Niš Airport in talks with Montenegro

Montenegro Airlines mulling possible return to Niš

Niš Constantine the Great Airport, in Serbia’s south-east, is in talks with Montenegro Airlines to resume services from Podgorica, following its suspension in October last year. The move has left Niš Airport without its only scheduled service. The airport now says it has resumed talks with the Montenegrin carrier, with the airline willing to commence flights from either Podgorica or Tivat without subsidies, unlike the last time around. Montenegro Airlines suspended its flights to Niš after the city was no longer able to pay subsidies and had accumulated debt towards the Montenegrin carrier. Initially, the airline launched flights from the Montenegrin capital to Niš in 2010. The service was vital for the airport, with the majority of passengers using the flights to transit through Podgorica and continue onwards to western Europe. Furthermore, the Mayor of Niš, Zoran Perišić, says the airport is in talks with a low cost airline to launch services to the city.

Meanwhile, the Mayor noted that Air Serbia will not be flying from Niš as it has rendered flights from the city as unprofitable, following recent talks with local authorities. Talks were held with the Serbian national carrier for the airline to launch a late night service from Belgrade to Niš with a return flight to be operated early in the morning, giving passengers the opportunity to transit onto flights towards western Europe.

Niš Airport has struggled to attract airlines since it reopened for commercial use in 2004. The low cost Italian airline, Wind Jet, operated flights from Forli to Niš in return for subsidies of 1.1 million euros and the purchase of fifty seats per flight by city authorities. Flights were suspended after the financial incentive dried up and an investigation has been launched in to why so much money was spent on the service. More recently, Darwin Airline from Switzerland ran flights from Zurich and Geneva but the pricey tickets failed to attract passengers. Jat Airways, which operated flights from Constantine the Great Airport to several cities suspended all services several years ago due to low profitability.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:07

    Montenegro should get fifth freedom rights. They want to fly from Niš, and plane like Embraer is ideal for airport like Niš. And past has shown that routes like Niš - Zurich or Niš - Vienna are profitable. If AS doesn't want to fly from INI government should let other airlines to do so. Same goes for Kraljevo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      The only problem is that the Serbian government is NOT forbidding foreign carriers to fly to/from Nis.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:15

      YM did try to operate flights out of Nis to ZRH but Serbia goverment didn't allow it http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/7055

      Same thing for BEG http://www.dailynewsmontenegro.com/serbia-snubs-montenegro-airlines.html

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:25

      Yeah and the government acted rightly so. Montenegro wanted their independence and they should have been ready to deal with certain things among which is the loss of a big market for Montenegro Airlines.
      On the other hand, they were given the permit to operate charter flights to Jordan a few years ago, that's the most they should get anyway.

      The Serbian government has no problems issuing fifth freedom rights. After all, they did allow Qatar to establish them between Ankara and Belgrade and they did give them to Belavia despite Air Serbia flying between the two cities.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:22

      I'm OK with GoS not wanting airline like Montenegro flying from INI, but at least start one, just one daily flight to somewhere.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:40

      Like Montenegro !?!? What's wrong with YM? In this situation is much better than JU who doesn't even care about INI.

      Delete
    6. JATBEGMEL11:09

      JAT had to cancel TIV-LHR and TIV-LED after the independence, only fair YM had to stop all Serbia-ZRH flights.

      Besides, it was the Swiss who refused to issue 5th freedoms to YM.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:09

    I think that Podgorica would be a better choice than Tivat because you can get much better connections than from TIV. What low cost carrier are they negotiating?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:38

    its a pitty that ini doesnt have any carrier.. there are at least 5 direct flights from ini that could be very profitable in a time like: vie, zrh, fra, mxp and ist!!! i am so sure of it!!! and all those flights can be made by single atr.. why JU thinks ini is definitely unprofitable, i dont know. in the south of serbia, there is population of 1 mil. and with happy fridays, saturdays and special sundays, people would fly from ini.. the best choice ever would be ryanair, but this one is very hard to atract in serbia. few weekly to hahn, charleroi, bergamo and weeze could be the right choice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:15

      There's no other profitable route from INI than to ZRH. At the moment, the best solution would be to fly INI-ZRH with a YM F100 or E190 including a short stopover in TGD. Or to adjust the timetable in TGD that an INI-passenger would not wait more than 90min for his connection to ZRH/FRA/CDG. Otherwise the flight would not be profitable and the same story as is it was since 2010.

