Flydubai shakes up EX-YU operations


Flydubai has published its schedule for the 2019/2020 winter season, which begins on October 27, with the carrier to modify its operations across most markets in the former Yugoslavia. The airline will reduce flights to both Zagreb and Sarajevo, increase frequencies to Belgrade and maintain the same number of services to Skopje as last winter. Its summer flights to Dubrovnik this year will also be affected.

The hybrid carrier will resume operations between Dubai and Zagreb on October 27, replacing its partner Emirates on the service. In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, the airline confirmed it will maintain the route on a double daily basis for just over a week, until November 10, after which services will operate four times per week until the end of March 2020, each Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Last winter, Flydubai ran daily services between the two cities throughout the season. Earlier this month, Emirates confirmed it would continue to maintain its route-sharing arrangement with Flydubai to Zagreb. "The strategic partnership between both airlines ensures capacity is deployed to best serve customer demand", Emirates said in a statement. Both airlines mutually codeshare on each others' service to the Croatian capital.

Flights to Sarajevo, which are operated up to three times per day during the peak of the summer season, will run three times per week in winter. As a result, the carrier will reduce its services to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina by one weekly flight. Operations between the two will be maintained each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. On the other hand, Flydubai will increase its services to Belgrade this coming winter from five weekly to daily. Previously the carrier said its codeshare agreement with Emirates has increased demand on the route. Its Skopje operations will remain unchanged at two times per week.

Flydubai has also modified operations on its seasonal summer flights to Dubrovnik. Two weekly services will be resumed in June and last until October. Last year, operations were maintained up to four times per week from April. On the other hand, the airline will continue to run its summer service to Tivat twice per week from mid-June, as was the case last year.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Ugh what a shame, is QR killing them in ZAG? I hope QR compensates with a widebody, morning flight could be a B788 easily.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      No, bcs QR has also bad LF during winter in ZAG, but FlyDubai's numbers were even worse. Turkish is the only airline which have great LF in ZAG during the winter but they didn't increase / decrease ZAG. (of course, I think on airlines with good connections to Asia).

      Delete
    2. QR does not care about route profitability. Is is interested in "buying" marketshare from the UAE carriers and hurt them as much as possible financially.
      It is part of the conflict between the state of Qatar from one hand and the Sunni Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia on the other.

      Delete
    3. that's not true Qatar airways started Zagreb services in 2013 way before UAE carriers

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    Winter for BEG seems promising with this news and with year-round destinations announced by JU.

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  3. Anonymous09:03

    Going from daily B777 to four weekly B737 is not a very good sign.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:44

      What's the capacity difference?

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    2. Anonymous10:04

      Huge. We were told here that Flydubai is doing great in ZAG and now we see BEG going to daily and ZAG only 4pw.
      Next to expect is KE going seasonally in ZAG

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    3. Anonymous10:43

      You wish...

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    4. Anonymous11:12

      It's still in the system as three weekly going to ICN via ZRH.

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    5. Anonymous13:18

      It's a fact that this year for ZAG is definitely not good. Even if they start China.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:04

    Only 2 weekly in SKP is not very good either. Is Qatar Airways hurting them?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      I don't know but it is not as if QR is full either.

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    2. Anonymous09:45

      Didn't QR also decrease Skopje last winter compared to the one before?

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    3. Anonymous09:59

      Yes during the winter was 3 p/w compared to 4 p/w last winter. Wondering what will be the schedule of Qatar for the upcoming winter. Now for the summer its back to 4 p/w

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:04

    Nice to see BEG back at daily in winter.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      They are going back to the same frequnecies they served in W2017/18. For some reason in W2018/19 they went down to five weekly.

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    2. Anonymous09:13

      if I remember correctly, there were some construction works last winter season on DXB, so all flights were reduced

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    3. Anonymous09:13

      Hopefully next summer there might be more than daily flights.

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    4. Anonymous09:17

      @9.13. No construction work is this April and May.

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    5. Anonymous09:47

      Yes BEG and ZAG are both being reduced in April and May because of the runway construction.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:07

    FZ didn't have much success in Zagreb the first time around either.

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  7. Anonymous09:08

    It's stunning how seasonal Zagreb market is. They can sustain B777 daily in summer but can't 737 daily in winter.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      just look at Sarajevo, even worse

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    2. Anonymous09:27

      True

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:09

    Pity about Dubrovnik. I thought this route was performing well for them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      And some people claimed how they would fly to DBV year round. Looks highly unlikely.

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    2. Anonymous09:28

      And that they would start Split...

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:10

    The DXB-ZAG route seems to get downgraded every year in some way, shape or form.

