Greece's Aegean Airlines is continuing to grow its network in the former Yugoslavia for a fourth consecutive year in 2018, with three new routes to be launched this summer, while there will be further capacity and frequency increases on existing services. The Greek carrier is now also considering introducing seasonal summer flights to Sarajevo in 2019. "The former Yugoslav region is an important market for Aegean Airlines. Demand for these routes remain strong as passengers are able to travel to Athens and beyond. Our performance is satisfactory on this market, as is the cooperation we have with partner airlines in the region. Almost all flights from the former Yugoslav republics to Athens offer very good point to point coverage, as well as access to thirty Greek domestic destinations, connections to Cyprus and destinations in the Middle East and Southern Italy, which have proved popular with passengers from the Balkan region. Aegean is considering increasing frequency on existing routes as well as adding further destinations in the region", the airline told EX-YU Aviation News.
This summer, the Greek carrier will add new seasonal flights to Zagreb and Zadar. "The flights to Zagreb are initially planned as seasonal. Depending on performance we may consider a year-round operation", the airline said. Despite its increasing focus on the Croatian market, the carrier said it is not pursuing Croatia Airlines on its home turf. "Aegean, as a fellow Star Alliance member, cooperates closely with Croatia Airlines in many areas such as interline, interline through check-in and of course in offering frequent flyer benefits. We see them as a partner and are always open to explore opportunities to further grow our cooperation". However, despite their common interests, Aegean will compete against Croatia Airlines on the Athens - Zagreb service, with its Croatian counterpart operating the route with a stop in Dubrovnik. In addition to launching flights to Zagreb, as well as two weekly services to Zadar, Aegean will strengthen its operations to Dubrovnik this summer by operating daily flights from May 29 with a Dash 8 turboprop, up from last year's four per week. Previously, services have been maintained with a mix of Dash and Airbus aircraft. Meanwhile, from June 5, the Greek airline will introduce an additional weekly flight to Split for a total of four.
Elsewhere, Aegean plans to add services between Athens and Skopje now that the latter has renamed its airport. Services are expected to commence in June, however, they are yet to be scheduled. The airline has said this will happen once the Greek government assures them that all issues have been resolved. On the other hand, Aegean will boost capacity to Belgrade with the airline to run three weekly services to the Serbian capital with a mix of Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft. Although it maintained four weekly flights to Belgrade last summer, all were operated with the smaller Dash aircraft. Furthermore, in a show of confidence to its Podgorica service, which was launched last year, Aegean will increase frequencies on the route this summer from two to three per week.
Good to hear about Sarajevo. It's the only city missing from their network in ex-yu.
ReplyDeleteThey don't fly to Pristina either.
DeleteGreece doesn't recognize Kosovo as an independent state so that probably part of the reason.
DeleteSJJ was there backup this year had SKP not changed the name. So no surprise they will try it next year.
DeleteHave there ever been flights between Sarajevo and Athens? Do Bosnians go to Greece for holidays?
DeleteDon't think so.
DeleteThis is not a politics forum it's about aviation and tourism. Greeks travel to Kosovo, Kosovars travel to Greece everyday no matter with politics.
DeleteThe Greek state not recognizing Kosovo as an independent country is a simple fact.
DeleteThe fact that the two goverments does not have a bilateral for flights between them is also a fact.
Politics has nothing to do with it.
JU would be the bigest beneficiary if it starts flights to PRN because it would carry the vast majority of Kosovo-Greece market.
@10.36 they need visas for Greece
DeleteGreece-Kosovo are in aviation business long time ago they are not worried for JU.
DeleteOrange2Fly aircrafts are based in Pristina fly to/from Germany, in summer time they can fly charter to Greece-Kosovo too.
@11:33 Kosovo don't need visas anymore, Brussels approved the liberalization visa for Kosovo and shortly doors open.
Deletehow many times must the guy spell it out for you, flights do not happen till both countries sign an agreement. I've seen a report of a flight was going to Larnaca in CY and diverted to Antalya, they had to take off and go back to Athens first before flying to Larnaca because no agreement exists between Turkey and Cyprus. Even after emergency deviation for weather they couldn't fly the straight route airport to airport. Now do you see the problem.
DeleteAgreement with Europe, not like Turkey and Cyprus they are not european countries.
