The national carriers from the former Yugoslavia handled over 6.5 million passengers in 2017, representing an increase of 5.2% on the year before. Both Croatia Airlines and Adria Airways saw their passenger numbers grow, while Montenegro Airlines' figures declined slightly. The Serbian national carrier welcomed roughly the same number of travellers last year to that of 2016.
Air Serbia handled 2.617.000 passengers on board its aircraft in 2017, a decrease of 0.1% compared to the year before. It maintained its position as the busiest national carrier in the former Yugoslavia. Despite discontinuing its daily service to Abu Dhabi and Istanbul during the year, the airline introduced flights to Venice and increased capacity on its narrow-body Airbus fleet by retrofitting its aircraft with slim-line seats across both its economy and business class cabins. As a result, the carrier increased capacity on its Airbus A319s from 128 to 144 seats and on the A320s from 155 to 174 seats, growing by more than 12% in total across the narrow-body fleet. The airline is yet to publish its operational results for 2017 in full.
EX-YU national airlines, passengers carried in 2017
| Airline | PAX (million) | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Air Serbia | 2.6 | ▼ 0.1 |
| Croatia Airlines | 2.1 | ▲ 9.6 |
| Adria Airways | 1.2 | ▲ 9.6 |
| Montenegro Airlines | 0.568 | ▼ 2.2 |
Croatia Airlines handled a record 2.130.000 million passengers during 2017, an increase of 9.6%. As a result, it added an extra 190.000 travellers and marks the first time the carrier welcomed over two million passengers on board its aircraft in a single year. The company operated 27.491 flights during 2017, which is up 2.4% compared to the year before. The average cabin load factor, a measure of seat capacity utilisation, stood at a record 74.4%, up 4.4%. Passenger carrying capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs), amounted to 2.2 billion, up 4.8% year-on-year. The airline’s cargo operations recorded a decline of 12.3%, with 2.273 tonnes of mail and freight uplifted in 2017, compared to 2.591 the year before. In 2017, Croatia Airlines launched flights to four new destinations and extended operations on some of its seasonal destinations past the summer months.
Adria Airways saw 1.209.692 passengers board its aircraft in 2017, up 9.6% on the year before. The Slovenian carrier operated a total 20.415 flights, an increase of 4.9%, while its average cabin load factor stood at 66.9%, up 1.4%. Of the 1.2 million travellers handled, the airline carried 177.166 passengers to and from its second base in Pristina, which is similar to 2016's figure. Adria retained its position as the fourth busiest airline in the city. Its network-wide passenger growth came as result of the introduction of additional frequencies on existing services and the launch of flights between Ljubljana and Kiev, which made up for the closure of its base in Lodz in Poland.
Montenegro Airlines handled 568.591 passengers in 2017, representing a decrease of 2.2% on the year before. The dip in numbers is slightly less than the 5% decline the carrier initially anticipated. The airline maintained operations with five aircraft compared to six in 2016 and operated a total of 6.959 flights. "In addition to achieving these results with a fleet of five aircraft, the figures are even more encouraging after taking into account the growing competition on the market. In January 2017 there were twelve airlines operating to Montenegro and up to 54 in July", Montenegro Airlines said in a statement. Over the coming peak summer months, from June until the end September, Montenegro Airlines plans to handle some 360.000 travellers this year, while it is targeting 620.000 passengers in 2018 overall.
Considering JAT was handling over 4 million in the late 80s and was not a monopolist, I would hardly say 6,5 million 30 years later is wow.
ReplyDeleteWell combined together, they finally managed to handle more passengers than JAT in 1987.
DeleteActually they achieved that in 2016 for the first time.
DeleteYou are right. Took them long enough.
DeleteHow about Wizz with their bases across Ex-Yu, or that doesn't count :)
DeleteBy that logic yoi could add Inex Adria's 1.7 million passengers and Aviogenex's almost 1 million passengers per year :)
DeleteEXYUaviotion, is there a chance to get data on a total number of passengers for EX Yu airport in record 1987 or 1989? It would be very interesting to compare.
DeleteI'm surprised Air Serbia didn't shrink. I wonder how they are performing so far this year.