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  10. Anonymous09:12

    Tivat seems to be holidng up.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:14

    I think ZAG is being reduced to 4 weekly to test the market and if there is enough demand EK will take over. It's less risky like this. With foreign arrivals booming it makes no sense to downgrade ZAG.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      test what? EK already been there

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    2. Anonymous09:36

      EK already flew during the winter.

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    3. Anonymous09:59

      Yes but the route is maturing so maybe there is enough demand for winter flights now.

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    4. Anonymous10:13

      Route maturity that happens over time.

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    5. Anonymous10:28

      But the route is enetering its third year in June and it has been operated in the past as well.

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    6. Anonymous13:21

      So let me understand, they are reducing winter because they are testing the market so EK can come in winter???

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    7. Anonymous13:25

      Yes, if FZ flights fill good then they will send EK flight.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous15:08

      A prosle su zime brali jagode? To da smanjuju br letova samo znaci da nema ni za 737 a kamoli za EK777. Fantaziras.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:17

    Ja FZ ne bi više koristio nikad, cijene im nisu niske, točnost im je nikakva , QR iz Zagreba uvijek točan, pouzdan , dobar transfer time u Dohi za sve letove a cijene ako se nađe na akciji više nego odlične ...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:29

    Is this an indication that they might finally start Ljubljana? They could fly 4x per week to Zagreb and 3x to Ljubljana.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:33

      Doubt they would want to jeopardise their ZAG flights by introducing Ljubljana.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:35

      Qatar Airways will most likely launch Ljubljana first out of the Middle East carriers. They will announce 8 new routes in a few months. We will see if Ljubljana is among them. From what I hear, within the region, Tirana is a done deal.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:40

      Neither LJU or TIA have been announced by Al Baker or anybody else for this year. Mogadishu, Langkawi, Lisbon etc have been. Where did you hear about TIA and LJU?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:43

      I didn't say it was announced. What has been announced is that 8 new routes will be revealed in the second half of the year. Tirana I heard from a friend, as for Ljubljana I didn't say they were launching it. I just said we will see if they announce it.

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    5. Anonymous10:02

      Don't know about TIA, but my sources within QR say there is exactly 0% chance of LJU service to be launched in any foreseeable future. Probably VCE and most of all ZAG is covering demand from Slovenia that QR is after. No point in cannibalizing own services, maybe we even see further QR capacity increase in Zagreb before any LJU ops. TK is different ball game as they have strong Turkey sales and can also sell US. I wouldn't compare TK and QR/EK/FZ here as equals offered network wise.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:30

    At the beginning of this summer season EK cancelled two flights to Zagreb because of insufficient loads. So indeed this route is quite seasonal. In peak summer it is full, other times of the year not so much.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:07

      Maybe EK will change its flying schedule to ZAG - flights to begin in May and last until September.
      For all the rest FlyDubai 4 pw or less

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    2. Anonymous10:16

      It would make more sense at this point.

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    3. Anonymous11:02

      So not true. EK did not cancelled two flights because of insufficient loads but because one of two runways in Dubai was rebuild and they cancelled some frequencies on most of their routes, same think with Flydubai to Belgrade.

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    4. Anonymous11:05

      No this is unrelated. They cancelled two flights in total in the first two weeks of summer season. Runway work cuts which affect most of EKs network start this week.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:23

      Anonymus 11:02, not true at all. The two flights were cancelled for poor loads. A guy working at ZAG confirmed it on another forum.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:32

    Emirates is retiring B777-300 which they use for Zagreb. Which aircraft will they use afterwards?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      EK is operating 135 777-300ERs. Is also receiving new A380s.
      And it will not retire any aircraft before substitutes are delivered for them.
      They have orders for A330NEOs, A350s and 777-8 and -9.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:43

      I was taking about the B777-300 not the extended range.

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    3. Anonymous09:45

      They are using the ERs for all destinations. Even short flights of 30 minutes from Dubai.

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    4. Anonymous09:47

      They also use A380s on short hauls to Saudi Arabia :D

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    5. Anonymous10:00

      I think they even send the A380 to Kuwait and Bahrain which are shorter!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:07

      A380 can"t land in ZAG

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:15

      @9.45 sorry my mistake. I completely mixed something up. Obviously Emirates wasn't the airline in question.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:37

    Makes sense they would keep the weekend flights to ZAG. Those are the busiest.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:13

      Yes, I adore them as well!

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:39

    I'm surprised Sarajevo is being cut. Isn't it popular with tourists from the Middle East?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:40

      It is but only during the summer. It's extremely seasonal. Makes me wonder what FlyBosnia will do in the winter.