      That would be realistic for YM, because they have a fleet and timetable that could work out with such an option. JU has a different fleet and timetable, so it would be very difficult for them to perform a flight like BEG-ZRH-INI-ZRH-BEG.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:21

      Ryanair wanted to fly from Niš in 2006 but the airport structure turned out to be inadequate.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:23

      *infrastrukture

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:47

      its not true that the only profitable route from ini is zrh.. there is more serbians from south living in vienna and surroundings than in zurich. thats the first. the second, there is many people living in germany; munich, dusseldorf and central germany, and they are from villages around nis, prokuplje, vranje, leskovac, vladicin han, krusevac, trstenik... the third: flight to ist could be even better performed than to zurich, also cheaper than flight from beg. and the fourth, flights to malpensa can work for workers in fiat, benetton and some italian companies around south serbia, but also for our people. we just need some time, like we needed for flights from beg to bnx, msq, var, sof.. look at polish, czech, slovak and even bosnian airports!!! they are improving their existence year by year!!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:21

      1. VIE-INI = 850km = majority Gastarbeiter = I take the bus rather than the plane...
      2. FRA had not even 1'000 passenger per year from INI via TGD between 2010 and 2012 (ZRH had between 5368 and 7694 connecting passengers via TGD in those years, not to speak about 28'000 passengers in 2006 when ZRH had a direct link with INI)
      3. IST-INI = 720km = majority Serbian tourist = I take the bus rather than the plane
      4. BEG has a great link with MXP and I do not believe that INI can stand a chance with BEG

      Don't get me wrong, I travel every 2-3 weeks from Western Europe to INI and I am from the aviation sector. I am trying to convince airlines from Switzerland to fly to INI and I won't give up especially when JU doesn't want to fly that route. I made an analysis about the airport in INI and the most realistic and profitable route is to ZRH, doesn't matter if we like it or not...

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:57

      ok, i am not from aviation sector, but i am allowed here to give some realistic opinion:
      1.vie-ini=850km, people from viena have 8times bigger salary than here in serbia. 2 hours flight from vie for 120, 130e is quite good choice, than by car, around 10h, and more than 200e for fuel and paytolls. dont forget that im talking about atr 66seats!!!
      2. fra had maybe 1.000pax last year throught tgd, but dont forget that direct flight is different kind of service. so maybe this way it could be 3.000pax. we dont know if we dont start this flight (3 hours), but still better choice than via tgd, or driving to beg, sof. and even cheaper or similar price.
      3.if about ist, id rather fly than by bus. its around 1:45h, and can attract even passenegers from kosovo if good price.
      4. to mxp beg has daily and easyjet 4 pw, but also there are people from south who use sof airport for milano flights, its closer and sometimes cheaper if travel by wizz.
      5. and if we talk about distances, dont forget that from beg, bnx is 330kms, bud 380kms and sof around 380kms, and there are flights. skg is 660kms, sjj around 300kms, lju 550kms and so on..
      dont get me wrong, but i think nis can justify its existence in few months, just like tuzla did it, or kosice, kaunas, rzesow, ostrava, brno etc.
      i cant imagine myself every time i need a plane to travel 250kms to get some airport. its not fair for souther serbia and people who live there. thats the point. and i am not talking about 15flights from ini, but only 5, and i am not talking about using a319, but single atr. belgradians are usually people who do not have problem and do not care about whats going on outside of belgrade if we talk about aviation in serbia. thats what i get when reading the posts. i am from belgrade and i would like to see flights from nis!!! it can be done for sure. like beg-bnx, beg-var, beg-sof and beg-bud!!!

      Delete
  4. Lovely - why I have the feeling that with JU is always like this with INI.
    Government of Nis wants flights like this, e.g. with night layover (although to me it seems, especially now, that JU planes are flying during nights, or probably going through some technical checks), or whatever similar. Than JU says it is unprofitable, and after government of Nis offers subsidies to foreign carrier - why they don't offer them to JU?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But do we know they did not offer any subsidies to JU?

      Delete
    2. I doubt they wouldn't say if they offered them.
      And if I remember correctly, few years ago they weren't offering them to JU, while they were offering them to other airlines. If subsidies are adequate I don't see any reason why JU wouldn't be flying.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:24

      City of Nis doesnt have money for subs.
      Its silly to sub JU, because the whole Serbia pays JU to operate through taxes.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:51

      Anon @ 3.24pm ... as of Jan 1, not one single taxpayer pays for JU to operate ... it is self standing and self funding ...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous19:40

      Yeah right, self standing and self funding, that's why contract with Etihad is top secret

      Delete
    6. Anonymous20:07

      Unless you can prove him otherwise don't troll.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous20:28

      So I need to prove when saying it's not self standing and self funding, and I'm troll, but he doesn't need to prove when saying it is self standing and self funding and he is not bot, ups, sorry, troll. Interesting :)

      Delete
    8. Anonymous03:10

      Yep, that's pretty much it so stop trolling.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:06