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia actually had growth during the first half of last year.
DeleteSo the decrease cam during winter 2017/18?
DeleteIt started during summer and continued in winter.
DeleteIt will be interesting to see how Air Serbia's new business model will impact on their passenger numbers over the next couple of months.
DeleteIt can only impact it negatively. They advertise cheap fares and then when people go to book those fares they see they don't exist. What they see is the same fares as before with no additional service.
DeleteSince they have had a massive promotion with billboards, tv commercials and I even saw a tram plastered in Air Serbia ad it will probably stimulate people to book with them.
DeleteAir Serbia managed to achieve same result with less flights so logically the business result should be better. Similar should be expected in 2018 and finally growth in 2019
DeleteI also think 2019 will be a year of significant growth for JU, destination and passenger wise.
DeleteWhy do you think that? Are they getting new planes? Have their finances recovered?
Delete@ anonymous 9,13am
Deletetheir new buisness model has, going through feedback on social media, so far left its customers (and potential customers) with negative experiences.
Air Serbia has, unfortunately not followed up on many customer feedback and frustrations (ie mishandled baggage, customer care in BEG, fare structure) while downgrading its onboard product (removal of onboard amenities, removal of a dedicated business class) and service (catering, frequencies, destinations).
My concern is that this may negatively impact on pax numbers from BEG, yield through increased competition, as well as not using their fleet to their maximum potential.
@ anonymous 10,16am
While JU have decreased flights, they did increase capacity through their cabin recomfiguration. JU has been for the past 4 years trying to boost their CLF, which although has happened steadily, although prior to them reconfiguring the A319/A320 fleet. Their A320 doesnt see much action during most of the year which is of concern, as they have 10 A320neos expecting to enter the fleet, which I assume will be to replace the narrobodied Airbus fleet.
If anything, I would assume the ‘better’ results would stem more from their decrease in employees as well as the introduction of more ancillary fees.
@ anonymous 10,45am
I dont think much will come from 2019 due to the fact that their 2016 financial results were horrid, regardless of how they put it. JU is in desperiation to change that going by the radical changes its making, the over capacity of employees, while losing current and potential market to its competitors, on top of a fleet that obviously is not working well for them. JU so far fails to show its understanding of the Serbian market as well as its potential.
Shame how they have downgraded their product. Plus they are super expensive during the summer season. Insane!
DeleteI have nothing against AS but overall it is not working well.
So Croatia Airlines did best in 2017 since it added 190,000 passengers. Then Adria which added 106,162.
ReplyDeleteOU might become busiset ex-Yu airline again in 2018.
DeleteLOL
DeleteCare to share what's funny?
DeleteHow do you think OU will add half a million passengers in 2018? And all that without JU growing at all.
DeleteBecause JU will shrink and probably considerably.
DeleteEven if that happens and knowing that OU added 190k last year, you really think they can add almost 0,5mil? You really think that OU has the capacity for those numbers?
DeleteYes, especially after they boosted PRN and LHR.
DeleteI think it will be difficult for OU to overtake JU this year. Not because in the long term the airline has the potential to do it but because of the fact that there is no capacity increase this year compared to last year.
DeleteOU will not become bussiest ex-Yu airline anytime soon.
DeleteThe difference with JU is too big and OU has no capacity to add 0,5 million passengers.
The difference between JU and OU is expected to remain the same in next years
@ frishki if I remember JU overtook OU in just one year as busiest. It's not impossible.
DeleteDude that happened because Air Serbia doubled its fleet and network in a year.
DeleteExactly. Unless OU gets half a dozen new planes in the next months, which it won't, the difference will stay pretty much the same.
DeleteAs is OU would need 100% LF to be about the same size as Air Serbia, sorry, that isn't possible.
DeleteI can see OU catching up to JU's pax numbers by 2020 if current trends on both airlines continue. JU's 737 can't keep flying for ever. Plus OU steadily increases its fleet by leases.
