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| Wizz Air to base A320 in Tuzla and open new routes |
Low cost carrier Wizz Air has officially announced further expansion in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the airline to base one new Airbus A320 aircraft in Tuzla from June 2015, making the airport its nineteenth base and its third in the former Yugoslavia, following Belgrade and Skopje. The move will provide Tuzla with new flights to Frankfurt Hahn and Sandefjord, which are to launch on June 24, 2015, as well as to Memmingen and Stockholm Skavsta commencing June 26. Wizz Air’s latest move was announced at a press conference in Tuzla yesterday. With these new services, the budget airline will offer a total of nine routes to five countries from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s third largest city next summer. It already operates flights to Tuzla from Malmo, Basel, Dortmund, Gothenburg and Eindhoven. Tickets for the new routes are already on sale through the airline's website.
Wizz Air’s CEO, Gyorgy Abran, said, "Today is another major step forward for Wizz Air in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We started our operations in Tuzla in May 2013 and already carried over 180.000 passengers to date. The new Tuzla base will create a number of local jobs with Wizz Air and our local business partners”. He continued, “Bosnia and Herzegovina is becoming our eleventh country where we have established base operations. We look forward to becoming the airline of choice of Bosnian consumers and visitors". The no frills airline says its major expansion in Tuzla will further stimulate the job market in the aviation and tourism sectors with more visitors now able to travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The latest development in Tuzla will signal major changes for the once sleepy airport. A total of 25 new employees will be hired, with the airport to extend its opening hours from 06.00 to 23.00. Furthermore, access roads to the airport will be overhauled. According to Tuzla Airport’s financial report for 2013, Wizz Air does not pay for any services and fees at the airport, with exception to a three euro passenger tax. As a result, Tuzla Airport expects to be sustainable from 2017 onwards. Over the past nine months, Tuzla Airport handled 109.160 passengers, an increase of 182.5% compared to the same period last year.
With this additional income for the airport, do they plan on improving the infrastructure a little bit?
ReplyDeleteNorthern Bosnia is on fire this year! Hope this positive trend continues.
Nije ni to lose. 3e po putniku. Nek je u avionu prosek 120 putnika, to je 360e, pa 4 leta dnevno, to je oko 1.500e dnevno. Imace i za plate radnicima na aerodromu, a i na taj nacin mogu da privuku neke druge kompanije u Tuzlu. Bravo i za bosance i za wizz. Valjda ce da se dogovore i oko uspostavljanja letova sa inija.
ReplyDeleteHello guys, i was sick yesterday so i arrived a little bit late to take photos of the 747F but here you've got other ones, enjoy!
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Wonderful...
DeleteThank you very much !
Great photos Aerologic. I can see that AGX has moved its B732 in the past week as it was just a few days ago I saw it on the B stands.
DeleteOT: From Dec 12th double daily Belgrade-Zagreb by Air Serbia
ReplyDeleteSource?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aviokarta.net/vesti/2786-air-serbia-otvara-direktnu-liniju-beograd--zagreb/
Deleteand Kučko will still claim that JU is no threat to OU
http://www.b92.net/biz/vesti/srbija.php?yyyy=2014&mm=11&dd=07&nav_id=921098
DeleteExcellent news, congratulations to JU for linking again BEG and ZAG after 23 years.
DeleteJU is obviously on the big move around, and pax from Croatia can expect big promotion at the beginning, as JU's standard of damping prices when they start a new route...
With 2 daily's they are after transit pax big time.
Flights are already in Amadeus as JU230/231 and JU234/235.
i guess we will be seing Purger on BEG a lot more frequently now :)
DeleteThe boldest move by Air Serbia yet.
Delete@11:36
DeleteYet to hear his analysis on this one...
me too. can wait to hear purger, as i like his comments very much and he is well known for being realistic.
DeleteFantastic reaction from Air Serbia to Swiss expansion. Air Serbia also attacked Swiss in Ljubljana. Also proper response for possible Alitalia expansion on Croatian soil within Etihad alliance. Preparing the situation for the long haul flights as well.
DeleteWell, we all know Purgers reaction. He said it would be really a good move.
P.S.
Purgeru, molim te, ne obaziri se na INN. Molim te!
Maybe this will make things change faster for OU now, otherwise they'll be in serious trouble!
