Swiss to launch Niš service in April 2017


Swiss International Air Lines will launch flights between Zurich and Niš in south-eastern Serbia from April 2, 2017. The company will be the only full fare airline serving the city, joining Wizz Air and Ryanair which currently operate low cost flights to Constantine the Great Airport. Services from Zurich to Niš will operate twice per week, each Friday and Sunday. Initially, flights will run with a mix of the carrier's brand new 125-seat Bombardier CS100 aircraft and the 168-seat Airbus A320 jet. However, from May 27 all flights will be operated by the A320. Swiss noted that the new service to Niš will further strengthen its presence in the Balkans. The airline faces no direct competition on the route, although Wizz Air maintains operations from Niš to Basel, which is some ninety kilometres north-west of Zurich.

Swiss downsized its operations to the former Yugoslavia this year by suspending flights from Zurich to Ljubljana, Zagreb and Sarajevo, as well as its services from Geneva to Skopje. Switzerland has for years been considered one of the most profitable markets from Niš. Both Jat Airways and Montenegro Airlines operated services from Constantine the Great Airport to Zurich between 2004 and 2006. Montenegro Airlines attempted to resume the route on several occasions but was knocked back by Swiss authorities, which refused to issue fifth freedom rights to the carrier. More recently, Darwin Airline, now known as Etihad Regional, operated services from both Zurich and Geneva to Niš but its pricey tickets failed to attract passengers. A considerable number of Serbian immigrants in Switzerland hail from Serbia’s south-east.

Niš Airport estimates handling some 100.000 passengers this year and for the figure to grow to 300.000 by the end of 2017. The airport, which had no commercial flights just over a year ago, is now served by both Wizz Air and Ryanair after lowering its fees to just three euros for handling, landing and passenger services. "All those who were concerned that there wouldn't be enough travellers were mistaken, because the airport is used not only by locals, but also by people from other parts of Serbia, as well as Bulgaria, Macedonia and Kosovo", the airport's General Manager, Vladica Djurdjanović, said recently. During the January – October period, Constantine the Great Airport welcomed a record 81.723 passengers compared to the 36.258 travellers handled during the whole of 2015.

Flight details for the new Zurich - Niš service can be found here.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Congratulations Nis. Well done. Unexpected that they managed to get Swiss.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:04

    I hope it just doesn't turn out like Edelweiss' Banja Luka flights where they sold tickets for a week and then suspended sales.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    Quite an achievement for Nis especially because its being operated by Swiss itself and not their subsidiaries. I think it will impact Wizz performance to Basel and probably Swiss' numbers from Belgrade.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      Nis-Memmingen too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:32

      It will impact but not too much, since rail fares on SBB are really expensive from my experience. I also know lots of people who chose bus over train+plane because it gets expensive and mentality of those people is they sobu wanna spend too much money.

      Delete
    3. Nemjee09:36

      Friedrichshafen is not too far either...

      That said it's interesting how Wizz Air is consolidating its position in southern Germany from Belgrade. They will fly to Baden Baden, Friedrichshafen, Memmingen and Nuremberg.

      Add to this Air Serbia's daily flights to STR and LH's double daily to MUC.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:09

    This route could now attract a lot of transfer passengers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      Don't think they are going after those passengers judging by the timing and operating days.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:35

      And the price of transfer flights... they are insane

      Delete
    3. Nemjee09:37

      The prices might not be final ones. Just yesterday they were selling Nis-Zurich for €2.000.

      I guess they should be finalized today.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:41

      I hope so... I checked Lyon-Nis. Connecting times were ok but the price was somehing like 2500€ lol

      Delete
    5. Nemjee09:45

      Haha so less than what they wanted for ORD-ZRH-INI for. :D

      I am sure this will be fixed in the next few days.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:52

      I checked a few connections...from some reason, the prices were mostly for business class...I guess the system isn't fully updated

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:10

    I think this is something Tuzla should have done. Nis has done really well to diversity its offer and not depend on one airline.

    ReplyDelete
  6. JU520 BEGLAX09:11

    Nice surprise!

