Would be fantastic if they added Vienna - Belgrade or Bratislava - Belgrade.

Passenger growth is not very big considering they added a second aircraft in BEG in May 2017, so they had 5 months of having an extra plane and routes in 2018.

But could they really sustain VIE-BEG and VIE-INI?

Anyone know their busiest route from Belgrade?

With JU's recent expansion, Wizz's future network from BEG has been severely limited.

Why? You think Wizz could not compete against Air Serbia on flights to Barcelona for example?

If they lee[ going this way, in 2019 they will have less passengers than in 2018.

W6 can launch any EU route it likes. JU will immediately discontinue it. The last few years they have become allergic to competing and defending their market share.

I think MLH (Basel). This month I travelled twice time from MLH to BEG and BEG to MLH back. The airplane was every time full.

At 800.000 passengers they certainly deserve to get some discounts. But former management set the incentive program at 2,000,000 passengers for discount. So only Air Serbia is eligible.

I think the route they have the most frequencies to is the one they have most passengers on.

It looks like W6 can only criticize. They complain about BEG, but still they do not have here not even similiar LCC competition they have for example in SOF, BUD or OTP. There is no FR, U2 is waking up but very slowly. More less they have monopolistic LCC posoition in BEG and it can be recognized in their crazy prices from Belgrade.

But again cry, cry, cry. BEG is not SKP where you get all you want plus extra money. You need to earn your money here.

So instead saying that you are commited to Serbian market show it by increasing the traffic, opening new no-gastos destinations (as JU did) and brining one more plane to BEG.

p.s. Few days ago when I was arriving to BEG with Air Serbia JU A320 was parked on old gate A8 while W6 was at new shiny A4. In which city do you have your plane attached to the bridge gentlemen from W6 (in BUD your passengers need to use tent instead of terminal) and where do you get better gates than national air carrier? But still complain, complain, complain...
You make me sick

Does anyone know which routes has Wizz tried from BEG which have been suspended and didn't work out for them?

Charleroi, Rome, Corfu, Rhodes, Sandefjord, Nuremberg and Friedrichshafen.

+1 I have also noticed they are now constantly at the new gates.

I truly hope they will lose against U2 on MLH-BEG route. They have terrible flying times and they are playing too often by changing cabin luggage rules.
Everything opposite comparing to U2

Italy seems a no go zone for LCCs from Serbia. Easyjet and Air One also failed on Belgrade-Milan route.

Rhodes and Corfu did well, but for some strange reason they offered only one weekly

^ Those flights were mostly bought by tour operators. Probably too long of a flight for very cheap fares to make a profit on the route.

Any chance of them opening a base in Nis?

Why would you want them to lose? I hope they both stay on the route in order to increase competition and bring down prices.

When they next plan to expand, what are the routes we could expect?

Barcelona, Bratislava and Vaxjo maybe.

Good luck Wizz. Hope they add more destinations in the future.

I also think they should open a base at INI, and introduce some more flights such as:
BVA,CRL, OSL and CIA. I know many people are makeing connection flights to those destinations on their own, usually with FR, as they have more flights to those cities.

It's interesting to see that easy jet is now third busiest LCC in Serbia. I remember last year when they published their results, they listed flydubai as third LCC in Serbia. Goes to show how easy has grown on the market.

and the year before FZ, Pegasus used to be third.

The constant complaining of JU fanboys about the existence of W6 in BEG and the competition it brings is truly funny!

Hardly surprising about EasyJet. They added 2 routes to BEG in 2018.

True. Air Serbia doesn’t deal well with competition. Look at IST. Couldn’t even make that popular route successful.

W6 we are sick of diaspora routes.

I'm wondering if they'll start attacking the regional routes, such as SKP - BEG or BEG - TGD. Not sure if they can do that if the countries have some restrictive agreements.

@ 9.04 I think it was Malmo from BEG some years ago.

They abandoned WAW saying it was lack of demand and LO will soon serve BEG 11 weekly!

Regarding Flydubai it shows to me how little LCC presence there is in the region if FZ with 4-7 flights per week to BEG was among the top 3 LCCs.

800,000 is not a bad result. With another aircraft (either in BEG or INI) they would have around a million passengers.