Deletehttp://limun.hr/main.aspx?id=1020660
ReplyDeleteHow will ASL manage all those increases (for instance zagreb and ljubljana) if they dont wanna rely HEAVILY on boeing birds, which should have been phased out at least six months ago especially since zagreb and ljubljana routes wont be suspended or decreased in the summer.
ReplyDeletebtw: there are roumors that ASL is getting 2 a330 and 2 atr72 next year alongside 2 more a319 transfered from etihad and i really hope we wont be seing oeings anymore when that happens.
couple of narrowbodies joining soon
Deletea guess or a fact? (and when? are you talking about the next year's ones?)
Deletethanks
Air Serbia - the best option to travel from Zagreb to Moscow, Bucharest, Sofia, Athens, Abu Dhabi!
ReplyDeleteI already see Boing and Air Buses replacing ATR on some days.
...add Istanbul to the list.
DeleteThis is very good news! Air Serbia will open a completely new market from Zagreb which was really underserved and very expensive until now. You had to either fly on OS via VIE or on TK via IST. Opening the Balkans and the Middle East will definitely lower the prices, something we desperately need in Zagreb!!!
ReplyDeleteI know its not EX-YU but its in the neighborhood: BH Airlines is looking to start SOF-KUL flights, possibly with the A330 they acquired.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.balkans.com/open-news.php?uniquenumber=198492
Can't imagine how these flights would break even.
I think they are just desperate to find a purpose for their A330s. One of the worst business decision. Maybe Air Serbia will snatch it from them? :P
DeleteAgreed. Maybe their plans for USA flights didn't pan out. Interestingly enough, that A330 was an ex-MH aircraft.
DeleteWell, they did want to operate Sofia-New York-Chicago-Sofia flights! :D
DeleteWUT? BH Airlines has an A330???
DeleteIt's a Bulgarian airlines, not our lovely Bosnian hegemon! :D
DeleteNow I am so sad :( but whyyy?? B&H Airlines has so much potential... :)
DeleteBecause it's not as cool as flying a turboprop for three hours to Copenhagen. :P they are after fleet commonality.
DeleteIt will be interesting to see how they utilise this A330. Being a charter company, I would assume theyre after O&D pax, but I doubt that SOF-KUL is a market needing a charter configured A330.
DeleteBut why couldn't B&H fly to ORD? It could be like Sarajevo-Copenhagen-Inverness-Reykjavik-Narsarsuaq-YBX-Chicago O'Hare!!! If that flight is in primetime something like 03:00AM they could attract a lot of disturbed passengers!
DeleteSomehow this blog is in the delay with news.
ReplyDeleteWe can assume that the admin is a guy with his own responsibilities, job, etc. He cant post news that appear during the day, since he posts all the news at 9 pm
DeleteGood thing is that Air Serbia's flights to Zagreb will not impact OU in any way since they don't fly anywhere in the East. Actually JU is taking care of an unserved market.
ReplyDeleteOk, Bagdad i Teheran moraju uskoro da se formiraju, ali polako, nema zurbe, asl postoji tek godinu dana. Nemaju ni flotu da bi uspostavili toliko linija. Mozda asl nece imati poseban impact na ou, ali na lh i os ce svakako imati, i radujem se tome. Dosta je lufthansinog evropskog monopola, posebno onog nad istokom evrope.
Delete+1
ReplyDeleteOMG Zagreb-Athens via Belgrade for just €150!!!
ReplyDeleteZagreb-Istanbul via Belgrade for €100! Wow... this is just brilliant.
DeleteYeah, I just saw that the price BEG-ZAG for Dec 12 (round-trip) is only 94 euros.
DeleteCongrats!
When I looked at Amadeus system, it still shows Jat Airways is flying. How many other sites still have Jat Airways instead of Air Serbia?
DeleteMoscow via Belgrade 130 euro. This is dirt cheap, even for promo prices.
DeleteIf you announce double daily flights just 35 days before first flight you have to offer low price tickets to fill so many seats. Also OU is not small player like BH or Montenegro, you have to play hard to convince Croatians to fly Air Serbia instead of OU. OU has very good product, it's also very reliable airline.
DeleteYeah but the only thing you forgot was that JU and OU are not competing on any route besides Sarajevo, Athens (which OU doesn't fly directly to) and SKP where their presence is constantly being reduced.
