Belgrade Airport is preparing for a busy winter season, which will see it handle more flights than ever before, following on from what is set to be a record summer. A number of carriers have already committed to increasing both frequencies and capacity to the Serbian capital when compared to last year. Among them, Aeroflot will introduce a third daily service to Belgrade for a total of 21 weekly flights. The additional daily frequency will depart Moscow in the afternoon. It comes after Red Wings Airlines became the third carrier to maintain operations between the two cities last month, although it is yet to schedule flights for the upcoming winter.
LOT Polish Airlines will boost operations to Belgrade from daily last winter, to ten weekly starting October 28. Austrian Airlines and TAROM will introduce an extra weekly service to the Serbian capital for a total of nineteen from Vienna and nine flights per week from Bucharest. Iranian carriers are also expected to maintain their operations to the Serbian capital, with all three currently performing services to Belgrade with wide-body equipment. Air Serbia, which is in the process of finalising its winter timetable, will increase its frequencies to Zurich with an additional three weekly flights for a total of seventeen. Furthremore, an extra weekly rotation will be added to Stockholm for a total of four per week.
Low cost airlines will also be adding frequencies. easyJet will maintain all three of its routes to Belgrade - Geneva, Basel and Berlin - on a year-round basis, with the latter two to be operated for the first time. Furthermore, Transavia will run five weekly services between Amsterdam and Belgrade for the entire season, whereas additional flights were introduced last winter from February onwards. Norwegian Air Shuttle plans to boost its frequencies from Oslo to Belgrade from two to three per week, while it will also maintain its Stockholm service throughout the winter with one weekly flight. Belgrade Airport's busiest low cost airline Wizz Air is also in the process of finalising its schedule, with the carrier set to increase operations to Eindhoven from three to four weekly, however, it is expected to discontinue services to Larnaca over the winter months.
Low cost airlines will also be adding frequencies. easyJet will maintain all three of its routes to Belgrade - Geneva, Basel and Berlin - on a year-round basis, with the latter two to be operated for the first time. Furthermore, Transavia will run five weekly services between Amsterdam and Belgrade for the entire season, whereas additional flights were introduced last winter from February onwards. Norwegian Air Shuttle plans to boost its frequencies from Oslo to Belgrade from two to three per week, while it will also maintain its Stockholm service throughout the winter with one weekly flight. Belgrade Airport's busiest low cost airline Wizz Air is also in the process of finalising its schedule, with the carrier set to increase operations to Eindhoven from three to four weekly, however, it is expected to discontinue services to Larnaca over the winter months.
Wow for Aeroflot going 3 daily from Moscow. How many flights will Air Serbia have to Moscow?
ReplyDeleteDaily flights on the A319.
DeleteSo 28 weekly plus we might see 2 from Red Wings. That's 30 weekly flights. I think it is a record for this route.
DeleteI guess this is good news due to the fact that JU and SU code share on each others flights. However the 3xSU+1xJU seems like a concerning disbalance.
DeleteNice to see. I think winter will be very strong for BEG.
ReplyDeleteGreat work BEG. Nice to see so many legacy carriers introducing extra flights.
ReplyDeleteMahan too, from yesterday they added one weekly flight (3 pw in total)
DeleteAdd Belavia to the list. They are keeping their one weekly, non-stop flight to BEG in addition to two weekly via BUD.
DeleteIs 6 million passengers possible this year?
ReplyDeleteBravo Srbija!
ReplyDeleteAeroflot is the most impressive from the list. Three daily is a serious presence in Belgrade and they will have more flights than to some much larger airports in the region such as VCE, BUD, OTP, SOF and ATH. VIE is the only aiport in the region with three daily flights, IST has four or five.
ReplyDeleteThese are the times of the third rotation:
SVO-BEG 16.50-17.55
BEG-SVO 18.45-23.35
Given that JU and SU code-share, this flight will offer connections to some destinations in Italy, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Montenegro.
Will be interesting to see what the Iranians do. Mahan was granted the permit to operate a third weekly flight (Thursdays) meaning BEG-IKA has seven weekly frequencies.
All this demand is quite impressive and I think six million is not that unrealistic.
SU is expanding in Bulgaria too, they will introduce daily flights to BOJ and 3 weekly winter for the very first time using Sukhoi.
DeleteIt's a pity they don't fly to secondary cities in other countries such as CLJ, DEB, DBV even INI.
But anyway, good for BEG. I checked that A320 sharklets will be deployed, which is simply cool.
SU has improved so much during the last decade. Such a decent airline.
Wizz Air daily to Eindhoven?? Is that a typo?
ReplyDeleteI think someone mentioned 4 weekly, up from 3 last year.
DeleteI think EK will be next. There is obviously growing demand for Asia.
ReplyDeleteNije neophodan mada je dobrodošao. Dubai je popularno letovalište pogotovo preko zime. Verujem da bi imali dobru popunjenost, neđutim videli smo kakav debakl su doživeli u ZAG, od tolikog pisanja kako je i prva i biznis klasa popunjena, do toga da će zimi ići 7 pw sa 777. Od toga sada ništa, tokom sezone prvu klasu su gotovo izbacili iz ponude zbog slabe potražnje a tokom zime potpuno povlačenje Emiratesa. Ne verujem da će skoro u Beograd iz razloga što je Beograd mnogo dobro pokriven sa bliskim istokom, a pored toga sada ima i 2 daily za Abu Dhabi.
