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| Swiss speaks to EX-YU Aviation News on upcoming expansion in the region |
Swiss International Air Lines will undertake an aggressive expansion in the former Yugoslavia this summer with new flights from Zurich to Ljubljana (daily), Zagreb (daily) and Sarajevo (three per week). Furthermore, it will introduce two weekly services from Geneva to Skopje and Sarajevo and seasonal flights from Zurich to Podgorica, which will be operated through its subsidiary Edelweiss Air. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News, the Swiss carrier says the expansion is not in response to increased competition in the region from the likes of Air Serbia, but rather, comes as a result of increased demand for flights to Switzerland from the former Yugoslavia. “We focus on our customer’s needs from and to Switzerland. The growth is based on our market analysis that identified a great demand for the Balkan area”, Swiss spokeswoman, Karin Muller, tells EX-YU Aviation. She adds, “The former Yugoslav market is very interesting for Swiss, as there is a big community from the Balkan area living in Switzerland. Therefore, there is a high demand for flights to these countries”.
Swiss International will shake up the market and bring direct competition to the national carriers of Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The airline will resume flights to Zagreb for the first time in years and go head to head against its Star Alliance partner Croatia Airlines, which will lose its monopoly on the route. The Croatian carrier offers double daily flights between the two cities with both a morning and afternoon departure on its 76-seat turboprop aircraft. It will compete against Swiss’ morning and afternoon service, depending on the day of departure, operated by a 97-seat Avro RJ100 jet, which will be progressively replaced by the 121-seat Bombardier CS100 aircraft starting this year. Adria Airways faces a similar scenario on the route, with its double daily service competing against its Star Alliance partner. In 2013, Adria carried 85.000 passengers between Ljubljana and Zurich, making it the fourth busiest route from the Slovenian capital. Meanwhile, in Sarajevo, B&H Airlines' Zurich service, operated with a turboprop ATR 72 via Banja Luka, will compete against three weekly nonstop flights run with a jet engine aircraft. In addition to these flights, Swiss will also offer swift connections for transit passengers to the United States and Canada.
Swiss says it is too soon to assess the success of its new routes based on early bookings. “In general, we do not comment on our booking figures in detail. Though for the summer season, it is still too early to give a first estimate”, Ms. Muller says. She adds, “The Balkan area is an important and big market for Swiss. The expansion is part of our ‘HUB+’ initiative which is based on 24 new destinations within Europe in a point-to-point system together with our sister-carrier Edelweiss”. During the upcoming summer season, Swiss will maintain double daily flights from Zurich to Belgrade and continue operating flights from Geneva to the Serbian capital. In addition, it will operate flights from Geneva to Pristina and run seasonal services to Split. Finally, Edelweiss will maintain flights from Zurich to both Skopje and Pristina next summer season.
| Route | Launch date | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Zurich - Ljubljana | MAR 29 | Click here |
| Geneva - Skopje | APR 04 | Click here |
| Geneva -Sarajevo | APR 04 | Click here |
| Zurich - Zagreb | APR 15 | Click here |
| Zurich - Sarajevo | MAY 01 | Click here |
| Zurich - Podgorica | JUL 05 | Click here |
Very interesting. Have the prices gone down to ZRH from LJU and ZAG?
ReplyDeleteJust want to say WAKE UP CROATIA AIRLINES the Ceo that you have Mr.Kucko destroying the airline.
ReplyDeleteSoon there will be nothing left of the airline .But his bank account will be full.
So a big bunch of passengers from Banjaluka region will be missing on the new route again. What would the general manager of bnx say on it? Does the government keep the guy in order to prevent the new flights from bnx?
ReplyDelete1. I don't find that as huge expansion in exYu, because Swiss will open 22 new routes in S15 out of which just 3 are in exYU. Concerning underserved market that should be much more.