DeleteEither way, JU would of have to have a huge price dumping upon opening ZAG. After all, a 23 year absence has been a huge one. Good thing here is that the double daily would really be great for business pax travelling between the 2 cities, making it convenient to arrive by plane rather than driving 4-5 hours. OU and ZAG is limited to flights in the east so the entrance of JU will really make things interesting to see what connections do Croats and other potential pax connect to the most. Its good to see finally Serbia and Croatia linked by air as it was back 23 years ago, maybe not to the same extent, but it is increasing year by year. It is a good indication that things have moved on.
DeleteI think the main competitor isnt OU, rather the LH family who will loose connecting pax.
OT: Update on Belgrade Airport concession:
ReplyDelete"Ne manje značajan projekat je proširenje kapaciteta Aerodroma "Nikola Tesla" i sledeće godine biće urađene pripreme za izdavanje tog objekta u koncesiju, najavio je Mali i podsetio da se do kraja ove godine očekuje oko 4,6 miliona putnika na beogradskom aerodromu, a u narednoj godini još više zbog novih linija Er Srbije za SAD i Kanadu i druge destinacije."
Source: http://www.b92.net/biz/vesti/srbija.php?yyyy=2014&mm=11&dd=07&nav_id=921170
Talk about GoS upgrading BEG alone is apparently missing from today's speech, so it looks like airport MoU with French does have some weight.
DeleteWhatever prep work was needed for concession should have been done so far. French side probably asked for additional info before going ahead. Let's see if there is any urgency in the timeline for next steps, but so far this could be considered as cautiously positive news for BEG.
@ AirCEO
DeleteAll this talk about the upgrade to the airport, new runway etc. etc. Do you really think these are needed kind of yesterday? Terminal OK, I kind of see that one, especially considering how long it takes to put the shovel in the ground. But second runway, hotel??? All nice to have if you have money to throw arround but what is the chance of the JU's sustained 30% growth after all.
Hey SM,
DeleteThere is another thing to consider. Belgrade is nearing five million passengers. If they are serious about expanding then I am sure 10% growth will continue quite easily, especially since JU does not have any real competition in its vicinity.
I think it's not such a bad thing to have the extra runway. Remember when there was that emergency landing and when 10 aircraft had to circle around the airport? It created a huge mess.
You don't spend maybe $100M for something that happens once every 5 years
Delete@SM at 8:57 PM
DeleteWell, I am not driving ToDo list at Belgrade airport. Vucic/Mali are delivering updated priority list from time to time and 3rd terminal is no longer a top priority, it's the 2nd runway now.
AirCEO
DeleteI wasn't saying that you are but I was just interested to hear from you what you think is really the need. I don't look much into what politicians say, they usually exaggerate to serve their political agenda. If it's between the two I would rather see them go for the terminal or major expansion of existing ones. If Garrick can survive with one then BE should be able to as well
Gattwick sorry
DeleteMy point was not only when emergency happens but in general that Belgrade is growing and with it the need for more space. Why not build it now while there is no great need for it? It will certainly allow for better planning in the future, especially when it comes tot erminal space.
DeleteSM, Gatwick operates on one runway, yet they also have two runways.
DeleteWhen I fly with my instructor, even though the airport which I fly from is much less busy than BEG, there can still be some times when three or four planes come to land at the same time, and this causes me to have to hold short on the taxiway, just idling the engine and paying $100+ per hour for the plane and instructor. Imagine how often this is going to happen at BEG in a few years, and a row of A320s waiting to take off can cost thousands of dollars over a few minutes.
And so many airports have the need for additional runways, yet the city has grown and nobody wants to allow the airport to grow, it is better now to let whoever takes over the airport to be obligated to build a second runway than to need a second runway in 20 years and not be able to build it.
According to one scenario, second runway is required because current one is damaged. Apparently damage cannot be repaired by surface repairs only (which can be done using overnight shift work while keeping RWY operational during daytime, like FRA or SAN did in the past). Damage is apparently deep and requires complete runway closure for a prolonged period of time. That would in turn have serious prolonged impact on airport and Air Serbia, as Batajnica airfield could not be used this time as a backup. So according to that scenario, second runway is the preferred option to deal with this problem, and would stay behind as a nice addition for future expansion.
