Low cost carrier Transavia will strengthen its operations to the former Yugoslavia next year with the introduction of new routes and the addition of extra frequencies to Belgrade, Ljubljana and Pula. The Air France - KLM subsidiary will double the number of flights between Amsterdam and Belgrade for a total of six per week from late February, while services from the Dutch city to Ljubljana will run five times per week starting next June, up from three this summer. The airline launched year-round flights to both the Serbian and Slovenian capitals in 2017. It competes directly against Air Serbia and Adria Airways on the two routes respectively. In Montenegro, the carrier will maintain its three weekly seasonal flights from Paris Orly to Tivat which were launched earlier this year.
Transavia will introduce new seasonal flights from Rotterdam to Dubrovnik starting April 5. Services will run up to four times per week, each Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday until the end of the summer season. It will mark Transavia's third destinations to the coastal city, complementing existing flights from Amsterdam and Munich. Additional details for the new Rotterdam - Dubrovnik service can be found here. Furthermore, Transavia will introduce an extra flight between Rotterdam and Pula for a total of three per week. The service was launched this summer season. The no frills airline will also maintain daily seasonal services from the Dutch city to Split, as was the case this summer.
Previously, Transavia noted it would commence operations to Zagreb and further expand its presence in Croatia. The Air France - KLM subsidiary informed the Croatian Ministry for Tourism of its intention of adding flights from France to Zagreb and Pula in 2018. It would also consider the possibility of introducing services to Rijeka next year as well. However, these new routes are yet to be officially announced or scheduled by the airline. In 2010 Transavia outlined it would launch services from Amsterdam to both Skopje and Sarajevo, with the latter to operate only during the Christmas and New Year holiday period. However, the airline eventually cancelled plans to serve either of the two cities.
They must have done really well over summer if they are doubling flights to BEG and LJU already.
ReplyDeleteI would trade it for KLM anyday.
DeleteWon't happen in BEG anytime soon. JU and KLM have a codeshare agreement and they get quite a bit of feed from transfer passengers to the US from JU.
DeleteThat was a valid argument until Transavia launched flights. They also carry a lot of transfer passengers, they even code-share with Delta.
DeleteThat said, Air Serbia still offers better connections via AMS.
Would be nice to see them from Paris next.
DeleteOr easyJet ORY-BEG!
DeleteI don't get it. Transavia is a KLM subsidiary, and they codeshare on JU flights to AMS from BEG, so KLM made competition for themselves.
DeleteI think it's ok because Air Serbia's morning flight departs at 10.00 while several Transavia flights leave after 12.00.
DeleteThey probably did this to optimize connectivity.
Hope they start those ZAG flights. A low cost alternative to Paris would be great.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAgree. We need more LCC at Zagreb.
DeleteNot gonna happen as long as AF is around.
DeleteTrue, forgot about that -.-
DeleteBut they said themselves they are interested in this route. Maybe they expect to get some different kind of passengers flying to Orly. Then again they could always fly to Lyon and put even more pressure on Croatia Airlines.
Deleteeasy jet used to fly from Paris to Zagreb if I remember correctly.
DeleteI am still shocked how easyJet could not have made a bigger success out of ZAG when everyone is doing well there.
DeleteI wonder if Ljubljana's Transavia flights attract some pax from ZAG.
DeleteOf course it does. But it is a win win. Slovenes fly from ZAG, VCE etc., Croats from LJU and BUD. The market optimises itself!
Delete@AnonymousSeptember 22, 2017 at 9:47 AM
DeleteEasyJet did well in Zagreb, they had 4 weekly out of Zagreb, for almost 3 years, effects of recession did it part to see EasyJet leave in late 2015.
EasyJet is coming back to Zagreb in 2018, we'll see how well they do this time round.
Says who that they are coming back?
Delete@AnonymousSeptember 22, 2017 at 4:38 PM
DeleteIt was posted on this forum, can't be bothered to look for article...
It was posted that they are consudering it, not that they have already decided
DeleteSo they will be flying 6x per week to Belgrade for the latter part of the winter. How many flights will JU have?
ReplyDelete7 weekly flights.
DeleteAnd Adria?
Delete6x
DeleteActually this winter Adria is increasing Amsterdam to daily.
DeleteFrom what I can see online, Air Serbia will offer daily AMS flights.
DeleteAlso Air Serbia will fly eight times per week from 15 December to 15 January.
DeleteTransavia will hurt Wizz Air much more than Air Serbia.
Delete+1 last Anon
DeleteAs long as Air Serbia has departures in the morning and in the evening they will be fine. I mean who wants to arrive to Belgrade (or Amsterdam) in the middle of the day.
Only those who are very flexible with their schedules or who are connecting in AMS will fly on Transavia.
I hope Transavia considers some routes from France to other ex-Yu cities as well.
ReplyDeletePodgorica?
DeleteWell they are fly Orly-TIvat :)
DeleteOrly-Nis would be perfect. Paris is one of the most perspective routes from/to Nis and sooner or later some LCC will introduce it.
DeleteIt was mentioned on here that someone was looking at that. ORY would be so much better than BVA.