DeleteYes, that case even made it to the Cypriot media. It was an easyJet flight that had to circle around the area until Ankara gave them a special permission to land. After they landed they have to fly to Cyprus via Athens because Turkey wouldn't allow them to fly to a country they don't have diplomatic ties with. Mind you, Turkey does recognize the southern part but without the occupied area.
DeleteIn the end when they were about to land in LCA from ATH there was really bad weather so in the end they had to divert to Paphos.
Anon 12.58
In what sense isn't Cyprus a European country?
There was a connection between two cities on 2015 with Bosnian Wand Airlines but few days later the airline was ordered by the Bosnian authorities to suspend operations
DeleteAegean is a really interesting airline that has been growing like crazy. It was only a matter of time before they added other routes to ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteSo only Ljubljana didn't work out for them -.-
ReplyDeleteIt's surprising that their flights from Athens to Ljubljana didn't work out yet Podgorica does.
DeleteThey also no longer fly charters to Maribor from Rhodes and Corfu like they used to.
DeleteCudno...Slovenci putuju ko ludi. Nije mi jasno.
Deleteali mozda ne do Grcke :D
DeleteSlovenes travel to Greece a lot, only reason Aegean didn't do well in Ljubljana was perhaps high prices, Vienna is really close and many can travel to Greece via Vienna or Trieste.
DeleteCroats travel to Greece a lot too, last year 60 000 Croatians went to Greece, so Zagreb should do ok for Aegean as long as the price is right. 36 000 Greeks visited Croatia in 2017. in 2018, 45 000 Greeks are expected to visit Croatia.
OU and Aegean won't meet demands, even with daily flights between Zagreb and Athens.
65000 Croats + 45 000 Greeks x return = 110 000 x2.
144 A319x 365x2x OU & Aegean = 210240.
6 Weekly flights between the two carriers won't cover 25% of the market demand.
Još jedan stereotip. "Slovenci putuju ko ludi"
DeleteLjubljana ima bitno manje putnika od Prištine i Skopje.
Uz to Slovenija ima u stvari samo jedan pravi aktivni aerodrom. Makedonija ima dva, pri čemu Ohrid ima značajan broj putnika.
Ljubljana je bitno veća od Prištine.
Slovenija ima bitno više stanovnika od Kosova, a isto stanovnika ko i Makedonija.
I svejedno Kosovo i Makedonija imaju bitno više putnika od Slovenije. A kosovari i makedonci ne lete "ko ludi"?!?!?!?!
I would love if they came back to Ljubljana.
DeleteAnonymus 10:17, sense the irony of my comment.
DeleteThere are many charter flights from LJU to Greece during the summer season.
DeleteFirstly, Slovenians fly for holidays, Kosovars and Macedonians for work and visiting relatives.
Secondly, many Slovenians use airports in TRS, VCE, TSF, GRZ, VIE, now maybe ZAG (if the price will be right) for flights to Greece. Aegean was very expensive from LJU to ATH with prices starting from 300,00 EUR during summer.
I was traveling LJU-ATH-LJU with A3 for 110 EUR, return ticket. With hot meal onboard and all *A benefits, this was not bad at all.
DeleteAdria considered flights to ATH as well but decided against, as most of the people prefer to take charters directly to islands.
Most of the people from Slovenia travel to Greece with charters, which there are plenty during summer. And the younger population (millenials) flies from VCE with LCCs to various islands. There just isn't enough people left for a LJU-Greece flight.
Delete"Ljubljana ima bitno manje putnika od Prištine i Skopje."
DeleteLol :)
Da ima. Ljubljana ima 200.000 putnika manje od Prištine i od Skopja, a kada uspoređujemo Makedoniju i Sloveniju razlika je 350.000. To je velika razlika za aerodrom od 1,6 milijuna putnika.
DeleteSlovenci putuju iz okolnih aerodroma, kao što i Kosovari putuju iz Sofije, Niša, Beograda, Skopja.
I Makedonci iz Sofije, Thessalonikia, Tirane, Prištine.
Da pojednostavimo, Slovenci ne putu ko ludi! Jednostavno tržište je malo.
Of course they are growing, Greece has 20+ million tourists a year plus a strong diaspora.
ReplyDeleteIt's time for them to start TATL flights.
DeleteI read that they had 30 million tourists last year!