DeleteThat might happen this year already if OU makes double digit growth and JU have double digit decline. They would be close. But not likely to happen already in 2018, and afterall it is not a competition. We want all to grow. :)
DeleteBy this year trend
Delete2018
OU 2,3
JU 2,6
2019
OU 2,5
JU 2,5
But this year JU decline will be higher than last year, because last year cutting in frequencies was compensate with more seats in planes. But this year it is just cutting of flights with no compensation.
Wet dreams...JU will stay at least 0.5 million over OU
DeleteIt all depends, if OU can sustain growth and 4 A320 NEOs are delivered with no aircraft leaving the fleet, yes OU will surpass Air Serbia in 2022.
DeleteAlthough, I'd rather like to see OU becoming profitable airline, and not depend on assets sales to stave off bad financial indicators.
OU still has 1.7 billion kuna worth of assets, but it would be unwise to sell any of the assets to keep positive balance outlook.
And what? You expect Air Serbia will not grow by 2022? How can you even predict that?
DeleteWhy don't you compare # of a/c in the fleet vs. # of pax?
DeleteJU has 19 a/c's
OU has 12 + 2 (leased for 6 months only) a/C's
And the diff is 500 k only!
It looks like JU has seriuos issues with LF and routes.
Air Serbia has a higher load factor than Croatia Airlines.
DeleteJU has lower LF then OU.
DeleteIt it has higher then diff would be higher. Just use common sense if you don't use math.
OU will keep growing this year with the 4 new routes. Air Serbia will probably have a bigger decrease this year and Adria should grow by a lot. It will probably add more passengers than OU.
ReplyDeleteIt will be a huge year for OU.
DeleteWill they extend any of the seasonal routes during winter? Will Barcelona and Lisbon again stay in the schedule until December?
Deleteit will be really interesting to see JU pax numbers for 2018.
Deleteno abu dhabi, no ohrid one less 737 for charters (can somebody confirm this?), AZ and AB dead, so less codeshares, less synergies, new fare structure demanding you to pay more for the same service last year...
It will be a difficult year for sure. Depends on next winter as well. Then again there is an extra flight to New York, which basically covers the four weekly Ohrid flights which have been lost.
DeleteLast time I checked AZ has not been dead and JU code share with them is still very alive.
DeleteOhrid is too small to have any impact on JU total numbers but it should be mentioned that JU increased ZRH for 3 weekly flights,LED for 1 weekly flight, JFK for 1 weekly flight, MXP for 1 weekly flight and ATH for 1 weekly flight.
The reductions apart from AUH have been mostly done on ATR72 flights (SKP, SOF, OHD).
PRG has been reduced from 10 to 7 weekly flights but capacacity has been actually increased as on some days A319 has been added instead of ATR72.
Not that bad actually.
JU's transformation to a hybrid low cost carrier will allow them to reduce rates and be more competitive = more passengers. Reducing the fleet doesn't necessarily mean immediate lower number of passengers.
Deleteexcept that i dont see any reducing of the prices
DeleteDo you think the prices are now the same or higher? I am talking about the hand baggage fare only.
DeleteI see same or higher ticket prices on all three categories (blue, white, red) but with fewer amenities (luggage, on board offerings, free airport check in).
DeleteTickets have gone up. Their previous promotions 109/129/149 used to include luggage, catering and seat selection. Now promo fares are the same but you have to add some 50-60 eur for extras.
DeleteAdvanced seat reservation is 3-4€ and 9€ with legroom.
DeleteWi-fi 2.90€ / h for 10mb reaching 18.90€ for 120mb
in total JU has -15 flights per week less than last year.
DeleteLast year reduction was around 45 weekly departures so almost 60 in total.
DeleteGreat to see Adria performing well.
ReplyDeleteI actually thought they would grow much more last year. I was predicting they would handle around 1.5 million with all the frequency increases.
DeleteDon't forget they closed Lodz last year.
DeleteAdria still handled fewer passengers than in 2015.
DeleteHow many did they have then?
Delete1,239,920
DeleteThey still have a way to go before they overtake their 1987 record of 1.7 million :D
Delete1.7 mil in 1987! What percentage were charters to Adriatic coast back then?
DeleteAny estimates on how many passengers each could handle by the end of the year?