98% of LO's passengers from BEG are transfers. JU simply couldn't compete.

'"I think the significant issue in Belgrade that has hindered our development there is the cost of the airport relative to its peers. It is a high price airport and we need to see costs coming down...'

Ha.Ha.Ha.
Yes, why doesn't BEG lower its charges like BUD did, maybe they can record similar losses.

Wizz Air is too passive in Belgrade. Their inactivity on BEG-BSL is best proof of it. Other airlines have shown that BEG's supposedly high charges are not an issue and that they are not hindering growth. Wizz Air can either accept the rules of the game or leave.

LOL@ Anon 09:37!
Where exactly did you pull that "statistic" from?

That would be bad news for both JU and OS.

Wizz should try Vienna from BEG and attack the Austrian/Air Serbia monopoly and the woeful equipment both of them send on these flights most of the time.

Anonymous 29 January 2019 at 09:37
It is not 98% but 110% transfer passengers between BEG and WAW!

SMFH

That's where the demand is though.

even more funny when they forget that without the "extra money" their airline would be gone by now

Last time an airline tried that (Niki) they failed big time. Back then Austrian/Jat jointly slashed prices on the route and squeezed them out. But you are right. They do work together as monopolists on this route.

GoS would never allow such competition for the national carrier.

Gastarbeiter routes generate profit for the airline and to the airport. Nothing wrong with that.

I think some of the new routes JU is launching were done to get a jump start on competition, especially Spain.

It's not about GoS, it's about regulations. They can't fly between two non-EU cities (except to Switzerland and Norway). Same reason they can't open Skopje-Moscow or Skopje-Tel Aviv.

Mr. Váradi, is that you?

They can't

I think they are smart enough to stay away from Vienna. Both JU and OS have convenient schedules and a lot of frequencies. Wizz Air could not compete with that and they would rather try to steal passengers away from buses and minivans.

Don't forget that OSI-BSL is operated by the BEG-based aircraft.

PRG close to 18 million pax for 2018.
BUD close to 15 million.
OTP close to 14 million.
SOF, KRK and MLA close to 7 million!

Clearly BEG's high costs for all other airlines apart from JU was a great success for the city and the country...

Every single airport you listed is in the EU.

You mean like extra money W6 is getting in SKP for flying from there or extra money W6 is getting to run the routes from BUD to TGD, SJJ etc?

No one is complaining about Wizz Air's presence in BEG, people are complaining about them complaining all the time. They should suck it up and be realistic.

I have a shocking revelation for Anonymous 09:50
Regulations are set by the Government!!!

Anonymous 29 January 2019 at 09:52

So? Non EU airports are experiencing even higher growth rates.
Look at TIA, SKP, PRN, Turkish, Ukrainian, Georgian, Russian airports!
Air travel is exploding all over Europe but we celebrate a 5-6% traffic increase...

You do realize BUD managed to turn a tiny profit for the first time in a decade? I highly doubt they should be anyone's role model.

As for PRG, no surprise there. It's the only real airport in Czech Republic. Interestingly enough, it's another airport where Wizz Air failed. It's also one of the most expensive airports in eastern Europe.
OTP? Tell me, what's the closest alternative airport? Same for SOF.

MLA is a tiny island and a popular tourist destination.

Clearly, an airport's success is not only due to its charges, it also has to do with demand the market stimulates. BEG is in a country that's still relatively poor. That said, demand is growing each year, best proof of this is the growing number of summer charter flights.

All three airports you listed add fewer passengers than Belgrade in 2018.

W6 compared to old Niki is a giant. Today neither OS or JU can afford to slash prices and go to a price war with them.
OS in particular is getting attacked at VIE by all the LCCs of Europe.

I think BEG-LJU could work at least on a summer seasonal basis.

Growth rate is the key metric! And all those cities are getting full of tourists and the jobs that they create.
But hey, BUD didn't made enough profit to subsidize a dinosaur like Malev. LOL!

Yes you are right. Banja Luka's 500% growth is relevant to Belgrade's 6% growth. Learn basic math.

BUD made money while Malev was around.