DeleteMislim da je danasnja tema najbolji dokaz zasto je suludo porediti Beograd i Zagreb. Jednostavno Beograd nastavlja da raste i da privlaci avio-kompanije dok ce ZAG zimus stagnirati... i to u najboljem slucaju.
DeleteLokalna potraznja izmedju Beograda i UAE nastavlja da raste sto znaci da kada Emirati dodju, imace mnogo vise lokalne potraznje nego sto je to bio slucaj sa Zagrebom.
Bez uvrede ali mislim da su neki malo nerealni ovde kada je u pitanju nivo potraznje za letovima iz Zagreba. Na kraju ispadne... tresla se gora, rodio se mis.
Dodao bih jos jednu stvar, EK/FZ imaju jako dobro pokrivenost Irana. Mogli bi da dovlace turiste iz sekudarnih gradova. Da ne spominjemo to sto dobijamo i vezu sa Saudijskom Arabijom najverovatnije ove zime.
DeleteVisas MUST be abolished for Serbians wishing to enter UAE!!!
DeleteFor turizam and business purposes!
Majke mi koji ste vi lokovi. Majko mila. Emirates leti za Zagreb 8 mjeseci u godini. Samo mršava četiri mjeseca leti flyDubai umjesto Emiratesa, no veći dio godine lete sa 777-300ER svakodnevno. Nešto što Beograd može samo sanjati. I da, u tim avionima ima prvu i business klasu. I da, dobar dio godine je letio sa avionom najvećeg kapaciteta jel se sa skoro 500 mjesta bio prepun.
DeleteOve zime za Zagreb kreću letjeti i Korean (i opet širokotrupac sa busines i prvom klasom), Aegean, ČSA, Iberia, Croatia sa Mostarom, niz kompanija povećava frekvencije. Ovog ljeta za Zagreb lete dvije kanadske kompanije sa čak 6 tjednih letova širkotrupcem za Toronto. I Vi stvarno tvrdite da je Zagreb u stagnaciji i da se pretjeruje sa hvaljenjem potencijala.
Za Zagreb lete British, Iberia, KLM, Air France, 4 od 6 navećih Europskih kompanije koje ne lete za Beograd. Što vam to govori?
Ta mršava četri meseca su dovoljan pokazatelj da linija nije ispunila očekivanja. Emirates je nešto što bi Beograd mogao sanjati? Pa Emirates je neophodni Zagrebu nego Beogradu, pogledaj pokrivenost letovima Beograda prema Bliskom istoku a pogledaj iz Zagreba, molim te. Još nešto, Beograd takođe ima daily vezu sa DXB, pored toga Qatar, Etihad. Da spomenem i tri iranske kompanije, letovi JU za Beirut, Tel Aviv(tu su i Israir,Arkia), linija do Pekinga...
DeleteTreba li pomenuti i pored ovih konekcije da je Azija odlično povezana sa BEG preko IST i SVO?
A to što za ZAG lete British,KLM,Air France nije ništa drugo nego odraz nesposobnosti OU da oni drže te linije.
Croatia leti i za CDG (7x iz ZAG i 7x iz ostalih dijelova Hrvatske), i za AMS (7x iz ZAG, 5x iz ostali dijelova Hrvatske) i za LHR i LGW (4x iz ZAG i 6x iz ostalih dijelova Hrvatske). Sve je to više nego što leti Air Serbija iz Beograda, a ipak uz to lete još i Air France, KLM, British... Iberia leti iz ZAG 12x tjedno, a iz Beograda ne leti za Madrid ni Iberia ni "sposobna" Air Serbia.
DeleteBoth BEG and ZAG have their stronger side.
DeleteZAG: Mainly legacy and several long haul carriers but no LCC and OU dominance = expensive fares.
BEG: JFK, PEK, CAI - 3 continents but also excellent regional coverage + LCC. But lack of important legacies: BA, AF, TP, SQ.
ZAG can only be compared with either SKP or LJU given its size and number of passengers.
BEG can be compared to SKG, SOF, RIX, SVX etc. The same levels.
As for EK. Let's all be very frank: the FZ winter service is a pure downgrade. ZAG is a highly seasonal airport, nothing new.
BEG can not "dream of EK" but it also has Etihad ;)
Each airport is unique and has its own powerful features. For example. both BEG and ZAG are poorly connected to the UK while LJU and TGD quietly doing so.
As recently as last year, Zagreb couldn't host many flights to any major destination as Zagreb had really really small terminal, 15500sqm, there was even urgent plan to expand it by 5500sqm just to cope with EU traffic and to comply with some Schengen rules.
DeleteZagreb simply couldn't work on getting more carriers than it already had due to the size of the terminal at the time. Real growth stated in 2017, and continued on in 2018, will continue on in to 2019 and 2020. New terminal which will also expand prematurely a bit by adding extra gates and additional wide body position for A380. Emirates is a downgraded if you can call it that, it is still emirates flight, that will be performed by FlyDubai over 4 months period, well Emirates will be flying to Zagreb over Xmas period as well, last two weeks of December.
