Aegean Airlines to further grow EX-YU operations


Greece's Aegean Airlines will continue to grow its network in the former Yugoslavia for a fifth consecutive year in 2019, with one new route to be launched this summer, while there will be further capacity and frequency increases on almost all existing services. Sarajevo will become the carrier's newest seasonal destination, with two weekly flights from Athens set to launch on June 13. Services will be maintained each Thursday and Saturday with the 78-seat Dash 8 turboprop aircraft until September 14. Furthermore, Aegean will strengthen its offer to Skopje this coming summer season. The airline will maintain three weekly services on the route between June 1 and September 28 with the Dash 8, up from two this winter.

In Croatia, the Greek carrier will boost operations to Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Split but will not be returning to Zadar, which it introduced on a seasonal summer basis last year. Aegean will add an extra rotation from Athens to Zagreb between July 4 and September 16 for a total of four per week, while an additional weekly flight will be run to Split during the peak summer months in July and August, totalling five weekly services. Both cities will be served by the Dash 8 turboprop aircraft. On the other hand, the Greek airline faces fresh competition in Dubrovnik with low cost Volotea to introduce flights from Athens to the sea-side city this summer. As a result, it will decrease operations to Dubrovnik to five per week, down from daily, but will boost capacity by operating its mainline Airbus A320 aircraft instead of the Dash 8, with the capacity to seat 174 passengers, on four out of the five weekly departures.

Aegean Airlines will increase frequencies to Belgrade from three to five per week from April 1, with all services to be maintained with the Airbus A320 aircraft. In contrast, Podgorica will be one of the few routes to be reduced compared to last year, with services to run twice instead of three weekly. The Greek carrier told EX-YU Aviation News, "The former Yugoslav region is an important market for Aegean Airlines. Demand for these routes remain strong as passengers are able to travel to Athens and beyond. Our performance is satisfactory on this market, as is the cooperation we have with partner airlines in the region. Almost all flights from the former Yugoslav republics to Athens offer very good point to point coverage, as well as access to thirty Greek domestic destinations, connections to Cyprus and destinations in the Middle East and Southern Italy, which have proved popular with passengers from the Balkan region. Aegean is considering increasing frequency on existing routes as well as adding further destinations in the region".




Comments

  1. Anonymous08:14

    Overall very strong showing from Aegean. They should turn more seasonal routes into year round though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous08:58

      Belgrade, Zagreb and Skopje are year round for now. We will see what happens with Sarajevo.

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    2. Anonymous09:04

      Route to Sarajevo is operating till mid September. Highly doubt it will be extended. Otherwise it would have been scheduled until the end of October.

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    3. Anonymous09:18

      Sarajevo, like Podgorica, is seasonal only.

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    4. Anonymous09:36

      Does Aegean fly to ZAG in January / February?

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    5. Anonymous09:39

      Flights resume on 25.02. Two weekly.

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    6. Anonymous09:51

      Thank you. So it means they are not flying to ZAG year round after all.

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    7. Anonymous09:53

      That's correct, they don't fly during the slowest period.

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    8. Anonymous10:12

      Do they fly to ZAG in January? Well they flew until Mid January- so do they fly in January? :D

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    9. Anonymous10:19

      I think they stopped flights either on 07.01 or 10.01.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous08:16

    I thought they would increase SKP by more considering it used to be served daily once with larger planes.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous08:23

      They are generally cautious when it comes to expansion.

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    2. Anonymous08:34

      But they are also smart about it. If a route doesn't work they suspend it quickly like Zadar. Same story with Ljubljana.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous08:18

    Suspending Zadar makes sense with SPU being so close.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      They could try out maybe another route in Croatia. Pula perhaps?

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    2. Anonymous09:43

      Croatia needs to advertise itself as a tourist destination to Greece a lot more.

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    3. Anonymous15:27

      I don't see any reason for these flights. Hardly and Greek will go to Croatia for vacations. And vice versa.

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    4. I've been to Athens, Thessaloniki, Rhodos and both Xania and Herakleon on Crete. Lot of high school excursions from Croatia to Greece, second most popular after Spain, also lot of people from Zagreb who like change from Croatian coast from time to time especially Greek coast being more to the South and warmer after the peak season plus Greek history, so I wouldn't agree with you




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    5. Anonymous16:53

      All that is not justifying flights to Croatian coast, maybe to ZAG. But we'll see the confirmation once the remaining coastal airports drop off. Just like ZAD did.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous08:19

    OHD could be next.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous08:29

      BNX is also a possibility.

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    2. Anonymous08:52

      OHD with ATR42 twice per week could work.

