Gulf carriers mount record operations to former Yugoslav markets


Flights between the Gulf and the former Yugoslav markets will reach record levels this summer, exceeding their previous best result set during the summer of 2019. This is despite the Macedonian market losing its connectivity to the region and Emirates’ absence in Zagreb, the latter maintaining flights to the city with its wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft. During the 2024 summer season, there are a total of 952.316 seats between the Gulf and the former Yugoslavia, up 11.8% on the same period in 2019. Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is popular with tourists from the region during the summer months, will account for almost half of that total capacity, with an increase in operations from Saudi Arabia being one of the main drivers of the growth.


The busiest route based on the amount of available seat capacity this summer will be Dubai –-Belgrade, operated twice per day throughout the summer, followed by the carrier’s service to Sarajevo, which will reach up to three daily rotations between mid-July and September, but has fewer operations outside of the summer peak. Overall, Flydubai has become the largest airline from the Gulf serving the former Yugoslavia. Prior to the pandemic, in 2019, it was the second largest behind Qatar Airways, which now takes second position. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is the third largest carrier, a title which in 2019 belonged to Emirates with its sole Zagreb service.

Ten busiest Gulf - EX-YU routes by available seat capacity, summer 2024


This summer there are several new routes from the Gulf to the region, however, all are to Sarajevo, despite plans for new services to Tivat and Dubrovnik, which have not materialised. Saudi Arabia’s Flyadeal enters the Bosnia and Herzegovina market from June by introducing seasonal services from both Riyadh and Jeddah. The carrier had also initially announced plans to commence operations to Tivat but never scheduled flights. Furthermore, Air Arabia will restore services between Sharjah and Sarajevo after two years. Saudi Arabia’s Flynas has held talks with Dubrovnik Airport over potential operations this year, but it has not scheduled any services at this point.

Largest Gulf carriers in EX-YU by seat capacity, summer 2024



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    Crazy how much capacity there is from Bosnia to Gulf in summer but then in winter there is almost none.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:48

      Well during the winter we have flyDubai, flynas and Wizz (some months) so it's not nothing, but I agree it could be more.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:04

    I think there is potential for flights from Saudi to the region down the line

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      We could definitely see flights to Jeddah or Doha in LJU during winter

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:16

      Jeddah?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:26

      Arab tourists love winter destinations in the Alps and Jeddah is a major population and economic centre in the Middle East. Probably the most potent p2p route left for Slovenia in the Middle East

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:22

      Hopefully when the new Saudi Flag Carriers Riyadh Air launches next year, we will see them launch to some airports in the region.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:18

      Doha yes but why Jeddah?

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    Considering the tourism potential, I am surprised there are not more flights from Gulf region to Croatia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      Visas are an issue

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:13

      They are an issue for south of France or Spain too but Gulf carriers have a lot of flights there in the summer.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous21:25

      Visas are not issue. Arabs in Bosnia are just visiting mountains, lakes, and rivers. They don't like to be in old towns like Mostar, where it is too hot. They escape from summer there to spend summer in Bosnia in the mountains. Why would they go to Croatia?

      Firstly, their covered women are not interested in the sea, and the people who will judge them because they are covered at the sea.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:06

    TAV Macedonia really needs to work on this

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:12

      They are always in talks but nothing more, as usual.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:49

      True now, but as a reminder, before the pandemics, they managed to have both FZ and QR flying to SKP

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:09

    Wow that Emirates with just one route was third largest in 2019. Power of the widebody

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:10

      Wish they came back

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:10

    Hope FZ considers Dreamliners to BEG when they get them

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      Isn't ot better to have double daily flights?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:16

      *it

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:19

      Or maybe EK comes :)

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:24

      That would be nice

      Delete
    5. Anonymous05:42

      Dreamliner? Jeez, look at the recent news

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:11

    Almost a million seats. Not bad.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:12

    And no JU, OU or 4O anywhere in that region.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      Flights are too long. All 3 airlines barely have enough aircrft for Europe ops.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:27

      OU and 40 don't have aircraft that can fly economically on a 6 hour long route. Air Serbia is looking to establish itself as a hub, so they fly to cities with high demand and low connectivity

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:02

      It's too late now but OU should have launched flights to Dubai years ago. It has the plane and could have run the flight during the night (simmilar to how Air Serbia used to fly to AUH). I'm sure they would have done well. Now its very difficult to enter the market.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:05

      @10.02 if JU failed in AUH how can OU do better in DXB

      Delete
    5. Anonymous04:35

      Abu Dhabi is OU's only real hope if they wanted to but this will require them to have a codeshare agreement with Etihad. Doubt they have the appetite for either.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:13

    Interesting stats!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:21

    Massive market for SJJ!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      They should do more to keep flights in winter.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:23

      Like what?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:09

      Offer incentives during winter.

