were very late at identifying the challenges they face while not fully exploiting their assets and opportunities what is probably their biggest mistake and that is only one of the innumerable errors done in the past 3 years. Now feel free to prove me wrong but reality proves you otherwise.

      Delete
  9. Very disappointing. OHD has great potential.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nemjee09:24

    Ohrid was the worst performer last summer, lf was 42%.
    Thessaloniki will also see more seats as some night flights will be operated by the A319. If I remember correctly only 5/14 will be on the Atr.

    Bucharest is mostly operated at night and according to the system only two will be in the afternoon. All flights will be on the Atr unlike last year. I think this is the first time RO will offer more flights than JU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      Well they have an extra A319 freed up for the entire night each day. I'm surprised at how well Thessaloniki seems to be going. It is still scheduled for double daily in summer.

      Delete
    2. Nemjee09:58

      I think Thessaloniki does well with locals as well. Remember even Jat used to fly there 4 to 5 times per week.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:21

      Well, remember that Thessaloniki today is what Split used to be in the 80s for Serbian holidaymakers. And SPU had a lot more than two dailies. I would say demand for SKG flights will only go up.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:22

      True and on top of that last year JU operated a few charter flights to Thessaloniki and I think Ellinair did as well.

      Delete
    5. Nemjee14:03

      Ellinair planned to launch SKG charters (every ten days) but it seems it didn't work out for them. I guess it was easier for agencies to work with JU due to greater flexibility.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:24

    Is this the only route they have dropped compared to last year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      It says in the article - this one and Abu Dhabi.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:26

      Yes but they ended Abu Dhabi last year.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:29

      They suspended Abu Dhabi at the start of 2017-18 winter season. So if you are comparing summer vs summer than you have to count AUH as being dropped.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:48

      Today's flight from DOH to SKP is cancelled. Does anyone know what might be the reason, since QR is rarely canceling flights, could it be really poor loads?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:46

      Low demand.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous14:16

      source?

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:30

    Air Serbia seems to be going through exactly the same thing Croatia Airlines and Adria went through before they started growing again last year and this year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:34

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:05

      Optimising the network is normal for every airline. Only here do people see it as the apocalypse.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:34

    Unfortunate for Air Serbia and Ohrid Airport.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:34

    It's a pitty how Air Serbia lost its position on the macedonian market despite offering far better product than old Jat Airways. You would say it is Wizzair which took a lot of pax away but that's simply not true. JP and OU didn't lose so much pax like JU did.
    One of the biggest reasons was that the previous JU management concentrated on developing Beirut, Abu Dhabi and Varna instead of Skopje.
    The very first bad decision was the fact that they changed the flight times and operate a mix of day/night schedule. Jat Airways night flights were fully packed also because you could fly out early in the morning and return back in the night meaning that you could fully use 2 days without a hotel booking. Moreover scheduling to BEG was also good for business pax..
    Not to mention Atr instead of jet acft -733.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:37

      Good analysis. Unfortunately, a lot of stupid decisions were made by the former management and the airline is paying the price now.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:39

    If the route was not performing that well, why did they increase it last year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:55

      They tried to put one flight in the night wave last year. But obviously didn't work.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:47

    The way they are suspending and reducing routes, I really start to wonder what will they do with the planes? Will charter season be that strong this summer season?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:50

      It will be very strong charter season. Problem is it looks like they won't be allowing many foreign airline to fly charters this year and tour agents are not happy. So Air Serbia will be flying almost all charters.

      Delete
    2. Nemjee09:56

      There is no way to block EU airlines. They can only do it to those from Egypt, Turkey, Tunis... but those governments can also block JU. I hope Turks restrict JU for blocking the A330 for no good reason.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:01

      True but few EU airlines operated charters to/from BEG. Most charters where there was more choice was for Turkey. Greece was always mostly handled by JU anyway.

      Delete
    4. Nemjee10:04

      Well, last summer we had charters by both Aegean and Ellinair. I think Vueling's flights are more or less there because of tourists. Since they launched BCN, JU suspended Girona.

      Also, didn't someone say Air Cairo is also increasing flights to 5 per week?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:07

      Imaju na papiru koliko moze da se leti.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:49

      For charters there is a rule that transfer of Serbian citizens is first offered to Air Serbia and if they won't or can't to fly on that route then other companies can get a job. So Air Serbia is mostly flying to Greece, Turkey, Italy and Spain. Egypt and Tunis are served by other companies. Foreign tourists that came to Serbia are transferred mostly by airlines from those countries. Israel for example and also last year SunExpress was carrying Turkish tourists to Belgrade.

