Ryanair plans EX-YU expansion in 2019

Europe's busiest airline, Ryanair, is to continue expanding in the former Yugoslavia next year, primarily in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, both independently and through its subsidiary Laudamotion. A handful of new routes have already been announced with more expected in the coming period.

The budget airline, which last year held a 5% capacity share in Croatia and was well behind rivals such as easyJet and Eurowings on the market, will strengthen its seasonal base in Zadar next year with the launch of up to eight new routes. The carrier has already scheduled new services from Hamburg, Prague, Cologne, and Nuremberg to the Croatian coastal city next summer. However, it is expected that the no frills airline will no longer have an aircraft stationed in Croatia. "I have heard such rumours but we have not received any official confirmation. We expect up to eight new Ryanair routes next year. Some have already been announced, while we are in discussions concerning others. The number of Ryanair flights to Zadar will grow between 30% to 40% next year", Zadar Airport's Commercial Division Manager, Tomislav Žepina, said. Ryanair's Austrian subsidiary, Laudamotion, will also introduce new services to Croatia next year with flights from Stuttgart to Zadar, Split and Pula.

Following its entry onto the Bosnian market last week and the successful launch of its flights to Banja Luka, Ryanair is expected to introduce a further two new routes to the city next year. Željka Cvijanović, the Prime Minister of the entity of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said, "Following the introduction of these new routes to Banja Luka, a second set of new destinations will be announced, which is encouraging. We are discussing with them [Ryanair] the introduction of two more routes next year. These are to markets in Austria and Switzerland". The budget airline itself said, "We will continue developing our operations at Banja Luka and we look forward to opening additional services in the future and attributing to passenger growth. We are starting with these new routes and are on the lookout for new opportunities".

Ryanair has held talks with the Serbian government over plans to expand its operations in the country. The Serbian Prime Minister, Ana Brnabić, recently confirmed that a meeting between the two sides took place. "We held talks with Ryanair. They have given us suggestions on how they could expand and how we could further improve our partnership. We are currently working on it but we will also continue supporting our national carrier", Ms Branbić said. The Serbian Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlović, noted that Belgrade Airport should see more low cost flights following its takeover by VINCI.

Laudamotion will be adding flights between Stuttgart and Podgorica next summer, complementing Ryanair's five routes to the Montenegrin capital, one of which is seasonal. The carrier launched services to Podgorica in the summer of 2013 following two years of negotiations with the government. This year, it commenced summer flights between Wroclaw and Podgorica, which will be maintained in 2019 as well. The carrier is also revisiting plans to launch flights to Tivat. It initially intended to introduce services from London, Barcelona, Stockholm and Milan to the seaside city, however, high fees and a lack of incentives are believed to have delayed such plans. Ryanair told EX-YU Aviation News recently that the airline was satisfied with its performance on the Montenegrin market. “We are very pleased with our Podgorica operations, which continue to perform strongly”, the company said.

In Slovenia, a market which was once served by Ryanair, the carrier has criticised the government for selling Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport to Germany's Fraport, which it has accused of creating an airport monopoly throughout Europe. However, this year the airline began operations from Frankfurt's main airport which is operated by Fraport. Slovenia is currently the only European Union member state which is not served by Ryanair, despite the airline holding a number of cabin crew recruitment events in Ljubljana over the past year. Ryanair lodged a complaint with the European Commission against Adria Airways several years ago over state aid the carrier received from the Slovenian government. Adria was later cleared of any wrongdoing.