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| Busy day for ex-Yu aviation as Air Croatia launches flights |
Just days into the 2015 summer season, a number of events are scheduled to take place today in the aviation industry in the former Yugoslavia, with Air Croatia launching operations and Air Serbia holding a press conference on planned service innovations. Furthermore, Dubrovnik Airport will restore links to Moscow through S7 Airlines, while Sarajevo Airport has posted strong passenger growth for the month of March.
Start-up Air Croatia began operations this morning with an ATR 42 aircraft, which has been wet-leased from Dutch-based Denim Air. The airline inaugurated flights from Zagreb to Budapest with services to Prague to be introduced later today. Flights to Rome and Milan are scheduled to begin tomorrow. Originally, services were to be inaugurated last summer, but were delayed until December before being pushed back to March and then again to April this year. Jost Lammers, the Managing Director of Budapest Airport says, “This is another clear indication of our airport’s growing reputation, with airlines recognising the business and leisure opportunities available. We know demand is strong for this service to Zagreb and look forward to welcoming Air Croatia as a new airline partner”. Prague Airport’s spokeswoman, Marika Yanoushkova, says, “Flights will be operated under the current schedule, but I do not know whether they will continue during the winter”.
Air Serbia held a press conference today in Belgrade. Although it planned to address service innovations for 2015, the airline refused to comment on any current issues, including flights to the United States, despite inquires from the press. Instead, it opened the first Etihad Airways Partners sales office in the world, which will also sell airline branded products. Previously, the carrier announced the launch of wireless Internet access on board its Airbus fleet and the opening of a dedicated business class lounge at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. Both product developments will be rolled out during the second quarter of the year.
Months after Aeroflot announced it would suspend its seasonal flights from Moscow to Dubrovnik after three years of operations, S7 Airlines has said it will step in to fill the void. The airline will launch services from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport to Dubrovnik once per week, each Saturday, starting June 6 until September 19. S7 is a member of the Oneworld alliance and Russia’s busiest domestic airline. Igor Veretennikov, Strategy Director of the S7 Group, says, “Tourists from Russia like Croatia for its convenient geographical position, subtropical weather and the Adriatic Sea, as well as European service. This is why S7 Airlines traditionally operates flights to Croatia during the summer season. Besides Dubrovnik, we are resuming flights from Moscow to Pula and Split during the summer”. Tickets for the new service are already on sale with further details available here. Aeroflot served Dubrovnik on a daily basis. The Russian carrier will maintain daily flights to both Zagreb and Split this summer, with services to the latter operating on a seasonal basis only, from June 1 to October 4.
Sarajevo Airport has continued its passenger growth streak with numbers improving this March compared to the same month last year. The airport handled 50.273 passengers last month, up 9.8% on 2014. “We expect to see further growth in the coming period”, the airport said in a statement. On Friday, Swiss International Air Lines will inaugurate flights from Geneva to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while services from Zurich will be launched on May 1. Overall, Sarajevo Airport has welcomed 133.881 travellers during the first three months of the year, an increase of 14% compared to the same period in 2014.
| Month | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| JAN | 43.700 | ▲ 21.0 |
| FEB | 39.908 | ▲ 12.6 |
| MAR | 50.273 | ▲ 9.8 |
Finally, two Ryanair aircraft, one of which was bound for Zadar, clipped each other at Dublin Airport yesterday. A spokesperson for the airport said the incident occurred on the taxiway with no injuries reported. In a statement, the airline said the aircraft had been “taxiing slowly to the runway”. “The winglet of one aircraft appears to have scraped the tail fin of the other. Both aircraft were under the instruction of Dublin Airport Air Traffic Control at the time”, Ryanair said. It added, “Customers were bussed and boarded two replacement aircraft, which departed to Edinburgh and Zadar. Ryanair apologises sincerely to customers for any inconvenience caused”. Travellers heading to Zadar were delayed by just under two hours.
Comments
Good luck to Air Croatia. I think they will need it but it would be great for passengers if they kept flying with those cheap fares. I presume Air Serbia will announce wifi and lounge but it would be nice if they surprised us. As for Ryanair I think this is the second time in a few months their two aircraft clipped each other at the same airport!
BUDAPEST 07:55 07:45 Poletio
Was there some sort of ceremony at ZAG? Would be great if someone knows the loads.
It's nice to see the following in Belgrade today:
11.20 Gothenburg Wizz Air
11.30 Beauvais Wizz Air
12.20 Eindhoven Wizz Air
It's really nice to see them maintaining a strong presence this summer.
Korean will have 13 rotations from Seoul to Zagreb in May, Jun, July, August and October
INN-NS
INN-NS
I was doubtful of AirCroatia ever taking off, but with them in play things look very promising for Zagreb numbers.
ps. very long connection in Belgrade both ways, but the difference in price between this and Austrian direct flight is huge i.e. EUR 250 vs Eur 800, so much so that my company protocol doesnt allow me to take direct flight in this case. Pretty sure the Austrian price is robbery (and its always that expensive if you book 1-2 weeks before) while air serbia is currently Dumping.
Крајње сам разочаран.
Don t know how many of u work in the airline industry, but also we hve the right to earn money and gain profits. People spend 200 EUR on a dinner but can t pay 400 eur for a 4 leg routing. U can imagine all the costs behind it?
JU currently dumps prizes on the market with a clear intention and strategy as they all do from the gulf or those handcovered by the gulf
Greetings from Buenos Aires y buen dia a todos
INN-NS
I never understood why OU didn't fly to Prague or Milan. I am sure there is a market for at least a daily Q400 flight.
A kome još treba poslovnica kad 95% ljudi kupuje karte online.
