Nice to see them expand in the region. Hopefully they consider some new routes for next summer.

They are responding to more and more competition in the region.

I hope they consider Skopje for next year. Flights to Moscow are long overdue.

It seems they are after transfer passengers in ZAG as they are replacing the A320 with the SSJ. Less seats per flight has enabled them to add more frequencies.

LJU is an interesting choice and I am sure it will do well. TK numbers are booming in LJU and I am sure a great deal of passengers are transfers onto their Asian network.

As for BEG, three daily on the A320 is beyond impressive. BEG will be on par with VIE for SU and ahead of places like BUD or ATH.

32 weekly flights between Moscow and Belgrade is just crazy. wow

LOT in particular.

Its nice to see that ties between Moscow and Belgrade is still strong and growing stronger.

I'm surprised they don't fly to Podgorica but fly Tivat year round.

I think Moscow will be one of the busiest destinations out of BEG this winter season.

From the top of my head, I think VIE should be number one with 33, Moscow with 32 and then IST with 22.

It was nice seeing their wide bodies in BEG this year. Hopefully they will dispatch some of them again.

Are you sure about Vienna Nemjee? Don't Austrian and Air Serbia fly just 2 daily during winter?

I think there is a better chance of seeing Pobeda in Skopje than Aeroflot.

Very true. LOT has taken command in the region and they are pretty much competing for the same passengers as Aeroflot.

True. They don'g fly to TGD even in summer.

Another route they may consider is Dubrovnik seasonal next summer.

Great to see new airline in LJU, it is becoming a good regional airport with good connections. Still waiting for the new terminal, it should be done by now. What I like about LJU is when you land you are usually out of the airport in cca 10 minutes. Wish them all the best.

Do you think Red Wings will keep BEG in winter?

They used to fly to Dubrovnik but they suspended it around 2 years ago.

LOT adds new routes to ex-Yu every year. They only have SJJ and PRN left of the major cities. So it will be interesting to see if they start them in 2019.

They flew DBV daily in summer but ceasde operations last year.

Why? Seems odd to go from daily to none at all.

I think in Zagreb they are trying to make sure Croatia Airlines doesn't start flights.

And again nothing to Sarajevo :( it seems no airline is interested in starting flights here. Airlines like Aeroflot, Aegean and LOT fly everywhere in ex-Yu but all miss SJJ.

SU needs to catch up to some other airlines when it comes to their presence in the region. This is a good start but still a very limited network.

Like I said below, Aeroflot still has a very limited network compared to LOT. But this is a good start.

In summer yes, but in winter not really. LOT will be flying Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Skopje while Aeroflot will fly Belgrade, Zagreb, Lubljana and Tivat.

And Aeroflot has more flights to ex-Yu frequency wise than LOT during the winter too.

lol sure.

Either Sarajevo Airport isn't doing a good job at attracting airlines or there simply is no demand.

Well it seems to attract Middle Eastern carriers just fine.

Aeroflot is a good airline with a good product. Nice to see them grow.

*don't

Obviously wasn't working for them financially and they probably could utilize the plane in a better way.

Because Russians go for holidays on the coast, even during the winter. Also many Russians have property around the coast of Tivat. There is little to do or see in Podgorica.

I am afraid with 3 daily to BEG they will leave ASL with nothing left, especially since they are still a true legacy carrier with good onboard product and impressive punctuality (which is not hte case with JU).

Would be a good time for Air Serbia to fly St Petersburg year round instead of seasonally.

Would be nice if they introduce SKP as well. This route is totally unnerved. Just wondering if they are planning something like this.

No visas required. Makes sense, duh!

INI is next...

Can we see downgrading the service to SVO with the new flights of Aeroflot and Red Wings?

Who? Air Serbia?

+1 one of the true European legacy airlines still out there.

Good news. SU has become a great brand, especially compared to the old one. Love their livery!
Btw...the number of flights between Belgrade and Moscow is incredible!!

With a great livery too.

I think they could eventually expand to include Podgorica and Skopje to their network.

Or maybe Ohrid seasonally at least. Lot's of Russians visit.

What they really should be doing is deploying their low cost arm Pobeda much more to the region. Do they even fly anywhere in ex-Yu?

Despite all those flights, prices to Moscow are still pricey.

Because two airlines (who cooperate with each other) hold 99.9% of the market. That's why they are pricey.