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    3. Anonymous09:43

      The new BNX management should really make them a proposal about starting flights.

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    4. Anonymous09:45

      Isn't Aviolet flying BNX-ATH this summer?

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    5. Anonymous09:53

      Yes, JU will be flying to both Turkey and Greece from BNX. Just goes to show how much the market was underserved.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:50

      It's confirmed btw, JU will have one weekly to AYT and one weekly to Greece, we don't know where yet.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous08:21

    Which airline has been most impacted by their growth in the region?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous08:24

      My guess that's TK and maybe Pegasus.

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    2. Anonymous08:32

      When they started flying to ZAG last year it was mentioned that in 2017 44% of traffic from Zagreb to Athens went with Air Serbia. The second choice was Austrian via Vienna.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous08:50

      this development isn't quitevl good for Croatia Airlines. Between a nonstop flight from Zagreb to Athens and a flight that goes via Dubrovnik, I think the majority will choose the nonstop flight.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:25

      Who is cheaper on the ZAG route? Croatia Airlines or Aegean?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:33

      Both are about the same but OU has a stop in DBV so I doubt many are still flying with them.

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    6. Anonymous09:40

      Their growth in ExYu region is also bad news for JU.
      Most used to fly to Greece via BEG before A3 expanded.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:43

      Considering JU will have 28 scheduled weekly flights to Greece during the summer and flies year round from Athens and Thessaloniki, it wouldn't seem they are too affected.

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    8. Anonymous09:52

      But it sounded good to them

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    9. Anonymous09:54

      Anon 09.40

      Since Aegean suspended LJU, does it also mean JU defeated them there? ;)

      Delete
    10. Anonymous12:26

      Does it mean it was good news for JU?

      Delete
    11. Anonymous12:52

      You are obviously new here, it's never good news for JU... even when it is.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous08:25

    I think they are increasing Belgrade to four weekly already in March.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous08:38

      Nice. And good to see no more turboprops on the route.

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    2. Anonymous08:41

      They can't compete with JU while sending a turboprop. ATH-BEG will be 19 a week this summer, it has to be a record.

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    3. Anonymous08:44

      I flew BEG-ATH-BEG last July with Air Serbia. Both flights on A320. 90% of passengers were Greek.

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    4. Anonymous08:46

      Oh and both flights packed too.

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    5. Anonymous08:54

      There is potential for Wizz to start this route. If only they weren't so stubborn.

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    6. Anonymous09:23

      W6 would definitely shake up JU and A3 on this route and I'm sure they would be successful.

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    7. Anonymous09:34

      They are staying away because with Aegean you can already fly there and back for less than €90. What extra thing would they really bring?

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    8. Anonymous09:37

      Maybe FR could start it. They have a base in ATH.

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    9. Anonymous09:40

      FR and W6 aren't doing all that well on ATH-Balkans market.

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    10. Anonymous12:30

      FR is flying SOF-ATH daily for 3 years now.

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    11. Anonymous12:38

      But Wizz Air cut the route or made it seasonal, can't remember now.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous15:31

      Wizz was just 1 of the 4 airlines doing the route. Somebody needs to step down.

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    13. Anonymous16:29

      Yeah but imagine how humiliating it was for them to be outperformed by decaying Air Bulgaria. :D

      Delete
  7. Anonymous08:27

    Good to hear about Sarajevo. It's one of the few bigger ex-Yu cities missing from their network.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous08:30

      But very limited number of flights.

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    2. Anonymous08:33

      I hope they extend the flying season.

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    3. Anonymous08:36

      Have there ever been flights between Sarajevo and Athens? Do Bosnians go to Greece for holidays?

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    4. Anonymous08:41

      Don't think this route will work out. I fear it will end up like LJU and ZAD.

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    5. Border with Republika Srpska is about 200 maters away from the airport entrance and there is about 50K+ Serbs living in the vicinity. Serbs naturally gravitate towards Greece due to culture, religion etc. Prices seem to be very decent (200 euro RT in July). All combined, some of them might go.

      The problem is that the area is low standard of living/affordability. Also, Sarajevo (federal part) based travel agencies have a very developed offer for Turkey resorts; lots of nice hotels, flights and very decent prices. So, for someone flying for a week long vacation in the sun, Turkey is probably much better offer.

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    6. Anonymous14:20

      Maybe they are relying on those who got bored of Turkey and would like to try something new. Don't forget JA had charters to Greece in the past, I know they flew to Rhodes.

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    7. It might, you never know. If anybody can pull it off it's Aegean and it's not a lot of seats to fill in two weekly Q400 flights.

