Russian carrier Red Wings Airlines plans to introduce services between Moscow's Domodedovo Airport and Belgrade this summer season, in an attempt to end the duopoly on the route held between Aeroflot and Air Serbia. The company has applied for slots at Nikola Tesla Airport with plans to commence operations on June 2, in the lead up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which is being held in Russia. Flights will be maintained twice per week with a staggered schedule for the better part of the championships after which services will run each Tuesday and Thursday until the end of the 2018 summer season in late October. The airline is yet to receive permits for the flights and put tickets on sale.
Red Wings Airlines is the second Russian carrier to attempt to challenge Aeroflot and Air Serbia on services between Moscow and Belgrade. In December 2015, Ural Airlines commenced operations from Domodedovo Airport to the Serbian capital but suspended flights just nine months later due to poor loads and strong competition. Red Wings Airlines has operated charter services to Serbia in the past, most recently from Kaluga, some 150 kilometres southwest of Moscow, to Niš in January 2016. Within the former Yugoslavia, the airline maintains seasonal operations to Tivat and Pula. As a result of the upcoming World Cup, Aeroflot and Air Serbia will add additional flights between Moscow and Belgrade in June, while NordStar Airlines will also run a special charter for fans.
Russia continues to be one of Belgrade Airport's biggest markets. Both Air Serbia and Aeroflot have a wide-ranging codeshare agreement in place with the Serbian carrier maintaining its flight numbers and designator code on Aeroflot's services from Moscow to Belgrade, Kazan, Krasnodar, Samara, Sochi and St Petersburg. In return, Aerfolot codeshares on Air Serbia's flights from Belgrade to Moscow, St Petersburg, Podgorica, Sarajevo, Skopje, Tirana and Tivat. The two airlines operate a total of 24 weekly flights between the Serbian and Russian capitals, making it the fifth most frequent route based on the number of departures this summer. Serbia and Russia maintain visa free travel for each others' nationals.
I give them a couple of months to survive on this route. JU and SU are just too strong.
ReplyDeletePlus they will be flying from Domodedovo which is in the middle of nowhere.
DeleteThey will need very good marketing or cooperation with tour operators to make this work. Since it's a secondary Russian airline they will have neither, just like Ural.
DeleteMost legacy carriers do fly from DME and it is one of the most modern ones compared to SVO, VKO and ZIA.
DeleteDME is a nuisance because it is far away from Moscow. Most legacy carriers fly to DME because they were not allowed by Russians to fly to SVO which is much more convenient to the average passenger.
DeleteThen why do you have AZ, AF, FB, JU KL, BT, LO, OK, etc? Special agreements with SU? Or Skyteam?
DeleteIt's not about Russians not allowing foreign airlines to fly to SVO, it's about slot restrictions but of course you will notice that AZ, AF, KL, OK are all Skyteam members and codeshare with Aeroflot.
DeleteThe biggest issue with DME is distance from the airport.
DeleteZašto nema direktnih letova izmedju Beograda i drugih ruskih gradova? Ipak je Rusija ogromna, nisu potrebne vize itd, a leti se samo do Moskve i Peterburga. Ovako laički mi deluje da ima potencijala da Aeroflot ili neka druga kompanija pokuša letove do nekog drugog grada, kada već JU spava..
Delete^^^
DeleteJat used to operate into AER. I think they were regular charters. They stopped when Air Serbia took over.
They stopped when everything for the Olympics was constructed.
DeleteDomodedovo is much better airport than Sheremetyevo (when they move your flight to Belgrade from terminal F to terminal D, which happens quite often, it`ll take you some 20 minutes to get there on foot - just to find yourself standing in an ugly walkway, tired, waiting for the flight).
DeleteThis was surprise but I think one-way off this summer only. Ural airlines was much bigger company and it didn't lasted long on this route as well... Sadly I may add.
ReplyDeleteMaybe S7 will be the next to come and fail. Lol
DeleteOr Pobeda is next at INI? :)
DeleteWhat happened with Pobeda's plans to launch INI? They have a realllyyy cool website. I love it!
DeletePobeda never had plans to launch Nis.
DeleteReally...??
Deletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/09/pobeda-eyes-nis-service.html
Well they obviously didn't see the potential, otherwise they would have started flights.