It was madness to send massive B777 300ER to Zagreb in winters, this is clear as day and night, Zagreb like all airports in the region are seasonal airports. However, emirates if I understand correctly has an order for B787s and 260-270 seat aircraft in winter of 2019 would more than suffice for Zagreb, say 4 weekly flights.
The fact that Emirates has made a killing on the route, 200k projected this year, considering Budapest only managed 221k in 2017 is a massive success. Arrival of Korean Air, and next year of Hainan and possibly ANA will only put more emphasis on spread Zagreb is offering.
This year for the first time Egypt Air introduced cheaters to Zagreb to test the water sort of, next year they might have even more charters, mostly for Croatian tourist who visit Egypt, as Croatia like all of the EU has visa regime with much of the world. Tunisair had charters to Zagreb for many years and some weeks they fly twice per week to Zagreb.
Return of TAP, SAS and EasyJet would be nice, could happen in 2019, Croatia is now well recognized brand across the globe, due to success in the World Cup, most popular sporting event after the Olympics. This year 18 million foreign visitors will visit Croatia, 20 million total visitors, all this will reflect on how the following years airlines create their schedules and add new routes. Someone posted airAsiaX (didn't heard of them before) plans to add Zagreb to their route, 28000 thy visitors visited Croatia last year, this year numbers are up by a 40%, 40-42 000 visitors from Thailand are expected to visit Croatia, about 20 000 Croats plan to visit Thailand this year. in 2019, if AirAsiaX shows up in Zagreb there'll be even more competition for guests and visitors, I hear they've ordered 100 A330 NEOs.
Anyhow, Zagreb is developing nicely, no need to rush things, lets market develop at pace it can sustain future growth and demand. Emirates flies to Zagreb and right now there's little competition to them, well Qatar and Turkish. With Arrival or Korean air, AirAsiaX ???, Hainan, ANA??? next year, we could see interesting dynamics developing here.
Zagreb could indeed become more of a destination where Asian tourist arrive to explore Europe, to go further on, and this could benefit Zagreb but also Croatia and the EU, which after all is what we all want, peace and prosperity for all.
Comparing who is better or has more flights and wishing neighbors horse dies isn't productive or nice, we should all try to improve situation for all in the region.
Very nice comments and analysis.
DeleteNobody said that the future of ZAG or the coast tourism is coming to an end. Go to Brazil or Kuala Lumpur, mention Croatia and they will say: football, beach, Dubrovnik, etc.
ZAG has been quite unique in attracting mainly upper class airlines, nobody said no either but we still think it should be flexible with the low-fare airlines giving "poorer" people the chance to know the capital or take the bus to say...Osijek.
Having "prestigious" airlines like EK, KE, AC is super good but not having basic others such as U2 or FR, being an EU capital is not good.
On the other hand if you take BEG, the management has tried to connect more parts of the continent and the world and managed to succeed quite well. I mean getting flights to huge countries like Iran and China is definitely a success story.
JU tried with Ukraine but was unsuccessful, which is not a shame, there are other markets to be explored: Morocco, India, Canada, etc.
We have repeatedly said that all the Balkan cities and countries are currently witnessing strong figures, simply because they were "isolated" to the rest and now opening up slowly.
As for who's penis is bigger is a typical Balkan stereotype that might change with time.
Meanwhile it will be: mine is bigger than yours, therefore I win. Which is definitely not the case.
Lets all gradually learn that this is an aviation forum and there is no room for hatred.
Only aviation please!
What are you going on about? TK in LJU has more passengers and frequencies than ZAG. So much for that.
DeleteYou keep on repeating about widebodies when this summer BEG had seven weekly to Iran, two weekly to Hurgada, two weekly to Beijing and six weekly to New York. And yet you think we are somehow jealous or envious of Zagreb? Sure.
So what if AF flies to ZAG, BEG has Wizz Air to BVA and double daily to CDG. Or is AF somehow fancy all of a sudden with their mediocre onboard product and extremely high tickets.
On the other hand, BEG has year-round flights to places like Prague, Bucharest, Sofia, Minsk, Stockholm, Oslo ... which is why it manages to have so many passengers.
ZAG has things going on for it but only for a few summer months. If I were you I wouldn't brag too much about Aegean, they will offer the same number of seats in ZAG as they do in TGD.
Anon 22.04
DeleteTechnically speaking, AC doesn't fly to ZAG, RV does.
TK is LJU are popular because of the lack of QR or FZ, mon ami. If they appear in the future, this will change a lot and you know it.
DeleteWidebodies are up to 300 seats max, which is what SKP currently has with the huge W6 A321 deployed to Sweden and busier routes and on a much regular basis. So if you have 2 weekly China and 4 weekly Iran the number of pax will be the same as the W6 A321 will have more daily rotations.
Is BEG seasonal compared to ZAG? Definitely not! Does BEG have much more connections? Yes!
Does BEG have SKP's big A321s? Not really.
We can continue forever with the comparisons. Each airport is UNIQUE and has chosen its own path to develop in a way or another. The model doesn't have to be the same.
Are you seriously comparing Wizz Air's A321s with other widebodies such as the A330? For starters Wizz Air doesn't carry cargo or mail while JU and HA do. Then BEG widebodies offer far more comfort and more reach thus improving BEG's overall connectivity.
DeleteComparing the two is hilarious and extremely silly.