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    2. Anonymous09:52

      good one

      Delete
  18. Anonymous10:06

    The demand in ZAG is seasonal because of lack of business demand. Business demand to Asia/North America is very low, and what little business demand to Europe there is is already well served by OU/LH.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:31

      and the aussie yugo-diaspora also flies during summer only

      Delete
  19. Anonymous10:26

    We could conclude that EK adventure by flying to ZAG is really turning to be disaster. First reduction from 7 to 5 pw by EK and then being replaced by FlyDubai that flew 7 pw and now only 4 pw.
    Not to mention that ZAG is the only seasonal EK route

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:47

      How did EK miscalculate this route so much?

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    2. Anonymous10:59

      Or financial motivation from ZAG stopped after 1 year of flying?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:39

      Of course that EK have some discounts in ZAG, like every single airline which decide to fly to ZAG. Those discounts are legal and all of you can find it on the web, just google :)

      For example, if they fly whole year year-round they get discount for landing for next year, etc. Everything is published on web.

      And yeah, Croatia is extremely seasonal destination and yeah, EK is full in ZAG during the summer months (sometimes with HD A/C which has around 400 seats - config without F cls). And yeah, during the winter they can not fly to ZAG with low market demand, but it's great to have this airline in ZAG at least seasonal!

      Also, here is Korean Air, Qatar, Turkish, etc. No need for this childish game guys, looks really bad, even admin should delete this comments because this is not, in any way, professional or logic. Cheers to Serbia and Croatia, vodite ljubav a ne rat.

      Delete
    4. Nemjee12:58

      What I find interesting is that Dubai is considerably busier than Toronto, I expected it to be the other way around:

      June 2018:
      Dubai: 15.739
      Toronto: 10.861

      July 2018:
      Dubai: 18.056
      Toronto: 13.963

      August:
      Dubai: 18.068
      Toronto: 15.179

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:05

      Looks normal results to me Nemjee.
      The EK flights are with larger aircraft.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous15:15

      Are those numbers to Toronto and Dubai or two respective carriers nbetwork? If entwork is the case, it could be expected that DXB has more as EK is selling beyond DXB as well, while YYZ carriers probably mostly sell point to point from/to Croatia?

      Delete
    7. Nemjee15:20

      They represent the total number of passengers that flew on non-stop flights between the two airports so YYZ includes both Rouge and Transat. My guess is that DXB can't be more since these numbers already indicate their 777 was flying in and out full. The only way I could see their numbers go up is if they add capacity/frequencies.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous16:52

      Nemjee do you know how many times per week Rouge and Transat flew to ZAG and with what equipment? Rouge has 767-300ER with 219 seats but Transat has A330-200 with 345 seats and two layouts of A330-300, with 346 and 375 seats. Trying to figure out total number of weekly seats that were offered and compare to numbers of passengers you posted.

      Delete
    9. Nemjee17:05

      Why should I do that? I don't care about actual loads, I am merely posting the total number of passengers on non-stop flights. From the looks of it, there were 245 one-way passengers in August, that doesn't seem that fantastic to me... though I might be wrong.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous17:32

      I am confused with six weekly flights they had around 350 passengers to Toronto on both airlines?

      Delete
  20. Anonymous11:06

    So they are definitely not coming back to Podgorica?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:10

      They used to operate it via Sarajevo and it ran for one winter, so I would say no.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:21

      They should have operated it from Belgrade.
      These guys are clueless.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:23

      There would be no point. They would not get fifth freedom rights.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:31

      They have fifth freedom rights at Belgrade.

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    5. Anonymous17:59

      How exactly?

      Delete
  21. Anonymous11:14

    From middle of December till 5.1. it is 5 pw.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Very very bad airline no good service
    No good workers

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:19

      What gave you that impression? I've always had good flights with them.

      Delete
  23. I think QR was always more successful than FZ in general.
    We musn't ignore TK. They are likely to get more aggressive. They have significantly increased capacity.
    A321 LJU and BEG.
    Even A330 on peak periods to ZAG.
    Plus, they have more destonations via IST.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:17

      .. and a new airport with lot of capacity.
      When will open the 3rd runway there?

      Delete
  24. Anonymous12:34

    Looks like Flydubai has no clue of what they are doing

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:18

      It's not them, demand is slowing down with the economy being slower. They are adjusting demand as it is. OK won't be returning to ZAG in winter making it officially a seasonal route, KLM is starting winter with 6 flights in stead of 7...

      Good news is that A3 will operate three weekly much longer and IB is keeping MAD in winter. So it's win win in the end.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous15:12

    Nemjee, do you have the numbers for other airports, or only ZAG?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nemjee15:22

      In ex-YU I have for Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:13

      Pity you don't have Serbia numbers.

      Delete
    3. Nemjee07:36

      I have some but they are under other European countries like MUC-BEG is there but I have to look at German numbers.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous17:22

    I hope Flydubai will consider Pristina!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous20:06

    Bravo Beograd!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous18:42

    TIV doing great...more than expected.

    ReplyDelete

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