You are getting desperate now, right Anon 10:06?
All airports I listed have explosive growth and they now serve millions of passengers.
But it's all right, it doesn't matter that BEG is now far behind then every major airport in Eastern Europe.
We ares still ahead of ZAG, SJJ, LJU and TGD. That's what counts!

Getting desperate at what? All the airports you listed - Pristina, Tirana, Skopje added fewer passengers than Belgrade. Don't know what airport is "yours", certainly isn't Belgrade, but adding exclamation points to your comments doesn't make them right.

@Anon 10:07
Shame that Budapest and Hungary didn't. Instead they now make billions of Euro's every year from tourism.
But they don't have a state owned national carrier overstaffed with friends of politicians offering louse services to its flyers.
What a failure that is! :D

We do not need W6 on MLH-BEG route in order to have good prices.
Just have a look GVA-BEG route. U2 does not have any competition there, but still you can buy the tickets for cca 60 EUR both ways. It would be the same with MLH-BEG
U2 siply follows their own path.

Businesses are there to make money, no? So when they don't then it's safe to assume their business model is flawed, no?

Funny how all positive news on Serbia is always turned into something negative. Many people on here have many issues. Remember when JU announced 9 new destinations? People were spreading hate even then. I guess bromazepam has good sales these days.

Any chance we could see Ryanair in Belgrade soon?

I doubt it. It's too expensive for them. I think they are happy with Nis.

They will come eventually. So Wizz better expand as much as possible before that happens.

Are you talking about ASL? Yeas they are not making money, instead they cost us several millions every year in subsidies.
BUD, PRG, OTP, SOF, WAW on the other hand they bring billions of tourist expenditures to their owners every year for little to no operational loses.
I wonder who has the best business model. Us or them?

Ryanair opening a base in BEG would be very bad news for JU. Wizz is doing fine against them.

It depends from Vinci

Wizz's presence is not a problem for RYR. Look at SOF.

Not only are they launching new routes but they are also introducing some additional changes. For example last year the night flight to Athens started in June while this year they are staring from 14.04, three times per week.
Even Aegean is adding the 4th flight in early March while the 5th one starts from April.

So as of April, BEG-ATH will have 15 weekly flights compared to, I think, 10 last year.

RYR presence is not a problem for Wizz. Look at SOF.

The processes in SOF are very interesting, wizz has its strongholds in Spain and Israel, FR in UK, Greece. Italy and Germany are something like 50:50.
W6 tried to attack the Greek market and failed, now FR is trying to steal market share of the Israel market.

If FR comes to BEG there will be a bloodbath in the beginning for some of the big markets but at the end there will be a consolidation and a possible split of the markets between the two giants. From all this the passangers will benefit immensely.

I still have the feeling that gastos+Eastern Europeans prefer wizz and Westerners prefer FR, as the brands are more established in the respective regions.

Sorry yes, meant it the second way around :D

Their best route by the number of pax and flights is the one to MMX, but BVA is the best by LF.

W6 Serbia routes seriously missing:

BEG-TLV
BEG-NCE
BEG-PMI
INI-BVA
INI-TRF
INI-ATH
BEG-SKG
BEG-KUT
INI-GVA

BEG KUT???

That is a huge increase in capacity Nemjee!
Have the prices dropped at all or they still cost as much as flying to LHR?

But still? What would be wrong with that? Most of the people using Wizz, are those that switched from the bus when they realized that it’s cheaper/faster/more convenient for them to fly, than to be on a bus for 24 h (Paris as an example) ... And I bet 2 weekly or even 3 would be easy to fill, not everyone is going there for business and cares about how many flights per day are on the market.

FR has all but abandoned the domestic Greek market. From March they even stop flying ATH-SKG route while just a year ago they had 8 daily frequencies!
It goes to show that if you have a serious domestic carrier who is not afraid to compete even FR gets tired of losing money and moves away.
In Greece they are now focusing on international expansion leaving the domestic field to A3 and Elinair.
JU could if focused on punctuality, good scheduling, good services and competitive prices compete even against FR.

I could see BEG-TBS, BEG-WAW, BEG-SOF, BEG-OTP, BEG-BUD, BEG-ATH as better bets than KUT.
On the other hand KUT is offering a lot of subsidies to W6.

