Jat introducing new flights

Jat conscious of low cost threat
This summer Jat is preparing to significantly increase frequencies to many of its destinations on top of introducing new services. This summer, the Serbian carrier will serve Athens daily. The service was recently increased from 3 to 4 per week as it tries to fill the void left by Aegean Airlines’ suspension of the route. The extra frequencies are being primarily introduced for the Macedonian diaspora from Australia, which will be able to use Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways flights to Athens and transit via Belgrade to their home country. The additional frequencies are set to be added to reservations systems soon. Jat will also be reintroducing services to Ohrid. The seasonal flights will be operated 5 times per week, 4 of which will be nonstop and 1 of which will operate via Skopje. The airline will fly to Macedonia’s capital city 15 times per week this summer. Furthermore, Jat’s service to Dubai will be increased from 3 to 4 times per week and the airline also plans to fly 9 times per week to London Heathrow.

In a statement issued to the Serbian press this weekend the airline says, “We have now realised the threat we face from low cost airlines”. It continues on by saying that Jat is preparing various measures to fend off the competition. In only one week the airline sold 9.000 tickets on their special discount fare sale. In 2010, Jat handled some 1.100.000 passengers, although official statistics are yet to be released. Jat says that low cost airlines have taken some 400.000 passengers from the airline.

Next week, the CEO’s of Jat and Croatia Airlines will meet and decide which routes the two airline should open between the two countries.

Comments

  1. AirKoryoTU-20407:35

    Could we see an OA/YU codeshare on this route or is this also against the E.U regulations on competition!

    Also sounds intresting about connecting pax from Australia but couldn't this be done via DXB? I know most flights from Athens to the Mid East are usually full of Greeks coming from Australia!

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  2. Has anyone at JAT ever heard of market research?!?! 15 flights p/w between BEG and SKP would be OK if the schedule made sense and if both transit and O&D passengers could take advantage of such a schedule. With SKG within a spitting distance and with fares significantly lower than from OHD, SKP or BEG, what's the point of having 2 flights to SKP from BEG on Saturdays and Sundays within 20 minutes?

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  3. Purger09:29

    So plan is Macedonian diaspora from Australia, will be able to use Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways flights to Athens and transit via Belgrade to their home country. Let my make it thatway:

    Australia - Doha - Athens - Belgrade - Skopje.

    hahahahaha! What an idea!!!! In Croatia we have a neme for that: "Jatovanje". Which genious come to idea that someone will use line with 3 stops and changes of aircraft.

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  4. Anonymous09:35

    ^ Since it’s the cheapest way to get to Macedonia from Australia I’m sure they will use it. The current combination Macedonians are using is the same as the duration these flights will be.

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  5. Anonymous09:36

    I'd never fly into Macedonia via Greece. Shame on any Macedonian which does.

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  6. Anonymous09:40

    Why would Australian Macedonian passengers fly to Athens then connect with JAT and literally 'fly over' Macedonia to arrive in Belgrade and then back track to Skopje or Ohrid?

    The best option is flying Emirates to Dubai and connect with JAT that way. (Good luck finding a seat on Emirates!)

    Or simply bring back direct JAT services to Auatralia :)

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  7. Anonymous09:42

    It’s better than flying over Macedonia all the way to Vienna.

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  8. Anonymous09:53

    The less 'flying over' Macedonia the better.

    JAT connect with Emirates from Dubai, how about other cities like Abu Dhabi (Etihad), Doha (Qatar), KL (Malaysia) etc...

    Turkish Airlines are another option via Istanbul.

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  9. Anonymous09:58

    I don’t know why all of you are complaining. I have been using EK/JU combination for several years now and generally the experience has been good, although a bit more expensive than other options (particularly Etihad), but I use EK/JU (from SYD) because it’s quick. I don’t wait more than 1 hour in Dubai to go to Belgrade and the same happens in Belgrade to Skopje. Now there are more options for passengers. It’s kind of sad that another airline, which has nothing to do with your country, is thinking up ways of capitalising your market. Where are bloody Macedonian airlines!? Why aren’t they thinking up things like this?

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  10. Purger10:14

    All global reservation systems shows Turkish with 2 stops from Australia to SKP in first 30-40 options as most cheep and the fastest solution. Jat is not option in first 100 examples.