DeleteAnother scenario goes like this: 3rd terminal should be built in the place approximately where fuel tanks are located right now and it would be hard or impractical to route all taxiways from that side of the airport to the current RWY, while second runway would be a natural choice. Google "AB 2020 belgrade airport" image search and you will see that old project picture and terminal 3 location.
There are other scenarios out there, but I don't want to sound like conspiracy theorist. Whatever the reason is, GoS places second runway as a top priority.
Expansion/renovation of existing terminal(s) is a long story and it looks like GoS team leans that way. We all agree that additional capacity could be squeezed out from current layout, but growth predictions seem to differ. Optimistic scenarios would require additional terminal while pessimistic one assumes growth will level off before new terminal is needed.
I always advocate rational decision and economic benefit and in this case I fully support brand new terminal option. It may seem cheaper to duck-tape fix T1/T2, but long term that's just postponing a problem for someone else to solve. Momentum that Air Serbia enabled right now comes once in a generation and it should be used to power long term planning and building of Belgrade airport, and new terminal must be part of that vision. New terminal should be modular in design, with no more than initial 4-5 M annual pax capacity but with easy expansion, similar to what ZAG is building right now, preferably connected to existing terminal T2 (that's why AMS or MUC are better transit airports than CDG or JFK). Good management can make profitable use of both new (JU, EY, AZ...) terminal and the old one (everyone else). My 2 cents, we'll see what GoS and the French will make of it...
...meant duct tape (or speed tape!)
Delete@ Air CEO
DeleteThe third terminal shouldnt be initally at 4-5 million capacity per annum because this year alone is expected to be 4.5 million, with half that number being from JU.
Hypothetically T3 is built for JU and friends. That terminal from the very opening will already be at 50% capacity, with expansion quickly needing to be planned. If we are looking at a scenario that the terminal will built in phases, the first phase should have a capacity of 7 million, with overall capacity of 15.
As for a 2nd runway, I am all up for it as long as it will replace the current one, not both being operational. Earlier access to the runway would allow an ATR to depart as larger aircraft taxi further down who anyway require a longer runway for take off. This would be efficient especially in the peak periods. Having 2 runways is a waste of money for the moment, with OTP being a good example of that. DXB with its 66 million pax annualy uses 2 runways. BEG is at 4.5 million.
If new terminal becomes operational by S18, total BEG capacity of 15 mil would be an overkill for 2018. Start T3 "lean" at 5 (that would essentially mean Air Serbia would have growth path up to 5 mil pax per year, more than double from today) and then incrementally grow T3 as/if needed. Growth would be fairly fast and inexpensive, basically just extend concourse and gates, common areas would stay the same.
DeleteEconomy before emotions :)
If I understand you correctly, you suggest 2nd runway to replace current one. Okay, but that means 2nd one needs to be built on the other side of the airport where space was allocated for decades so that 1st one is operational while 2nd one is being built. So once 2nd RWY is operational, you say both are not needed, so 1st one is no longer needed. What should then be done with 1st RWY? Why not just use it (once refurbished), it's already there. I can't imagine any other use for 1st RWY being better - BTW you can't just build cruise ship terminal on that runway like they did at old Kai Tak RWY in Hong Kong!
Well, it just came across my mind - and it might be a reasonable scenario - the airport will go under concession with construction of the second runway - as planed by AB2010 - but the T3 space will be given to Air Serbia and Etihad Partners to construct "on their own", and own and run it.
DeleteIt might be a good solution (I think JFK operates that way TWA terminal, PanAm Worldport, etc.).
US terminals operate that way, but I am not sure EC would support it for BEG, and not sure there's net benefit to Etihad or Air Serbia unless there's a long term commitment.
DeleteIt is worth noticing that while Air Serbia's success is outstanding and there are no clouds on the horizon, plug can be pulled on it at any time. It is extremely unlikely that would happen but stranger things have happened before. Since it does not have much cash in the bank, planes are mostly leased, there's not much equity to play with, so ASL could shrink or even disappear completely in the worst case scenario.
On the other hand, once you have T3 and second runway built, that's equity that's bolted to the ground. It may change hands down the road, but Belgrade would still have that airport. Far better than just refreshed/extended T2.
Thank you all, interesting discussion.