@Anonymous2 August 2018 at 22:05
DeleteFYI, I won't bother responding to your trash talking,
however, Norwegian Shuttle and OU fly to above mentioned Scandinavian cities year round. OU has flied to Copenhagen since its inception, year round, and added Stockholm last year, which proved a massive success. Prague was served by OU and Czech Airline, it'll be served this year round by Czech air, OU has no planes for year round as in 2019, 3 aircraft need to undergo C check and one D check. This will leave only 3 A319 in service for much of the winter.
As to how many operations Turkish has, to Zagreb or Ljubljana, please show me where in my comment did I even bother to compare or mention how much pax Turkish has to Zagreb?
I said Emirates has competition on the route, from Qatar and Turkish, it'll become more interesting when Korean Air, Hainan and ANA arrive, with AirAsiaX if the reports posted here are to be believed will only add more pressure on Emirates.
However, I have to check data how many visitors from Australasia in Croatia this year, suffice to say, the market for these visitors has just been tapped, the fact Croatia was in finals in the world cup, the PR from that alone has given Croatia so much positive spin, the things are looking up for Croatia, no matter how you look at it.
I am not even comparing Zagreb with any regional airport, not care to, I just want to see development of the city and the region produce good cooperation, trade and prosperity for all, including Belgrade.
I genuinely don't care how many wide body aircraft land in Zagreb, I want more carriers more options and more choice for passengers.
@Anonymous2 August 2018 at 22:04
Yes lack of LCCs in Zagreb is one issue, and i don't expect we'll see Wizz air in Zagreb or Ryan air, before 2020. I can see EasyJet returning either next year or the year after that.
Return of year round SAS, TAP service and perhaps arrival of Air Baltic, Aer Lingus and Finnair, in summer months is quite likely.
In 2020 things could go year round for Aer Lingus and perhaps even Finnair, and Wizz air might be able to return in 2020 with flights to Luton, however it'll be hard for Wizzair to compete with OU, BA, EasyJet (if they return).
Zagreb is very expensive airport for airlines, lccs will be hard to entice due to airport charges, not sure how things will develop with lccs, perhaps Vienna model might be looked at and see if we can have Wizz and Ryan air at some point in not to distant future. We'll see.
Anon 22:33h exactly, just love healthy debates like that!
DeleteZAG has went a long way from the crappy old, previous commie builiding terminal to the new, shiny one serving a 777 EK aircraft and soon KE.
The road wasn't any easy and required much sacrifice. I think it's just a matter of time for the LCC to flock, after all HR joined the EU only 5 years ago. There will be much more room for development not only for ZAG but for the coast airports, that are hungry for year round destinations.
BEG is a completely different story. Different market, different airlines, different strategy.
But it is also very important to note that Serbia is enjoying a decent number of tourists, meaning the country has comitted itself and is aware of it.
More flights to come from Russia, more Chinese and Iranians expected. More Romanians and Bulgarians by land, etc.
We all need to stop with the figures mania and be happy that airports like BWK, TZL, INI, TIV, OHD are now reviving and prospering as well. This is the good part of it.
Out of ex-YU almost all the rest of the airports are growing too.
Take CRA or VAR or KIV or tiny DEB, soon to have a second W6 plane by Xmas....
Fascinating how on a BEG topic you end up praising ZAG... on an original post that didn't even mention Zagreb or Croatia.
DeleteWhen this happens with Serbia on any other topic we are immediately attacked. I guess it says way more about Serbs than anyone else.
You can justify, explain and note as much as you want but reality is that ZAG is more or less a seasonal airport that goes to sleep once winter months come. As for the widebodies, it was your fellow Croat, Purger who started it when Transat and Rouge announced flights.
In the end, BEG is pushing close to six million. Our competition, our goal are SKG, SOF, OTP and BUD, not ZAG.
@Anonymous2 August 2018 at 23:15
DeleteIndeed, Wizzair once flew to Zagreb, in fact Zagreb was first destination they flew to in the region, however things didn't go well for wizzair here. At one point there was outright boycott of the airliner as early on, Wizzair was really bad with the luggage and delays, they only had like 20 aircraft the time, even Slovakian Sky Europa flew to Zagreb and they had decent lf on the route, as they flew out of Zagreb to several destinations, but they went bust, And that was that concering LCCs.
No idea what EasyJet is, what monarch was, and what German Wings and Norwegian shuttle are, if you can consider them Lower cost or hybrid, however these are only remaining carriers in Zagreb, - EasyJet which pulled out after BA started flying daily to Zagreb. EasyJet was also expensive, €150 one way, €270 return, OU has deals in high season €300, at least you fly in to Heathrow, not Garwick, BA is about same, €320 return, high season.
LCCs will come back I guess, it is only matter of time. Funny you say Bulgaria and Romania, there's little or no flights to that part of the world, last year 25000 Romanians, 23000 Bulgarians visited Zagreb, yet not a single flight between the two cities, Sofia and Zagreb. Also barely few flights between Zagreb and Bucharest.
I guess at least trying to bring Tarom should be a one of the priorities, at least over summer season. I remember Ukraine International airline boss said they plan to add Zagreb next year, if this proves correct, would be nice adage for Croatia at least as 90 000 Ukrainians visited Croatia last year, however no direct links between the two countries. Number of Ukrainians visitors to Croatia is up by 33%.