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  11. AirKoryoTU-20410:30

    Why wouldn't a Macedonian from Australia fly via Athens? Does it really matter about politics if they want to go back for a holiday! Grow up guys! There is no problem there. Also flying from Melbourne, Sydney to Skopje usually goes longer than MEL-DXB-ATH-BEG-SKP with Austrian or Lufthansa since we see longer stop overs in Bangkok, Vienna or Frankfurt. The only problem with ATH is the avalibility of seats in peak season.

    Plus I really doubt the main reason of JU increasing ATH is only due to connections for SKP.

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  12. Anonymous10:42

    AirKoryo, sure ill fly into Athens, when they start to call me Macedonian and not Skopjanos. The only time Athens will see me is if im in a body bag.

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  13. Dreamliner11:07

    Hey All, hold on …. Please keep your comments if you are not from Australia and don’t know the prices. Yes Macedonian Diaspora is big in Australia, we used to use OS all the time , but since they stop the flights to Australia, the tickets with codeshare with QF,TG are quite expensive. At the moment only LX and QF have good prices , around $2300, TK sometimes $2400.
    Let me tell you something , average return ticket from SYD/MEL/BNE to SKP is around $2500 AUD , QR , EK , EY have cheaper ticket to ATH and IST , zone one .
    Ticket to ATH cost $1500 with option via BEG wouldn’t be more than $1700 . Timings are PERFECT, they are the only airlines who can reach the Balkan in lest then 24 hours.
    I just bought ticket to SKP few days ago , flying QR from MEL to BRU via DOH , for just $780 AUD.

    http://www.qatarairways.com/au/en/bru-webonly.html?CID=EMAU02153022320023200000130

    Just to comment, there are heaps seats on EK flights , most likely is hard to get seats on JU flight DXB-BEG , so many times W classes and V,K in sabre are closed , no seats, I recon they don’t want to release any seats for cheaper price. .

    I recon JU will departing from ATH around 4pm , they will wait for EK,QR,EY which arriving between 12:30-1:30pm in ATH, then connect to SKP on the evening flight.
    Good Job JU. They know what they doing , there is nothing wrong flying from ATH via MKD to BEG then to SKP.
    What do you think ? , SQ from SIN on the way to FCO , where they flying over? do they need to stop in SKP to let the people go out ?!?!?!

    I tell you something, JU not only increasing the frequencies just for Macedonian people, they do for their own people too. RT ticket from Australia to BEG/SKP via ATH will be cheaper then the current EK flight SYD/MEL/DXB – BEG , that means more seats available to the Balkan , which will be competitor on the current EK flight DXB-BEG-SKP.

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  14. Most people take the price of a ticket into account when choosing the routing. For the sake of facts, Olympic Airways offers SKG-MEL v.v. (via ATH and AUH) at EUR946 including taxes, while the lowest EK and TK fares without taxes are EUR1091 and EUR1124 (TK fare has a 6M max stay). For a family travelling together, the difference is more than significant.

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  15. Peter from Sydney11:40

    Who the hell writes, “We have now realised the threat we face from low cost airlines”!? No self respecting airline in the world admits such a thing in public. Sure that might be the reality but you never put it so bluntly to the public. Have Jat not heard of marketing spin, 'opening new markets', 'strengthening our position', 'providing customers more choice, more frequencies, better connections'!
    Also, on the Macedonian flights could Jat not have a couple of flights out of Athens stop in Skopje and then continue on to Belgrade? That would make alot more sense then going to Belgrade then back tracking back to Skopje.

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  16. @ Peter from Sydney

    I don't think that either Greek or Macedonian authorities would permit BEG-SKP-ATH flights with traffic rights between SKP and ATH. On the other hand, INI is close enough and it could be offered as an alternative to SKG that Macedonians use very often.

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  17. One suggestion:
    JAT shold lease two 77L 300 seaters (3 class config) and open:
    BEG-SYD (~8500nm)
    BEG-MEL (~8400nm)
    BEG-LAX
    BEG-YYZ
    BEG-ORD, 2 weekly each.
    Then we could talk about 15f/w to SKP, 5f/w to OHD and so on... Not to mention that LH/LX/OA/OU/JP would definitely codeshare with JU on MEL/SYD routes!

    These routes would be highly profitable, thats for sure. MEL and SYD especially. 1400h departures would be the best solution. Just think about it. And please, do it without nationalism/racism etc.

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  18. sorry but couldnt resist:

    Australia - Doha - Athens - Belgrade - Skopje

    is hillarious !!!