DeleteInteresting. Btw Yamal also planned to launch flights some five, six years ago but they didn't get the permit. They were supposed to fly three times per week with the B735.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't think they'll make it. They are challenging SU-JU which operate 24 weekly flight with their own two.
Best of luck to them.
Ps anyone know when these extra JU-SU flights will take place?
Extra flights on 16.6, 28.6, 25-30.6
DeleteOh and Nordstar charter on 28.6
DeleteI wish them to be successful, but honestly I doubt it.
DeleteIt would be good some third player to decrease high fares between Russia and Serbia (similiar as Niki did few years ago between BEG and VIE), but as someome mentioned already JU and SU seem to be too strong here.
Thank you for the dates. Will be interesting to see what aircraft they deploy.
DeleteI wouldn't have complained if SU sent its widebody on those days in stead of additional flights. :)
Agree, I would love to see a SU widebody in BEG. Have they ever sent a twin aisle plane to Belgrade?
DeleteFrom what I know they haven't. Before Airbus they used to dispatch the Tu-154 and back in the days of USSR occasionally they used to send the Il-62.
DeleteMaybe Air Serbia could send its A330 to Moscow.
DeleteIt can't. With JFK going to six weekly there will be no room for any additional missions.
DeleteOh yes I forgot it will 6 weekly this summer.
DeleteSU have sent the IL96 to BEG a couple of times back many years ago, at a time when it was their Tu154 doing the flights.
DeleteIl-96 or Il-86?
DeleteHere is a SU Il-96 in BEG in 2009
Deletehttp://imgproc.airliners.net/photos/airliners/8/7/4/1593478.jpg?v=v40
IL-96.
DeleteDejan has a great photo of it in BEG back from 2009 on airliners.
Interesting. Thank you for that.
DeleteI know the Il-96 was used on a few occasions when there were official visits and so on but I didn't know it operated on scheduled flights.
This one was sent as equipment upgrade on scheduled flight to fulfill increased demand. The same was the case once in Aug 2006. And IL-86 was sent as equipment upgrade many times during 80' and a few times during 90'. So, a lot of SU widebodies on regular flights in BEG so far.
DeleteThis flight was upgraded because of a Russian economic delegation that came with Putin.
DeleteIf they get a permit. We all know the Serbian CAD does not like competition :D
ReplyDeleteI think the bilateral between Russia and Serbia was renegotiated a few years ago and now allows other airlines to fly (before it only allowed Aeroflot and Jat/Air Serbia). That's how Ural Airlines was allowed to start flights.
DeleteGotta love the open market...
DeleteAre the fares between BEG and MOW expensive?
ReplyDeleteThey are almost 300 euros return fare. Aeroflot is always 5 euros cheaper than Air Serbia which is hilarious since we know what kind of service Air Serbia now offers. Interestingly it is cheapest to fly with Alitalia via FCO but the small difference in fare compared to flying nonstop isn't worth it. I haven't checked the prices for June. They will probably be very expensive because of the world cup.
DeleteThat is expensive.
DeleteI was just looking at fares over next two weeks and flights must be full because Air Serbia return fares are over 600 euros!!!
DeleteThey are probably full because of 1st May holiday.
DeleteI am flying to Moscow for the 1st of May holidays, the ticket with aeroflot was 310euros, bought it two weeks ago.
DeleteGreat news for Belgrade
ReplyDeleteHopefully it won't damage JU's yields too much before they abandone the route
ReplyDeleteWe should care much more about lower fares, increased tourism and more choise instead of protecting ineficient national carriers.
DeleteIt is 2018 but we choose to think like it is 1978.
+1000000!!!
DeleteVery very good comment, Dejan. Well done!
@Dejan
DeleteSpoken like an W6/FR employee of the month. National carrier can also become more efficient, lower fares, increase tourism and provide more choice, all without letting all the revenue and employment go elsewhere.
So if they start flights that will be the fourth new airline at BEG this year. Crazy
ReplyDeleteTrue
DeleteIran Air
Qeshm Air
Mahan Air
Red Wings
Who knows there could be some more by the end of the year.
Let's hope airBaltic returns next summer.
DeleteAnd let's hope all those Iranian airlines stay. I'm not sure they will.
DeleteWhy do you say that? Israir and Arkia are still here.
Delete...and so is KK.
oh, they will get permit, as there is an open skies agreement between Serbia and Russia. but, they will fail. utterly fail, simply because JU and SU code share among each other, and are far too strong. they might have success on other routes, but BEG-MOW no way
ReplyDeleteWon't work past world cup but good luck.