ReplyDelete2. For sure those routes are not competition in LJU (Adria) and ZAG (Croatia) because there LX has code-share with Star Alliance partner and it is more like extra frequencies to ZAG and LJU then competition, like LH flights to MUC and FRA, or OS flights to VIE are not competition but collaboration.
Not true really. Yes they are Star Alliance but Swiss hasn't been very cooperative. They timed their flights into ZAG at the same time as OUs flights.
Delete@ Anonymous January 21, 2015 at 9:37 AM they are starting 23 new weekly flights to ex- Yu. I wouldn't say that's little
Deleteit is concerning the fact that Swiss/Edelweiss opened 211 new weekly flights in S15. It should be much more especially that their presence in this area was just symbolic.
DeleteIt is not true that they are not cooperative. They have code-share with Croatia for 15 years now and deal is more than OK, much better that with LH. I would not say that they fly in same time as OU. OU flies in 8 hours distance so it is not easy to put flight that will not collide with OU.
OU ZAG - ZRH 08.30 and 16.45
OU ZRH-ZAG 12.05 and 19.05.
So that means they collide on ZAG-ZRH route just on -2-45-7, but they don’t collide on ZAG-ZRH 3 day and with non flights on ZRH-ZAG. Not to collide at all would be if they fly ZRH 10.10 - ZAG 12.05 and that would make 2 hours on ZRH-ZAG and 3.30 hours on ZAG-ZRH flights, and they do that in 50% of the flights. And for sure 2-3 hours difference is not big deal.
And that option is not perfect concerning the fact that ZHR-ZAG flight is just 55 minutes separation (LX 10:10, OU 11:05). I presume that is the reason why they put flights in different time, not to collide in most days at least in one way.
DeleteTiming is really a big thing for SIAL for their connections to the US and other distant destinations so they can not take care about the competitors' wishes.
DeleteGreat - I have already booked cheap tickets from Zurich to Sarajevo and back in May . Two tickets less than CHF 400.
ReplyDeleteWhen will Swiss start Zurich-Toronto?
ReplyDeleteThey fly to Montreal. I don't think they have Toronto plans at the moment.
DeleteSwiss is the new Austrian of * alliance
ReplyDeletePlease elaborate.
DeleteFor years now, Austrian Airlines had total control over the Balkans, eastern Europe and especially ex-Yugoslavia.
DeleteSince they are falling apart this title is being passed onto Swiss.
Thanks for expanding on your initial post. While I would dispute the "total control" by Austrian, Swiss stepping in where Austrian steps back makes sense. Thanks again.
DeleteWell, of course we are not going to compare Austrian to Lufthansa but if we take a look at Austrian's and Swiss' network then OS is clearly the more dominant player.
DeleteGod forbid we compare OS and SN. lol
But Austrian has been useless lately. The only way they have not failed completely is because of the massive O&D market.
Turkish Airlines sent its B737-900 to Belgrade this morning! Lucky passengers, the aircraft is fantastic inside.
ReplyDeleteTHY 737-900ER is a common sight at BEG, nothing new...
DeleteNo, it is not. They have sent it only once before.
DeleteCorrect. Sometimes they send a 738 with all-seat IFE configuration but not 739.
DeleteAir Serbia 320 is much better plane, and has better interior. And THY has many old cans that are quite horrid to travel with.
DeleteUnlike brend new Air Serbia Boeing 737-300 and ATR 72-200
DeleteIf something can be called "old cans" than it is Air Serbia 737-300 and ATR 72 fleets which fly for company on regular basis.
I want to believe the guy @ 3:20 PM was being sarcastic in his post. Because if he was serious on what he wrote than we can sadly admit there is no hope for Serbia as a society.
DeleteNot much hope though if he was sarcastic either...
739 is in A321 size class that Air Serbia does not have.
DeleteIn A320 class, Turkish have 738 with and without IFE. Both versions have blocked middle seat in business class which is not as good as Air Serbia current biz class seat in A320. With new onboard menu and free wifi available soon in Air Serbia, business class product will be superior to Turkish 738 and new ASL economy product will give Turkish 738 a run for their money.