If this shop/outlet had any real value then the first one would be opened in Abu Dhabi, not Belgrade.
Ja nebi imao problema da zivim u Srbiji .
Poslocnica je dobra tako da ne znam sto kukate.
INN-NS
Pricing is a fucntion of many factors, but fundamentally around the cost base an airline has. That's why LCCs are LOW COST because their cost base is so low and their services minimal, they offer cheap pricing.
Last week, at the CAPA conference in Dublin, the Air Serbia CEO was quoted as saying that Air Serbia's costs were now benchmarked against LCCs and was below even easyjet. If that is the case, then it is no wonder that they can offer such low entry level fares ....
When carriers offer really special fares/pricing, they are regarded as super good value.
When Air Serbia has similarly sharp fares, they are price dumping.
Mmmmm, somethings not right here
ASL branded merchandise is important for the same reason. I remember going into main sales office in late 2013 only to be disappointed that displayed Air Serbia merchandize was not for sale. It took a while to start selling it. ASL should also make it available at BEG airport duty free stores for transit passengers.
In other news, Wizz finally introduced pay for seat selection option. Another ancillary revenue that some of the legacies have been using for a while. As I mentioned before, time for Air Serbia to look into those options:
http://www.exyuaviation.com/2015/03/serbia-to-finalise-us-flight-deal-by.html?showComment=1427827311765#c1722787999548412232
Никоме не недостаје Јат већ је доста људи огорчено када Ер Србија представља лажно стање у медијима то јест стање које нема везе са стварношћу.
А што се тиче летења за џ... хоћу да те обавестим да је Ер Србија подједнако либерална што се тиче летења за џ. Тако је либерална да је дала привремено запосленим радницима право на зед карту.
INN-NS
Online sales in Serbia have very low penetration - infact, of total ticketed volume in Serbia, only 21% is transacted online - meaning that 79% is ticketed through a traditional "bricks and mortor" travel agents or airline sales offices.
Globally, it is far greater, having reached 52% of all tickets sold.
And in tech savvy Hong Kong, they are even behind Serbia, where only 16% of total air tickets sold are purchased online.
So you are way off my friend ....
I get it - you prefer to buy online - so go for it. But to make throw away comments like 95% of tickets purchased are transacted online - only you know where that one came from ....
Try another forum elsewhere, this one is for serious aviation buffs ....
За разлику од тебе живим у Србији и знам људе који раде за фирму. Између осталог, теби се нисам ни обраћао тако да ако имаш проблем са мојим постом слободно га заобиђи...
INN-NS
Does Air Croatia operate under its own AOC ?
I molim da kad neko ima kontraargument ne napada personalno, posebno ako se krije iza anonimnog potpisa. Hvala unapred.
INN-NS
One would think "yeah right" knowing that OU's fleet is unused during the winter. I'd say yes, buuuut... if you are focusing on developing steady route offer from a hub airport, than you'd want to keep your routes all year round. and OU can't expand as od now... so that's the reason... :)
Pa kada smaras narod i kada pises apsolutne gluposti...
Problem kod vas je problem sto ste ljubomorni na ASL i pojedine politicare pa budite bolji od njih.
INN-NS
Elem, što se tiče ASL. Smatram da je ovaj projekat jedan od najboljih, ako ne i najbolji projekat aktuelne vladajuče garniture. Rezultati već polako dolaze, i svidja mi se taj oprezan pristup (2015 se neće širiti mreža ni značajnije povećavati frekvencije, nego će se gledati stabilizacija i povećanje LF što je pametna strategija). Ali ovo je pravljenje od komarca magarca. Drugo, mnogo je bolje da su uložili u online check in, jer je to budućnost, a fizička prodaja karata, čak iako je skroz dominantna za to već postoje poslovnice i brojni reselleri. Sem tog,a da li je ovo uopšte nova poslovnica ili je samo izvršeno preseljenje poslovnice iz Bulevara umetnosti? Drugo, ono za šta bi ova poslovnica jako dobro mogla da posluži, i ne samo ona nego i ona na Tašmajdanu jeste da se uvede downtown check-in gde se u poslovnici izmedju 6 i 24 sata pre ukrcavanja može izvršiti kompletan check in uključujući i predavanje prtljaga. Ovaj revolucionarni izum primenjuje i ETD u Abu Dabiju što znači da i ASL ima know how potporu da i u Beogradu primeni nešto što ima tek nekoliko aerodroma na celom Svetu i to onih najvećih aerodroma. To je najjednostavniji način da ASL postane uzor u širem regionu kome pripadamo.
http://www.etihad.com/en-us/before-you-fly/city-check-in/
Dakle kad to urade onda će ta poslovnica ZAISTA biti "not so stupid shop".
Belville je in the middle of nowhere kada su putnici u pitanju (i to od nekoga ko živi u bloku 61). Pa ko će da ide u Belville na check-in i zašto, osim eventualno stanovnika tog naselja? Nije usput, nema prevoza do aerodroma, brže je ići direktno na Surčin, praktično nikome to ništa ne bi značilo.
Još jedan razlog ZA city check in je jako banalan ali bitan - postojeći aerodromski busevi su niskopodmni i nemaju prtljažnik, a aerodrom iz nepoznatih razloga ne želi da nabavi takve buseve pa se sad u njih guraju ljudi sa koferima.
Zaista, moguće je da bi aerodromskim službama bilo lakše kada bi ih neko na taj način rasteretio posla. Ali, opet, niko normalan neće ići tamo da odradi check-in. Ne samo ja iz B61, nego bilo ko, osim možda onih koji žive u samom Belvilleu.
Slažem se, kada tu bude bus stanica, svakako, ali znate koliko godina (decenija) ima taj plan...