DeleteWhat bugs me is that the airportshould be a mojor cash cow. I wasn't following thier earnings but they contributed 6M this year and 60K last year. 6M figure comes after forgoing all kinds of investment in the facilities. Why so litlle? To many employees, supporting gov. policies, all of the above? To me, all the better reason to give up managing it to someone who knows. Concession or a minority share doesn't matter.
Hmmm double daily to ZAG,LJU and others. To me this is a last confirmation of Trans-Atlantic flights coming very soon.
ReplyDeleteBtw. I don't see this starting any other time but the beginning of the high season (Apr, May). Considering the fact that we have maybe six months until 2015 high season I would say 2016 is more likely but who knows...
@SMNovember 7, 2014 at 2:23 PM
DeleteSeriously SM/KM don't be silly, Zagreb - BG was a natural progression of things, OU didn't want to launch this line Air Serbia took a bite, lets see if this pans out.
Zagreb is already well connected with Frankfurt, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Rome, Munich and Madrid. All these airports are better choices than Belgrade could ever hope to.
If anyone from Croatia would fly to Belgrade it would be because of business reasons or family reasons there are still some 200 000 Serbs living in Croatia, many might want to visit Belgrade, not many Croats would travel to Belgrade for obvious reasons, a few might, but not sufficient to warrant two daily flights.
however there are business links and there might be a demand for that, but if you send your shitty ATR72, you can forget that aspect right now.
So if you look at the reseravation systems, the cheapest option to Athens from Zagreb is via Amsterdam. Are you telling me that people would rather fly via Amsterdam or Dubrovnik with OU's shitty Dash? If Air Serbia managed to do wonders in Ljubljana then it sure as hell will in Zagreb, #fact
DeleteI agree it's a natural progression of things but why didn't they do it before. zAG made at least as much sense than TIA if not more. In one of the interviews Kondic or someone said that in order to start NA flights they need double daily to all major cities in the region, that's why somewhat quick double daily to LJU and ZAG seems to be a sign of something else happening on that front. Also,judging by the timing of the announcement and the first flight maybe they are in some kind of rush, so summer 2015 NA flights might be in works.
DeleteJudging by your third paragraph I have a feeling your thinking is that nobody from ZAG would us JU for NA flights. I agree that ZAG is well connected via FRA, MUC etc. but if they have good product, short connection time and most importantly good price I'm sure many will choose them, many of my Croat friends here in Toronto will for sure (they actually told me this)
@AnonymousNovember 7, 2014 at 3:46 PM
DeleteIf cheapest option to Athens and OU has no direct flights there, than sure some will fly via Belgrade, but its far more likely they'll fly to Vienna and than to Athens, although Agean is looking at starting flights to Zagreb next year.
Croatian had flights to Athens, no idea if they still do, and Croats would pay more to fly with OU than AS's shitty ART72s.
OUs Dash 8 is a light year ahead of what AS got.
@SMNovember 7, 2014 at 3:54 PM
DeleteProblem is, OU has excellent code share agreements with many airlines and is part of the alliance, cheapest tickets out of Zagreb *(return) to NYC and Chicago are around $700, you can even get a cheap ticket out of Toronto to Zagreb via London, return ticket is around $720, for AS to get Croatian customers they'd really have to offer something others don't and this is very very cheap tickets, like sub $500 mark, and I don't see that happening, this also includes transfers and air tax.
Direct link for Zagreb atm aren't really possible cause of recession and untested demand for link with NA, but in near future when recession is done and dusted I see no problem with some sort of direct link with Zagreb, NYC to Zagreb with United or AC to Zagreb from Toronto.
Croatia is slowly recovering and coming out of the longest recession since 1920s, Zagreb is becoming major city brake destination with over a million visitors this year and 1.75 million nights, nearly 300 000 of these are guests from North America, you'd think they'd be considering direct links with Zagreb.
BTW i welcome AS in Zagreb, more traffic for Zagreb, more pax, better chances of Zagreb hitting 3.0 million in 2015.
@ Anon 4:11
DeleteYou'd think but nobady is doing it not even small laisure airlines like Air Transat. Why? I think the answer is simple, they just have better places to go.
I can't comment re ORD or NYC but from YYZ in summer ZAG is usally little cheaper then SJJ (which is served basically only by OS). So, not that cheap I can tell you. Now with KLM and others coming in it might change things somewhat (we'll see in January when seat sales start). I agree with you that at $700 or so is cheap. I don't think anybody is making money there , going lower than that would be suicide but suicide I would welcome LOL.