DeleteA3 though seems more focused on profitability. 2017 was very good for them.
Aegean is carrying a lot of transfer passengers, it's not just about the tourists.
Delete@ 9.12 they said they have no plans for transatlantic flights.
Delete"Southern Italy, which have proved popular with passengers from the Balkan region. "
ReplyDeleteNow that's interesting. Wonder which countries from the Balkans?
They have a strong netowrk in Italy. In the south they fly to Bari, Catania and soon Lamezia Terme. My guess is people going on holiday for the summer use them.
Delete"proved popular" in that sentence is not related to Southern Italy only
DeleteYes but they mentioned it too meaning that they have passengers from the Balkans to southern italy which I find odd seeing as Alitalia has a good presence on most markets in the Balkans.
Deletethey basically listed all the possible connections.
DeleteRomania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteWell this development isn't good for Croatia Airlines. Between a nonstop flight from Zagreb to Athens and a flight that goes via Dubrovnik, I think the majority will choose the nonstop flight.
DeleteEspecially if the nonstop option is cheaper than the one-stop option.
DeleteDoes it though?
DeleteCroatia Airlines is currently cheapest. Around 154 euros return via Dubrovnik. Air Serbia is second after that via Belgrade.
DeleteAegean doesn't seem to have put tickets on sale yet. Or at least I can't find the,.
**them
DeleteCroatian tourism and A3 using its network to bring visitors to Croatia is far more important.
DeleteAlso A3 flight will be year round, it is very important to decrease the seasonality of the tourist season and have visitors coming all year.
They said it will be year round IF there is enough demand.
DeleteAs per the article
"The flights to Zagreb are initially planned as seasonal. Depending on performance we may consider a year-round operation"
ZAG-ATH via DBV simply isn't competitive against Aegean's nonstop flight. We will see.
DeleteSame Rome via Split. Just can't understand how they can't have Zagreb Rome. People from Zagreb totally not interested in places like Rome? Naples?
DeleteThe market between Zagreb and Athens is 210 000 return tickets, this is 2018 data.
Delete2020, that number will increase by a third. Doubt either carriers can hope to fill demand of the route.
A3 going year round to ZAG will be bad news for ASL.
DeleteSample dates: 6 - 13 June (ZAG-ATH):
DeleteOU 155€ return (via DBV)
A3 170€ return (nonstop)
JU 171€ return (via BEG)
I would pay those 15 euros more for a nonstop flight. Flight time with OU to athens from Zagreb is over 3 hours.
DeleteThose are pretty good prices especially from Aegean.
DeleteOn many dates the price is around 225€ return. Meanwhile flights to SPU in May are around 300€. :O
Delete@10.22
DeleteI think you will find this is primarily bad news for Croatia Airlines, before all others.
@9.25 you can't find them. They have been on sale for months.
DeleteOU only flies to ATH during the summer season.
DeleteJU is the main airline used for travel between ZAG and ATH for the rest of the year.
So potential passanger can choos between Air Serbia 1 stop via BEG once per day, or Austrian/Croatia 1 stop via VIE 5 times per day and LLLufthansa/Croatia 1 stop via MUC 4 times per day. Well, who will they choose?
DeleteOS flies 5 times per day to ATH from VIE? Hmm... not really.
DeleteAlso check the prices and you will see why more will fly via BEG than via VIE.
nop but there is two flights per day with Austrian and two with Aegean so it is 4 flights per day as they are in Star Alliance just like Croatia.
Deletei really hope Wizz or Ryanair start ATH-SKP so that A3 can have lots of time to wait til "ALL issues have been resolved"... how arrogant
ReplyDeleteThat and it will be cheaper.
DeleteI hope that too. Who they think they are
DeleteFR and W6 would depend only on O&D, A3 could use the rest of its network for feed.
Deleteyes but low cost generates new markets, with 19€ one way tickets people will go shopping to ATH instead of Solun
Deleteand some will continue to the islands instead of Halkidiki every year
One thing is certain, Air Serbia massacred Aegean on the BEG-ATH market. Even today JU carries far more O&D passengers than Aegean does.
ReplyDeleteA3 is popular for those heading to the islands.
Another issue Aegean has is that ATH is getting pretty full. With Volotea opening a base there the situation will get even worse. The airport is in desperate need of expansion.