ReplyDeleteMy guess
DeleteAir Serbia 2.4
Croatia Airlines 2.2
Adria 1.3
Montenegro - 610,000
I highly doubt Air Serbia will loose 200,000 passengers this year. Even with all the changes.
DeleteI'm not so optimistic about Adria this year. Yes they have added a lot of new routes but they are cancelling many flights already and they just started. They are also driving away a lot of passengers with their disorganisation, cancellations, delays, wetleasing of archaic aircraft etc.
DeleteIt is really sad that all mentioned companies are still alive only due to illegal support (one way or another) of their governments. Nobody pays full amount of fees (very often nothing at all) to local airports.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWhat's illegal? Governments in ex-Yu are not doing anything differently than many other airlines in Europe when it comes to their airlines. Just how much has the Italian government invested in Alitalia in the last year.
Delete"Governments in ex-Yu are not doing anything differently than many other airlines in Europe when it comes to their airlines."
DeleteWhat?!?!
I meant to say then many other governments in Europe.
Delete*than
DeleteThere are plenty of good examples of profitable private-owned and run flag carriers. Sadly none in the ex-yu area.
DeleteCould you please provide any details on how the LF was on JP's first LJU-HAM route? The LJU-SOF was not operated on Sunday I think.
ReplyDeleteI think it was 29pax to HAM and about 13 on the way back
DeleteThanks a lot. Seems not much demand for outbound flights to LJU for the time being. Let's see how BWK will perform on 28/04.
DeleteYeah there was some trf pax from prn and tia
DeleteThanks!! Makes sense as those routes are working quite well for JP.
Deletethe LF on their first flights to the new dest. are bad
DeleteYes, but lets wait and see. We can't jump to conclusions the first week of operation.
DeleteTodays flight to HAM has 70pax and GVA has 51pax
Delete@anon 9:59. What's up with this sudden fascination with BWK? It is a small island airport and very seasonal. If they increase numbers around 10%, it will be great success. Not to mention LSZ which starts with regular traffic this summer. Too many airports imho. Mark my words, BWK will be worst performer for JP this year
DeleteWell, todays number for HAM and GVA are not bad at all, if 70 n 51 mean one way. Which AC did they use on these 2 routes? Do you maybe have numbers for the return flight as well? Does anyone know why LJU-SOF-LJU was cancelled? Shortage of AC or no pax?
DeleteHAM - CR9
DeleteGVA - CR7
SOF - CR7 it was not cancelled. Even departed 5min ahead of schedule.
So LF is not bad in this case,specially for a new launched route
DeleteAnd what was AS LF?
ReplyDeleteThey have not reported it. In 2016 it was 72.4%
DeleteAh, ok, thanks.
DeleteAll exyu airlibes need to improve their LF by 10%
DeleteKoliko ptica u floti ima AS?
ReplyDelete19
DeleteYM is constantly on life support but seems to make it every time.
ReplyDelete:))))
DeleteI'm trying to figure out where that photo was taken with the JU A330 and OU A319.
ReplyDeleteProbably Zagreb on the day of New Terminal opening?
DeleteI might say when JU received their A330 in summer, they made promo tour to ZAG.
Deletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/03/air-serbia-to-send-a330-200-to-zagreb.html?m=1
Yes I think anon 10.02 might be right. The greenery looks a bit too lush for it to be late March when the new terminal opened.
DeleteI think that AS actually send the A330 in honour of new terminal opening last year, if I remember correctly.
DeleteZagreb, last year. I have heard they are going to send it again this year. How are they going to fill it though?
DeleteAll this micrmicairlineso ex yu mumbo jumbo airlines managed to transport combined population of Serbia and Montenegro in a whole year :-P ! That is so so sad, this kind of articles are always healthy to read as a reality check of how small ex yu aviaton market really is...
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree!
Deletemicrmicairlineso?
DeleteThat's "microairlines" in Retardese.
DeleteQuite a poor region, not very touristy except Adriatic coast. But things are improving!
DeleteThe most important of all is their financial results.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone actually reported their financial results?
DeleteYes Croatia Airlines
DeleteThey had EUR 3.6 million net profit.
DeleteSo waiting for Air Serbia, Montenegro and Adria.
DeleteJU and JP will publish their financial results in September. Montenegro probably next month.