      Delete
    4. Yeah, Bosnia used to have developed winter tourism. Sarajevo hosted Winter Olympics in 1984.
      I'm sure if they redeveloped the infrastructure the Arabs would come, as they already prefer Bosnia so much over every other ex yu country.
      Also I'm sure that skiing down the real mountain slopes is preferable to indoor mall skiing.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:23

    Kuwaor Airways should broaden horizons in the region

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:28

      That is supposed to be *Kuwait Airways

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:24

    What is the problem with SKP, why the flights are not successful there and every other capital in the region has connections to the middle east. I know many people from Macedonia which are living and working in UAE and Qatar, plus the connections to Australia, isn't that enough to have 2-3 flights per week?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:29

      On the bright side, Turkish is expanding into Australia, so they have tranafer opportunities there

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      QR also has a fleet shortage with small aircraft so it's not so easy for them to add new routes

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:34

      But Flydubai is a mystery to me.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:54

      They planed to return to SKP several times but the flights didnt materialise. I know that when we had flights to DXB, travel agencies offerd tours for Dubai with a direct flight, now, the offers are with a flight from SOF or TIA.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:31

      Simply put there isn't enough demand for SKP. I mean SKP-BCN failed and you think Middle East destinations will be a success.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:37

      SKP-BCN had good LF, just like SKP-LCA, HAJ and TKU. Wizz Air is ending routes here and there just like they did with BSL-OHD. So your comment is nonsense

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:40

      Yes, they cut BCN, LCA, HAJ because routes performed well. The things you will read on here.

      Only one I can understand is Turku.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:40

      They ended all routes from HAJ, so much you know @10.40

      Delete
    9. Anonymous13:10

      Did they also end all routes to BCN and LCA

      Delete
    10. Anonymous14:02

      no and?

      Delete
    11. Anonymous15:54

      Which means BCN and LCA failed from SKP because of low demand and bad yields. They focused more on gasto routes, those seem to work best from SKP.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous17:20

      both ended during pandemic

      Delete
    13. I think competing with Turkish is the biggest headwind. I would imagine a lot of the traffic to ME is connecting (SKP-DXB-XXX). Travelers don't care if they are connecting in IST, DXB, or DOH and I'm assuming Turkish provides better frequency and connectivity. Even if there's a lot of O/D traffic between MK and ME, how much of a premium can FlyDubai realistically get vs. the Turkish 1-stop option?

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:35

    Respect 🇧🇦 🇧🇦 🇧🇦

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous10:02

    What happened to the Saudi- Dubrovnik flights

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:08

      Saudi airlines have big issues due to neo engines. Theynare wet leasing many planes. I assume same reason Flyeadeal is not starting Tivat.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:03

    Let's see if Riyadh Air launches flights to the region.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:27

      I doubt it. Not in the first years at least.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23:36

      They only place in the region that Riyadh Air will fly is ATH whether you can call ATH is in the region or not.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous10:03

    Would EK possibly fly DXB-BEG-ZAG?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:27

      They have a lot of fifth freedom flights. Would be interesting

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:32

      They can't compete with JU's triple daily flights to ZAG.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:59

      They would never get rights for fifth freedom on BEG-ZAG.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:05

      UAE has open sky with both Croatia and Serbia. So they would have no problem flying between the two. That is how Flydubai was able to fly Sarajevo-Podgorica a few years ago without issue.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:03

      @13.05 you are mixing up something

      Delete
    6. Anonymous04:39

      Unless Croatia gets a new huge influx of Asian tourists who are keen to pay for a premium product, I would say Belgrade has a lot more chance now seeing an Emirates service in the near future.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:04

    I think Emirates should start flying to Ljubljana.It would cover Slovenia, Croatia, South Austria and some part of Italy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:07

      LOL

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:39

      That part of Italy that you are talking about is already covered by Emirates with flights to Venice.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:16

      Now you understand that a lot of people from SLO do not fly from Venice.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:41

      The above comment is quite delusional. Nothing personal buddy

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:54

      @11:16 is right. Slovenes never use other airports because they do not travel. And most if not all passengers at LJU are from other countries.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous10:05

    Pity Sarajevo didn't retain Salam Air and Gulf Air which had flights.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous10:09

    Any chance Qatar may return to year round to Sarajevo?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:26

      Would be nice. At least they increased frequencies this summer.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous10:14

    Could JU go for some of this business? It is big and growing bigger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:16

      No planes... or imagination. They couldn't make Cairo work

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:19

      Too long rotation. Price would not be competitive against Gulf airlines.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:30

      Don't forget that there is also Beirut, they failed on almost all Middle Eastern destinations. TLV is the last one and I don't think they'll be back if EL AL resumes BEG.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:34

      Have you been living under a rock? They didn't fail in Tel Aviv. Have you seen what is happening in Israel? Even Ryanair has not returned to Israel. Some of you are devoid of reality.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:41

      How about you read what I wrote. I wrote that I see them cutting TLV in case EL AL resumes BEG. I didn't mean now I meant once Israel is done with their invasion.