ReplyDeleteI think it will be the same as with Ural Airlines but let's wait and see.
DeleteI think there would be more prospects if they started flying from another Russian city.
ReplyDeleteSuch as?
DeleteKazan, Krasnodar, Samara or Sochi.
DeleteOr fly to Niš
DeleteA couple of years ago Gaspromavia flew scheduled Sochi to Belgrade flights. This was mostly to transport construction workers to Sochi working on the winter olympic sight but does anyone know if tickets could also be purchased freely?
ReplyDeleteYes, they had a GSA here. I think they also operated Vnukovo-Belgrade for a while. All flights were on the Yak-42.
DeleteInteresting. Does this airline still exist?
DeleteIt does and it has B737s in its fleet too.
DeleteGazproavia also used to send their Tu154 to BEG. If I remember right, the Gazpromavia flights (both Sochi and Moscow) were every Saturdays.
DeleteNope, Gazpromavia used to send the Yak-42 and they were actually quite cheap. Return flight to Moscow was around €150.
DeleteInterestingly enough, they always used to park at the B platform.
Nemjee,
DeleteThey also used the A stands as well. Ive got a picture somewhere of their Yak-42 in BEG. If I find it ill upload it :)
Ok, you dig for their picture and I'll dig for their passenger numbers. :D
DeleteI found some time to look for numbers and here they are. I only looked for some months in 2006 and 2007.
DeleteGazprom
January 2006: 6 - 1.327 (flights and pax)
January 2007: 6 - 1.418
March 2006: 6 - 1.047
March 2007: 7 - 1.445
June 2006: 6 - 1.227
June 2007: 7 - 1.961
August 2006: 6 - 1.718
August 2007: 7 - 1.755
For comparison's sake, these are the JU and SU numbers for SVO.
January 2007:
SU: 25 - 4.712
JU: 30 - 5.087
March 2007
SU: 29 - 4.643
JU: 31 - 4.795
June 2007:
SU: 30 - 5.665
JU: 29 - 4.866
August 2007:
SU: 31 - 7.065
JU: 31 - 6.095
Naturally, today things are quite different for Aeroflot as every month they carry at least 15.000 passengers.
I remember few years ago on beg.aero Aviolet flight to AER was listed as scheduled I think it was 1pw. Was that a similar arrangement?
DeleteYes, it used to depart around midnight. It was there to carry Serbs from the construction industry.
Delete@ nemjee
Deletehttps://flic.kr/p/mtTCez
I found the picture :)
its no fun when a Russian carrier comes with Western aircraft. Hope they will deploy the MC-21 on the route next year.
ReplyDeleteWell they could still use the Tu-204 :D
DeleteMC-21 has been planned to be introduced in 2020.
DeleteMost of international routes of Russian airlines have been done on Western airplanes, including Aeroflot.
What equipment does SU use to Belgrade?
DeleteUsually B737-800. More recently A321 very often.
DeleteMostly B738 and A320
DeleteA321 started appearing on the overnight flight which is interesting.
DeleteThe night flight, which arrives in Moscow in the morning probably has excellent connections onto Aeroflot's network.
DeleteThey will most likely operate these flights with A320s. 180 seats all economy class configuration.
ReplyDeleteThey flew charters to Nis with an SSJ100. That would make more sense for this route in my opinion.
DeleteWhile it would be ideal for this route, they no longer have SSJs in their fleet.
Deletejust checked and found they sold all their Sukhois. I would like someone to explain why. Its not quite a bad plane, and is very affordable. I know its used even on Brussels-Stockholm route. So why Russian carriers are letting these planes go?
DeleteThey are probably not as good as they seem.
DeleteOr maybe they didn't fit into their business model?
DeleteThen they don't seem to fit into many airlines' business model.
DeleteAko ne vidis razliku izmedju masine sa 180 sedista i masine sa 70 sedista za kompaniju koja uskace u ovakve kombinacije onda nista.
DeleteWhen even Rusian airlines get rid of SSJs you know that the aircraft is not competitive with western aircraft.
DeleteEven after taking into account the low aquidition price.
SN Brussels seems to be satisfied with the aircraft. Or maybe they were lying for some reason?