I see opportunities for all, visitors that visit Europe from far east, especially Australia, japan, china and nz, will often use Croatia, Serbia and the other non-EU countries to circumvent 180 day Schengen visa rule, have few aussie friends who came to stay with me to avoid Schengen rule, they'd travel to Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, even Armenia and Georgia, yes, these places are really cheap, stay in each country for 2-3 weeks, stay really cheap in each place, perhaps even teach English or do some digital nomad thing.
Staying out of the EU for 180 days, so they can continue their EU adventure for another 180 days. This could work for the region quite handsomely as there are at least 30-40 000 Aussies who this sort of thing every year, add to this Japanese, Chinese, Koreans... You can end up with 300-500 000 visitors who spend $400-500 during their 2-3 week stay.
In my book any visitor that stays for so long in out of season, is a welcomed visitor.
And who starts with attacking? Anonymous 10:11: "Verujem da bi imali dobru popunjenost, neđutim videli smo kakav debakl su doživeli u ZAG, od tolikog pisanja kako je i prva i biznis klasa popunjena, do toga da će zimi ići 7 pw sa 777. Od toga sada ništa, tokom sezone prvu klasu su gotovo izbacili iz ponude zbog slabe potražnje a tokom zime potpuno povlačenje Emiratesa."
DeleteAnd than anonymous 10:16: "Mislim da je danasnja tema najbolji dokaz zasto je suludo porediti Beograd i Zagreb. Jednostavno Beograd nastavlja da raste i da privlaci avio-kompanije dok ce ZAG zimus stagnirati... i to u najboljem slucaju.
Lokalna potraznja izmedju Beograda i UAE nastavlja da raste sto znaci da kada Emirati dodju, imace mnogo vise lokalne potraznje nego sto je to bio slucaj sa Zagrebom.
Bez uvrede ali mislim da su neki malo nerealni ovde kada je u pitanju nivo potraznje za letovima iz Zagreba. Na kraju ispadne... tresla se gora, rodio se mis."
Why on earth those stupid BEG-ZAG nonsense? Croats are never those who start with those stupid childish attacks. And than after those nonsense and argument answers here is spin: "Fascinating how on a BEG topic you end up praising ZAG... on an original post that didn't even mention Zagreb or Croatia.
When this happens with Serbia on any other topic we are immediately attacked. I guess it says way more about Serbs than anyone else.".
So, yes it is fascinating dear neighbors how you have to turn every but every subject to BEG is the best airport in the world just world does not know that jet, and in same time ZAG is small village railway station. Why you have to do that?
Stop making comments when it's not your topic. Your opinions about BEG/SRB are worthless and stupid but at least make your comments when ZAG/CRO topic shows up, ususally every couple of days. I don't read comments on those days so have your say then. Most toxic things here are your comments when the topic is BEG/Serbia so just wait for your turn.
DeleteZa Zagreb lete British, Iberia, KLM, Air France, 4 od 6 navećih Europskih kompanije koje ne lete za Beograd. Što vam to govori?
DeleteGovori nam da je autor tih redova Purger. Isti stil kao kad pise Purger vec godinama, komentar nije na engleskom jer se Purger ne oseca komforno kad pise tim jezikom, isti argumenti koje Purger koristi u svojim zvanicnim tekstovima da opravda svoju podrsku za Zagreb (ZAG ima BA, KL, AF a BEG nema; BEG samo moze sanjati EK 777 itd). Dakle sa sigurnoscu od 97% to je Purger u stealth modu, eto to nam govori.
Croats never start such discussions? Are you for real? Just look at the provocations Purger makes and then there are countless posters on here who were predicting the failure of JFK route, failure of the concession, how we were dreamers for thinking Etihad would invest in JU, how there is no logic for HA to fly to BEG before ZAG... and all sorts of comments were made by your compatriots. So no, you are not right.
DeleteBottom line is that there is no positive way to put a spin on EK failing in ZAG. Bringing back FZ is exactly that, an utter failure. Let me remind you that people on here were saying how EK will send the A380 with a Croatian captiain, how Qatar would send Dreamliner to ZAG... in the end all we got was flydubai.
Get real. Just like you need to get real about BA. They are in ZAG becuase they virtually have a monopoly. Not to mention that their service and product today are worse than Ryanair. At least legroom is.
I've stopped reading after mentioning EK and debakl.
DeleteSo much for objectivity.
You are right, you are not objective either because downgrading it a year after launching it can only be interpreted as a true success.
DeleteYou could't get more excited about "downgrade" of a service, that is actually still there, just not with the wide body planes, but still there, that you need to project it as a "debacle". Clap-clap!
Deletefrishki, it's better to have a smaller deal than a zero deal. Basically we are talking about a seat reduction of around 50%. If the triple 7 has 350 seats, the Max has 170 for example that's around 180 less seats or 360 per day bringing the total to around 11,000 seats monthly or 50,000 seats less from December to end of March 2019. Numbers speak.
DeleteSo, you've jumped in your own mouth.
DeleteThis is a "smaller deal" as you like to address it. The route isn't canceled, 4 months of the year they will fly smaller plane. Or should they just fly the half empty widebody? Or you really think that Zagreb, or even any other airport in ex-YU would have packed widebody planes during the low season?