    There is nothing against transiting in ATH, its the backtracking that is out of mind. One can rather continue to SKG and get picked up there then fly to Belgrade and back.
    Come on JAT, WTF.

    I just searched for SYD/MEL-SKP fares and i guess IST is gonna get all the macedonian transit passangers from oz

    However, its good that Jat are back at SKP with 15/7.

    and finally
    BEG-SKP-ATH-SKP-BEG would be brilliant.

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  19. Anonymous13:52

    For now Jat has two daily departures to Skopje, one at around 16:00 and the second one at 21:40. This is extremly necessary in order to maximize the onward connection from Belgrade. You are all stuck on the Skopje-Australia market but I am sure that Jat is more interested in capturing Skopje-Europe traffic.
    I for one am more than happy that they have realized that in our world today it is all about frequencies and how often you fly to a destination in order to give the chance of flexibility to the passenger.
    Jat's 9/week flight to London is nothing new. They have been doing that for a long time now.
    I am really curious to see what they plan to do with Germany and Scandinavia this coming summer, after all they are their biggest markets.

    Do we know what the BEG timetable will look like in summer? Anyone planning any additions?
    I am sure that we are going to have more interesting news besides airBaltic coming back.

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  20. Anonymous13:57

    Last year next to me were sitting some Macedonians that we flying

    Adelaide-Sydney-Dubai-Belgrade-Ohrid

    So I think that happens much more often than we think.

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  21. Anonymous14:09

    How often did Jat fly to Dubai last summer?
    Was in 2008 when they used to fly 8 times per week?

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  22. @ Anonymous who said "but I am sure that Jat is more interested in capturing Skopje-Europe traffic."

    If you spent a few days at any agency in SW Macedonia (Bitola & Ohrid) you'd know that at least 75% passengers are for Melbourne and New York. JAT hasn't got a chance at capturing more SKP-EU traffic than it already has, as OU/JP/OS/MA offer better connections and fares.

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  23. Jeebusman15:18

    The blog states that JAT is also launching new flights. Well what are they?

    And thank God that Croatia Airlines and JAT have decided to launch flights. I personally don't care who flies where, as long as there are flights. Fuck the politics, forget the bad history, and lets move on. Period of reconciliation. After all we are still Slavic brothers...

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  24. Purger15:51

    JU500:
    Company with 900.000 pax to leass 777-300? Woooow... That would be something. Come on! Much bigger companies with 100 planes and some 10 milion pax can not do that! Who would be pax for those 300 places per flight?

    And that LH, OU, OA, LX will make conections to that line?!?!? That is the best joke ever.... Of course LH will change 3 times per day conection via SIN to 2 times per week via BEG? Bravo!!!

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  25. This is one of those days! JP801 is rerouted via BNX and YM101 via INI. Wouldn't it be nice to have regular flights from BEG to BNX and INI? :-)

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  26. Well, its better to have connections inside Europe, than in Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok!

    And yes, they would codeshare it with JU. 2 f/w would be just the initial frequency! Besides IST, BEG can easily catch MEL/SYD area without one or more stops with 77Ls!
    Its better for Lufthansa to codeshare from BEG then from SIN/BKK/KUL/HKG! Plus, what about OU and JP? JP would go daily basis on LJU-SIN route with their CR2, hm?
    And of course, we have LX and OS too.
    Its better to have 50min flight VIE-BEG, and then continue directly to MEL/SYD without further stops in Asia...
    Think pls. Dont make a big fuss out of this. Its just a suggestion!

    p.s. In the last post I meant to write OS instead of OA.

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  27. Plus JU3312 ZRH-BEG via LJU :)

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  28. @ JU500

    Thanks! I missed that as I was looking at departures only. :-)

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  29. Dreamliner21:33

    JU will never ever fly to Downunder, they are not allowed, unless they pay the money what they own to the airports. If it’s happen , that would be miracle.

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  30. Anonymous21:46

    Flighs to Australia operated by a little regional airline with 13 planes in the fleet + purchasing 2 wide bodies is ridiculous and mathematicly impossible to be ever profitabile. Competition would destroy this try in only a few months. Above written comment about purachsing 2 B777-200LR is out of any reality, better to say only a very funny childish dream.