Too long? Corfu was mostl around an hour flight time, sometimes less, while RHO was more like 1:40 - 1:50 h flight time... The issue was a light load, although most of the flights were sold-out to tour operators, in the end not many people appeared on the plane (they didn’t manage to sell the holiday packages)

KUT is an extremely popular destination and I am sure that it will work out well. Georgia is a cheap country, quite affordable for the average Serb. TBS is an amazing city.

BEG-TLV not possible
BEG-KUT not possible

due to regulations

Nothing wrong with that, it's just that yields might not be the best. That's what I am saying. That said, maybe they could consider a secondary Austrian city. Someone mentioned Graz and Salzburg the other day. Though I don't know if SZG flights might affect their Memmingen operations.

Prices are generally ok as long as you are not flying in high-season. You can find JU for €120 while A3 can be as low as €80. Once summer comes, that's when fares go crazy, on both airlines. That said, this summer BEG-ATH will be almost triple daily which is quite impressive especially since Aegean plans on operating all flights with the A320.

"Italy seems a no go zone for LCCs from Serbia"

Bergamo is very successful from Nis on FR.

BUD is a loss making business so I don't see how you can say they have a good business model. Also, all those tourists don't flock to Budapest because of the airport. They fly there because the country has promoted itself as a popular holiday destination. Something Belgrade or Serbia have not done.
BEG charges or JU are not slowing down our tourism industry. If you don't believe me then take a look at what happened with Turkish and Israeli tourists.

They can't because of good old Balkan protectionism and cartel way of doing business. Making us all poorer since (at least) 1945.

JU is actually launching BEG-NCE this year.

Besides bringing INI-MMX there will be absolutely nothing new from Wizz? I think they are one of the few airlines ot not have any changes in 2019.

Serbs use TRS to go to TLV and Israel actually. Not too far from BEG and super cheap.

I bet MXP would work from BEG on W6, I know many airlines have failed before, but things have changed and Wizz has a good brand recognition here and also in Italy, where it almost covers all the important cities from it various bases.
I had a chance to fly on easyJet and I can tell you that flights to MXP were packed, while FCO was another story, also back than Alitalia and JU were flying 4 daily all together.

Get a Serbian AOC lame-asses and shut the he** up.

Their lack of Serbian AOC made them basically useless.

Back then it was three daily to FCO, AZ never had more than daily flights to BEG.

++100

BEG-LJU can be flown without any problem or approval

But that's the thing, they want the benefits and preferential treatment without the AOC. ;)

+1000

23-26.02
TSR-TLV-TSR W6: 57 EUR (small bag)

22-25.02
BEG-TLV-BEG JU: 321 EUR (with luggage)

no need to say more...

Is TSR or CRA considered as a BEG LCC? I never know it was popular for Serbs to use it.

Great news about night flights! Let's hope for more passengers and growth in April! That's also when LH adds third flight and when AF launches flights.

Well, TSR`s been quite popular for a while, since it`s so close to Serbia, including Belgrade.

Why did't you add luggage costs on W6 price and transport to and from TSR?

Nemjee +100000000

With luggage it would cost 152 EUR + 30 EUR transport = 182 EUR. From Novi Sad to TSR 192 EUR.

At the same time do not forget that departure time from TSR is 06:10h and bus needs approx. 3,5 hours of driving to get to TSR.
So, you are actually losing all night to get there.
So everything has its own price. Some would rather pay 120 eur more and not to arrive on destination in the form of minced meat.

TSR-TLV 06.10-09.15

How nice, you have to be at TSR by 05.00, meaning you have to leave Belgrade at 01.00. No thanks.

Maybe TLV is expensive on Air Serbia because of demand? Me and my wifeare going to Tel Aviv next month with a Kon Tiki group. At the time we booked the package the lady at Kon Tiki told us there were another 27 people in the group. We booked right after New Year. Flights are with Air Serbia and we also get standard luggage.

I also want to mention that at the time we were booking the lady said the only two travel groups that still had vacancy were Israel and China. They sold out for India, Australia and South America tour groups, to my surprise.

Anon 14:28, please!

Obviously if the flight is that early, people will drive 1 day before and leave their car at the airport and visit the city 1 day.
Also, TSR is currently expanding nicely and has destinations NOT served by BEG.