Nobody said EK are cancelling ZAG, we were trying to use the proper word in English called "downgrade". Of course, it sounds negative but there is nothing to be ashamed of.
DeleteIn the booking systems, the EK flight will still be there, just flown by a brand new cool, smaller Max, which mind you is apparently newer compared to a triple 7 EK.
It is also much easier to fill such an efficient, medium-sized aircraft during the lower season. Except the ski destinations and Canary Islands, most parts of Europe are just asleep especially in November and February and not only ZAG. Nothing new here.
Examples: 95% of Greece, 50% of Spain, 50% of Portugal, 40% of Turkey, 50% of Bulgaria, etc, etc.
No reciprocity for SU I guess...
ReplyDeleteSerbia and Russia have an open sky agreement
DeleteThere is an OpenSkies agreement with Russia which was signed in 2013.
DeleteGo BEG! GO!
ReplyDeleteToday is an extremely strong day at the airport!
1. 10 charter flights!
2. Morning flight to ATH which is new this year.
3. Turkish A321 x2, RedWings A321, Qatar A321, Swiss A321 x2
4. Mahan A343, Qeshm A300, Air Serbia A332
5. Eurowings returns from STR
Demand for Zurich is out of this world. Five flights today: A321, A321, A320, A319, A319!
Does BEG have any apron webcam like LJU maybe?
DeleteUnfortunately no but it does have a really good spotters page on Facebook.
DeleteErr, maybe because it's August? It's the busiest month in Europe.
DeleteErr maybe because it was never as busy as this!
Deleteyeah and please give us tourist number projections until 2059 haha
DeleteAnon 09:35h, oh please...ALL the airports in Europe are now busy. It's normal to see wide bodies and more traffic. Lets speak again in October and see if the trend is the same.
DeleteLH will send their CR9, OS will send Dash and U2 will most likely send A319.
Funny you mention OS, their 19th weekly flight spends the night at BEG and is already scheduled as E95, not Q400.
DeleteWhy would all those airlines downgrade BEG when even last year regional planes were not that common?
Nemjee, please, don't you see it is nothing but jealousy?
DeleteIt is normal to see reduced traffic in October comparing to August, but in the case of BEG October 2018 will be better than October 2017 and so on. That is the indicator that really counts.
So much winter traffic increasing is great result for Belgrade and it shows that Serbian capital cemented its position as the biggest airport in ex-Yu. And we do not have only "exotic airlines" opening new services, as some of so called experts from the neighbourhood tried to humiliate BEG (Belavia is allegedly also "exotic" airline), but we have new frequencies to Moscow, Warsaw, Bucarest and Vienna.
Ouch, it must hurt.
Regional leadership pride.
DeleteYou mean like EK in ZAG?
Delete@Anonymous2 August 2018 at 21:24
DeleteEK flies to Zagreb, and even when flydubai takes temporarily over the route, it'll be EK flights, not fly Dubai, EK will fly to Zagreb till December 3rd and over xmas brake, and again returning on March 30th.
It's called a code-share. With this logic EK also flies to BEG and SKP,
DeleteThe downgrade will be during the low season, quite a normal practice in the aviation sector.
Go fill a 350 seater just after New Year's or in February when it is super cold and super low season with cold and snow everywhere!
...for the time being.
Deleteit is interesting EK only to ZAG flies seasonally
DeleteThe most exciting development for BEG this winter will be the concession and the appointment of a new professional management.
ReplyDeleteHopefully these new arrivals to BEG will make up for the reduced JU ops. this year.
ReplyDeleteI don't think any major cuts are planned by JU for the winter. Nice to see they are returning Stockholm to 4 weekly like during winter 2016/17.
DeleteI hope Wizz Air will diversify its offer from BEG soon. They have been stagnating mostly.
ReplyDeleteTwo weekly to Athens could work especially in summer.
DeleteNaaah seems like they only look at gasto routes.
DeleteThey have been downgrading, not stagnating. Larnaca is out for the winter. When you look at their offer from an airport like Vilnius you see there is something wrong at BEG:
Deletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius_Airport#Airlines_and_destinations
w6 is focusing on western europe, if their expansion there is successful I can see many more downgrades in whole eastern europe coming
DeleteLegacies have been really aggressive in BEG lately. LH group has been offering really low fares for all kinds of connections, KLM's Transavia is expanding etc. With high BEG airport fees its more difficult for LCCs to compete compared to Sofia for example.
DeleteBEG is not ranked as one of the more expensive airports. If it were Wizz Air would be treating it like ZAG and easyJet wouldn't be expanding rapidly.
DeleteTalking of LH, BEG-MUC is not being reduced in winter. Double daily the whole winter. BEG-FRA goes up and down.
DeleteAccording to the information available to me LH keeps 2 daily flights FRA-BEG year round except in January and first half of February when it flies once daily. It was LH policy during last few years and there has been no change lately.
Mid-November sees FRA reduced from 14 to 11 for about two weeks then in December it goes to 14 again. However, MUC sees no changes unlike last year.
DeleteBelgrade-Munich does well for Lufthansa.
Delete2016: 122.321
2017: 129.121
Q1 2017: 29.911 (27.913)
Q2 2017: 32.737 (29.884)
Q3 2017: 36.649 (34.505)
Q4 2017: 29.824 (30.019)
So overall there is growth in all quarters.