DeleteSinisa Mali (JU board chairman) said last week that Air Serbia will post a profit for 2017.
DeleteHahahahahahahahaha
DeleteCreative accounting, just like other ex-Yu airlines.
Delete+1
DeleteAnd I am sure the usual suspects will claim that the results are audited by KPMG so we should believe them!
Just like Agrokor results was audit by big shiny global revision company.
DeleteI agree that these results overall are a sad state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteBut things are getting better gradually.
DeleteAnd easyjet handles million passengers from/to Croatia each year and they fly for 5 months per year. Croatia Airlines flies all year and handles just 2.1
ReplyDeleteEasy flies to Croatia, 7 months a year, unless they add Zagreb soon for year round.
DeleteThey handled 1 million cause they have over 20 daily flights to Split and Dubrovnik throughout the season and Zadar and Pula also get daily or double daily flights.
There are pictures somewhere, you can see line up of EasyJet aircraft @Split Airport, at least 4-5 Easy aircraft parked there at one time.
Croatia had 18.5 million tourists last year, 20,5 million expected this year. I am only surprised they didn't handle even more pax, 1 million seems little if you ask me. Also, OU has fleet of only 12 aircraft, Easy has a fleet of at least 150.
Considering the gloom and doom scenarios I have read in the comments here I got the impression Air Serbia's numbers would be down at least 10%. This is not that bad at all.
ReplyDeleteIt is not good either. When you consider this year is last year in their five year plan, and they are 0,1% down in a year before planned taking of A320neo it is very very bad let me tell.
DeleteIt’s actually very good results. Considering stabilisation usually yields no growth, we should see a slight growth this year. Not a bad result at all.
DeleteIf there is any stabilisation. They really need to reconsider fleet plans. With the current business model they will need smaller planes and few A320 for charters and most popular routes.
DeleteAt least Croatia Airlines is transparent enough to reports its full operational and financial results in 2017 unlike all other ex-Yu airlines.
ReplyDeleteGood to see the load factors improving at Croatia Airlines and Adria Airways.
ReplyDeleteLoad factor 74.4% for OU is not a bad result,. They should target around 76% this year.
DeleteThe LF result for OU is what’s most impressive for me. For many years they were in the high 60% and now with increased capacity they are getting near 75%.
DeleteCongratulations Croatia Airlines and Adria Airwyas!
ReplyDeleteSo after JFK gets a first year-round operation and A319/A320 cabins get retrofitted with more seats, JU manages to have a pax number decline?
ReplyDeleteThey cut the number of flights by over 5%.
DeleteHopefully they get rid of expensive A330 and reduce A320 family fleet to try to get to "positive zero". But not likely to happen.
DeleteTheir flights to and from New York are constantly full. They certainly won't be getting rid of the A330.
DeleteThey utilise the plane on average 4 times a week. It might be full on many days but it is mostly economy and cheap fares. That means it is probably not making money. See the airline class economics explained:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzB5xtGGsTc
And just a few comments down you have someone complaining how the fares are expensive. And on top of that their C class sales are strong. I have been following their loads on this flight for around a month now and on avarage they have 13 out of 18 passengers in C class. Often it is sold out too.
DeleteStill their business class is small and they are taking very few people. On average 4 flights x2x13 is just around 100 one way business passengers per week. That is not enough even to cover the cost of plane lease.
DeleteA330 is an expensive investment, but loads reach satisfying amounts. They're going to be profitable in few years, by the words of your pm/president/mayor/god/w/e.
DeleteWhere was the pic taken?
ReplyDeleteZagreb Airport. You have the discussion above.
DeleteDoes anyone have data how many passengers were handled by TAROM, Bulgaria Airlines, CSA in 2017? It would be interesting to compare ex-Yu airlines with similar sized carriers nearby.
ReplyDeleteTAROM had 2,400,000 in 2017. This was decrease from 2,410,000 in 2016.
DeleteCzech Airlines transported aboard its aircraft a total of 2.9 million passengers in 2017 +18%. Avarage LF 81.1%.
