The Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation has granted Air Serbia approval to launch up to seven weekly flights between Belgrade and Krasnodar in the country's south. It comes following a permit request filed by the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate with Russian authorities in January. In its request, the Serbian regulator noted, "Our designated airline, Air Serbia, has expressed its interest in establishing scheduled air services to Krasnodar with seven weekly frequencies". In its response, published yesterday, the Russian Ministry noted, "The Russian side is ready to give the administrative permission to Air Serbia to perform services from points in Serbia to Krasnodar with up to seven frequencies per week on a temporary basis until the next round of consultations between our aeronautical authorities. We hope to develop successful and mutually beneficial cooperation between our authorities".
Air Serbia currently codeshares on Aeroflot's flights between Moscow and Krasnodar, in addition to Kazan, Samara, Sochi and St. Petersburg. Last year, Air Serbia introduced flights to its second destination in Russia - St. Petersburg - which it currently serves three times per week on a seasonal summer basis. Due to the route's relative success, the airline also ran a number of flights during the winter. It carried some 12.000 passengers between the two cities over the year. Furthermore, Air Serbia also maintains services between Belgrade and Moscow. Krasnodar Airport is Russia's ninth busiest. Apart from Russian based airlines, European carriers serving the city include Austrian, Air Moldova and Belavia.
The Serbian carrier has previously announced it will be introducing four weekly flights to Venice this summer. It recently discontinued services to Istanbul and will no longer serve Warsaw, which it suspended at the start of the winter season. Furthermore, summer services to Varna and Kiev are unlikely to be resumed this year either. The 2017 summer season begins next Sunday. EX-YU Aviation News will bring you all the changes the national carriers in the former Yugoslavia will be making to their network's this summer over the coming week.
Comments
why not Sotchi then?
On the other hand, Krasnodar seems to be quite underserved by western European carriers. No LH, no AF - only OS have a route to Vienna (literally the only western capital with a direct link to Krasnodar). This could make a good niche for JU - a bit of transfer pax to Croatia and Montenegro in summer, a bit of transfer pax to JFK, a bit to Germany, and there you go.
Perhaps the best opportunity lies in the fact there is no TK in Krasnodar.
And there are some posters who actually took a look at the data and said the decision may not be so "crazy" after all. But why would the hater brigade ever bother to actually discuss anything? For them it is all about shouting doom, doom, doom.
otherwise i have no idea
And these neverending chants of doom, crazy, wtf is Krasnodar, etc... this is not enthusiasm. Just a daily dose of toxins.
No one today said anything even close to JU being the greatest and most successful airline. What is said is, that the same way JU makes you sick because it exists some other people are sick of reading hate attacks without any argument to back them up and before a route is even launched. Hell, your brethren do not even know where/what Krasnodar is - but they know the route there is crazy.
So please stop playing a victim here as you are exactly the opposite.
If your average aviation enthusiast had to compile a list of top 20-30 airports unserved by Air Serbia (within the range and capacity of their current fleet) how many do you think would put Krasnodar on it ?
Besides everything is scrutinised on this blog and channeled as applicable
Belgrade-Krasnodar is 1460km.
Being theoretically in range of ATR does not mean ATR will fly there. It is simply not an ATR type of route. It requires at least a regional jet, in the absence of which JU will deploy A319. A move that will definitely ruin another day in the life of Anon 9:50.
Krasnodar is a growing city with some 745.000 inhabitants. It's population is continuously growing which can only mean that there is some economic activity which in its own turn creates a travelling public.
Their airport handled 3.128.248 passengers in 2015, meaning that it handled more passengers than any ex-YU airport with the exception of BEG. I also checked their website and seems like several airlines are adding frequencies and destinations.
Mind you, Austrian Airlines operates these flights with a mix of F70 and E95. Air Serbia's A319 would provide a far superior experience, not to mention that the flight would be shorter than OS' which is almost three hours from what I remember.
Finally, don't forget that Russians don't require a visa to enter Serbia so they could organize tourist groups like they do from Turkey and Israel.
My prediction is that we will see a similar schedule like the one to LCA.