EK nema 739 oni imaju samo 739ER
DeleteA B739ER nije u klasi sa A321po kapacitetu
I mislim da je glupo uporedjivati uslugu ASL sa TK
INN-NS
TK nema 739 oni imaju samo 739ER
DeleteA B739ER nije u klasi sa A321po kapacitetu
I mislim da je glupo uporedjivati uslugu ASL sa TK
INN-NS
INN I guess you don't know the ICAO code for the 737-900ER because it is B739 not 739ER.
Delete:D
Hvala na ispravci :)
DeleteINN-NS
The Force is strong with Lufthansa/Eurowings and Swiss/Edelweiss. Austrian, LOT, Adria, Croatia and others are drifting to the Dark side...
ReplyDeleteAgree completely and this really coincided with their new strategy from last year - Lufthansa/Eurowings/Turkish joint venture etc. I think they are leaving behind Croatia, Adria and others in their sphere of influence which I think is really good for these airlines but they should prepare for the transitional period. Just my 2 cents.
DeleteAny particular reason why JU 231 from Zagreb is going round and round in circles east of Ruma?
ReplyDeleteSevere fog at BEG, came in suddenly and plunged most of New Belgrade and Surcin into abysmal vis
DeleteTurkish Airlines to Sarajevo also diverted to Belgrade, a B737-700.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOT : Skopje total 2014 ---> 1.208.359 pax or +22.75
ReplyDeleteDecember 2014 -----> 87.530pax or +59%
*Very Storng year and more in 2015 :)
+59% due to cancellations related to fog during Dec 2013, i.e. an abnormal period. The real test will begin now in 2015 to see if SKP can sustain these impressive numbers.
DeleteHow about Ohrid Airport?
ReplyDeleteWizz Air is to hold a press conference in Nis tomorrow. I guess they are announcing more routes, could it be that the ongoing sales are doing really well?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if a seasonal Nis-Tivat or Nis-Antalya/Greece could be profitable.
Delete1A Travel tried INI-AYT without success.
DeleteNove linije ce biti MMX-BVA i mozda FMM-LTN
DeleteINN-NS
Pa ja bas i ne verujem da će biti tw rute... One su jako dobro pokrivene sa aaerodroma iz okoline (Sofija, Beograd, Skoplje). Mislim da ce se gledati da se pokrenu linije koje nisu pokrivene sa okolnih aerodroma
DeleteI inn ako ti nije problem molim te pisi puno ime aerodroma - ja jako slabo stojim sa skracenicama...
DeleteMMX-Malmö
DeleteBVA-Paris-Beauvais
FMM-Memmingen
LTN-Luton Airport
Kad me neko normalno pita uvek cu rado da odg :)
INN-NS
Možda Šarlroa?
DeleteVećina ljudi iz Belgije i Holandije koji žive tamo su sa juga. Železničke karte su relativno jeftine, pogotovo u Belgiji, pa je ušteda vrlo moguća..
Isto tako, delegacija niškog aerodroma je valjda bila njima u poseti... Takođe, ova linija je ukinuta iz Beograda...
Nemam nikakvu dojavu, samo logički razmišljam...
Speaking of mighty Wizz, when are they finally going to start flying to Austria, one of the key markets for Ex Yu countries? I know they fly to other countries around Austria, but why not Austria?
DeleteZa Austriju nece nikad zato sto su mnogo mnogo skupi Aerodromi pa zbog toga nece sigurno.
DeleteINN-NS
Kako skupi kad svi drugi lete tamo? Wizz kaze kako ih aerodromi po Evropi zovu i mole da otvore linije, zasto ih ne zovu iz Austrije?
DeleteOd svih LCC za Austriju lete samo DY za SZG-VIE i U2 za VIE- INN
DeleteI VY za VIE to su daleko vece LCC od W6 i lete sa bogatih trzista ..