      Delete
    7. Nemjee11:02

      Imaju na papiru? There is a thing called reciprocity but what happens when one side is incapable of sustaining flights? Why should we restrict the other side?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:42

      AS ima svog partnera AtlasGlobal na koga se prenose prava. I definisana je velicina aviona. Da li treba da se ti se to nacrta da ne bi vise neumorno lupetao. Otidji u Skadarsku kod direktorke pa se tamo zali.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous13:05

      Nemjee, why do you HOPE for Turks to restrict Air Serbia's charters? Mean comment.

      Delete
    10. Nemjee13:21

      Апсолутно се не преноси на КК, то нема никакве везе са животом. У међудржавном уговору стоји да српске компаније морају добити исти број летова као и турске по принципу реципроцитета. Дакле, нема правне основе по којој би КК био замена за ЈУ.

      Шта то значи је да ако ЈУ одлучи да се врати у Турску, њихов директорат им мора доделити минимум 20 недељних учесталости ка било ком аеродрому.

      Тако да не знам ко овде лупета.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous14:10

      Samo uskotrupne letilice. Samo ti tumaci.

      Delete
    12. Nemjee14:16

      Ускотрупне летелице у редовном саобраћају, не и у чартер. Исто тако, посебне дозволе могу бити додељене тако да није немогуће повећати капацитет на линији.

      А што се тумачења тиче, не знам ко је овде тврдио да су права Србије пребачена са ЈУ на КК.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous18:41

      Bilateralni ugovori nisu napisani tako kako ih ti tumacis.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:01

    During the first year Ohrid route was subsidized by city of Ohrid. Not sure if this was the case in the second year but my assumption is there were some subsidies involved and now that they have ended, it just not profitable to keep this route.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10:09

    Disappointing news from JU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:13

      I agree. This was an important route for Ohrid too. It was the only full service airline that offered connecting onward flights from Ohrid. That will change this year with Brussels and Noridca but Air Serbia was still the best option for Europe because you didn't have to backtrack (the way you will have to with Brussels or Nordica).

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:36

      seriously? one week to Talinn?

      JU was the only option for Ohrid

      Delete
  19. Anonymous10:10

    Well, the whole EY Group, what's left of it, is basically shrinking their operations. Etihad and Air Seychelles. All are in the process of restructuring and all are sliding towards hybrid carriers - JU is the first to implement it from the three.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:22

      Etihad is not shrinking for financial reasons. They are actually encountering issues with small home terminals. They just are holding all until the completion of their now jumbo terminal in about year and a half. Do not forget that at this moment they have around 180 planes on order, of which some 140 are widebodies. This said, Etihad has a bright future, as petrodollars will not exhaust any sooner, nor the UAE will ever join the EU or any other commonwealth requiring member countries to cease subsidies.

      Air Serbia might also have a bright future with Etihad, but excess hiring useless political party member employees and raising prices to outer space to feed em all is going to kill it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:22

      You do know that Etihad announced they will remove 20 planes this year from fleet and postponed new panes to come to fleet?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:19

      Yes. And it all goes inline with waiting this new terminal completion. AUH is nearing 30 million pax per annum, more than double the projected airport capacity.

      Under such conditions a quick expansion is impossible.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous10:15

    They should consider Mostar, Maribor and Zadar instead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:23

      Zadar and Brac would work in summer but JU has some restrictions of growing in Croatia so not sure that will happen anytime soon.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:38

      Zadar could work year-round if they can resolve political obstacles. I see this as p2p route for Serbian diaspora. To make it work, they can offer it without the possibility to connect onwards, which is what I understood to be the problem.

      my2cents

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:31

      Zadar could work your-round? Hahahaha, what a funny comment.

      Lufthansa can not not work your-round with Munich and Frankfurt (not even with one of those 2 seasonal routes)

      Croatia fly Frankfurt seasonal, and cut flights to Zagreb for 60% comparing to summer season.

      Even Ryanair, who has, summer base with 14 routes and some 30 weekly flights can not have not even one all-year route.

      So out of 24 companies with 50 routes just Croatia on one route (Zagreb from Pula) with 6 weekly flights operates in winter.

      But sure, Air Serbia will be successful where Croatia, Lufthansa, Ryanair and many others can not.