Genuine examples: BLL, SSH, HHN, TLV, BGY and most interestingly VLC with its nice beaches.

Yes, and what is the cost of that? One night hotel about 30 Eur., parking prices and so on. Besides Timisoara doesn't have anything much to visit. All that to save a few cents. C'mon.

When everything is added together the difference is clearly minimal and benefits only backpackers with extremely flexible travel schedules and not people working regular hours who would actually spend more time at their destination (TLV) and not in Timisoara.

TLV is used a lot by transfers.

After adding luggage cost both ways
After adding fuel cost both ways (cca 400km with very bad roads condition)
After adding parking cost at TSR
After adding hotel cost for 1 night

you still want to say that TSR is better option for TLV?
No way!

Yes way, because 57€ return is NOT 350€ return.
I see you are a JU fan, which is fine. But in this case TSR is cheaper.

Anon 14.56

TLV always had a lot of local demand, even Jat which had zero transfers flew the route three times per week.

Who doesn't want to fly non-stop on JU can connect on Aegean, Turkish Airlines or Pegasus.

wow and you do not complain about 7:15 am departure with JU from TLV and you need to be 3 hours there before departure.

Now complain about TSR with W6...

And do you need a suitcase for a weekend, lol

Anon 15.09

Yes,it's cheaper if you disregard all the other costs. Seems like you are a Wizz fan.

You just go for 57 EUR.
Later on when you calculate all the costs it will be muuuch more, but who cares.
It is important that you were flying for 57 EUR.

No, sweetheart. I have the Wizz Members Discount Club and I pay less, so the 57€ price is for the public. It is still cheaper from TSR, period.

Wow, after this I reallly have no more argument.
Enjoy in cattle class

36€ with discount club but yeah go for the 321 EUR worth JU-flight, take a pilow with you in the large suitcase that you will take for the weekend, you will need it for the night at TLV airport.
Better go at midnight so you can go to the first control point at 4am LOL

I think the majority of people is not that boutique-worthy and would rather drive to TSR, leave the car at the parking lot and take the Wizz flight

For a family of 4, this is more than a 1000 € difference. Peanuts.

ТЕМИШВАР – ТЕЛ АВИВ
1 ПУТНИК
ЛЕТОВИ ‎288 ​RON​
МАЈ
18
Темишвар – Тел Авив
6:10 – 9:10 (W6 3593)
Основна цена
1 × Авионска карта ‎96 ​RON​
1 × Административна накнада ‎38 ​RON​
МАЈ
28
Тел Авив – Темишвар
10:10 – 13:25 (W6 3594)
Основна цена
1 × Авионска карта ‎116 ​RON​
1 × Административна накнада ‎38 ​RON​

ТЕМИШВАР – ТЕЛ АВИВ

1 × Чекирани пртљаг од 20 kg ‎166 ​RON​
ТЕЛ АВИВ – ТЕМИШВАР

1 × Чекирани пртљаг од 20 kg ‎166 ​RON​

УКУПНО ‎16.667,55 ​дин

approx. 140€

-----------------------

Полазни лет
Београд до Тел Авив
18 May (Суб)
ПолазакБеоград (BEG) 00:10
ДолазакТел Авив (TLV) 04:00
Economy Standard
JU816
Директан | 2 hrs 50 mins
Обавља Air Serbia
Тип превоза:
Airbus A319
Основна цена карте:ECS03RRS

Повратни лет
Тел Авив до Београд
28 May (Уто)
ПолазакТел Авив (TLV) 13:40
ДолазакБеоград (BEG) 15:40
Economy Standard
JU811
Директан | 3 hrs

Обавља Air Serbia
Тип превоза:
Airbus A319
Основна цена карте:ECS03RRS

Укупна цена пута
Укупна цена пута
Ставке у корпи Цена Листа ставки
Карта
EUR 208.00
Листа ставки
Таксе
EUR 113.91
Листа ставки
Укупно за наплату
EUR 321.91


Both fares include small, hand and checked luggage.
As you can see JU arrives in the middle of the night, making things worse. The price is more than double.
So even if you pay a hotel in TSR it will be 15-20€ + transport 20€ return = 40€

140+40=180€

Still much much cheaper.