Anyway, I am sure KBP could have worked with some marketing and better pricing for O&D passengers.
https://pp.userapi.com/c614631/v614631496/8288/JZr6nz6Xj4A.jpg
KRR has more traffic, compared to say, ZAG so there will definitely be potential on that route.
Maybe VAR or KBP didn´t work out well but hey KRR might prove to be the next gem.
Pozdrav ot Sofia.
From the other side these "exotic" destinations (Krasnodar, Almaty) somehow remind me on strategy Czech Airlines had in Russia but failed.
I still believe that BCN could be better solution.
Not to mention that VAR does not compare to KRR. And even if it does, this logic: "If one destination failed then everything else will fail no matter what" is really beyond me.
We have experience that Spanair was very successful on that route (worked much better than MAD) and there is no reason JU not to be.
Vueling must have good reasons to keep that flight during summer (even this year until end of October) meaning there are enough passengers despite JU has different business model than Vueling.
VAR does not compare to KRR as KRR sounds really exotic at this moment while VAR is far more popular, but still not successful for JU.
I mean, how successful would DBV or SPU be for JU if there weren't all those O&D passengers? These summer airports get most of their traffic from charter and scheduled flights which sell their seats to tour operators.
Krasnodar on the other hand is a city with year-round demand. Their passenger growth is not dependent on foreign visitors coming to have a swim in their sea.
Don't forget that Russia and Serbia have extremely strong ties. This will play an important role as well. After all, wasn't there a survey recently which found out that roughly 40% of Serbs would support some sort of union with Russia.
In the end, the best solution would be to introduce both BCN and KRR. ;)
I wonder how LH, AZ, LO, RO, LX or even TK are so blind not to see KRR on the map.
What would RO do in KRR? They have a rather weak network out of OTP and they are increasingly focusing on the O&D market.
As for LO, they are expanding in the Caucasus so who knows...
RO has weaker network from OTP than JU for approx.30% but it is closer to KRR and surely would be recognized as interesting destination if it was.
It is quite interesting to see that TK is not flying to KRR although they fly to almost any village in Europe. Maybe with the reason
Well, TK might not be flying there but Pegasus does.
Why should another LH Group airline launch KRR if there is no need for it? VIE is perfectly positioned to cater for transfer passengers, much better than FRA or ZRH.
I still believe that this route has potential. Like I said, you mentioned VAR which is fundamentally different from KRR.
KRR is more similar to SKG where JU performs rather well.
Fact is, many airlines have stopped flying to IST such as IB, AZ, LX, AC. TK have greatly reduced frequencies and have parked many aircraft.
JU struggled in IST, struggled to get the slots it did. This way, they have a good code share agreement with KK who could also better sell BEG and JU to the Turkish market, something JU couldn't do.
However, as for the last sentence, JU simply needs a regional jet for markets like KBP and WAW. Its not a market for the ATR but too small for an A319. Budapest can be made by car in 4 hours and high fares didn't help stimulate O&D demand.
Going back to the night waves, I honestly think AMM would be a good addition.
More importantly, it is good recognition for aviation in ex-yu that airlines in this part of the world are capable of doing well and delivering against their targets.
Something for other's to aspire to
what you are saying about Romania is totally incorrect. I know Romania very well. This is a country with which I'm working very closely in last years and can assure you that their relations with Russia are very bad. TAROM even have stopped flying to SVO due to poor loads...
My entire problem with this discussion is that nobody came near finance or planning dept. and here is alive assumption that 7pax in ATR could brakeaven
I just want to make sure that you have already noticed that Eurowings will start flying Skopje - Munich at the end of October.
It's a no-brainer
BEG-KRR 23:50 01:00 AT7
KRR-BEG 03:00 05:00 AT7
NYC and Balkans will be covered especially Zagrab and Crna G0ra.
call bbc, financial times, wsj..
Dropping one route is not comparable to starting another one, so please stop accusing other posters of something they did not say.
But I keep wondering why haven't they leased at least couple more ATRs and introduced new frequencies and destinations in the region. There must be something we're not seeing.