INN-NS
Neko je nedavno napisao ovde da wizzair planira da leti iz Sarajeva, zna li neko vise o ovome. Kad pocinje prodaja itd!?
DeleteWhen in LCC business one says "Austria", he/she means "Bratislava". Ryanair flies there, and it`s Vienna`s suburb.
DeleteNo that's not true. Salzburg or Graz or Innsbruck are not Vienna. Wizz does not fly to any airport in Austria, not just Vienna. And no, they don't even fly to Bratislava. Demand from East Europe to Austria does exist, but there is something wrong with Wizz.
DeleteWauu..this is great news for INI.
DeleteCan´t wait to see what new routes they will announce.. I beat on Paris. Brussels, Memmingen and Malmo. Obviously not all of them :P but at least 2 new routes!
dear ex YU aviation: just sent u email. pls verify LJU timetable as in www.swiss.com there is 4 different dep hours showing for LJU in May.
ReplyDeleteZRH is maybe 4th best route out of LJU for LJU Airport, but within JP Network it s 2nd even bypassing MUC 2 years ago.
JP is not amused at all about this. LX is agressively expanding and they don t care for OU and JP. ZRH-LJU extra capacitiy is not really needed and if JP 311 could still be operated with CR9 instead of CR2s
Etihad Regional is already pulling out of ZRH-LUG and 3 others routes as they can not compete with LX. ZRH-SJJ will be dead for JA. ZRH-LJU will be dead for JP 311 and ZRH-ZAG could might work if they adjust dep times to 1-2 per week.
ZRH-SPU is good they increase to 5 as OU is expensive during summer times. ZRH-SPU would be nice to have from early March to end November, so we could use for City trips
ZRH-TGD will last as Montenegro gets more and more Attention on the local leisure market
ZRH-LJU tariff
DeleteLX underselling JP on all flights
ZRH-LJU LX 80 CHF, JP 105 CHF lowest
LJ U-ZRH LX 66 CHF, JP 106 CHF lowest
so currently LX offers ZRH-LJU-ZRH as low as 146 CHF and most Dates all is available
PRN i SKP dobijaju novu Aviokompaniju HolidayJet iz ZRH ( cerka Firma od ST ) i PRN.
ReplyDelete3 pw ZRH-PRN A319
4 pw ZRH-SKP A319
Treba uskoro da dobije AOC u Svajcarskoj..
INN-NS
opet zabluda:
Deleteto su charteri koji vec postoje (they changed from Hello to Germania now to Swiss Germania aka HOlidayJet)... nothing new
OT: It has been exactly one month since Airport Nikola Tesla made headline news here, with one exception to announce annual results. Big announcement about 4 more gates, 20 million expansion and a month later... still absolutely nothing! How long before we figure out he's pulling our leg?
ReplyDeleteOT: Alitalia to open many new long-haul routes (San Francisco, Mexico City(!), Santiago de Chile, Beijing, Seoul...) while increasing existing ones and reducing the short-haul fleet by 14 A320 aircraft [going to Air Berlin], together with introducing a complete re-branding (it was about time). The only sector missing from the new destinations so far is the African market but let's wait and see. It all sounds great to me so far and already near 50% of my plan outlined here about to materialize. Good luck to Alitalia.
ReplyDeleteBas me zanima dali ce uzeti 77W od 9W ili ce EY da casti.I jos MXP dobija letove do AUH;PVG i HND ili .
DeleteA jos zanmljivije je sto je CEO rekao da moraju 2017 biti profitabilni da vidimo hoce li uspeti.
Nadam se da to nece uticati na buduce long haul letove ASL.
INN-NS
Yet the second half will never become reality, that is the all widebody fleet concept.
DeleteThe very fact they saw the need to downscale their narrow-body operations and put emphasis on the long-haul expansion is already good enough. Let's see what are their next steps.