JU does really well in TLV and the route was not cut or suspended. I guess there are people who don't mind paying 300 Euros. Backpackers and price sensitive people can fly on Wizz Air from TLV. Also I can only imagine how bad TSR-TLV does if they charge 50 Euros for a three hour flight.

Ok, who doesn't want to fly on JU can go on Aegean for €193 or on Arkia for €202. Of course, Arkia flies non-stop, just like Air Serbia. With these two it makes literally zero sense to go to TSR, unless you are a cheapo.

Sorry, you are still "defending" this extremely expensive flight. I think this is JU´s most expensive destination after JFK.

I mean even much smaller CRA has very very good prices to TLV:

КРАЈОВА – ТЕЛ АВИВ
1 ПУТНИК
ЛЕТОВИ ‎258 ​RON​
МАЈ
17
Крајова – Тел Авив
6:10 – 8:55 (W6 3985)
Основна цена
1 × Авионска карта ‎66 ​RON​
1 × Административна накнада ‎38 ​RON​
МАЈ
24
Тел Авив – Крајова
9:45 – 12:40 (W6 3986)
Основна цена
1 × Авионска карта ‎116 ​RON​
1 × Административна накнада ‎38 ​RON​
ПУТНИЦИ ‎274 ​RON

КРАЈОВА – ТЕЛ АВИВ

1 × Чекирани пртљаг од 20 kg ‎137 ​RON​
ТЕЛ АВИВ – КРАЈОВА

1 × Чекирани пртљаг од 20 kg ‎137 ​RON

КРАЈОВА – ТЕЛ АВИВ
1 ПУТНИК
ЛЕТОВИ ‎258 ​RON​
МАЈ
17
Крајова – Тел Авив
6:10 – 8:55 (W6 3985)
Основна цена
1 × Авионска карта ‎66 ​RON​
1 × Административна накнада ‎38 ​RON​
МАЈ
24
Тел Авив – Крајова
9:45 – 12:40 (W6 3986)
Основна цена
1 × Авионска карта ‎116 ​RON​
1 × Административна накнада ‎38 ​RON​

УКУПНО 14.301,83 ​дин

Approx. 120€ with baggage and everything!!!

No way!!!! Let's all go to Craiova and travel six hours from Belgrade to save €50!

Imagine how bad these flights must be performing if they are dumping like this.

W6 connects TLV with 6 Romanian cities and has 14 Eastern European cities in total excluding London and is not even a base. Just imagine.
What I was trying to say, that if W6 could´ve had this silly AOC then both BEG and INI could have benefited. Even DEB has flights to TLV.

No way return transport costs are 20 Eur. and no way you'll find that easily a 15-20 Eur. hotel unless it's a hostel.

Basically, for some people time is better spent earning money and enjoying their destination than saving money.

Also, TLV is a very specific case. They've been subsidizing LCC since the prices in the country are extremely high. Flights could be found to OVD for as little as 10 Eur.

JU links two capitals which have business/diplomatic demand (none in Temisvar, sorry) and one of them is very well-off. The market can take such prices, similar to Beirut. While the LCC prices are simply bringing tourists in, who'll spend 50 Eur. on a flight but 100 Eur. for accommodation/food and everything else in Tel Aviv.

*daily

Plus why would someone go to Romania when you can fly on Aegean for 190 Euros and on Pegasus for probably the same if not less?

The 'losses' BUD makes are out-weighted by far by the benefits it brings to Hungary.

Besides, they're a private entity so why do you care?

That brings Serbia/BEG into an even more precarious position.

Their profitable airport is sold while the subsidized airline (whose losses are probably greater than BUD's) isn't bringing nearly as much tourists for whatever reason.

I'd rather have a loss-making 13 million airport than a 'profitable' 6 million one.

Also, i would really like to have some number and reference you pulled that from.

In all cases concerned, Hungary much smarter invested their 'losses'.

Nemjee, no need to put +++ to yourself.

hahahahah so basically you just justified JU's losses. :D :D

@Anon at 12:36 That's the key. Varadi gets on his soap box every now and then to complain but instead should be thankful that he is allowed to base two planes at BEG. If he is boasting about Wizz supporting more than 500 jobs in associated industries in the country with 2 planes, imagine how many tens of thousands jobs are being supported by an airline that actually has an AOC, has HQ in the country, pays taxes and other fees etc. Let him base couple of aircraft at ZAG if he thinks BEG is expensive relative to peers.