DeleteIf airlines are willing to pay more to fly CRJs or E-Jets instead of SSJ, then SSJ is not competitive with western aircraft, no matter how satisfied Brussels is with them.
DeleteAnyone who is working in the private sector, especially in a business that deals with sales, will know that no matter how good your product is, switching customers to something new/different is not easy.
DeletePlacing a new product requires a lot of time and effort. Anyway, when it comes to aviation and technology, I think Russians are a little bit ahead of the Brazilians.
So how many SSJs does SN Brussels operate? 0. They are wet-leased from Cityjet, so SN Brussels doesn't have the entire picture on the operation of the aircraft.
DeleteIt's as if JU now knows the CRJ inside out because they were leasing it for one summer from JP.
There must be a reason as to why the airlines who can choose freely which aircraft they order (unlike their many Russian counterparts), mostly choose not to order SSJ.
If one is to follow your logic then SN Brussels should have opted to lease a DC-9 or a F-28 as it would be a wet-lease and they wouldn't really operate it or be accountable for anything.
DeleteReality is that SN Brussels was confident enough to place its livery on the aircraft and to be associated with the SSJ.
To me that looks like a vote of confidence for the manufacturer. Anyway, didn't CityJet order additional aircraft?
I find it absolutely hilarious that you praising a Brazilian aircraft with Brazilian technology over a Russian-Italian-French project.
To me this seems more anti-Russian bias than anything else.
p.s. Aeroflot has been great at resisting government pressure when it came to ordering Russian aircraft. This was especially apparent at the time when they were getting ready to introduce the A321. The Russian government tried to force them to take the Tu-204 but their efforts all failed.
Besides the SSJ, SU has no Russian built aircraft.
Another thing, SU dropped the first SSJs they got as they were too heavy. In stead of just reducing the SSJ fleet they actually replaced them with newer models.
DeleteAko ćemo već o uspehu, C-serija ima svega 327 porudžbina. Nije kao da su se oni proslavili. Već kada pričamo o brojkama.
DeleteIsto tako, Q400 svaki čas ima neki problem, posebno sa stajnim trapom. Sto se tiče CRJ serije, kada je poslednji put poručen neki avion?
Interjet operates 22 SSJ in one of the most demanding climates on Earth. #mex
DeleteSSJ has been on sale for 15 ywars and on operation for 10.
DeleteI think that airlines all over the world had ample time to look into its business case and decide if it fits their operations.
Sadly it doesn't. And that will not change now.
Lets hope that MC-21 has better luck in global markets.
Why are you getting defensive over SSJ and Russian technology? No one above said that it is in any way inferior. We are just pointing out that on the market SSJ sales are doing much worse than western RJs. It is a fact.
DeleteAs to why is it like that, I'm sure there are various factors. There is still prejudice against Russian aircraft which people mostly associate with old Soviet ones.
Also, Sukhoi is relatively unknown when it comes to passenger aircraft. As comparison, Embraer was around for decades before E-Jets rolled out with EMB120 and Erjs and it still took a while for their sales and popularity to take off.
Who knows, 717 was doing poorly during production, but 10 years after it ceased it became a sort of a hidden jem, so there's always hope
It is true Aeroflot operates only SSJ, the rest of the fleet is foreign-produced. However they do have 50 MC-21s ordered. But what else is on the market that they could use? Tu-154, Tu-204, Il-96?
DeleteAs somebody else said, SSJ has been around for quite a while and hasn't gained any significant traction in the free market.
I don't know why one wouldn't trust Brazilian aircraft? Have a look at how many ERJ and E-Jets are flying around every day without problems. Certainly more of them than all of the Russian airlines in service combined. Gets even more obvious when you substract the number of aircraft operated in Brasil/Russia on both sides.
All good points.
DeleteWe should add to the reasons for airlines reluctance to buy SSJs the fact that with so few airlines operating it and with previous generations engines on them the resale value of these birds will be horrible. Airlines nowadays do not buy aircraft and keep them for 30 years (JU is an exception of course :D) but replace them much sooner.
JU is far from being the only airline around to operate aircraft older than 30 years.
Delete"Aэrologic
DeleteInterjet is not an airline you should use as an example for SSJ success.
They have grounded a number of them and cannibalizing them for spare parts to keep the rest of the fleet going...
Anonymous April 13, 2018 at 3:46 PM
DeleteCorrect, dozens of airlines in Africa do the same.