I think they only fly to Tivat during the summer.

Sorry, I refered to SU frequencies only.

Pobeda planned to start flights to Podgorica this summer but the end they didn't. They even announced they would. Don't know what happened but the flights didn't go through.

Anon 09.15

I sure hope so but I guess we will have to wait and see if they make it in the end. It's encouraging that they are sending their A321 from time to time. I think they are working with some Russian tour operators.

Aeroflot flies to Tivat in winter?

another vote for SKP

Yes

"Elsewhere, Aeroflot will maintain daily flights to Tivat during the 2018/19 season."

Probably directorate blocked them to protect Montenegro Airlines.

Montenegro Airlines does not fly to Moscow from Podgorica. Only from Tivat. So I doubt that's the case.

It used to be seasonal but they made it year round 2 or 3 years ago.

So much for the directorate conspiracy. There are at least a dozen Russian airlines flying to Montenegro and you think for some reason they would block Pobeda. Their plans just probably changed.

Ne pricaj gluposti, molim te. In LJU u rarely get the airbridge, means u always need to take a bus, which takes 10’ just to fill it up, transfer takes 1-2’, If u need to wait for the checked luggage, its another 10-15min, so the average its at least 20min without without for the luggage.

SU flies to TIV double daily, during summer. During winter, daily (mixed fleet SU95,A320)

A wild card, but maybe Pobeda could launch 2 weekly VKO-INI. They fly to many Ryanair/Wizzair airports like FMM, FKB, CGN, BGY, PSA, TSF, STN (starting soon), GRO, REU, BTS, etc.

Does anyone know how r the loads to LED? Its gonna be interesting to see loads if JP starts flights to LED

I doubt an airline like SU is afraid of OU.

Any chances of Pobeda coming to INI? They'd crush it there imo

Congrats to LJU, BEG and ZAG!

Well, ZAG isn't seeing an increase but a decrease.

LJU is close to where I live and so far I had nothing but great experience, always on time with or without airbridges (does it really matter how you get on or off?). Air travel is fun, you should to take on the positive side. I just hope the new terminal is done as soon as possible, as it can get busy with lack of space in the arrival area, but still I always got out very quickly.

I do not really see how LOT and Aeroflot are competing? Aeroflot mostly caters for Russian/Asian transfers and substantial O&D market especially from Serbia.

SU increasing and JU decreasing frequency. What is happening with them!

I understand the strong ties between Serbia and Russia but please help me understand who is flying so much between the two countries? Business, government, tourists? Since those are a lot of seats on a daily basis to fill in. Very interested to hear some opinions. Thanks

JU is not decreasing frequencies at all. They are flying exactly the same as last year. Don't know why you made that up.

All three of those. There are a lot of Russian companies operating in Serbia, not to mention that Gazprom owns Serbia's petroleum company and Sberbank has a big presence in Serbia. There are also a lot of Serbs working in Russia and there are a lot of Russian tourists coming to Serbia since neither Russians nor Serbian need visas to enter each others countries.

@Last anon
Likewise. Looks like Sloavio is having a bad day. Again. And it's a work-free day ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Russia is Serbia´s most important trading an political partner. No Visas and friends in hearts.

Aeroflot actually used SU95s and A320s equally lat winter 2017/18, 2 x times per week with each type. During the dead season (2nd half of January and the entire February), Aeroflot used SU95 only. So, this is an increase in capacity for ZAG overall. Given that ZAg prices are higher than those on the LJU route, it's clear SU is after JP in LJU.
I can see Aeroflot expand in ZAG during the summer of 2019 as well.

bahaha

on the face of the place

Can we see SU sending A330 or 777 to BEG ?

Here is the list of missing cities from SVO are:

SKP - better send Pobeda
INI - better send Pobeda or A320
SJJ - better send A320
TGD - although TIV is already connected, better send A320 or SSJ
OHD - better send SSJ or A320
BWK - now that JP is pulling out - they can safely send Sukhoi SJJ

Sshht, don't mention INI - they will literally tell you how "poor" the south and how no flights are needed because you can take the car to BEG or use SKP serving mainly tertiarty destinations. They will also deny the airport is breaking records every year.

They will also deny this:

https://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/09/pobeda-eyes-nis-service.html

VIE has 4-5 daily Aeroflot flights only to Moscow. Still way ahead of BEG although visas required for Austria.