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    8. Anonymous16:38

      Aegean flies to Saudi Arabia, they can offer connections to there from SJJ. That seems to be the only markets that's growing at the moment in SJJ.

      Delete
    9. Why would someone want to connect when there seem to be an abundance of direct flights between Sarajevo and Saudi Arabia (another may have been announced as I am typing this, lol)? Unless you think vacationers or business people will want to do a bit in one city and then go on to the next and do a bit more?

      Delete
    10. Anonymous20:28

      Maybe those have Star Alliance memberships so they want to fly via Athens? Or maybe Aegean is cheaper? Who knows...

      Delete
  8. Anonymous08:40

    Aegean is a really interesting airline that has been growing like crazy. It was only a matter of time before they added other routes to ex-Yu.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous08:47

      Of course they are growing, Greece has 20+ million tourists a year plus a strong diaspora.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:27

      I found that they had some 33 million tourists last year!
      Some of them of course drove to Greece or went with a ferry from Italy.
      And they have a very large diaspora.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous08:42

    "Southern Italy, which have proved popular with passengers from the Balkan region. "

    Interesting. Who would have thought considering the lack of nonstop flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:49

      They fly to Bari, Catania, Napples and Lamezia-Terme in southern Italy. Shows the need for direct flight there from our region.

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    2. Anonymous09:58

      Palermo too, they have a large presence in Italy.

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    3. Aэrologic10:00

      I was proposing BEG-Catania years ago.

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    4. Anonymous10:06

      There are charter flights to Lamezia Terme by Aviolet.

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    5. All those cities could be served twice weekly with ATRs from BEG.

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    6. Anonymous11:16

      They would be around 2 hours or more from BEG. Don't know if yields would be good enough.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous08:48

    Now they serve almost all of ex-yu. Still no flights to Ljubljana though :/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:37

      I'm surprised they failed on the Ljubljana route. Lots of pax from LJU are currently transiting to get to Greece (not just Athens but to Thessaloniki in particular) and majority uses JU combination. Also, since Aegean is * alliance and a really close partner of Lufthansa I’m sure Adria would codeshare if they restarted the route.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:48

      I still don't understand why ATH was suspended by JP

      Delete
    3. Few of JP's actions over the years made sense. That is why they are now in such a desperate state.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:08

    Great to see not only the new destination but them increasing frequencies or capacity on almost all routes in ex-Yu.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nisam nikad letio s njima, ne odgovaraju mi za one destinacije koje trebaju meni. Ali primjetio sam da na skytraxu odgovaraju na sve recenzije, stoga imaju moje poštovanje. Za razliku od LH i ostalih.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      Slazem se. Nisam ni ja leteo sa njima ali su mi nekako simpa. Nigde nisam video da su preterano agresivni u nastupu a sa druge strane imaju uspeha u vodjenju svoje kompanije koja nema drzavnu finansijsku podrsku.
      Zelim im svu srecu i uspeh!

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:10

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:11

    Very good news for customers from Skopje - they will have more choice and hopefully even better fares!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      It would be interesting to see the passenger structure on this route. Are they mostly P2P or transfers.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:17

      P2P for sure are the majority at this moment.

      Delete
    3. Dejan09:31

      The SKP-LCA route will be very interesting this coming summer. Will people choose to fly to Cyprus for their holidays instead of drive to Chalkidiki or Pieria?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:17

      The more wealthy people may give it a try, why not. There are not thaaaat many other holiday routes from SKP...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:24

      is Cyprus cheaper then Chalkidiki?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:33

      Seriously doubt it if you add transportation costs in Cyprus while in Greece you can just take your car with you. Plus as many tomatoes as you can carry! :D

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:50

      I would go for Chalkidiki + car + sandwiches + peppers :D

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:21

    I know it was published here before but Aegean is also operating some charters from Dubrovnik to Germany this winter for a German tour operator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:32

      Why can't OU do that instead of the Greeks?
      Is it cheaper for Aegean to station aircraft and crews in the coast than it would be for OU?
      SMFH with the management...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:34

      Your approach is silly. OU needs to focus on ordinary Croatian citizens, not only on tourists. There are other companies to cater for them. OU is public service.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:30

      Anon 15:34

      I've read this kind of statements several times on this blog and I'm still struggling to understand?
      Wouldn't be better if OU is engaged in this "tourist" routes which are highly profitable and then to reinvest that profit in routes that are necessity for Croatian citizens? That is exactly what Aegean doing.
      In currently used model in OU they are having negative numbers so government needs to provide additional money, one way or another.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:51