    Btw, JP is apparantely trying to sell its brandname and rent it again.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:13

      So when exactly do you think they will sell their underwear? ;)

      Delete
    2. JU520 BEGLAX10:45

      Not sure if they wear any ;)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:13

      Ahaha ;-)

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:14

    Just curious, how come its pays off for Swiss to fly from INI, but not from some other cities in Ex-Yu? How much did INI pay Swiss to come?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      INI charges 3 EUR for all services.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:15

    So they suspend Zagreb, Ljubljana, Sarajevo and Skopje but they introduce Nis.... ok...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      Ko bi reko čuda da se dese, pa Niš Swiss donese.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:32

      I like they comment that this will further strenghten their position in the region, after they left capital cities of 4 countries in region. Will be interesting to see if they can fill planes from INI if they cant from capitols

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:54

      They can serve SKP from INI, it's cheaper anyway.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:02

      Zagreb, Ljubljana, Sarajevo and Skopje were not in a desperate position that would force them to offer 3 euro per pax to a legacy carrier.

      Delete
    5. Those airports simply could not be compared to INI as they are all capitals of their countries and have much bigger air traffic than INI.
      Less jealousness is recommendable.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous14:59

      Stop trolling about SKP! LX flies through Edelweiss 4 times weekly. It doesn't matter if it's an Edelweiss or Swiss A320. You have the same connection options, service and etc.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:22

    Now I can see JU flights to Niš next year... At least, I hope... It could work with atr and low price (like BXN)... And I don't think that ASL will fly out of Niš any soon (except to BEG maybe)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:10

      Air Serbia must be having second thoughts about deciding not to fly from Nis.

      Delete
  10. JU520 BEGLAX09:26

    SJJ ZAG coming back in SUTT

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:34

      Where is that written? They are not coming back

      Delete
    2. JU520 BEGLAX10:11

      Flights are im timetable, for example OAG and u can book them on LX website too

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:13

      Swiss confirmed they are changing Zagreb and Sarajevo to summer seasonal services.
      swiss.com

      Delete
    4. JU520 BEGLAX10:23

      Days 1,3,5,7 ZAG to ZRH and 3,5,7 SJJ to ZRH
      ZAG slot not so ideal as day 5,7 are early morning flts
      SJJ good ones. 5,7 in the evening

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:34

      This sucks because they will take considerable market for OU. These airlines should not be allowed to fly seasonally. They must stick around the whole year.

      Delete
    6. JU520 BEGLAX10:43

      I know... on the other side if LX competes OU, the prices will be more competitive which might attracks passengers who currently drive car or with the bus
      Judging JP latest news, we soon will have LX back in LJU too...

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:28

    Congratulations Nis!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:29

    I'm really happy for Nis too but can they fill 320 seats each way every week?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:41

      Wondering that too. Maybe they have the aircraft free at that time and the cost of the flight is just low so it pays off.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:09

      They should have kept the CS100 on the route instead of A320.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:13

      So INI get the Superjet 100 before BEG. And now the CS100 also

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:14

      Actually Swiss operates CS to BEG on Saturdays.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:17

      Dind't know. My bad

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:17

      BEG can fill larger aircraft so why should it get smaller a/c if there is no need?

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:29

    What are the prices like?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Congratulations Nis!
      I truly wish LX could fill their planes to INI, but having experiencies with other ex YU capitals (except BEG) I am not 100% sure. It is true that 3 eur per passenger is attractive price for LX, but at the same time their prices need to be attractive as well in order this could work.
      Last time when I checkeed the cheapest price ZRH-INI-ZRH with hand luggage only was around 190 EUR. Average price is cca 250 EUR.
      Don't forget "...Darwin Airline, now known as Etihad Regional, operated services from both Zurich and Geneva to Niš but its pricey tickets failed to attract passengers"

      Delete
    2. If you can find a 110 EUR BEG - ZRH - BEG ticket with LX, you will be able to find a 90 eur ticket from INI. My guess...

      Delete
    3. Are you saying that INI is cheaper from ZRH than BEG?

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:33

    Pustite te balkanske sheme znamo ovo vec dva dana nego sta cemo sa Teheranom. Oni su upravo popili blokadu nabavke americkih aviona. Da li treba lansirati liniju za tamo iz Beograda?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nemjee09:44

      Попиће блокаду тек када Сенат исто то изгласа и када Трамп стави свој потпис на тај документ.

      Имајући у виду да будући председник жели боље односе са Русијом и Кином све је могуће.

      Што се тиче ЈУ летова, нема много логике док се не појача европска мрежа. Лет до Техерана би трајао између 03.30 и 04.00 тако да би било јако незгодно да се уклопи у валове.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:58

      Sto, a let do Astane se uklapa u njih? Ima li tamo putnika i para to je pitanje.