We'll see I guess. Double daily is a big time bold move. It's not going to be easy to fill good portion of 120-130 seats a day.
It's obvious that you have not been on an Air Serbia Atr. They have all received new toilets, seats, carpets, lights... but it's ok, I guess JU can never be as good as OU because no one can compete with OU. lol
DeleteAnd yes, OU still flies to Athens via Dubrovnik. By the way, they would only fly for 20 minutes on the shitty Atr when they would board a state of the art A319 or A320. ;)
As a rule, the only good competition is the one that doesn't exist. When you take into account JU's presence in LJU, now ZAG, BNX, SJJ and coastal airports in summer I don't thin't this can be easily disregarded. I know it's ATRs and not a lot of capacity but still...
DeleteI mean, this is really not killing their plans at this moments because they don't seem to have any (because of restructuring etc.) but any investor who comes in is going to want to increase number of pax. As the time progresses it's going to take more and more fight to do that, meaning more and more money.
Air Serbia's Atrs have 70 seats so it's like they are sending a daily A319 to Zagreb. It's quite good.
DeleteIt is a lot of capacity that's for sure. Does anyone remember how often they flew ZAG-BEG before the war and with what metal. i know that you can't compare but it would still be interesting to see.
DeleteI remember seeing their summer timetable from a year in the 1980s and it was up to five daily with DC-9 and B727.
DeleteWell, I am sure they are not after the O&D market here. It's mostly for passengers heading to the Balkans and the Middle East plus Russia. Actually, one to be hit is Air Serbia's partner, Aeroflot. :)
Definitely very bold move to announce flights only a month before the first flight, and to announce it double daily! :)
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious JU will start with price dumping to attract passengers to fly via BEG. Unlike the rest of the region I think the primary market for ZAG, as well as LJU, pax will be rest of the region, SVO, ATH,SKG and the middle east. I think thats smart move :)
As well as everyone, we are waiting for Purger...
Sada bi Kroacija mogla da udari blagu kontru i poleti za Nis.
ReplyDeleteWhy???
Deletetehyre doing fine as it is, they don't need new lines if they're making profits.
priority for OU should be Stockholm, Prague, Krakow, Budapest, Warsaw, Milan and Istanbul.
And these should be daily flights, all but Krakow, with only twice weekly service there, Friday and Monday.
longer Term, OU should be adding, Oslo, Helsinki, Dublin and Vilnius.
None of that will become reality as they won't expand till 2018!
DeleteYeah but for than they need pax to transport to that destinations you mentioned. If they focus only on local pax planes would fly empty. OUs presence eastern of ZAG is minor.They need to offer more destinations on the east with good conections for good price. They are not reacting at all on facts changing around them. They will be killed by competition in ZAG (not only ASL) but also their "allies"
Delete@AnonymousNovember 7, 2014 at 3:47 PM
DeleteI have no idea what OU plans are, I just pointed out what they should be doing. OU will be privatized next year, than we'll know what the plans are with new management in place. Korean Air might be in play for 49% steak in OU, despite Korean's own issues, they might be able to come out with a plan to buy 49% steak in OU.
Recent success of ZAG, new terminal in works and the concession seems to be doing disfavour to OU. New companies are arriving and OU is standing still reportedly until 2018.
DeleteWhoever buys a stake will have to expand very quickly to counter competition. In order to do this they have to be ready to loose some money. Combine this with the notion governnmant expact to earm $50M or more from privatization, it all might spell disaster to it. If the government is serious about all of this, they must give OU for free and go for a best and biggest investor promising to spend most money. Even then they might be too late.
@AnonymousNovember 7, 2014 at 3:55 PM
DeleteThere/s no demand for eastern destinations out of Zagreb, i mean regionally, Sarajevo and Skopje barely are worthwhile, Turkish and Qatar are taking all the Asian travelers and n ow with Agean and Fly Dubia are coming to Zagreb, this market might only get saturated and not viable.
Croatia is a western country with its economy tied to the western sphere of influence, this is where all the links go, so no wonder OU is following in same footsteps, and airline has only 12 aircraft, not sufficient to cover all the routes and summer schedule.