      Anon @ 7.40 and 8.28 ... you are such a dickhead ... who and what do you think Etihad is ?? If they have entered JU as a shareholder, what do you think is their game - to lose money and to b.s. people and lose their integrity and credibility ? It is not in their DNA. They are a serious and successful company - arguably the most successful in aviation, with no one having achieved what they have achieved in 10 short years. When Mr Hogan first arrived 7 years ago, Etihad wasn't much bigger than what JU currently is and look what he has done over these past 7 years ? As a significant shareholder in a broken, bankrupt and corrupt business, if he says that JU must now pay it's own way and stand on its own 2 feet, then surely this man has enough integrity that there should be no doubt about this whatsoever .... let's see what happens at the end of the first 12 mths, when JU's accounts will be prepared in accordance with IFRS accounting standards and independently audited by one of the global Big 4 accounting firms ... this will be done for the first time in its 86 year history and no one should have any doubts about the integrity of this process. I have far more confidence in a person of Mr Hogan's stature and standing in global aviation than I do in you and your shit that you take great delight and pleasure in spinning .... go do something more useful with your time, like throwing yourself under a train and leaving us in peace to read through serious comments and feedback from informed people, not shit from uninformed dickheads like you ...

      Delete
    10. Anonymous20:20

      Your furious comment shows I'm completely right. And no, I'll not throw myself under the train neither would I suggest anybody to do the same. Enjoy your small bot life full of adoration of "their majesties" Hogan and more important, Vucic

      Delete
  5. Anonymous11:45

    According to wikipedia, there are 36 weekly flights from BEG to VIE. Between ZRH and BEG there are 27 weekly ones.

    I believe that people from southern Serbia fill at least 3-4 weekly flights to these two destinations.

    So I cannot comprehend how come isn't there enough demand for those flights.At least for some ATR's, but not with those prices with Darwin - 350 euros return ticket, or so...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous11:52

    A da Nis kupi dva polovna aviona i napravi svoju aviokompaniju?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:14

      Nis nema para za tako nesto.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:21

      with all the money they spent subsidizing Montenegro and Wind, they sure could have bought or leased a plane.

      Delete
    3. JATBEGMEL22:45

      Ne trebaju da formiraju aviokompaniju nego korisno da trosi svoj novac. Dali su grdne pare za te letove za Podgoricu, a mogli su da subvenisu recimo Wizz, koja je mogla npr iz Bazela da otvore liniju za Nis. No, bitno da se opet pregovara sa YM-om. Zar je YM jedina avio-kompanija u Evropi? Takodje, FR je navodno trazilo da se uvodi ILS na aerodromu, i nekoliko godina kasnije jos uvek nije u planu da se ILS uvodi. A posle kao Er Srbija kao kriva sto Nis nema letova? Nis ima pare, ne u smislu da plivaju u parama, nego u smislu da kad vec mogu milionima da daju YM imaju i nekoliko stotina hiljada barem ILS da uvode.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:59

      Citaj malo bolje tekst, pregovaraju i sa low cost kompanijom.
      YM nece da subvencionisu.
      WIzz Air od kako je leti iz Beograda i ne zeli da pregovara sa Nisom.
      ILS ne uvodi grad ili aerodrom, vec SMATSA.
      Potrebno ih je naterati da to konacno postave !

      Delete
  7. Anonymous12:01

    Dreams of INI again!
    Average number of passengers from INT to TGD is about 10 in winter an 30 in summer schedule. Who gonna fly from INI?? Sofia is only 1h away.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Does anyone know how are Aviogenex' charters going off summer? How real would it be for them to operate scheduled flights out of Nis?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous12:11

    Ryanair would be the best option for flights to Basel and Bergamo for example, they are cheap but they want grants..

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous13:21

    Ok, for those who think that INi has no potential, what about TZL, if someone even mentioned TZL two years ago as a potential route most of US would have laughed, look at the numbers now. Just look at the numbers. INi and the region have potential only if they target a right destination such is Zurich or Vienna with a carrier which would offer connections further. Other option is to to what has been done in TZL, Wizzair (or similar LCC) and to target diaspora "hubs" in Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Austria,.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:56

      Wizzair is heavily subsidized in TZL. Kanton Tuzla finance all operations.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous15:27

    OT question for Air Serbia regular or frequent fliers.
    Late March I bought a ticket for a returning jurney leaving 13 May returning 17th May. Do new baggage policy apply to me or can I still bring 30kg since it was announced only unofficially back then? thanks/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:37

      Look at your ticket. It should be 23kg.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:56

      The value they entered for BAG field is "1PC" Of couse, i understand it as that there is the new policy applied, but i say again, it is before the official announcement and the ticket itself doesnt specify the baggage weight, and on some places i read that the policy applies only if both ticket purchase and journey occurs after May 1st. Still a bit confusing