      Delete
    3. Nemjee10:07

      Ако бих морао да бирам између Техерана и Астане изабрао бих Техеран. ;)

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:41

    wow. Hopefully they start work on expadning the terminal soon. A few more flights next summer and the airport will be packed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:15

      They should built a new one. Like the terminal in Morava airport. That's enough

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:53

    Who wold have thought just 2 years ago when there were no flights from INI

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous10:02

    Extremely smart decision by the airport not to get tied down to just one LCC.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10:57

    Not being a hater or sounding pessimistic but previous experiences with LX proved they are unable to sustain a route launched in the Balkans for a longer period.
    Besides, according to the Swiss website, the route is going to be seasonal. So, lets see.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:08

      Was thinking the same. We will see.

      Delete
    2. Almost Sept. 17 and there are rumours they will even expand these flights :)

      Delete
  19. Anonymous11:07

    OT

    Bank of China will open its offices in Belgrade that will cover all of ex-YU, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania.

    This is great news as it will stimulate potentially high yielding passengers to/from BEG.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JU520 BEGLAX20:42

      Thats awesome news. Bravo Beograd ;)

      Delete
  20. Anonymous11:08

    Great news southeast Serbia in general.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous12:52

    Can't believe they suspend Skopje and start Nis. But good work for them.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous13:40

    So, if INI is the new Serbian star then we can forget about Kraljevo and Vršac airports. Kraljevo joins Brandenburg in the list of ghostly airports :(

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous14:30

    What will be reaction from ASL? will they initiate flights from INI? and BEG-INI? Seems ASL underestimated the potential of INI.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:25

      Pokidase se zbog dva leta nedeljno.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:43

      +1 m8! ASL should react fast and ditch some routes to INI. There can be transfer and business, domestic traffic. Poland, Czech R., Romania, Bulgaria all have domestic traffic and so should Srbija. I certainly think ini has future and potential!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:49

      An. 4.25
      Da su zaista Er Srbija a ne Er Biiiuuugrad trebali bi se polomiti i za 1 a ne 2 nedeljno. Da ne pricamo o tome da nisu 2 nedeljno nego 2 dnevno, i vise, kada dodamo Viz I Rajan

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:42

      There was a tacit agreement that INI stays low cost and BEG doesn't complain. Now INI will draw the wrath of BEG and Vučić.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous21:26

      ASL must fly to INI soon or they will begin to loose the south Serbian market.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous21:57

      BEG-INI-BLX-TGD-BEG

      Delete
  24. Purger14:47

    CTN ZAG-DBV, petak 18.11. u 14:45 A319

    oko 85% u economskoj
    5 od 12 u business

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:05

      ??

      Delete
    2. Danijel18:20

      Śta nije jasno? Inace, nije loša popunjenost, pogoto o s obzirom na doba godine.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous17:13

    Amongst all ex-YU airports, I think Nis has the best potential. Nis can develop, build new hotels, have more foreign tourists (now Chinese with future visa free travel), can construct a new terminal and can attract more LCC not only Swiss to the airport. Easyjet, YM like before, LH to MUC daily, OS to VIE, ist - tk or pc, and why not Vuling 1 flight weekly to El Prat or GRO. It can rplace beg if there is a fog

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:33

      Hahahaha, yeah, right!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:08

      So you forgot to mention Air Serbia !??

      Delete
  26. I don't understand this decision...but it must make some sense to them. It is good to be first and they are the first big carrier, just seems bizarre in light of suspending flights to four capital cities.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous18:22

    Imace ogroman O&D saobracaj za INI zato ce imati verovatno odlican uspeh u INI.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous21:55

    BEG-INI-BLX-TGD-BEG

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous22:56

    "Fernando Pinto announced today that TP will launch 11 new routes in 2017, of which 7 will be in Europe, 3 in Africa, and 1 in N.America.
    The only hint he provides for these new routes destinations was that some of the new European destinations will be cities that were previously served. "
    ZAG and BEG maybe?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous01:37

      Balkans are always ditched. I think they will concentrate on France and UK, where there are many Portuguese living. BEG was a failure for TP :(

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:30

      Would say OTP or SOF. Many Romanians and Bulgarians are living in Portugal.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:02

      Doubt it, FB already fly to LIS during the summer. OTP is served by both W6 and Blue Air.

      Delete

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