Can you please specify on which days in mid November FRA will be reduced to 11 weekly?
DeleteNemjee,
DeleteDo you maybe have FRA numbers?
Sure thing, here is the market size of BEG-FRA.
Delete2016: 235.265
2017: 245.165
Q1 2017: 47.259 (45.469)
Q2 2017: 63.700 (62.737)
Q3 2017: 74.130 (73.074)
Q4 2017: 60.076 (53.985)
Very strong growth in Q4 2017. I guess it has to do with LH operating more flights than previous years.
Here are some other airports in our region:
1. BUD - 447.968
2. OTP - 380.379
3. ZAG - 322.200
4. SOF - 321.110
5. BEG - 245.165
6. SKG - 147.451
7. LJU - 141.623
8. SPU - 135.254
9. DBV - 92.647
10. TIA - 91.494
Thank you Nemjee,
DeleteI suppose these numbers are for JU+LH?
You are welcome. Yes, they include passengers carried by both airlines. That said, both JU and LH kept the same number of flights meaning loads were better than in 2016.
DeleteSOF will boom in 2018. It will be close to 400.000.
DeleteYou mean 4 million? Yes, but growth will decrease starting November. 2 W6 aircraft will be based out maybe because of the VIE and LTN crazy growth.
Delete7 million pax will be questionable to achieve but if growth maintains 8% then yes.
For the first time, SOF has not published yet June figures. Maybe because of the current consession expected in October 2018.
Sorry, I meant 400.000 passengers to FRA as LH added another daily flight and if I am not mistaken Wizz flies the A321.
DeleteSo if they are reducing by 2 A321, what routes are being cut?
ATH, BSL, CTA, AGP, NAP, NUE and very oddly VAR too.
DeleteNCE and especially LIS performed extremely well.
Do you know the reductions? Before vs after.
DeleteVAR (Daily), ATH (5) - all the rest 2 weekly making 22 weekly reductions out of 85 I think (approximately 25-28% reduction).
DeleteBut you also have service increase and capacity from other airlines such as QR, U2, FZ, TK so it will be difficult to predict.
What about FR? Will they step in to fill the void?
DeleteNot in the competing routes. They will agressively increase Saturday flights to London (4 daily). They will also discontinue CDT, NYO, PFO, PSA & during the winter but will introduce EDI and AQJ in Jordan instead. Kind of a reshuffule but popular routes remain untouched especially the ones in Spain, FMM, CRL, EIN, etc.
DeleteOnly goes to show how weak LCCs are outside the gasterbajter destinations. Shame.
DeleteImpressive!! I think BEG alone will have more new frequencies than all of ex-YU combined.
ReplyDeleteBravo Serbia!
I think this is really optimistic of you
DeleteAeroflot 3 times daily got me shook.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if Red Wings stays in winter.
DeleteRed Wings said they are planning to. Also they increased BEG to A321. I am sure they have good loads.
DeleteWell SU introduces the 3rd daily to create overcapacity- squeeze out Red Wings and then cancel the third again ;) Thats how it works.
Deleteyes i'm sure red wings is such a big concern for them that they will waste money, send an aircraft for 7 hour rotation just to drive them out. And Red Wings flies from an airport far away from central Moscow.
DeleteThen Emirates should have added a second daily flight to squeeze out QR. Wonder why they didn't.
DeleteThe fact BEG grew 7% and added some 200.000 passengers this year only means there is a market and SU is not adding flights to kill Red Wings.
DeleteAll very nice developments but I still think BEG needs more flights to London, the return of Air Baltic and TAP. Also essential is Madrid and Dublin. Kiev daily now that Ukranians started to travel a lot.
ReplyDeleteThe return of Varna and Air France.
Vueling should become year round.
Also charter, exotic destinations in collaboration with Vinci to new markets.
After all, Belgrade is the 25th largest city in Europe, almost the size of Brussels and Samara.
Are you serious? Belgrade is twice larger than Brussels or Samara.
DeleteOh yes, I am....
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_cities_by_population_within_city_limits
Have you been to Brussels?
Delete1. How many Brussels residents can afford flying compared to Belgrade?
Delete2. How many tourists who come by plane Brussels received, compared to Belgrade?
3. How many major international organisations are seated in Brussels, when compared to Belgrade?
Brussels generates almost 40 million pax every year. Zaventem has 25 million but also a strong competition from a large number of nearby airport. And the competition from high speed trains is significant. Belgrade does not even have a train station, let alone high speed rail.
BRU is barely 4 times the size of BEG. It's not that much given the things you wrote.
DeleteMislis na gradjane Brisela iz Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, oni samo do Maroka.
DeleteBrussels has 1 million inhabitants. What are you talking about?
DeleteDon't confuse Brussels and Belgium. Shoes the level of your intellect.
DeleteMaybe you are comparing the core of the city itself. If so, BEG is bigger and wider. But, BRU and surroundings is much bigger.
DeleteAlso, it is very densly populated.
Also CRL being in Wallonia forms part of the conglomeration indirectly.
What BEG needs to do, is to consider Novi Sad as "Greater Upper Belgrade" similar to Moscow.
