Turkey's Pegasus Airlines and budget carrier easyJet have shown interest in launching services to Niš Constantine the Great Airport. According to the airport's General Manager, Vladica Djurdjanović, Pegasus is considering introducing flights from Istanbul, while easyJet would launch operations from the United Kingdom. It comes just a week after the head of Niš's Tourism Organisation noted that both Norwegian Air Shuttle and Eurowings are eyeing future flights to the south-east Serbian city. According to the airport's management, a greater emphasis is being put on attracting more low cost operators. "Unlike national carriers, budget airlines offer passengers lower fares and are not as demanding when it comes to airport services. We are well equipped and strategically located, which will be evident in our annual passenger results", Mr Djurdjanović said.
Pegasus has been interested in launching services to Niš for almost a year. Last July, the carrier requested additional information, as well as general terms and conditions, from the airport. It is currently in the process of analysing the data. The Turkish carrier maintains flights from Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen Airport to Belgrade. On the other hand, easyJet has been expanding in the region with new services to Croatia and Montenegro this year. The airline currently serves Belgrade with a single route from Geneva, but has previously operated flights from both Rome and Milan to the Serbian capital. Niš is trying to attract low cost carriers with its three euro charge for handling, landing and passenger services, a policy which has proven successful in drawing both Wizz Air and Ryanair to the once sleepy airport.
Due to increased traffic and the planned arrival of new carriers, Niš Airport has recently begun tender procedures aimed at developing project documentation for the expansion of its passenger terminal. The deadline for the tender has been set for July 4. The airport is looking at expanding both check-in and security areas and plans to handle 380, both arriving and departing, passengers at the same time. During the first five months of 2016, Niš welcomed 26.380 travellers through its doors. It aims to triple its passenger numbers to 300.000 by the end of next year.
They are already talking about expanding the terminal. good work.
ReplyDeleteGood job INI.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if these airlines just ask for some info from the airport or if they are genuinely interested.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts too.
DeleteI think we will see another LCC announce flights to INI by the end of the year.
ReplyDeletefor those who were wondering how INI survives with 3€/pax:
ReplyDeletehttp://nis-airport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/NAJNOVIJI-CENOVNIK.pdf
http://nis-airport.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/CENOVNIK-OSTALIH-AERODROMSKIH-USLUGA.pdf (Serbian only)
http://nis-airport.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Cenovnik-komercijalnih-usluga.pdf (Serbian only)
Can you give a summary for those of us that don't understand Serbian?
Deletethose services in Serbian are mostly for cargo, measuring weight, transport of mail and cargo, etc.
DeleteDo LCC carry any mail and cargo?
DeleteOf course not! That is totally against their business concept.
DeleteWhy, wouldn't they earn additional money?
DeleteGreat news.
ReplyDeleteEven if one of these came - Pegasus, easyjet, Norwegian or Eurowings - it would be excellent. Personally I hope it will be easyjet.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a good addition and a third choice since Air Serbia and Wizz Air fly from BEG to the UK.
DeleteFantastic news for INI. Well done :)
ReplyDeleteI still hope for a link to Spain.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Still we dont have from Serbia yearround Spain. Shame.
DeleteYou can't chase away LCCs from BEG and expect questionable destinations profit-wise at the same time. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
DeleteChase away? LCC are still flying in great numbers from Belgrade. A LCC is maintaining at the moment a link to Spain. No major airport in Europe would drive away legacy carriers so that LCCs could run wild, as you would prefer. What kind of business strategy is that?
DeleteA free market one.
DeleteAnonymous June 29, 2016 at 11:06 AM
DeleteHow exactly do you "chase away legacy carriers" if you treat them like every other carrier who wants to fly to your airport?
The rules in BEG are the same for everyone. The European Commission thinks so too. Several LCCs are flying from BEG all year round. Like from every other major European airport. There is no problem there. Before experimenting with business strategy used now only by the airports of secondary importance, I suggest we wait for major airports, like FRA, CDG, VIE or AMS to apply it first. It never ends well for us, when we imagine that we are the "smartest".
DeleteLow cost kompanije su kao paradajz turisti. Samo turistička mesta i aerodromi koji ne mogu da privuku nista bolje baziraju svoju biznis strategiju na njima. Uzdavlje!
DeleteIt is time to rename INI into Belgrade South (just like BRU South-Charleroi)...it would be even more attractive
ReplyDelete200kms cannot be BEG south..
DeleteHmm I agree, The issue is that you don't have a direct rail or bus link from the airport to BEG.
DeleteIt's actually 250km.
DeleteIt's a joke. But, seriously, these names are often a joke as well, so "Belgrade South" would not be too far fetched... However, the signage would get torched immediately :)
Deletetrue dat.
DeleteThis pretty much kills off any chances for Kraljevo Airport if they ever open it.
ReplyDeleteWe were hearing that story about Nis too. But it seems there plenty of untapped potential in Serbia. Gradual starting off at Kraljevo, with 2 flights per week, will prove that route just as successful.
DeleteWhile chances of KVO happening are dropping with each flight from INI, there is still a case for KVO.
DeleteI don't think that KVO should (or can) compete for LCCs with INI, without major investments. They should focus on delivering few flights from 'legacy' carriers, which would open up multiple destinations through their hubs. (Austrian, Swiss, Turkish). These three would benefit from a good mix of p2p and transfer passengers, which would ensure decent loads.
my2cents
OT : this morning I flew Skopje - Lyon via Vienna : SKP - Vienna : 50 pax with A319 and Vienna -LYS: 38 pax with Q400
ReplyDeleteWould you consider this an average load factor for this route?