SU has 4 daily to VIE, seems like they added an extra flight since the last time I checked. Given the size of VIE and the purchasing power of Austrians, BEG isn't doing that badly.

Austrian Airlines has 11 weekly and Utair daily.

JU has great loads to LED in summer, they even increased it to 4 weekly.

Guess they are serving DBV year-round via TIV

Actually, OS is flying 2x daily, SU 4x daily and Utair 1x daily between Moscow and Vienna. Makes exactly 49 frequencies.
SU had announced they wanted to introduce a fifth frequency already last year but the current regulations do not allow this for them. I would assume that VIEMOW P2P is much lower than BEGMOW but the vast majority for VIEMOW are transfers at Both ends.

^^
:). And all those experts as a rule, haven't been south of Vrcin

8 times a week is so little. How come they can not get their act together?

That is very good for Montenegrin tourism. Hope the government will work on year round connectivity in both Tivat and Podgorica. So many potential for the part of Montenegrin coast even in winter time.

JU is struggling on all fronts. So sad.

We love Moscow but we also love our concession agreement for BEG. So complicated :)

Dude ...

One should assume that SU should be able to capture a lot more pax from and to ZAG by serving it 7x weekly instead of only 4x weekly.

Better send A380

nah, only ini and tgd possible serious candidats.
maybe skp-vko with w6?

@Anonymous15 August 2018 at 10:48, 87*7 is greater than 140*4.

OS has 11 flights from what I can see in the system.

and you are even more serious with W6

What's really sad is you feeling the need to comment that when JU is doing just fine, my friend.

They are just trying to attract more transfers by offering greater frequencies while capacity remains unchanged.

Simply no demand. If there was, European airlines would be flying there in greater numbers.

Germany is Serbia's most important trading partner.

OS601 and OS605 both daily for me on fr24.com

Unlike some.

Because you believe SU used to send 20 business claas seats to Zagreb? Get real. 158x4 then do your maths.

Check Amadeus, FR is unreliable.

Its been a couple of years for me since I last flew with Aeroflot but I noticed a distinct difference in standards between flights from Moscow to Europe (solid to good) and intra ex-USSR flights (sub standard). Anyone else have the same impression?

@Anonymous15 August 2018 at 22:47, thankfully, that's very easy to check. Here's a sample week from November 2017:
15 Nov 2017 Moscow (SVO) Zagreb (ZAG) A320 (VQ-BHL) 2:52 09:00 09:40 10:10
Landed 10:32
13 Nov 2017 Moscow (SVO) Zagreb (ZAG) A320 (VQ-BBC) 3:00 09:00 09:29 10:10
Landed 10:29
12 Nov 2017 Moscow (SVO) Zagreb (ZAG) A320 (VQ-BIV) 2:48 09:00 09:20 10:10
Landed 10:08
10 Nov 2017 Moscow (SVO) Zagreb (ZAG) A320 (VQ-BKS) 2:42 09:00 09:25 10:10
Landed 10:08
(Data from flightradar24)

Now if we go and check the configurations for those aircraft (VQ-BHL, VQ-BBC, VQ-BIV, VQ-BKS):
https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/Airbus/A320/VQ-BHL-Aeroflot-Russian-Airlines/Ll3rhgbL
https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/Airbus/A320/VQ-BBC-Aeroflot-Russian-Airlines/R21PF6bW
https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/Airbus/A320/VQ-BKS-Aeroflot-Russian-Airlines/37gQtOXG
https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/Airbus/A320/VQ-BIV-Aeroflot-Russian-Airlines/ga0lheNJ

As you can see, all are in C20Y120 configuration which means 140 seats. Also, since SU operated 4pw SVO-ZAG flights with SSJs during second half of November 2017 and during December of 2017 I would definitely call 7pw SSJs an upgrade.

So basically they had next to no business class demand out of ZAG. Strange.

No, they have plenty of business class demand. That's why they were sending 20C planes instead of 8C planes. SU Sukhois have 12C seats, so the total per week C seat capacity outside of summer season was increased by 4 seats in autumn/late winter and by 36 seats in late autumn/early winter. The total per week Y capacity was increased by 45 seats in autumn/late winter and by 225 seats in late autumn/early winter.