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  31. Anonymous22:03

    and JU500 Lufthansa codesharing the flight BEG-SYD 2 flights per week via BEG is also childish and whitout any reality! What is better in BEG 2 flights per week then 3 or 4 flights daily via SIN (beside others by A380) + 2 or 3 daily flights via BKK all of them Star Alliance partner? Absolutely irelevant offer from BEG, not offering anything better. Beside the current offer of Lufthansa and Star Alliance partners 2 flights per week from BEG hasn't completely any importance for Lufthansa. Sorry JU 500 but you are flying very high completely out of reality ... Lufthansa would rather destroy any try of intercontinental flights to Balkan then co-operate on something. We have nothing to offer to Lufthansa only to be it feeder ... Lufthansa don't need any our extrenal - out of region flights.

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  32. Dreamliner22:19

    : ) There are some funny posts ….

    ATH-BEG will go back to normal 3 flight per week at the end of the year or might be even suspended , once TK will start flying to SYD this year the competition will be over. There are rumors; they might use B772L for non-stop to compete to everyone especially EK, EY and QR, or they still considering flying via CGK for the beginning to see how the market will go.

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  33. Anonymous22:27

    Turkish Airlines has been starting flights to Sydney as long as Jat has been getting new aircraft. Its an urban myth

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  34. Dreamliner22:37

    @ Anonymous,

    Read them … you will understand better

    http://www.travelweekly.com.au/news/turkish-airlines-set-for-sydney

    http://everythingturkish.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=118:thy-sydney-2009&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=94

    http://www.smh.com.au/business/deal-adds-turkey-to-qantas-competitors-20100221-onv9.html

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  35. Purger00:46

    @ JU500
    Why Jat have to stop code-share with Emirates to New York via Hamburg. Because LH orderd them so!

    And thing about it what will happend even if Jat thing about intercontinental flights. They will distroy all Jat (not just intercontinental division) in less then one season.

    Lufthansa doesn't wont to code-share even some of partners in Star Alliance and out of it, trust me, NO WAY!!! And I am tolking about serous parners not some funny-company of 900.000 pax per year.

    Tell me why Malev, CSA, TAROM, bmi... decide to stop intercontinental flights? Why Austrian have less and less intercontinental flights every year?

    The biggest problem with Jat is that they think it is 1988. Whan Jat was somethin between midle and small company. Today Jat is not even small but miniature company. If you put together OU, JU and JP that would be small company in today relation. And in those 3, JU is the worst and smollest one!

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  36. OK, svi bolje znate. No problem ;)

    p.s. Valjda je jasno da uz ta dva 77L aviona idu i neki regionalni, i da je moja "ideja" INICIJALNA KAPISLA. Nista vise. Pa sigurno ne mislim da JAT pocne da leti za MEL i SYD, a da pre toga ne uspostavi i jake regionalne letove, kako bi ima koga da prevozi do te proklete Australije...

    Nije ni vazno... necEm da se nerviram zbog gluposti :)
    a vi, svakako, nastavite da se pravite pametni ;)

    p.p.s. Mrzelo me da pisem in english. Valjda mi na tome, pored ostalog, necete zameriti ;)))

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  37. Aleks Nikolic USA05:22

    Anybody know why all inbound and outbound flights (BEG) are cancelled?

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  38. Anonymous07:05

    ATH-BEG will go back to normal 3 flight per week at the end of the year or might be even suspended , once TK will start flying to SYD this year the competition will be over. There are rumors; they might use B772L for non-stop to compete to everyone especially EK, EY and QR, or they still considering flying via CGK for the beginning to see how the market will go.

    ------------------------------

    I seriously do wonder where you are getting your facts from. First of all there are enough passengers (O&D) to have Athens flying at least five times a day. The only problem is that I doubt Jat has enough planes for that. Jat's service to Athens is not only for conecting passengers.
    Second of all Turkish Airlines never intended on getting a B777-200, those flights would be either operated on a 777-300 or the A340. Jakarta is going to be operated regardless of Australia or not.

    As for TKs flights to Australia, the problem is in the slots in Australia.
    However I think that Turkish is much more interested in expanding in South America at this moment as there are rumours of Buenos Aires.

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  39. Anonymous10:38

    "JU will never ever fly to Downunder, they are not allowed, unless they pay the money what they own to the airports. If it’s happen , that would be miracle."

    Is this really true Dreamliner? Do JAT still have outstanding debts at Australian airports?