I just adore this fight, and the fact that some is like "Oh sweaty I have Wizz Members Discount Club" like he is talking about HON Circle card"... I for once would never travel and lose my time.. How many times I could have traveled from Nis to Bratislava for 20E instead BEG-VIE for 200E, but oh well... Everything has its perks I guess, even Wizz Member whatever club.

It is so extremely sad to discontinue the train from Belgrade to Timisoara! It was stopped in August 2017:

http://srbvoz.rs/page243.html

It would have been ideal to connect BEG and TSR and both JU and W6 can take advantage of various travel possibilities.
I mean the distance is barely 175km!! After all, it´s Romania´s 3rd busiest airport with a traffic of 1,6 million.
There are things I don´t understand.

W6 pullled one aircraft from SOF as a result of FR entering the market. Back in the days they were adding 1 aircraft per year.

Stop with this AOC non-sense already. Serbia is much too small of a market to justify setting up a separate AOC for either W6, FR or any other LCC.

All of which for what? So they could fly 2 or 3 routes more?

I need to put + to myself because it makes me feel alive!

Anyway, your comment doesn't make much sense. You said it yourself, BUD is a private company so why should they care about the greater good or how much they are helping Hungary out? Majority owner is a German company, they are there to make a profit, not to engage in philanthropy. I am sure their board of directors wouldn't want to subsidize Hungarian tourism.

As for your other point, I still believe it's up to each government to attract tourists, not the airport. The airport is there to handle their arrival and to make their entry and exit from the country as pleasant as possible. That is why I gave the example of the Turks and Israelis. Look at their arrivals! Belgrade is full of them yet BEG didn't give a massive discount to any of the airlines that fly between the two countries.

In the end, it's not Hungary that invested in these losses, it's the companies that run and own BUD. I am certain they are not too happy with the pathetic financial performance. All companies are there to make money, BUD included.

As for the numbers, a simple Google search would have done the trick. Regardless, here is a reliable link:
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-hungary-airport/budapest-airport-expects-first-significant-profit-in-10-years-idUKKBN1F024N

Seems like train links were suspended due to debt:

https://www.danas.rs/ekonomija/vec-dva-meseca-vozovi-ka-rumuniji-stoje/

BEG-ZAG or to any other city in Croatia can also be flown ... they could really take some cream during the high demand summer season from JU if they introduced some seasonal routes to the Croatian coast

Your arguments hold no ground whatsoever.

If you'd knew anything about business, you'd know that business isn't ran on a day to day or year-to-year basis but having in mind a plan that covers the next 10 years or more.

As such, limited losses are acceptable if to look at the larger picture.

What Budapest achieved is astonishing and they're doing it with the implicit support of both the HU government and EBRD as it can be seen in your text.

The last 5 years BUD got connected with all the cities in the Balkans subsidized by both HU government and BUD indirectly. Result, tourists are flocking to Budapest from all over. They've even got two routes to China.

Now those links are established they may even raise fees, it doesn't matter.

What we see on one hand is a strategy with the complete absence of it on the other hand.

BEG so far had no development strategy and same goes for Serbian tourism as you said it yourself.

Airport, country and main airline form a triangle and only within it real profits and losses might be calculated. None of those entities can be looked at it per se.

There again, i don't see why you're worried about the loss of a single entity (private Canadian fund) and refuse to see the wider profit of both the airlines and country it covers if not to mask the dismal performance of both BEG and JU that are lagging even behind Sofia and ahead only of Zagreb in the region.

Of course that businesses are run with a long-term vision but I am certain BUD owners are not happy that it took them 10 years and 15 million passengers to reach a modest profit.

Look at PRG's financial results for 2017:

Profit before taxation:
2016: 2.062.183.000 CZK
2017: 2.543.244.000 CZK

Tax on profit in 2017: 497.000.000 CZK

Net profit after tax:
2016: 1.659.640.000 CZK
2017: 2.046.186.000 CZK

If we convert these into Euros, we can see that the Czech government earned €19.287.362 from the airport in 2017. PRG itself recorded a net profit of €79.407.506 while passenger numbers grew to 15.415.001 (+17%). I am sure their financial performance in 2018 will be as fantastic as their passenger numbers grew to 16.7 million.