DeleteI think Skopje would also be a good choice because of Ohrid,which is very popular among dutch and belgian tourists..
DeleteDon't get why they don't try SJJ and/or SKP. I'm sure they would do well, especially to SJJ.
ReplyDeleteSJJ seems to be off the radar for most European airlines. Why? Is the problem cost sensitivity? Seasonality? Issues with Sarajevo Airport?
DeleteI wouldn't be surprised if the issues is with Sarajevo Airport. I mean the Qatar Airways flights were delayed amongst other things because SJJ didn't want to give them 5 check in desks. I mean come on, you would flick one of the world's best airlines because of that? Crazy.
DeleteI think it has to do with SJJ wanting to rip airlines off.
DeleteSarajevo Airport doesn't work on attracting airlines but I don't think they sabotage them on purpose either. I think the bigger issue is the actual market. I mean Germanwings cancelled Berlin-Sarajevo and Eurowings cancelled Dusseldorf-Sarajevo. And we are talking about the German market here. So I can only imagine how the Netherlands would work out.
DeleteDoes anyone know why they canceled TIA?
ReplyDeletePoor loads? Unless ofcourse KLM wants to start Tirana, but I somehow doubt it.
DeleteI think they are cautious with SKP route because in the high season two carriers fly AMS-OHD direct
ReplyDeleteA couple of years back they also wanted to fly to OHD too.
DeleteBut I still think they would have a different category of passengers to SKP. I'm sure 2 or 3 flights per week could work.
Is Transavia full low cost - as in baggage, meals, seat allocation - or more hybrid?
ReplyDeleteIt's a slightly cleaner version of Wizz Air, but 100% lowcost.
DeleteHaha I like that description. Does Transavia offer connections onto KLM flights? I mean is it possible to book under one ticket?
DeleteYes, KLM offer connections from BEG via AMS on both Air Serbia and Transavia.
DeleteNope, for now still not possible. Even tho they share the same frequent flier program , Transavia is still point-to-point only.
DeleteI don't know about other places but in Belgrade connections are possible. Also, why would they carry Delta's code?
DeleteKL 2591
DL 7503
That said, you can't book flights to North America via Transavia but if you do it through KL's website these flights show up.
Great to see more and more flights being added to DBV next summer. Busy summer ahead.
ReplyDeleteDBV made a very good job with the new terminal.
DeleteThe capacity is there now and the demand on the market rises..
Transavia is offering very competitive prices from Ljubljana to KLM destinations using codeshearing Transavia-KLM. If you fly to the final destination with KLM you pay nothing for checked baggage on the Transavia legs. No wonder they are increasing flights and doing well.
ReplyDeleteAnd same for flights from Ljubljana for Transavia-Air France codeshare destinations.
DeleteI am sure they are popular with those who are not Star Alliance frequent travellers or who don't want to be overcharged by JP.
DeleteThat's a good deal.
DeleteIf LJU would manage to get AF instead of Hop! and KLM instead of Transavia that would be great. Judging from the frequencies, Paris and Amsterdam seem to be popular.
DeleteIs Air Serbia equipped to manage new flights into BEG especially on directly competing routes? Look what happened to IST
ReplyDeleteIstanbul was different story. Air Serbia was competing against Turkish Airlines and Pegasus which offered connecting flights and Pegasus also was much cheaper and Air Serbia carried mostly point to point passengers. For Amsterdam story is completely different. Air Serbia offers connecting flights and Transavia mostly carry point to point passengers. I think there is enough demand for both companies on this route.
DeleteWould be interesting to see how Wizz is coping on their Eindhoven flights.
DeleteWizz will reduce frequency to Eindhoven to 2pw in the winter but will again increase it on 4pw from March, 26th. Brussels is on the same distance from Eindhoven as Amsterdam and Germany is also very close so I think that Wizz won't suffer to much because of Transavia.
DeleteWizz Air will become irrelevant, Air Serbia and Transavia will kill them.
DeleteGood news for passengers and consumer in Slovenia, Serbia & Croatia.
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDelete?
DeleteMisle da su još uvijek zabavni.
DeleteThey should definitely fly Amsterdam - Rijeka and Amsterdam - Zadar would be a huge success
ReplyDeleteI really hope they do start Rijeka as they said they would. The airport is really waking up with new Eurowings and Ryanair flights. This would be a good addition.
DeleteBut passenger numbers for Rijeka are down this year.
DeleteHow much?
DeleteAlmost 4%
Deletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/09/ex-yu-airports-handle-over-17-million.html
The Croatian coast is not very well connected to Dutch airports. Hope they consider Eindhoven-Zadar.
ReplyDeleteI heard they would open this route.
DeleteOr maybe even better with ryanair. Its such a mystery for me why Zadar is connected to every single country in Western Europe just not with the Netherlands, while both Ryanair and transavia already serve Zadar from other destinations
DeleteDutch only leave the country with their mobile homes if distance to destination is less than 3000km :D
DeleteLot of Dutch use Weeze as homebase for Zadar flights
DeleteInterestingly in July and August flights to Ljubljana will be down to 3 per week and them 5 again from September. Wtf?