And that has been a real big change. Jat could barely compete against Aegean but once Air Serbia was launched they killed them on the route with so many flights to Athens and Thessaloniki.
DeleteIt's good JU managed to keep daily flights to Athens even in winter. That's where they killed Aegean which has been shifting its BEG timetable quite a lot.
DeleteAir Serbia killing Aegean... Are you serious? A3 is financially consolidated airline without any political and financial support. They have grown under the biggest crisis in Greece ever. To compare this two airlines is ridiculous.
DeleteI'm talking to you about the Belgrade-Athens route where Air Serbia operates more than double the number of flights and carries more passengers. Don't know what your rant has to do with my comments.
DeleteAnon 09.28
DeleteCan you please read the comments before writing. We are not talking about the overall state of both airline but about the situation on the BEG-ATH route.
Aegean increased capacity on the route this year.
Delete3 weekly 180 seat Aibuses instead of 4 weekly 76 seat Q400s.
The market is big and the ticket prices are high.
W6 should try it.
Also Egypt Air is now codesharing of A3s ATH-BEG-ATH flights.
DeleteHopefully an introduction for them to eventually start their own flights :)
DeleteInterestingly enough, Egyptair Cargo's A300-600 is a regular in Belgrade.
DeleteThere really seems to be place for Wizz to enter the route but not sure about Thessaloniki?
DeleteI fear BEG-ATH for Wizz Air might become another BEG-FCO. Both JU and A3 would offer more flights thus more flexibility than Wizz Air which I doubt would fly more than twice a week.
DeleteThat is truly a risk. I was also thinking of 2-3 a week frequency, but it would probably work only during summer season.
DeleteI think they would go 2 flight a week which is not enough but I think there is not enough passengers for three.Would be nice to have a morning flight out of BEG.
Deleteso much for Nemjee's theory that the aviation sector in Greece is independent from the greek politics. LMAO
ReplyDeleteIt is. It's Aegean's personal decision not to fly to SKP until the name is changed. If you followed Greek politics then you would know that Tsipras and his government don't really care about the whole FYROM/Republika Makedonija situation.
Deletethen why are they blocking them if they dont care....
DeleteThey can't block them. It is EU rules thaf allow open skies between the two countries. And no govrment can block them from flying the route. I think it is just a PR decision by the company itself so as not to anger its customers.
DeleteFlights between the two countries would have been a reality for years if it wasn't about all this Alexander names and statues idiocy from the VMRO goverment....
why does A3 need PR with SKP (as if its sooo important to their network). They announced SKP during a pres conf and obviously got whistled back by the gov..
Deletewith blocking it was probably meant why are they blocking them from joining EU/NATO if they dont care about the situation.
btw Aegean has flown charters to Alexander the Great for greek and cypriot football teams which i find very amusing
A3 does not care about PR with SKP, they basicaly care about PR with their Greek customers. Thankfully with the new SKP name flights will start and I beleive they can be sustained all year.
Delete@11.05 yes but those charters originated from Larnaca not Greece.
Deletehypocrites if you ask me
DeleteNothing to do with hypocrisy. Their primary market is Greece and they don't want to chase away most of their customers by flying to an airport called 'Alexander the Great.'
DeleteLet's be honest, SKP needs A3 more than A3 needs SKP. Aegean could afford to ignore the market until all of its terms were met.
On top of that, they've been competing with Ryanair in ATH which doesn't even fly to SKP or OHD. By angering their domestic market , Aegean, would be handing over a large number of their customers to FR.
They already fly in an airport called "Alexander the Great", it is the official name of Kavala airport.
DeleteThat's correct, they fly there using Olympic which seems to be the new norm on all regional flights, IST and LCA included.
DeleteGreat to see not only the new destination but them increasing frequencies or capacity on all routes in ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteThey will do excellent job on SKP route if they launch it.
ReplyDeleteit was their first destination in ex-yu. I don't doubt they will be successful not only P2P traffic but also connections to onward destinations which is only possible with few airlines from Skopje because of Wizz.
DeleteIs Aegean a profitable airline?
ReplyDeleteYes, very profitable. Last 10 years they have just one year of small minus that was leveled with profit next year
DeleteAegean is an impressive company. They even managed to stay profitable when Greece went bankrupt. It has also grown its network each year.