      I like those dreamers...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:16

      I'm glad you find it entertaining. But, if you look at the type of passengers (2
      100k+of diaspora living in Belgrade and Vojvodina) and the type of aircrafts the companies have (Ryanair cannot fill 186 seats outside summer). , it may not be such a stretch of imagination.

      Atr twice a week can work year round. That's just over 2 buses of capacity per week.

      I don't have the data, but I imagine that there are quite a few buses, vans and cars used by diaspora between Vojvodina/Belgrade area and Krajina. Lasta offers 6 days per week from Belgrade, there are daily buses from Novi Sad.

      People would pay for a 1hr15min flight instead of 9-10.5 hrs of 'red eye' bus ride. R/T bus ticket is eur 50 from BG.

      I'd love to hear your thoughts.

      my2cents

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:53

      "Krajina" under quotations please. Concerning p2p pax ZAD-BEG, I agree 2 weekly ATR could work in winter, with double frequency in summer

      Delete
    6. Anonymous20:32

      And that diaspora is very poor traveling by bus, train or car. Not using plane. All of them could travel to Split which is much bigger airport but still can not support all year flights to BEG.

      100.000 diaspora is not a big number. Zadar area has more than 200.000 diaspora in Germany + tourist + connections via FRA or MUC but still can not support Lufthansa or Croatia routes to FRA or MUC.

      There is just one bus in winter from Zadar to Belgrade, APP Požega at 7:00 hours (and that one is not from Zadar but from Split).

      So if Zadar has just one bus route to Belgrade how can it support 2 flights per week by plane?

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:18

    I'm surprised they failed on this route. The catchment area around Ohrid is large. When they announced it I was sure it might even go year round.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:22

    Funny how their minds are working:
    Cost cutting measures include route suspension and network shrinking while keeping bunch of mentally impaired workforce who doesn't know how to plan and sell their product.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous10:27

    Mora se covek zapitati kakva buducnost ceka ASL? Ove godine navrsava se 5 godina od pocetka ambicioznog projekta. Ideja je u jednom trenutku bila da se svaki grad na Balkanu poveze sa BEG makar 2-3x dnevno i da se do 2018-20 povecaju kapaciteti uvodjenjem A320NEO. Ovako kako stvari stoje od svega toga nema nista. Zivo me zanima sta drugi misle sta kompaniju ceka i gde ce biti u narednih 5 godina? Moje misljenje je da nece propasti drzace se kako tako, smanjivati, snalaziti, ali low costeri ce ih polako i sve vise nagrizati.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous10:35

    1: How is it possible the LF to go down from 80-90% to 42% (if this number is true)? OHD was going strong in the past, also according to this blog.

    2: How is it possible when the number of serbian tourists in Macedonia is generally increasing (July 10.0% increase , August 8.3% increase compared to last year, Serbians in summer are N.2 after Turks )

    Is it only because they changed schedule to late night arrivals (01:50), early morning departures (4.10 h) making it so unatractive?

    Big disapointment!

    JU owned OHD, now with JP&OU increasing SKP to double daily for the whole summer schedule (and not only peak) JU is on fire at SKP too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:48

      I wouldn't trust state statistics that much. Are transit visitors going to Greece accounted in a right way in these statistics?

      Plus, most people visiting your state would use the car - cheaper and more flexible

      This service was mostly for transfers not a summer charter

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:15

      (lol the troll is back)

      Serbian tourists that visit Lake Ohrid in Macedonia in 95% of the cases only go to Lake Ohrid

      Serbian tourists that use the highway SKP-Gevgelija to go to your country are not counted as tourists unless they overnight somewhere which they dont (its a 2-3 hours drive anyway)

      Ohrid was working for JAT as a summer tourist destination for local tourists, once this transfer pax megalomania thing started and schedules were being moved around ...

      I personally dont know any Serb that wants to arrive at 2 am in the night in Ohrid (or anywhere on the Jadran fro example)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:25

      JAT used to fly 5 times a week in 2011

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:58

      No darling, Jat used to fly 5 times a week in 2011, JAT used to fly 2-3 times daily, 1980-1990, to connect to its impressive network of flights to Europe, North America and Australia

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:54

      only shows how JU is going down

      Delete
    6. It is true.

      Delete
    7. Nemjee06:25

      I remember looking at a JAT timetable from 1988 and TIA was operated two times per week on the DC-9. Not two to three times per day.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:35

    It seems like only bad new is coming from JU lately.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:06

      Well after many years of good news and growth it was bound to happen sometime.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:37

      No, not many years.

      Good news were at end of 2013, during 2014 and summer of 2016.