@SMNovember 7, 2014 at 4:12 PM
DeleteCompetition is good, more the merrier, prices are kept in check and affordable, reason why you can fly out of Zagreb to anywhere in western hemisphere for as little as $100, and to North America for as little as $700. talking of return tickets. With average monthly NET Croatian pay at ~$1000 still relatively affordable even on an average pay.
What purger said about OU is his thing, what OU plans are entirely different, OU will be privatized the package includes investment and new aircraft and new marketing strategy, current management can't offer that, Kucko will be out of work from October next year, sooner if USKOK catches up to him, than he might be on a permanent holiday in Remetinec.
@ Anon 4:22
DeleteAmen to that, more competition more prices. If JU starts flying to YYZ, my days of paying $1800 in summer for YYZ-VIE-SJJ are numbered.
I don't know what OU plans are except what was reported. You say "it WILL be privatized" and I don't know how can you be so sure unless you have some insider info. And even if there is an investor lined up wouldn't it make more sense to do this quickly rather than wait for all this competition to come in and flood the market. Also, even if there is someone ready to pony up TODAY, lots of things can go wrong in the meantime when it comes to regulatory approvals, overall economic situation, domestic politics (when are the elections?) etc. All I'm saying, I don't see how can you be so sure?
Korean will NOT be buying any shares in Croatia Airlines, they have enough on their plate with CSA which is barely kept alive!
DeleteAny investor will evaluate the Croatian market and its neighbourhood. What they will see is Air Serbia's double daily flights to Ljubljana and Zagreb, 8 weekly to Banja Luka and then most likely daily flights to Split, Dubrovnik and Pula. In addition to that, there is growing lowcost presence in the region, especially since W6 announced its Tuzla based.
We can also add Adria which is slowly becoming more of a nuisance than a threat but they are still becoming more aggressive.
I fear that OU has missed it chance. They can never reclaim the position as the regional leader of any sort. At best, they can become a decent carrier serving the O&D market.
Yes, 8 weekly flights to Banja Luka should scare them!
DeleteIt's a factor as people from bnx no longer have to go to zag.
Delete8 weekly to Banja Luka is significant because it shows that Air Serbia is not afraid to attack the catchment area that traditionally belonged to Croatia Airlines.
DeleteHow will Lufthansa react to this?
DeleteLufty will probably react just like they have reacted to every other source of competition (LCC, MEB3), complain and try to have laws made that limit the competition.
DeleteKonacno da se i taj udarac desi sad ce CTN biti u velikim problemima i tesko ce sledece godine zavrsiti u + ne samo zbog ASL nego i zbog LH-OS-BA-AF-KL-FZ .
ReplyDeleteTek sad ih niko nece kupiti to je zagarantovano.
INN-NS
OU dismiss chance for that before many years. Now Air Serbia is defenetly regional leader.
ReplyDeleteBut, on other hand, I think many passangers from Serbia will fly via Zagreb to Adriatic city during winter, and to some other city in west Europe
Well it all depends if they sign an interline agreement... otherwise flying to Tivat in stead of Dubrovnik could be a more convenient option as it's also cheaper.
DeleteI don't really see how Wizzair is going to fill about 20-25 planes weekly in the summer season, that's abuot 39.000 a month, or 156.000 in the summer season. Isn't this a little bit too much?
ReplyDeleteLet's break the monotony ;). Here are a few yesterdays photos of EK B474-400 in BEG.
ReplyDeletehttps://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B5BQ5KlupgSRcVcwMjUwVDFwOXM&usp=sharing
What monotony?
DeleteSvaka ti cast! Awesome photos! Thank you for sharing them with us :)
DeleteVery good photographs, Dejan. Very much appreciated.
DeleteWill you load them up in airlinersnet ?
DeleteThat would be awesome !
I have a lot of respect for your work
Mr. Milinkovic.
A German fan of your work.
Thank you guys very much for your kind words! Yes, I will upload two of them to A.net, maybe even third one but it's very hard to get accepted more than two that were made in the same day due to A.net policies. Greeting from Belgrade.
DeletePictures 2,7 and 8 are the best ones of them !
DeleteNumber 2 with the car in front is epic.
I agree that number two (the one with the follow-me car) is the best.
DeleteInterestingly, 2 and 8 are set for upload to A.net. And third one is number 4 which is actually my favorite one. It's a kind of classy pose of the "Queen of the skies".