Meanwhile, Prague kept on being an extremely popular tourist destination. In 2017 the city was visited by 7.652.761 tourists, up from 7.127.558. If we look at February as one of the worst months in air travel, Prague had more tourists than BEG passengers (Prague 407.837 in 2017, 386.410 the year before).

So you see, this is where we can see all the flaws in BUD's business model. Naturally we can't compare Belgrade and Budapest as the latter has positioned itself as a popular holiday destination while the former hasn't (yet).

Even OTP managed to have a phenomenal 2018. Their full financial report isn't out yet but they did report this which seems promising:

'The Bucharest Airports National Company, CNAB, said its gross profit rose 45% year-on-year to 389.7 million lei ($100 million/84 million euro) in 2017.'

My point is that you can develop an airport without dumping prices. If Serbia does a better job promoting itself as a holiday destination airlines will come on their own. After all, the market is still relatively small due to widespread poverty. Someone who earns €400 a month and lives in Belgrade can't really afford to travel by plane. Hopefully our standard of living improves in the coming years so that more Serbs can travel abroad more often than before. Prague and even Bucharest have shown us that sustainable growth is possible and that airports can grow both their passenger numbers and profits. BUD needs to do some soul-searching to see where they went wrong.

p.s. I don't care about BUD but the first comment under my posts mentioned them so I am merely replying to them.

Nemjee! You don't know anything about Budapest. Wizz Air, which is a Hungarian company will always grown in Hungary, but their is a huge competation in BUD for Wizz! Ryanair (which plans huge number of new routes from BUD in 2019) Easyjet, Transavia, Vueling, Jet2.com, even Lufthansa increased to 6 daily to FRA, British plans increase to 5 daily, Emirates increases to two daily (1 777-300ER and 1 737 MAX 8 operating with FlyDubai) FlyDubai said FlyDubai operates DXB-BUD-BUD for Emirates. Qatar Airways upgraded to A330-200/300 on one of two daily DOH-BUD-DOH from Aug 2018, they planned A330's only until Oct 2018, but they kept it due to great performance with the A330's on DOH-BUD-DOH. China Eastern Airlines opens Shanghai-Budapest operating with Shanghai Airlines 787-9 from June, 2019.Reservation will open in Feb or March. (Hungarian Consulate General of Shanghai already announced it) TAROM Romanian Air Transport changed the aircraft type on OTP-BUD-OTP from ATR 42-500 (48 seat) and ATR 72-500 (68 seat) to Airbus A318 (114 seat) and Boeing 737-700 (116 seat). American Airlines from Philadelphia and Air Canada Rouge from Toronto will extended operation to Budapest with more weeks. and Hungary is not the biggest country for Wizz Air on business, but emotionally the most important country for Wizz is Hungary. (Like it or not) If Wizz Air sees demand somewhere, they jump on it. They had no flights to Austria, but they started Vienna flights right with a base. BEG is just not very important for W6. And BUD made 700 billion Hungarian Forints (HUF) in 2017, and ended up with a profit of 350 billion Hungarian Forint. Budapest Airport is highly profitable! About Malév Hungarian Airlines. MALÉV Hungarian Airlines was profitable when it went "bankrupt" ... Malév had to stop flying because if illegal money from Hungarian politicans to Malév, meanwhile Alitalia and LOT Polish Airlines can still fly further even though they also got illegal money from Italy and Poland. Malév was ruined by bad managment and Hungarian hater Europeans. You can stop talking. It's easy to JU with government money, all nation can have national carrier with government support! You seem to be a Hungarian hater. Get your info right before you talk false things. Thanks.

+ Nemjee. If BUD is a loss making business, how came airlines which are in Hungarian business keep upgrading aircraft, increasing flights to/from Budapest?!
I think you should get your info right.
Csaba
Hungary

I don't understand what you are trying to say. I am speaking about BUD as an airport, they are recording losses, not the airlines that fly there.