Not true. Look at the age of some of LH's older A320s.
DeleteTheir oldest A320 is from 1989, still 4 years newer than JU's oldest B737. And their average fleet age is about the same as the age of JU's newest A320.
Delete@AnonymousApril 13, 2018 at 3:49 PM
DeleteThey have 8 more on order, i see no grounded frames with CityJet. Did i otherwise see you saying how B777 is a crap aircraft because AI cannibalized 5 of them for spare-parts?
Four were out of service during the winter season and spare-parts used on other frames simply for economics reasons.
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/interjet-praises-superjet-despite-continuing-mainten-443424/
SSJ arrived into an already overcrowded market where politics and not economics play the major role. Interjet was one of the very few 'free' airlines to order something without any political biais since they're a private airline in an enough large market. Introducing any new type into an existing market is an already huge challenge that any manufacturer will need to overcome besides the policital biais and lobbying. JU didn't have the market case for 4 A319 in 1998 yet it still ordered them for political reasons.
When you think about 'free world', i would ask you to think twice.
Yeah the only difference is that LH can afford to retire those dinosaurs but JU can't. But I guess that doesn't matter as you just like to bash and attack JU every chance you get.
DeleteNot so closely but still related, when you look at the scandal Turkey faced when ordering the S-400 (considered by most military experts as best SAM systems in the world) you'd expect the same behind the scenes for any airline trying to order Sukhoi or aircraft from other Russian manufacturers. The fact that Patriots are inferior didn't prevent them from becoming the most widely used system in the world where S-400 is again in the minority.
DeleteQuantity and quality aren't always closely related.
I guess a statement from Interjet proves you wrong:
Deletehttp://tass.com/economy/985834
http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1376405#p19910595
Deletehttps://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/interjet-praises-superjet-despite-continuing-mainten-443424/
DeleteDispatch reliability of less than 90% is very poor. Especially for the aircraft that's been operating commercially for over 7 years now. Just to compare, A320/B737 is usually around 99.5%.
But I guess for some people, Russian aircraft will always be better than anything else. Even if the data shows otherwise.
Read the article again.
Delete"Stefano Marazzani, chief executive of the Venice-based marketing arm SuperJet International, speaking on the sidelines of the ALTA Leaders Forum says that Garza was likely referring to the availability, rather than the technical reliability, of the SSJ100. He adds that the dispatch reliability of the global fleet is around 99%."
DeleteThank you Anon 10.26.
DeleteBut I guess for some people, Russian aircraft will always be worse than anything else. Even if data shows otherwise.
Is there a chance JU replaces its atr with sukoi super djet? Brussels Air seem to be happy...
DeleteNot bad a/c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTpAxgWNX6I
That would actually happen if there was a 'free market'. That or they would have kept Boeing, without the expensive and unnecessary Airbus transition.
DeleteI am really surprised there are currently no flights to LED, KUF, SVX, VVO, etc. I am sure many Russians from the rural areas can visit Serbia or use BEG as transfer.
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia flies to LED.
DeleteAnd interestingly they also applied for permits to fly to Krasnodar last year but never started flights.
DeleteThat was probably some extremely smart idea by a route planner in Abu Dhabi.
DeleteThat was actually a good idea and I'm among those who proposed it along with Rostov-on-Don.
DeleteI thought demand for the Russian market was declining
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteDue to sanctions, weak Ruble and Russians having less money to travel. A few years ago Moscow airports had a sharp decline in number of passengers, not sure how are they doing now.
DeleteInteresting
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much feed easch airline SU/JU get off each others flights.
ReplyDeleteGreat the more the merrier.
ReplyDeleteDo Air Serbia's hybrid fares/model apply to SVO route or is it like their New York route?
ReplyDeleteMoscow is not LCC, it still has regular service. They were obliged to keep it that way otherwise SU would totally crush them.
DeleteIn theory Air Serbia's SVO flight has the same fare model as all other routes (except New York) BUT you will see that the economy white fare is 'sold out' on all days so you have to take the full economy fare.
DeleteAnonymous at 11:05 AM
Delete+1000
Red Wings is planning to fly DME-BEG three times weekly (ie. not two), the third day is Saturday.
ReplyDeleteSometimes is just about the price and timing. I wouldn't bet they wouldn't last.
ReplyDeleteWhich allianz does Red Wing belongs to ¿
ReplyDelete