DeleteIn my opinion, Aerologic's photos are much better...
DeleteSo many good images,so every one is happy!
Delete: )
What is going on with YU-APG? Did it break down or is it on a mx check?
ReplyDeleteIt is shows in Aerologic's pictures to be in the hanger at BEG.
DeleteIts in hanger for repairs. On its last flight it had problems with landing gear, and it had to conduct a pull up while landing at BEG...
DeleteCurrently its being fixed. Hopefully we`ll see it flying some time soon.
Shall we speculate on what's Air Serbia's next destination to get more frequencies? In the region my money is on Budapest.
ReplyDeleteI think the next A320 to join the fleet will be for the Heathrow route, of course, during the summer period as well as the winter one.
I have a feeling we might see additional frequencies to Dusseldorf and Berlin real soon!
I dont know about TXL and DUS, but BUD definitely will not be getting morr frequencies because it is doing rather bad.
DeleteEspecially now in Winter, when therr are not a lot of connecting flights it is nit uncommon for the flight to leave BEG with under ten pax....
i personally hope for HAM :)
Morning departure and night arrival tend to do bad when there aren't that many connections. However, the morning return and the afternoon departure are doing very well. The problem is that they considerably reduced the midnight wave so there is nothing to feed at dawn and at night.
DeleteSorry not to respond earlier but I was out of Croatia. Just came, and in morning I am flying to Toulouse. So, no time for blog.
ReplyDeleteThis is what I predict a year ago when I said „The end“ for Croatia airlines.
It is not problem in 140 passengers per day, but JU on top of LH, OS, LX, AF, BA, IB, TK, SU, 4U… They had 1 year to prepare. I wrote here what they should do but this genius of CEO Kučko just repeat „Air Serbia is no any danger to Croatia“. That is Air Serbia final attack for becoming real exYu regional leader. In near future you will see flights to RJK and ZAD.
A ja mesecima vrtim u krug da bi ZAD bila najjaca linija asl prema Hrvatskoj. Rjk mozda spajanje sa puy. Ali zad bi vrlo lako mogao ici ddaily i to sa 733.
DeleteRJK neme potrebe spajati se sa PUY. Zašto do vraga. 7 puta tjedno PUY i 5 puta tjedno RJK. Razdvojeno!
DeleteA ZAD definitivno. Jako puno srpskih nekrentina, velik broj obitelji od kojih dio živi u Zadarskom zaleđu, a dio u Srbiji, turizam...
Yup, it is funny how time goes fast. I remember months ago that Purger predicted that this exact thing would happen, where JU attacks the Croatian market when OU is the weakest.
DeletePurgeru,
DeleteJa mislim da ste upravu za ZAD, ja znam recimo moja cela porodica potice odatle i ima veliki potencijal sto se Srba tice. Ali dali mozete mozda da razjasnite malo kako moze i RJK? Nije valjda da ima toliki interes?
NS|SAN
Kakve su trenutne veze izmedju Beograda/Srbije i Zadra? Posto smo na Balkanu sigurno postoji autobus ali ima li voza? Koliko su karte?
DeleteMi kad smo isli pre 8 godina smo isli kolima. Stigle za 5-6 sati ako se dobro secam. Autoputevi u Hrvatskoj su neverovatno sredjeni. Za ljude koji imaju kola, njima se mnogo vise isplati ici kolima jer je toliko jednostavno zato sto su autoputevi stvarno neverovatni. Sto se tice autobusa, to vec ne znam!
DeleteNS|SAN
Um.. not that I want to be a party poopah but I thought the topic was about Wizz opening 19th base in TZL Hahaha
ReplyDeleteCongrats to TZL! Though I think that's just a lame, because I think they'really trying to prove something to BEG, or maybe they are afraid that they are loosing ground there so they want to stay super close to its original bade at BEG. But shell see.
Regarding BEG - ZAG, awesome news! We should definitely expect more exciting announcements. BUD, TXL and DUS, plus more flights to Adriatic coast. Pay attention to AB codeshare flights. Last season they had one number per destination, now it's one number per departure wave. I think that's a hint for more flights.
I was on my phone, so sorry about the mistakes I made.
Delete@exyu - What happened with the new blog layout? You said it was gonna be different from October, but its still the same. It'd be cool if there was a better mobile version.