Three European airports have recently expressed interest in establishing flights to several capital cities in the former Yugoslavia. The trio has identified the region as a target based on growing passenger demand and increasing travel flow.
Cologne Airport is seeking flights to both Belgrade and Skopje. The German city was last linked to the Serbian capital in January 2024, when Air Serbia discontinued operations after less than a year. The Serbian carrier continues to serve Cologne from Niš. Prior to that, in 2023, Wizz Air briefly maintained the route as a temporary replacement for its Dortmund service due to runway maintenance. Germanwings, now rebranded as Eurowings, served the city pair for six years between 2006 and 2012. The German city is currently among the busiest unserved routes from Belgrade in Europe. On the other hand, Cologne is also hoping to reestablish flights to Skopje, which were discontinued by Wizz Air in October last year. The route was maintained for over a decade since April 2014.
Porto Airport is seeking to establish flights to Zagreb. The two cities have never been linked with a scheduled air service. Croatia Airlines, which is expanding its route network, planned to introduce flights to Lisbon this summer, but was unable to do so after failing to obtain slots at the busy airport. It did not seek Porto as an alternative. The flag carrier has so far not applied for slots at either airport for the upcoming winter.
Riga is another European capital seeking a direct air link to Zagreb, with the two cities yet to be connected by a scheduled service. airBaltic’s recent regional expansion, which included routes to Ljubljana, Belgrade, Skopje, and Pristina, most of which were later discontinued, did not extend to Zagreb, though the airline did launch new services to the Croatian coast. Preliminary slot filings for the upcoming winter season indicate that no airline has applied to operate the route. In addition to airBaltic and Croatia Airlines, low cost carrier Ryanair, which maintains bases in both cities, is viewed as a potential operator.
Cologne–Belgrade is a nobrainer. Can’t believe there’s still no service given the diaspora size. Wizz should jump back in or Eurowings could reconsider it.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteJU could serve it with the E-jet. It is ideal sized for it.
DeleteTbh I think JU has enough destinations in Germany. 10 isn't it?
Delete7 from BEG. 9 in total if destinations served only from Nis are included.
DeleteMUC is a much bigger market than Cologne.
DeleteCologne is 39min to 1h away from DUS by regional train, by high speed train 48 min to FRA.
DeleteDusseldorf is less than 40 km from Cologne. Makes no sense for JU to fly there. None whatsoever.
DeleteSimilar is Bologna and Florence, yet, there are flights reestablished
DeleteIt's a whole difference because both cities are operated on ATR.
DeleteYes, but demand to Germany and Italy is also whole different. Italy is almost strictly leisure, while Germany is business, diaspora, transfer and leisure. Anyway, article says that Cologne is one among biggest unserved route from BEG
DeleteThat`s because it appears in statistics due to Lufthasa carrying a number of pax from Cologne to Belgrade through its hub in Munich - Lufthansa operates both Dusseldorf and Cologne/Bonn. By starting flights from Cologne in addition to Dusseldorf, JU would not capture any of those, for they already have a viable option to fly directly with JU from an airport 30 minutes away and are not using it. Business logic that stops JU from relaunching Cologne/Bonn flights is good.
DeleteEW would be the best choice for the route.
DeleteRyanair has the capacity and the bases in both Riga and Zagreb. They should step in. It fits their model perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure FR will launch both Riga and Porto from Zagreb. They have bases in all those cities.
DeleteWould love to see it open in time for next summer.
DeleteWell they aren't launching any new routes this winter so we can hope for some new additions next year.
DeleteFR is getting less 737s from Boeing than it was expecting so route expansion has been minimal in most of Europe.
DeleteZAG base is Lauda A320. It has nothing to do with 737 delieveries/delays
DeleteQuestion since I'm not so familiar with FR fleet, are they growing Lauda Europe's A320 fleet or they are waiting to retire and replace them with B737s or plan to get rid of the brand when the A320s leave?
DeleteThey are waiting for the lease to expire.
DeleteThanks. They inherited all these from Lauda right?
DeleteThanks. They inherited all these from Lauda right?
DeleteSurprised Croatia Airlines didn’t look at Porto as an alternative if Lisbon slots were unavailable.
ReplyDeleteYou are susprised? They are so lathergic that I'm really not. They will just wait for Ryanair to launch it.
DeleteWell in a few days Ryanair starts Porto-Split seasonal :)
Delete^ that's not Ryanair it's easyjet.
DeleteWell, they will have more aircrafts than ever before so Porto would be logical addition. I think I one of EX-YU aviation texts about unserved markets Bilbao was also one of the top unserved markets (@admin?)
DeleteRiga-Zagreb could work seasonally at least.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteHope Skopje finally gets more routes beyond Germany and Switzerland.
ReplyDeleteSkopje desperately needs more western European connections beyond the Wizz Air network.
DeleteSKP management prefers to direct western European traffic through Istanbul.
DeleteWill happen. Just lots of behind issues being iron out.
Delete@10.42 ridiculous
Delete@13:54 just facts.
Delete@14.17 what "facts" ffs ??? 2 daily via IST vs OS, LH, JU, OS, LO, A3, WK ... the most ridicolous claim i have ever read on here, rekla kazala
Deleteas if you know personally SKP management ....
Demand is one thing, but yields matter. These routes may be unserved for a reason.
ReplyDeleteGetting that sinking feeling OU won't introduce anything new this winter. Especially if they didn't ask for slots anywhere.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Wizz will resume SKP-CGN.
ReplyDeletethey were up to 5 weekly
DeleteOdd that TAP didn't start LIS-ZAG.
