No Tripoli comeback for Jat
Jat Airways has cancelled plans to resume services to the Libyan capital Tripoli this summer. Flights were to launch on March 26, more than a year after they were suspended due to the implementation of a no fly zone over Libya which eventually led to war. The Serbian carrier planned to operate flights to Tripoli as a triangle service via Malta (Belgrade - Malta - Tripoli - Belgrade), as it has done so in the past few years.Most European airlines will resume flights to the Libyan capital this summer, including Austrian, British Airways, KLM and Air France. Recently, sporadic gun fighting between rival clans has been reported near Tripoli Airport. Before the fall of the Gaddafi regime several Serbian engineering and construction companies worked in Libya with Jat flights mostly being used by workers. With all investments now stalled there is little need for the planned two weekly flights to resume.
Despite the cancellation of its Tripoli service Jat will go ahead and launch flights to Malta which were suspended when services to Tripoli were dumped. The airline has pushed back the launch date for the Malta service to June 18 and has slightly revised its flight times. Details can be found here.
I am happy to see that JAT is returning to Malta despite the cancellation of Tripoli resumption.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the schedule with the return flight arriving to Belgrade at 23:00 provides zero connectivity in Belgrade. Are they aiming to BEG-MLA O&D market only, tour operators? It does not seem like a viable option.
They are probably aiming for tourists and the small Serbian diaspora in Malta
ReplyDeleteSerbian diaspora in Malta is not a small one, not to mention that most of them are doctors, meaning that they are wealthy.
DeleteNothing new from Jat...
ReplyDeleteWhat a waste of a B733, could be used for other destinations in increasing capacity and frequencies.
ReplyDeleteEven to IST the frequencies are so bad that i always end up by having no other choice than to fly with Turkish Airlines which i hate for a number of reasons (despite the good inflight service) and which are always overpriced...
ReplyDeleteNext step they cancel Dubai and FZ is replaced by Emirates A332 which takes all the service and forms a monopoly on the route, wouldn't be surprising given many FZ flights are full...
ReplyDeletei must say something.. i was flying to malta for 26 euros OW. beg-fco 17e wizzair, and fco-mla easyjet 9e. and the next time i will do the same. not going to pay 200 and more euros for 1 sandwich and coffee and direct flight. no, thanx, i prefer when i arrive to malta to have in my pocket 100 and more euros earned by flying LCs. And 1 more thing, in Berlin there are around 20.000 serbs living there (diaspora) and JAT have 3 flights pw. how is it possible that these flights are never full. also, berlin is one of the favourite cities-destinations for serbian tourists... very strange. does anyone know LF for 2011 on BEG-BER route? im very very courious. and its very important not only for me, but for all of us interested in airline industry. Thanx a lot. regards from belgrade.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree about your way of thinking, teh same here, I am not despereate for a "free" sandwich and drink, always find my own connection with LCC. I spend less money, don't expect anything from these LCC (you get what you pay for) and everyone happy.
DeleteAlex London
According to JAT's official statistics for 2011, BEG-BER route has LF around 61%, some 77 passengers per flight.
DeleteWhat is happening with JAT's BEG - DXB flights, they are not in their booking system, does this mean they will not commence the route?
ReplyDeleteJAT schedule is pathetic. I guess there is guy sitting for 20 years and between two rounds of coffee drinking and private chat, presses the "copy paste" button on the mouse. Ridiculous. Where is market reaction on the BEG/PRG, BEG/BCN route after other airlines withdrew?
ReplyDeleteI would not call it pathetic, it is a bit harsh. I guess that they are doing what they can with what they have. However, some creative management would be good.
DeleteI just dont get why they haven´t pushed the flight 5 hours later, to depart BEG around midnight and to return early in the morning, providing connections to all flights departing BEG in the morning.
The similar schedule could be applied systemwide utilising planes which would otherwise stay idle in BEG overnight (i.e. most of them)
They can’t push the departure time by a few hours because they are flying charters during the night. JU is doing all it can with the fleet its got. PRG turned out be unprofitable for both JU and for OK so I don’t see why on earth they would resume it. As for DXB they probably won’t launch it. Fly Dubai is not doing well on the route at all. Its January load factor (except for first few days in JAN) was very poor. They still haven’t managed to get any transit passengers to Australia and by inflating prices recently I doubt they will manage to do so in the near future. The fact that they are advertising their BEG-DXB flights in Banja Luka on billboards shows they are desperate. JU/EK have just extended their interline agreement so those stories about EK wanting to fly to BEG are just stories for little kids. JU won’t return to DXB only because the CEO decided that all passengers must be handed over to Fly Dubai (I’m just wondering how much Mr. Ognjenovic is being paid for that).
ReplyDeleteJU is actually introducing a lot of changes this summer. More flights to Moscow, new flights to Gatwick, separate flights to Brussels and Amsterdam, new flights to Pula, Dubrovnik and Split. Its likely Banja Luka will be back and will be subsidised. Ohrid will return as well. There will be more flight to Paris and Heathrow and so on.
Flydubai will add the fifth weekly flight starting from the middle of June.
DeleteThey've got BEG DXB billboards in Timisoara, Romania as well
DeleteJU/EK extending their interline agreement is not evidence that JU won't fly to DXB, rather, it means that EK is chill with JU to fly to DXB. An airline advertising their flight in Banja Luka doesn't mean they're desperate. You're just being a troll. Now that the Tripoli flights are cancelled, the a/c have more block hours in them, which actually raises the chances of Jat trying DXB again.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Hainan Airlines stopped flying to BUD. I feel like if JU had intelligent diplomacy with other airlines, they could codeshare on a hypothetical PEK-BEG route operated by Hainan. What do you guys think? Too good to be true I know, but just hypothesizing.
It would be magnificent for Hainan to come to BEG althought it wont happen unfortunetly. Flydubai will have an excellent summer season, althought i whink this february will be catastrophic, since nobody flies from BEG during FEbruary hehe.
DeleteAre there Chinese in Serbia ?
ReplyDeleteHow do they think about direct flights between
BEG and PR China ?
Estimated at cca. 5000, and they are bound far more to Shanghai than Beijing, however this is far too insufficient for direct flights. Budapest has one of the largest ethnic Chinese communities in this part of Europe...
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