    My 2 cents worth, how about a summer charter service from Melbourne, Sydney or Perth to Belgrade, Skopje or Zagreb. Once a week or a few times a month. Get local travel agents involved in promotion togerther with Ex YU newspapers and Media ie: Channel 31and radio and charter a Strategic Airlines Airbus A330-200?? Again just my 2 cents worth :)

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  40. AirKoryoTU-20412:16

    I think flights from the Former Yugoslav nation to areas as far flung as Australia will never ever ever ever be seen! Not one European carrier serves Melbourne or any other airport in Australia besides Sydney which sees Virgin Atlantic, BA and Air Austral, such claims that an A330-200 flying season services to Australia sounds like an absolute joke! But then again ex-yu might see this take place, and then shortly after the operating carrier would fold.

    Airlines from Europe wanting to fly back to Australia are very limitd currently on the few Greek carriers want to entre/re-entre the market for obvious reasoning. Other than that TK to Sydney if we consider them a European carrier.

    The problem with connecting passengers through Athens to Skopje would be the Slavic-Macedonians wouldnt want to transit through the Hellenic Republic yet they don't mind driving into the Hellenic Republic via their border! Go figure? Also I know alot of Slavic-Macedonaians who transit via Istanbul, if thati s not double standards I don't know whats coming to me!

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  41. Anonymous12:51

    Koryo youre such an asshole

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  42. Dreamliner13:16

    Yeah …whatever … there is no point to argue , I don’t really care if JU will fly to Downunder or ORD or will have 10 flight to DXB or AUH or DOH , or if JU will have daily flight to ATH or 3 times per week or TK will use B773 or B772 to Downunder. The time will show.
    I think Pruger explained a lot with the comparation …. That post says a lot.

    @ JU500 WARNING !!! do not ever say “proklete Australije” , how u will fell if someone say “proklete ‘ime na drzava’ ” ok , if u live in Australia and don’t like it here , go from wherever u come from, anyway Happy Australia Day Tomorrow.

    @ AirKoryoTU-204 , please ignore some of the people, either they don’t like you , or they don’t want to accept the truth , I think is the second.

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  43. Anonymous14:11

    Purger, I guess if ZAG would figure instead of BEG, you wouldn't have so many remarks regarding stops en route from Australia to FYR Macedonia?

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  44. Anonymous15:06

    guys, you bitching about a small neighbouring country of yours is so pathetic.

    but thats the balkan syndrom i guess.

    ljecite komplekse somewhere else

    It has nothing to do with ATH or BEG
    or ZAG , i guess its the routing that makes no sense at all (except if the price is too hot, but i dont see any JAT fares so far)

    @Koryo your trolls here are almost legendary

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  45. Purger17:39

    @ anonimus
    "Purger, I guess if ZAG would figure instead of BEG, you wouldn't have so many remarks regarding stops en route from Australia to FYR Macedonia?"

    Where you get this idea?

    I am author of analisis of Croatia airlines which make lot of storm in presentation infront of President of Republic of Croatia, minister of transportation and general manager + other managers of Croatia airlines. In 30 hours of presentations 95% of thing were critisism.

    In same time I am one of the biggest critists of Zagreb airport and because of that I lost acreditation to enerence international zones in ZAG airport which I had for 18 year.

    So, do not write what you don't know!

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  46. Anonymous18:19

    I think that daily connection between Ohrid and Sydney with A380 would be perfect and profitable. This genious route would destroy Singapore Airlines and British Airways together and Lufthansa will cry on its knees to code share on this route! Why not? The same genious realistic plans and most of the chidlish dreaming written in comments above :-))))))))))))

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  47. CavapcicIzNYC18:30

    Guys, Zagreb and Belgrade barely started direct flights to USA which is ten times closer than Australia. North America has much more diaspora from the Balkans than Australia. Lets see how Zagreb and Belgrade do before starting to even think about flights to Australia.

    And for Serbs, they already have a good deal with Dubai airport for connecting flights to Australia so as far as they are concerned, they don't really care. And if Macedonia thinks that they can attract such flights such as those to Australia, then they need a shitload of money and even more luck to do so.

    But like I said, flights to USA are just beginning, and if those do not work out, then how do you expect Australian flights to work?

    BTW, anyone have any updates about Toronto-Belgrade flights. A couple of people in Canada involved in he airline industry say that Canada is looking for a carrier to start eh flights and that as of now Air Canada is the first choice. Just wanted to know. Thanks.

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