DeleteRO
DeletePax: 2,4M
CLF: 70%
Fleet: 23
OK
Pax: 2,9M
CLF: 81,1% (+6%)
Fleet: 18
Thanks! I'm surprised Air Serbia had more passengers than TAROM considering Romania has a population of almost 20 million passengers and is in the EU.
DeleteYes but it also has a lot more competition.
DeleteWhat about Bulgaria Air?
DeleteGreat info and much apreciated.
DeleteIs there any news about how many pax Blue air transported last year?
Bulgaria Air have handled around 1 mln. pax - down from 1.1 mln. in 2016
DeleteAnon 3:01 PM - Those 1 million are for Sofia only.
DeleteIn 2016, FB handled 1,246,350 but I think they have not yet published the 2017 figures. But they are likely to be around that range.
I don't understand why it takes months to publish pax numbers for the past year. I'm pretty sure they knew how many tickets they've sold by 10th January and they should know on daily basis how many pax they are actually carrying.
DeleteIf JU results were good they would have published them before Christmas...
DeleteAnyone noticed JU downgraded their baggage policy forgetf? JFK is now 1pc of checked baggage in economy, instead of 2pc they had since the introduction of the route. Done very queitly with no big announcement on the website.
ReplyDeleteWhat a way to play yourself out of competitive advantage...
Nothing wrong with that. It's been years that most European carriers' long-haul routes are with 1PC.
DeleteThe only generous ones remaining are the Gulf carriers.
Turkish airlines too has 2pc baggage policy
DeleteI'm not saying they are below the average carrier, but that they have solentlu downgraded their policy and lost competitive advantage. Serious cost cutting, even on the "prestige" route to JFK. A shame, really.
DeleteWhere did you get this 1PC info from? On their website it clearly shows 2 pieces x 23kg:
Deletehttps://www.airserbia.com/en/fees
Apologies, it was my mistake:
Delete"Exceptions are the tickets issued from March 30, 2018 from Belgrade to the US via Rome / Milan in the economic class where one piece of luggage x23kg is allowed."
Yes, they are seriously cutting costs.
isn't 2 piece of luggage a US regulatory requirement for all carriers flying there?
DeleteWhat are you talking about?
Deleteneither TK nor Gulf carriers have 2 pc policy.
Sure, you can take 2 pcs but you must pay for the second one.
Furthermore, whenever EK does PR with some offers, this 1 pc which comes free is not even 23 kg but 20kg.
Anon@9:30 - Both Etihad & TK allows 2 pcs of luggage for US, 23kg each. Additionally, Etihad FF status can provide you with some extra weight, free of charge.
DeleteOman Air allow 2PC x 32kg Economy Class and 2PC x 60kg on Business!
DeleteI am a very frequent traveller, but i never needed 60kg of luggage nor even 40kg. Only arabs need 2huge pieces for obe week. Useless advantage for 99% of passengers.
DeleteFrom what I can tell, they indeed have a new baggage policy for JFK flights - however, it is only applicable to points of origin other than BEG, as well as the FCO/MXP exception noted above.
DeleteSo, for pax originating at TGD, TIA, SOF, ATH and others, there is a new 1x23kg policy. For those starting their journey at BEG, 2x23kg remains, provided they use the JU500/501.
Depends on the length of your travel and destination. Two pieces of luggage are often very needed and you might end up paying 120 eur for rt. 40kg is also needed when you are moving somewhere for a couple of months and need to bring clothes and other stuff for different seasons. Been there, done that :)
DeleteThe world is changing. The use of havy bags is getting lower because the same stuff you need is sold in the other countries. A traveller no longer needs metal cutlery or free wine but rather to reach to point to point B with less luggage, possubly Wi-fi and punctuality.
DeleteAll airlines (except maybe Adria) are facing significant competition in their home markets. Considering this, I think they have done quite well in 2017.
ReplyDeleteI noticed JU had a 12.40 departure to ZRH. I didn't know this increase took place this early. Should be great for passenger numbers in April.
ReplyDeleteFive flights to ZRH today. :)
Delete07.20 JU A320
09.20 LX A320
12.40 JU A319
14.40 LX A320
18.20 JU A320
Yesterday there were also five flights but the LX flight at 09.20 was with an A321.