Then again, have its second regional airport similar to CRL.
The regional Champion! Bravo BEG & Vinci
ReplyDeleteThere we again with the regional leadership mania.
DeleteZAG is
LJU is
SKP is.....everyone is regional leader!
Deluje da će biti jaka zima.
ReplyDeleteShame Etihad won't keep the summer increase in flights over winter. Or at least increase capacity to A321. They are quite busy all year round on this route.
ReplyDeleteEtihad is the most stupid airline from the region.
DeleteOr maybe their planes are full and yields performing well.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWas flying with them yesterday, J was 16/16! and thats was on their new flight EY70
DeleteLOT has been the quiet achiever in ex-Yu. Impressive number of flights from BEG. I assume 98% of their passengers are transfers on these two routes.
ReplyDelete+1 They usually have some of the cheapest fares to North America from Belgrade.
DeleteAnd before busy winter great to see these results at BEG. Over 3 million passengers by start of August.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/08/belgrade-airport-registers-busiest-july.html
Nice!
DeleteAny chance for Norwegian to start CPH-BEG?
ReplyDeleteNot likely as long as Air Serbia flies daily round trips BEG-CPH. Also, Norwegians 'increase' to 3 flights OSL-BEG per week isn't much of an increase as they cut down to two flights in the summer to use the planes elsewhere.
DeleteDY increased BEG-OSL to three weekly at the beginning of the summer season, the flight wasn't decreased to 2x at any point. All flights are there on their website and they operate on Mondays, Wednesday and Saturdays.
DeleteAs for CPH-OSL, DY tried it some years ago and it didn't work out. Air Serbia and Wizz Air from MMX cover the market really well.
Cimber Air also used to fly CPH-BEG.
DeleteTrue, they did. They launched flights a few months after visas were removed. Unfortunately they carried around 500 passengers per month so they ended up suspending flights. Later on they went bankrupt.
DeleteWhat about Aegean starting LCA if Wizz is giving up?
ReplyDeleteAegean's presence in Cyprus isn't growing, it's decreasing. Most of their European routes were cut and they only serve regional destinations in Greece and the Middle East. Over the years they served and then discontinued destinations such as LHR, CDG, KBP...
DeleteWe don't need Aegean for LCA, JU with better schedule would be ok :) And all year...
DeleteI disagree with you Anon 12:01.
DeleteThere is huge demand for both LCA and MLA. I even do not exclude possible INI-LCA route operated by W6.
BEG can be connected to PFO. I am confident this route will fit nicely.
Let me correct myself - I meant to say that JU with better timings could have much better product for LCA. I don't understand this "travel in the middle night" schedule.
DeleteIf somebody else start route, its more then welcome.
I thought that the night wave to east/south destinations is aimed primarily at connecting passengers. Can they squeeze in the midday rotation to LCA which would work? Even ATH flights change departure times so that they would optimize connectivity in BEG.
DeleteI think that LCA timing is not so much about connecting flight, but I don't have insight in data.
DeleteDeparture from Belgrade is at 00:01, arriving at 03:25 local time. Departures from Larnaca are at 04:10 arriving at 05:45. It is disastrous.
At the same time, you have Aegean with much better timing and multiple options.
I made a choice to go BEG-LCA with Aegean via ATH because I didn't want to arrive in hotel at 04:30AM, or not to have a sleep on a way back. And locals will choose Aegean, for sure.
With 3 daily SU flights and all of them with great convenient timing both ways I think that JU will eventually fold wings on Moscow pretty quick. Shame that over 5 years JU could not manage to stabilize a standard daily schedule for this important destination but rather keeps flights all over the clock. Good point of the fird flight is that we can leave BEG late in the day and still arrive the same day to SVO. JU had 2 weekly PM flights and those were the best in their schedule but 19h vs 17h departure gives an additional 2 hrs in "lyubimi" Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteWill there be exotic Aviolet charters this winters? If not, where will the planes be parked? Will they be leased?
ReplyDeleteMeni je fascinantno s kojom navijačkom strasti neki prate razvitak pojedinih aerodroma. Da li postoji ijedna tema na kojoj neće biti naši-vaši?
ReplyDeleteCujem da cemo od ove zime imati nove goste, pa me zanima koliko je to realno:
ReplyDelete1 - Royal Air Maroc - Casablanca
2 - Air China / Hainan / China Eastern / China Southern - Shanghai (ko ce zapravo saobracati na ovoj ruti)
3 - Air Serbia - Toronto
4 - IndiGo - Delhi
5 - UIA - Kiev, Lviv
6 - Egypt Air Express - Cairo
7 - ANA - Tokyo
8 - Saudia - Riyadh
9 - S7 - St. Petersburg
10 - Jin Air - Seoul
Royal Air Maroc je izvestan, Kina(Shanghai) Takođe, Toronto sa JU 99%, Indi Go možda tek kasno leto 2019. UiA mi nije realna sada, Egypt Air express da svakako, ANA teško, Saudia na leto 2019, S7 neće leteti, to je pogrešno preneta objava i Jin Air je prazna priča
DeleteTORONTO!!!! Lets go already
ReplyDeleteWe will see, maybe mid June 2019. The last news were:
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/01/air-serbia-flights-to-toronto-unlikely.html
How many ex-Yugoslavs live in YYZ?