DeleteThey downsized just because Air Berlin needed more A320, no because they move to widebody fleet like you say.
DeleteSoon they will be getting more narrowbody for regional flights to feed their networl.
Besides the Air Berlin hubs they didn't announce a single new short-haul route yet. I'm especially pleasantly surprised of opening of markets such as Mexico which will make TK plans a distant dream now.
DeleteIdeally, Etihad regional should be based in Rome instead of ZRH and feed AZ from there.
AZ dobija nove Avione da EY nece da im ponovo poruci onih 12 A358 posto vecinu tih novih letova ne moze da obavlja 332
DeleteBas me zanima koje ce wide body avione izabrati
Ja mislim 10 A330-900neo
i 12 A359
INN-NS
Etihad Regional is as good as dead. They are most likely abandoning the Swiss market.
DeleteLX destroyed them.
Ideally, Alitalia should be around here:
Deletehttps://pp.vk.me/c624231/v624231496/17236/_Kj812pLEK8.jpg
Ja ne znam u opste kako je Darwin pravio profit sa SAAB 2000 i mislim da je to skroz ne isplativ avion.
DeleteLX je spremio vec plan unistenja F7 za jedno 1-2 godine nece posojati.
INN-NS
ot: ju let za tegel za 25.02 je vec nekoliko dana dupke pun. interesantno da je berlin konacno pun krcat na letovima asl. cudi me da ne uvode neki dodatni let. a jos interesantnija mi je cinjenica da je to 25.02 ko da je to neki vazan datum, pri tom je u pitanju sreda. jel zna neko nesto vise o tome? bas me zanima da li je to postala ucestala pojava na letu za txl ili se bas tako potrefio taj dan. jos cudnije mi je da je ostalo do 25.02 vise od mesec dana. hvala unapred.
ReplyDeleteИ да хоће немају са чиме да повећају летове.
Deletea cena karte za txl iz beg uopste nije naivna...bas me zanima da li je vise transfernih ili o&d pax?
Deletezato ga vec mesecima nema na happy fridayu.. hmmm.. boga mi lepo asl zaradjuje :) neka, super!!
Deletepa kad moras da das od 220e pa na vise za kartu onda ti i nije bas toliko drago :)
DeleteFor a legacy carrier, paying anywhere between €150 and €250 for intra-European, non-Balkans flights is ok.
Deletehttp://www.aviokarta.net/vesti/2915-beogradski-aerodrom-medju-sto-najvecih-u-evropi/
ReplyDelete"Aerodrom Nikola Tesla u Beogradu našao se po prvi put među sto najprometnijih evropskih aerodroma."
Wasn't Belgrade during the 80's already in the top 100 of European airports, if not in the top 50?
Ex-Yu - you might have some info about this?
DeleteSkyGreece got the permission from the Canadian authorities. Let's see if they end up establishing flights via Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteplasim se da ce ako/kad asl i krene sa prekookeanskim letovima biti 'too little too late'
Deletealitalia, tarom, skygreece..... mnogo
Хмм колико сам ја разумео неће бити ништа од таромових летова. Ако и покрену дуголинијске летове то би онда било ка Кини.
DeletePlanned as once weekly YYZ-ZAG. Wondering if times will allow transfer to Air Serbia ZAG-BEG flights.
Deletehoce li ASL narucivati jos neke (nove) avione osim 10 neo-a? kada istice lizing airbusima koje trenutno imaju?
ReplyDeletecini mi se da ako se stvari budu odvijale u pravom smeru bice im potrebno vise mnogo od 10 uskotrupaca do 2019.
takodje ima li vesti o novima avionima u 2015?
ugovora se iznajmljivanje 2 ATR-a kao sto je i ovde pisalo. Zbog toga se stalno tumba red letenja od aprila.
DeleteNista jos nije potvrdjeno za ta dva Atra...nazalost.
Delete