DeleteTourism has a steady growth in Greece and their diaspora is growing bigger and bigger with the never ending crises.
DeleteI am impressed by management which was able to produce both growth and profitability in spite of all the difficulties!
Air Serbia will loose quite a few Croat and Greek passengers who travel between Croatia and Greece via Belgrade. Aegean has a codeshare on JU's flights from Belgrade to Dubrovnik and Split.
ReplyDeleteThey also codeshare on JU's BEG-ZAG route.
DeleteAegean will fly seasonal with just a few weekly frequencies while JU will offer double daily connections.
DeleteAre those codeshares still active?
DeleteOS and TK will lose much more than JU.
DeleteYes they are.
DeleteToday's Zagreb flight JU234 also has flight number A3 1112.
Good. Thanks
DeleteJU is not offering double daily as it is flying to ZAG 10 times per week, so maximum possible connection is 10 per week.
DeleteActually it is possible but the other connection would be with a long transfer time allowing people to go and visit lovely Belgrade before continuing to Athens. ;)
DeleteWhy on earth would someone star at 4 in the morning to come to Belgrade at 6:30 and than wait till 18:00 if he can fly at 14:30 and proceed to ZAG same day with just one hour in airport? So it is same connection to same plane but one with one hour transfer time, and other one with 12 hurs.
DeleteHopefully the route to Zagreb will do well and they will keep it for winter even with a reduced schedule.
ReplyDeleteAegean is a great airline and I'm really happy they are spreading their wings across ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteBut it's a shame that during winter they are almost non existent on ex-Yu market. Just flights to Belgrade in winter time.
DeleteLets hope that they will keep the ZAG flight all year.
DeleteIt is two ★Alliance hubs so a lot of synergies.
That is really good news for Croatian passengers. TK will finally have some real competition.
ReplyDeleteNot really since TK will have double daily flights and Aeagen just 3 weekly with a turboprop.
DeleteA market where they could have an impact on TK is Macedonia.
Deletei doubt it TK has double daily to SKP as well
DeleteVery good news for customers from Skopje - they will have more choice and hopefully even better fares!
DeleteI'm wondering why Aegean is not interested in flying to the US and Canada. Besides Greeks they would get a lot of transfer traffic.
ReplyDeleteThe market is extremely competitive. Not only would Aegean have to compete with several direct flights but all major European hubs are also competing for these passengers: IST, BEG (lol), VIE, FCO, MUC, FRA...
DeleteAegean did state that they intend on flying to the US and Canada at some point but I think that for the time being they are busy expanding their regional network.
It will be interesting to see how UA performs in ATH now that they are competing with EK. They have already upgauged the flight to a B764.
Nemjee do you have any info on how EK's flight to EWR is performing? I suppose it will be full during the Summer but how are they doing over the winter?
DeleteWhen the flights were launched loads were abysmal, around 60 passengers. Over time it got better and this summer I heard they were pretty full.
DeleteThey also have an interline with Aegean which helps them especially with transfers from the region.
Very smart strategy to postpone North American expansion. If only AS did the same!
DeleteA3 will no doubt launch flights to SKP and if not maybe INI.
ReplyDeleteA3 are doing extremely well in SOF and OTP. Even with the launch of the future W6 base in ATH and FR previous presence, A3 are still sending A319 or A320 instead of the Dash.
Also still surprised about LJU :( what a pity.
Is there a demand from INI? That would be a lovely development in years to come...who knows.
DeleteYes, there is. Many southerners visit Greece for holiday. 3 flights per week with a Dash can be easily filled from/to INI. Besides, INI is now being connected to more international airports compared to SKP. Take for example: ZRH - legacy carrier and W6 soon to VIE.
DeletePossible successful routes: INI-SKG with A3 but seasonal.
INI-ATH 3 weekly summer and 2 weekly winter.
Hi guys ! Does anybody know when are they (AEGEAN) going to announce the purchase of those 50 to 60 new airplanes? Thanks !
ReplyDeleteCroatian coast is on fire!
ReplyDeleteAll three major coastal airports are going to be extremely busy this year.
I think this will be a really good year for BEG and Aegean is best proof of that. I was booking some flights and noticed that mid-march both LX and LH will send their A321, it's already in the system!
ReplyDelete