ReplyDeleteThey used to fly it years ago. And it winter it operated via Bologna I think.
DeleteWhat equipment did they use on this route?
DeleteThey flew all sort of equipment A320, A319, E190, E195...
DeleteFrom what I remember TAP started flying to ZAG in 2007 and ended flights in 2016. It then came back in 2022 and 2023 and they ended those flights too.
DeleteHope they come back.
DeleteDid they sell tickets between Bologna and Zagreb?
DeleteYes. They flew via Bologna in winter only and you could buy tkts to Zagreb from Bologna.
DeleteWe went from 2 airlines on LIS-ZAG route to 0 :(
DeleteConsidering BT failed almost everywhere in ex-Yu and Ljubljana is subsidized, I don't see them launching Zagreb anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised considering they chose PRN and SKP over ZAG. No disrspect to either city, I just think ZAG is a much bigger market.
DeleteIs there significant Albanian diaspora in the Baltics?
DeleteWho are these flights for?
There aren't. There idea was to transport transfers, mainly to Scandinavia where there is a diaspora. But the yields were likely poor. PRN was at one point one weekly. But they also forgot that LOT, which has a bigger and stronger network, also failed with the same idea.
DeleteI'm curious to see if Air Baltic brings any of them back. They used the excuse of A220 engine issues of cutting them.
DeleteThe actual reason is their poor finances.
DeleteYes, this is the actual reason. Doubt we will see them back soon.
Delete@9:28 Why do you say LOT failed? They keep flying to the ex-YU destinations...
DeleteThey failed in PRN specifically to which I was referring to.
DeleteIf I am not mistaken LOT never intended to fly to PRN, so it's not that they filed. They simply did not see any potential for that route.
Delete@14.36 yes you are mistaken, what a surprise...
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/01/lot-discontinues-pristina-service.html
Cologne is one of the biggest missing links from Belgrade. Air Serbia should never have dropped it so quickly. Demand is there. Someone needs to step up.
ReplyDeleteNow with E-jets they could reconsider it.
DeleteIn the interview that was published here the other the CCO said they are looking at destinations they previously flew which can now be served with Embraers. He mentioned Helsinki but I assume Cologne is also an option.
DeleteI think all Cologne, Marseille and Helsinki are perfect fit for Ejets
DeleteAgree. Hope we see them back in the network.
DeleteAlso, Riga would be need point. Baltics have no connection from BEG. E190 may do the job fine. Air Baltic had nice LF, considering that they had awful timings, but they failed due to bad management
DeletePorto–Zagreb could attract both tourism and some business travel. TAP won’t do it, but maybe Ryanair.
ReplyDeleteAnd FR has a base in Porto.
DeleteBig biznes
DeleteCologne is a solid LCC market. Eurowings could return these flights to Belgrade with right timing and pricing.
ReplyDeleteTheir pricing is more likely LH, then W6
DeleteTrue. One of the more useless LCCs. They are even now making a dedicated buisness class cabin (with actual buisness class seats) for flights up to 5 hours. Even LH does not have that.
DeleteHope all of these get established.
ReplyDeletePortugal is still very poorly linked to ex-Yu. BEG is an exception.
ReplyDeleteThis is true. What are the other Portugal flights from ex-Yu?
DeleteNone. OPO-SPU by easyjet will start in a few days and that will be the only Portugal route in ex-Yu outside BEG.
DeleteWow I thought there were flights from DBV or flights from SPU to LIS. Very off for such lack of connectivity to Portugal.
DeleteMeanwhile, most airports in Portugal have flights to the US this summer - Faro, Porto, Ponto Delgada, Funchal....
DeleteFirst we need LIS from Zagreb. Then OPO.
ReplyDeleteVery difficult to get new slots at LIS. Only chance is TAP to use their slots.
DeleteMaybe next year they get slots.
DeleteAir Serbia flies to Dusseldorf, which is very close to Cologne. For reference, it takes the same time to drive between these two airports as it does from Belgrade airport to Pancevo. I guess it would make sense for Air Serbia to launch Cologne, but only if it's flights to Dusseldorf are super full.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why they launched it in the first place 2 years ago.
DeleteMy guess is they hoped for connecting traffic to the region.
DeleteThey can try MUNSTER in order to catch north Netherland gastos. With Dortmund Wizz and Dusseldorf JU no need for Cologne.
DeleteCould be something to look at. And I think those smaller regional airports give very good incentives.
DeleteSarajevo could work for Portugal and maybe Latvia during summer
ReplyDeleteWould be great to see Ryanair or even a charter operator test the waters
DeleteI do agree for the Portugal part, it has become a trending tourist destination for Bosnians and it's still affordable in all aspects except for housing. But first things should come first, Prague, Krakow, Larnaca, Malta and then maybe Porto or Lisbon. Leisure lines bringing the Baltics together could also work given that other less attractive cities are already served but LCCs should and will go by priority and demand.
DeleteZagreb could be a nice addition for TAP or a low cost seasonal route from Porto. Why not try a summer-only schedule?
ReplyDeleteWhy was Riga to Belgrade discontinued?
ReplyDeleteIt was cut along with almost all new Balkan routes.
DeleteVery bad timings, but still decent load factor
DeleteI live in Cologne and travel to Serbia often. This route being unserved in 2025 is just ridiculous. There’s real demand year-round.
ReplyDeleteYou know, people live in Obrenovac and fly from Belgrade.
DeleteAny of these routes would also be more than welcome.
ReplyDeletethe lack of DUS flights from SKP is mindblowing
ReplyDelete