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:17

      If your ticket was purchased before official statement about these changes then baggage policy at the time of the booking apply. This has been mentioned before.
      For ticket issued on/after 01MAR14 and travel on/after 01May14 a single piece of checked baggage whose sum of dimensions exceeds 203 cm will not be accepted as checked baggage as well and must be shipped as cargo only. Exceptionally, single piece of checked baggage with sum of dimensions exceeding 203 cm like sports equipment, wheelchairs and musical instruments shall be accepted for carriage as checked baggage, subject to available space in the baggage compartment, provided prior notification of such baggage was given Air SERBIA/ all carriers on route at the time of reservation and carriage was approved by Air SERBIA/ all carriers on route."
      "

      Delete
    4. JATBEGMEL22:17

      Why dont you call the Air Serbia office and find out?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous01:22

      If I was EY Silver, Gold or Gold Elite, I would be furious with their extra baggage policy for FFs, which could be summed up as: "You get extra 10/15/20kg, except on the routes where piece concept applies, and oh, these are actually all the routes we fly."

      Delete
  12. Anonymous16:29

    Any info on how are the first F7 flights from Geneva doing so far?

    Last year there was none, now there are 3 airlines flying the route, amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous16:52

    OT: Etihad presents the new First Class cabin.

    http://www.ausbt.com.au/etihad-airbus-a380-new-first-class-suites-residence-apartments-revealed

    Absolutely jaw-dropping stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:10

      Absolutely incredible. Etihad is starting to become absolutely world leading airline. It's so awesome that they bought Jat out of all the companies in the world.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:31

      Sorry about spoiling your party...But this is only fit for Arabs flying across world.
      No westerner would want this level of fuss

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19:39

      First we had trolls attack Africans, now Arabs. Speaks volumes about trolls.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:47

      Got nothing against it, but jaw-dropping? Come on!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous19:47

      You have every right to adore new Etihad product, as well as the old one, and to call it awesome, because by buying Jat out of all the companies in the world, through the top secret contract with corrupt politicians, you, as serbian taxpayer, became participant in financing that "world leading airline" and that "awesome product"

      Delete
    6. Insajder21:19

      @ AnonymousMay 4, 2014 at 7:47 PM
      Dosadni ste i ti i svi slični tebi sa tom zlobnom pričom! Ti kao znaš kako se JU finansira! Spremi lekove za smirenje, Air Serbia je u timu koji ne može izgubiti, a tebe to, koliko vidim, veoma povređuje!

      Delete
    7. Anonymous02:57

      No Westerner would want to fly this? Maybe you should check out comments on FlyerTalk and Vielfliegertreff. You'll be surprised.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:29

      Anonymous at 7.47pm ... you are such a comedian ... I love people like you making out to be a person of high intellect with supposedly such razor sharp observations ... Except for one thing ... What you have actually shown is how fucking stupid you are. There was no business to purchase. JU had accumulated debts in excess of EUR190m, has negative cashflow and it's balance sheet is in such dire straits, that no accounting firm with any credibility will sign off on the accounts. What this means Einstein, is that the business has no value at all. If it was declared bankrupt and its assets sold, they would not cover the debts of the company. So how can this mess be possibly 'financing' the best ever aviation product in the world ? Dude, get real my friend and stop talking shit .... maybe you need to go back to something more heavyweight like facebook or something similar ... Clearly, you belong in something that requires far less brainpower fr you than this forum ... do us all a favour and exit gracefully ... don;t embarrass yourself any further ...

      Delete
    9. Anonymous20:22

      Your furious comment clearly shows I'm completely right. And, unlike you, I never offended anybody. But it's you who have to live with it, not me. Enjoy your life!

      Delete
  14. Anonymous18:59

    On the other hand, Belgrade will be on fire tomorrow. In addition to JU having 12 morning departures, Swiss and Turkish will send their A321s, Austrian its A319, Alitalia its E190!

    Let's hope BEG publishes their numbers tomorrow! :O

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:02

      Alitalia sent its A320 to Belgrade today btw.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous08:03

      And from what I see this morning, they weren´t able to handle it any good.

      Delete
  15. Nikola19:06

    here are my two cents about flights from INI:
    http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=TGD-INI%0D%0AINI-ZRH%0D%0AINI-VIE%0D%0AINI-IST&MS=wls&DU=mi
    all flights are operated by YM on 2 pw (except TGD - 6 pw)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous21:59

    Air Serbia do Cikaga najkasnije pocetkom 2016,http://www.novosti.rs/vesti/naslovna/ekonomija/aktuelno.239.html:490070-Er-Srbija-prevozi-ceo-region

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:05

      Na promo videu za novi A380 u 32-oj sekundi ze vidi logo Air Serbia na monitoru,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLZ2iDLPcxw

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23:04

      OU to start transatlantic flights next month with its Dash!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous23:16

      Now thats what we call humor .

      Delete
    4. Anonymous23:34

      Having Mr Hogan talking about long haul flights is encouragement, taking into account that we had Vucic (a politician) earlier.

      Delete

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