DeleteA winter service between Manchester or Liverpool and Ljubljana is long overdue.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure? #brexit
DeleteNew routes to the UK should be postponed, until they decide if they are in or if they are out. It's much uncertainty at the moment, I'm afraid.
DeleteThey are out, no doubts about that. They are just trying to minimize the negative aspects of their silly choice.
DeleteOff Topic.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have any news about Croatia Airlines and their new Ceo
There will be no new CEO. Croatia's government has collapsed and new elections have to be held in the next few months before any change in CEO can be arranged.
DeleteYes, new election will be held probably Sept 4 or Sept 11, and then who knows how long it will take for new government to form and start filling positions with their people, whoever wins...
DeleteOT: YU-ARA went to DUS this morning - ferry flight to Air Berlin Technik?
ReplyDeleteDUS is main maintenance base for Air Berlin!
DeleteTo fly to maintenance so soon? And that should be something serous (if not it would be done in BEG) as it is not cheap to ferry A330 to DUS and back.
It was long said that any complex maintenance would be done either in FCO or DUS. It is part of the whole plan.
DeletePlane just came from Abu Dhabi maintenance. It had just 20 short flights and 10 long flights. What kind of complex maintenance should be done for those few flights?
DeleteIt should not fly to DUS, for some small maintenance it should be done in BEG Jat Tehnika. That shows something went wrong, and it is much too soon for that.
Could it be that JU-ARA is as the Americans say a hangar Queen* and that is why Jet Airways selected it to be leased by ASL?
Delete* an aircraft that likes to spend a lot of time in the maintenance hangar.
It has flown for almost two years for Etihad Airways before it came to Air Serbia so don't go into conspiracies.
DeleteThis aircraft was linking Johannesburg and Abu Dhabi almost daily for the past two years, so it is maybe a queen, but not a hangar one.
DeleteLast time when there was a big delay, the issue was with the fuel loading system.
DeleteYU-ARA je upravo poletela za BEG.
DeleteNije nista posebno bilo sta se plasite i odma proizvodite lazne price .
DeleteINN-NS
YU-ARA "Lesli" se vraća k(r)ući.
DeleteLesi, ha ha krući...
DeleteFor sure that "jump" to DUS was not cheap. I just hope it will not be regular practice that they jump to DUS for every little single repair. It is much too expensive to do that.
DeleteBirds jump much higher for overhaul, just look at the lineup at BEG...
DeleteOf course for C-check or D-check, but just for maintenance of few hours?!?!?!?!?!
DeleteHope for many such news from INI to come :)
ReplyDeleteWhat I understand is the current Ceo has contract until August
ReplyDeleteHi all,
ReplyDeleteGood news for Niš.
OT: Flew into Zagreb yesterday with Air France A320. Very full flight, was told only a few seats left.
By far Paris Chatles De Gualle has to be the best airport I have travelled through so far this trip. The yanks can learn a from the Europeans on how to efficiently operate an airport. USA airports are not fun!
The new terminal will definitely be an improvement for Zagreb but seeing it in real life, although impressive I think has lost a lot of it's architecual integrity with all the changes. So it kind of looks a bit funny now but still 1000% improvement on the current terminal.
Zagreb is a great place (this coming from a dalmantinac) and the burgers are awesome!
You should come to my home for real domestic burger!!!! If you are still in Zagreb please contact me.
DeleteThanks Purger! In Rovinj now but will try to get back to Zagreb before I head back to Aus. Will definitely let you know!
DeleteWill try to get to Varaždin for the airshow.
OK. Than you will see what real domestic burger is! :-)
DeleteI'm really happy for Niš. What a transformation. A new terminal would be nice. Something like the one in Kraljevo or Maribor would be perfect.
ReplyDeletetrue dat.
DeleteBullshit! I don't know about Pegasus, but easyJet aren't coming. I can say that on 100%. Because of Brexit easyJet have lost over 20% of it's value and it's really struggling right now. The Brexit also will affect the number of travelers to the UK specially from the Balkans.
ReplyDeleteO cemu ti samo lupetas pola exyu i dalje ima vize za britaniju sa ili bez brexita.
DeleteIt's not only a visa issue. It is a thing that will effect also Serbians who are holding an EU passport and are currently working in the UK.
DeleteSamo izmisljate budalastine nijedan Britanski premijer se ne bi zezao da dobije nazad kuci milione nezadovoljnih expatova. Balkanski geniji.
DeleteJel ti uvek imas potrebu da dolazis ovde i da vredjas ljude tako sto im govoris da lupetaju, izmisljaju budalastine...
DeleteMolim te odnesi svoj primitivizam negde drugde ako ne mozes civilizovano da diskutujes ovde sa nama.
Brexit is in no way a problem for Serbia.
ReplyDeleteI think the UK will now have to endure the same bad treatment by the EU that Serbia already suffers since decades.
Karma.
DeleteIt's not only a visa issue. It is a thing that will effect also Serbians who are holding an EU passport and are currently working in the UK.
DeleteOT - BEG-OHD today pax 54/66, mostly transfers.
ReplyDeleteThat's great!! And all this in the second week of operations!
DeleteIt would be great if we knew the LF on the OHD-BEG segment. For me, the real question is, whether this route can be sustainable during the winter.
DeleteOHD-BEG was 23/66 according to the information that i've got, previous flights were in the 30's.
DeleteNot good loads on the way back, but that will probably improve as the season goes by.
DeleteU2 da spoji LGW-INI I ZRH-INI bilo bi odlicno .
ReplyDeleteINN-NS
Easyjet will never fly to Nis as long as they don't have ILS. In addition, they're clear policy is to operate to primary airports in developed markets and Nis is neither primary nor developed
ReplyDeleteAha, to su govorili i za Ryan ;)
Delete