      When that happens I don't think JU can compete with Arkia and EL AL. It would be too much for them. They already failed once in this market so they might fail again.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:42

      From where did you get that El Al will start BEG?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:01

      It was reported here and then when fighting broke out they delayed their flights. I expect them to remain committed to BEG. These flights are supposed to be operated by their subsidiary Sun D'Or.

      We need a stable and reliable carrier to TLV. JU is unpredictable, truly Wizzier than Wizz as Marek would say.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:03

      No that wasn't reported here at all. El Al subsidiary Sun d'Or scheduled flights to Belgrade in January this year and cancelled them last month along with a bunch of routes due to fleet shortage

      Delete
    9. Anonymous15:56

      My good old Anonymous friend, Sun d'Or doesn't sell flights on their own website, everything goes through EL AL. That's like saying Lufthansa doesn't fly to the region because they send CityLine.

      I fear and I hope those fears are not real but JU can't compete with a major carrier such as LY. They only managed to beat AF by begging them to suspend the route.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:15

    I have flown QR many times this year. BEG-DOH-BEG is always full including business. Lots of transfers from Australia and China and also more exotic destinations like Thailand and southeast Asia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:16

      QR needs to get rid of the recliner A320s on Belgrade route.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:20

      Would be nice if they made the B787 permanent on this route. Not just occasional.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:29

      My guess is that yields are low in Belgrade and that is why they are not increasing flights. If yield was good they would keep night flights or sent something bigger.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:31

      Night flights were there because of seasonal growth in demand for Southeast Asia that is not there in European summer. Commenting as someone who collaborates with Qatar Airways on Serbian market.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:24

      Same here, I fly very often on QR in BC and it's regularly full. They do use the 320H's (recliner A320s) as they have more economy seats than flatbed 320, and while recliners are fine for ~5h day flight it's annoying not to have flatbeds on all A320 aircraft. The QR233/234 used to be mostly flatbeds (it was a night flight though so recliners would have sucked)

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:26

      I was on a night flight in January when they did a last minute swap to recliners. It was quite horrible.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:28

      And to add cabin was FULL.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:42

      SOF, BEG and Bucarest could have used a 321 for Doha, but I think they don't have them anymore? Or they never had them in the fleet?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:43

      They don't have them anymore. Until pandemic QR flew daily to Belgrade with A321.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous10:21

    Ljubljana is getting Doha and Jeddah flights IMMINENTLY

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:26

      Where is this coming from?

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:28

    It's a shame Qatar reduced BEG to daily this summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:32

      They didn't reduce it. Flights are up on first half of last summer and the same during second half.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:25

      He probably means reduced from daily + 3x a week night flights. Unfortunately those night flights were scheduled just for winter but I hope we'll see them come back.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:28

      QR has a single aisle fleet shortage. In summer they have to put planes on other routes. Local QR team in BEG also manages SJJ and is trying to move flights to B787 on BEG route. This year the extra capacity they were given went to SJJ.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:51

      A decade ago BEG had ME flights with Air Serbia, Etihad, Flydubai and Qatar. Two dropped off, Wizz started a new one but without transfers. Qatar is the loser here. They are the only one offering single-airline transfer options, had a wide open opportunity but were unable to grow demand to justify widebody service. I hope Emirates will start 787 service to Belgrade in the next two years and show Qatar how it's done.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous11:07

    Wow, well done Bosnia and Sarajevo, respect!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous11:52

    Impressive statistics from Sarajevo

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous17:37

    Qatar in Belgrade is a promise that never materializes!
    Since how long do they have maximum daily flights, ten years?
    Market in Ex Yu is extremely fragmented benefitting absolutely nobody.
    Belgrade is Flydubais darling, Zagreb is Qatars darling, Turkish sends its widebodies to Ljubljana and Saudi Arabia and Kuwait fly only to muslim majority places which is so boringly conservative but expected.
    Well and Skopje gets nothing!
    But most outstanding is Air Astana with its A321neo to Podgorica.
    Podgorica definitely won the Ex Yu lottery!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:51

      It won the ex-Yu lottery because of 2 months a year of Air Astana ops?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous18:04

      ^Haha,so much on point!
      :P

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:05

      @17.37 :D

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:22

      In Texas we have the same problem.
      Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth compete for the same passengers and airlines.
      Dallas always is second choice.
      I guess Sydney and Melbourne in Australia are similar.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous22:07

      That phenomen is called cannibalisation.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous18:04

    they (gulf tourists) have not heard yet of Skopje's Old Bazaar area it seems ...

    ReplyDelete

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