ReplyDeleteMaybe they still haven't loaded all the flights in the system yet.
DeleteSlot constraints/fleet constraints perhaps?
DeleteSame with BEG this summer, August was down to 2. Maybe that's when they need all the extra capacity for charters and so on.
DeleteI hope this increase will be a warning sign for Air Serbia to reduce their overinflated fares between Amsterdam and Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteCheapest fare Air Serbia offer for return flight BEG-AMS is 220 EUR. Transavia cheapest fare for return flight can be 78 EUR but only if you can find adequate date and you don't need to carry large bag. With large bag Transavia lowest fare is 252 EUR for return flight. So depending on the reason you fly to AMS and how much luggage you need to carry Air Serbia can be better option.
DeleteWell, if you’re flexible with dates, you can wait for an Air Serbia AMS promo. I just had a return flight with them earlier this month for 18k RSD, ~155€, with a bag.
DeleteTransavia's schedule is also all over the place, six weekly flight, six different departure times.
DeleteDemand on BEG-AMS route is very high. I had 4 return flights on this route from August last year and only once cabin wasn't fully loaded. It was Thursday morning. All other flights where in Monday morning from BEG-AMS and in Friday evening from AMS to BEG and every time there was no free seats. 80% of passengers where in transfer or business passengers like me.
DeleteTransavia covers different passengers which are going on short travel only with hand luggage and number of those passengers increasing. They will probably take some number of passengers from Air Serbia but they mostly attract passengers which won't fly on this route if they must pay more than 150 EUR for return ticket.
Who uses Transavia AMS-LJU flights the most? Slovenians or foreign travellers?
ReplyDeleteI noticed also, that they do not fly to Treviso anymore, but on VCE Marco Polo.
Treviso-Amsterdam was cancelled many years ago. Instead of that they fly Venice Marco Polo-Rotterdam, because VCE-AMS is already operated by KLM.
DeleteAMS-LJU use mostly Dutch. There are not many Slovenians on those flights.
DeleteSo how do Slovenes fly?
DeleteI never understood why KLM didn't expand more in ex-Yu. There is the diaspora factor plus they would have a lot of transit passengers to the US and Canada.
ReplyDeleteKLM is present in ex-YU with code share agreements. They already have good number of transit passengers .
DeleteI know but I meant fly with their own metal.
DeleteThey fly to Zagreb.
DeleteWhy to do that? If they start flying directly then they will compete against other companies on the route instead to cooperate with them. Same thing was with Air Serbia on BEG-IST route. They competed with Turkish Airlines and Pegasus and lost. With code share agreement with AtlasGlobal they have better financial results than they had flying solo on the route.
DeleteAnd to Split from this year too.
DeleteStill they could do it. I mean if they are doing well in Zagreb, despite the fact that OU flies to Amsterdam also, usually with A320, why not in Belgrade? Not now obviously, but before. Skopje? For instance there are cheaper alternatives for flying to the US via AMS with a decent airline, as opposed to the hubs that people from the Balkans traditionally use, such as; Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, London, or even Vienna.
DeleteI flew 4 times from BEG to AMS from August last year and every time more than half of the passengers where in the transit to Canada and US. So KLM already have good feeding from BEG without direct flight. In ZAG they compete with OU which is in competing Star Alliance and there is no code share agreement. KLM and Air Serbia probably agreed for Transavia to start flying on AMS-BEG route to cover passengers which looking for cheap flights only with hand luggage.
DeleteAlso, in ZAG there is no lowcost alternative when flying to The Netherlands so KLM can afford to have higher fares, lower risk.
DeleteCROATIA and KLM have a code share agreement on ZAG-AMS!
DeleteThanks for info. I wasn't know that. This happens when you assume something instead to check :-).
DeleteWhich route(s) could Travia start start from Zagreb? Having a third airline fly from Paris would be unnecessary in my opinion.
ReplyDelete**Transavia, sorry
DeleteProbably Orly!
DeleteOT: AZ BEG-FCO 3 empty seats on the A320. Nice to see that the crisis has not affected their performance in Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteThey are probably dumping fares. Last christmas/NY season I paid 150 EUR for MAD-FCO-BEG return which was half the price of LH and other legacies.
DeleteMind you, return fare from BEG to FCO is around €200 and there are a lot of passengers. I highly doubt they are losing money in Belgrade.
DeleteI just checked the system and Air Serbia tonight has 125 passengers on the A319.
BEG-FCO is a very busy route, all year.
I am impressed by Air Serbia's load since it's not even season now.
DeleteGood to see. Hope they include more new routes soon.
ReplyDelete@admin. Transavia flies from 4 destinations to DBV - you forgot ORY. But MUC will be cancelled bcos of closing base in MUC
ReplyDeleteHow about RTM-INI? It can compete with INI-NRN or INI-EIN? 4 weekly as a start and daily in summer?
ReplyDeleteWhen do they launch flights from Eindhoven to the Croatian coast. Amsterdam and Rotterdam are covered but Eindhoven still has not one destination at the Croatian coast.
ReplyDelete