      OU has limited resources which need to be put to use to serve Croatian citizens. At the same time the state is not able to fund for large expansion which would enable what you write above. In the given circumstances OU's destiny is to be a small public serving company focused on the internal market needs.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:45

    INI under the new government scheme about 10 new subsidized route should look into getting connected with ATH.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous10:15

    Aegean destroyed Ryanair on inner-Greece routes. They deserve huge respect honestly, bravo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:36

      +1
      FR used to fly 7 daily ATH-SKG just a year ago, from this coming March they will abandon it completely.
      Goes to show that they can actually be beaten!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:49

      They will discontinue also lots of flights from Athens to islands where they had head-to-head competition from Aegean..

      Delete
    3. Nemjee11:28

      Ellinair stepping in didn't help either. The Greek domestic market was already competitive enough with many airlines offering one-way tickets for as little as €20. Ryanair didn't bring anything new, there was no special reason to book them in stead of their competition so they failed.
      Ryanair even cut PFO-ATH.

      Delete
  18. Aэrologic12:11

    Here are a few photos from a recent trip with Aegean. Service was much
    better this time. Although boarding in Athens was again done by remote
    stands under torrential rain. Even though the aircraft was standing right
    next to an air-bridge.

    https://bit.ly/2IeRpZH

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:13

      Why do they do this if they qre right next to the bridge?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:15

      *are

      Delete
    3. Aэrologic12:26

      They did it both on arrival and departure from Athens. Although plenty of bridges were available on both occasions. On departure they changed our gate one hour before flight. Meaning even if the aircraft was parked at an air-bridge we boarded by bus. Children and elderly people under torrential rain.

      https://ibb.co/85PPwS7

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:38

      Maybe they are Schengen gates?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:40

      Was your flight full from Belgrade?

      Delete
    6. Aэrologic12:43

      It was about 60% from Belgrade (back and middle full, front empty) and 80% to Yerevan.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:47

      Airports charge a lot more money for using their jet bridges compared with boarding by bus.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous13:38

      60% in winter on the A320 is a disaster! Could we see Aegean turn BEG into a seasonal destination?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous13:48

      No but I think going 5 weekly instead of three will bring a lot more business passengers who want more flexibility.

      Delete
    10. Aэrologic13:48

      Actually it was closer to 65% but this is one single flight. Not sure how representative it is.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous13:49

      Yes, sure.
      Kad na vrbi rodi grozdje.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous14:09

      If it was 65% then it was 113 passengers. That's way above Q400 loads. I guess they make money on this one hour flight with that load. Shame Aegean do not have Embraer.

      Delete
    13. Aэrologic15:21

      That seems correct. I checked-in as seq. 101 about 15 minutes before the gate closed. That means 65% is accurate estimate.

      Delete
  19. Disappointed to hear that the number of flights to Podgorica will be reduced, but not surprised. Air Serbia offers much more competitive prices for this route. I flew with them on several occassions although I would have preferred a direct flight, but the price difference was simply too much. Wishing Aegean all the best though, they are an excellent company. I flew with them many times, practically can not find fault with them (apart the price for TGD)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:30

      You mean you flew to Athens via BEG on JU?

      Delete
  20. Exactly. I can never buy the ticket too much in advance for work-related reasons. If you are buying ten days in advance, Olympic Air tends to have much higher prices than Air Serbia in the summer season. So I flew Air Serbia ATH-BG-TGD and vice versa several times, although I would have preferred Olympic Air. I flew Olympic to TGD only twice last summer I think

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:38

      give us numbers pls. what was the diff

      Delete
  21. I remember flying Olympic Air to TGD in July for around 340 EUR. I think this is the highest I've paid. You could get a ticket with Air Serbia for approx. 200 EUR. In my opinion, 340 for such a short flight to TGD is too much. It is the summer season though, and as I said, I can not buy too much in advance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:10

      There is one very convenient thing about JU. I often buy tickets for flight in the region just a few days before flight and in most cases you can buy tickets at very reasonable prices. Although, sometimes happen that for specific day tickets for some short flight are very expensive.

      Delete
  22. I've payed in total 200€ for 3 tickets: i Zagreb-Athens, Athens-Thessaloniki, and Thessaloniki-Zagreb via Athens. I went to that trip at the end of october 2018. LF on both of route (from Zagreb and to Zagreb) was almost 100% - and there weren't much Greeks onboard. Almost everybody were Croatians.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous07:23

    Pity Sarajevo flights will not be in autumn, October. The best time to visit beautiful Greece

    ReplyDelete

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