      First cut was winter 2015/16, and since than just bad news all the time. Cutting frequencies, canceling routes, modest service...

      Delete
  26. Anonymous10:37

    Is Etihad still doing Revenue Management for Air Serbia?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:38

      Yes

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:06

      The source of many problems.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:26

      They don't know how to do it for a hybrid airline in LCC environment. Air Serbia should take it back from Etihad.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:48

      JU is not a hybrid airline yet, it is still considered legacy. Check Skytrax.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:57

      They want to be hybrid. Point is, Abu Dhabi doesn't know how to do it and EY is doing more damage than helping JU.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous11:15

    It's interesting. Jat Airways used to fly to Ohrid and then when Air Serbia came along they suspended that and a few other seasonal routes like Gothenburg. Instead they launched flights like Varna which were a complete failure too. Don't get why they restarted Ohrid in the first place.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:19

      Their number of transfers from Australia that were main feeder to Ohrid collapsed when Etihad took over so there was no point in keeping Ohrid. Two years ago they tried by feeding it with enhanced Europe network plus they got subsidies for the route but they were not making money on it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:20

      because JAT was supplying the local tourist market which they were strong at (probably their only strength)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:12

      VAR was a smart destination and still surprised why it was never successful. FB, TK and OS are enjoying good LF factors. But I guess it's too late now, having W6 opened so many routes.
      On the other hand, SOF will be reduced to 6 weekly, when it used to be operated 9 weekly.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:57

      Maybe AS should finally try INI, they can stop it if it doesnt work, no?

      I wonder what the loads are in SOF?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:42

      SOF is going to 6 weekly? Why?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous14:44

      Well in the article it says:

      "It will run one weekly flight less to Dusseldorf, Sofia, Stuttgart and Tirana"

      Delete
    7. Anonymous16:51

      wasnt Tirana a star performer??

      Delete
    8. Anonymous18:48

      jbt vi verujete da as pravi gubitke na liniji za nyc dok oni prze pare po vasim star performerima. totalno ste nerealni koliko ima para na balkanu za putovanja.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous19:05

      Anon 4:51pm, I'm really surprised too regarding TIA. JU had perfect connections to its vast network. I think JP are performing better in TIA.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous11:20

    Don't forget they also lost feed from Air Berlin on this route.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous12:31

    Can't wait to see Air Serbia's financials for 2017, and how big their 'profit' is this time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:58

      Sve se vrača, sve se plača ....

      Delete
    2. A sta se to vraca ili placa postovani diskutante iz Hrvatske?

      Delete
  30. Anonymous13:31

    I am really surprised that OHD did not work out well for JU. Macedonia's aviation has improved dramatically during the last couple of years.
    Maybe JU can try TZL instead?
    How about finally revising INI?

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous13:34

    This shouldn't have been a problem if they didn't have a 7+ hours layover for passengers traveling from NYC to Ohrid. There are many passengers that are from the Ohrid region that have to go to SKP, which is a 3 hour drive to Ohrid.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous13:55

    AirSerbia has promo offer for new tarif.
    https://www.airserbia.com/sr-RS/specijalne-ponude-promo-cene-uz-nove-tarife
    This is not so bad

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous16:50

    I hope admin shortly prepares the summer schedule for 2018 as he does every year. But anyway, lets all be realistic - sadly, there will be no positive growth for ASL this year.
    Luckily, the foreign carriers are all increasing their frequencies and aircraft capacity.
    BEG still has a keen chance of reaching 6 million this year.
    Also, for Germany as we have repeated this so many times, there are way many too flights and supply that surpasses the demand.
    As NUE and PAD are now modern, JU can try and fly to compete with JP for instance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JU is all about cuts. The last flight they introduced was to VCE. Meanwhile they talked about YYZ and GVA, canceled both, and axed AUH and IST. So, JU won't try and won't fly to NUE and PAD.

      Delete
  34. So the A319s will be doing additional frequencies and replacing some ATR and 733 flights on regular routes as well as taking over charters from the two retiring 733s? Seems it will negatively affect their operations. I mean one delayed flight could make a mess at BEG

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous23:13

    Did JU advertize its Ohrid bound flights in Albania? The town of Pogradec is very near, on the Ohrid's lake shore.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

EX-YU Aviation News does not tolerate insults, excessive swearing, racist, homophobic or any other chauvinist remarks or provocative posts with the intention of creating further arguments. A full list of comment guidelines can be found here. Thank you for your cooperation.