ZRH is the richest Serbian diaspora :)
DeleteDoes anyone know how is JP doing on LJU-CDG route? I flu lju-cdg on friday morning, operated by crj 90, 40pax, flying back now (flight delayed for 1h), operated by fokker100, less than 40pax? Is this route profitable at all- having in mind it was easter sp i would expect high LF? Even ticket prices dropped significantky. JP used to charge between 300-500 for return ticket, recently (after AF boosted this route) u can find tickets for 200€ return.
ReplyDeleteAF/KL/HV are significanly increasing BEG and LJU:
Deletehttp://www.airfranceklm.com/en/news/2018-summer-schedule-41-increase-capacity
----
On departure from the Netherlands, the Group's low-cost airline will increase capacity by 50% to Greece and its islands, as well as to Eastern Europe (Belgrade and Ljubljana).
----
On my opinion the LJU-CDG route is doing well if an airline decides to increase capacity it's a clear indicator. I think JP will get organised when they receive the 2 additional CR9's
So u think we can expect announcment of additional increase in next weeks? Transavia already increased LJU as well AF (HOP)?
DeleteYes, HV increased flights to 5 weekly and HOP will deploy the bigger 100 seat E190.
DeleteJP will have no choice to deploy at least CR9 to be more competitive and so the rates will fall and more passengers will fly to/from CDG.
JP should start flying to Orly. That would give them an advantage.
DeleteDon't forget that HV has a hub in ORY so they might launch flights to LJU too. The other possible scenario is to see AF replacing HOP next year if the route is doing well.
DeleteHV wont go into direct competition with AF
DeleteYes, it's either HV or AF, that's what he said.
DeleteJust landed at LJU. GS guy told me that the last information he got is that JP wont get any of those saabs parked,because they r waiting to transfer them to the turkish buyer (owner). JP is currently leasing two AC from Carpatair and one from Tradeair. Passengers supposedly (GS guys comment) complain a lot n even the airport isnt satisfied with JPs situation
ReplyDeleteLooks pretty messy at the moment!
DeleteAt least they found a temporarily solution, let's see how they sustain the routes.
DeleteAs I've seen, JU started shuttling pax. from BEG to ZAG via LJU connecting both flights into one. Flying on BEG ZAG route quite frequently, I've never seen aircraft reaching 70% pax load. Couple months age, I flew on the 'new' route, and there were around 100 passengers on board YU-APA. Most of them got off in Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteThey've done same thing with SJJ/BNX and TGD/TIV. Maybe they should reduce flights form BEG and ZAG/LJU to one daily every five days and toss in A319 and continue with the new route. It seems to be paying off better than sending couple of half-empty flying shells to both cities in the same time.
Exactly. Maybe they should choose that option permanently. I had also flown to Belgrade from Zagreb as a connection, and boy was that bird empty. Half of the aircraft was speaking Arabic.
DeleteTho, I think TIV and TGD should give better results among Montenegrin/Serbian population traveling between two countries.
Thing is, connecting flights are slowly losing ground as time goes by, especially in Europe. More and more cities are connected to each other and people would always choose the non-stop option if available.
DeleteLCC long-haul is also entering a new era, we see more DY flights from/to Europe and Americas + SE Asia.
The A321LR will be a game changer and new PER-LHR too where people will start avoiding DXB/DOH/AUH and prefer non-stop.
Aviation is changing a lot lately, lets see what will happen. I won't be surprised to see new long-haul A321LR or B787 connections to the Balkans soon.
Connecting flights will always be popular for those who are not flexible with their travelling dates. Wizz Air might be linking the region with the West but there are just a few destinations with more than 4 weekly flights.
DeleteAs for Norwegian, their financial results are catastrophic so let's see how long before they implode.
well I for one do not prefer 17 hours non-stop in an airplane, and i know i am not the only one.
Deleteso, ultra long haul may be something new, but its an addition to already existing option, rather than a game changer or whatever
I can agree with you on that. ULH flights can be rather exhausting, tho Qantas said they've adopted the dreamliner to help passengers feel better during the flight. The most i can/would go through is 14 hours tops.
Delete