Emirates satisfied with EX-YU market performance


Emirates has said it is satisfied with its performance in the former Yugoslavia, which it serves both through its own seasonal operations, as well as its partner Flydubai. Speaking to the "Austrian Aviation" portal, Emirates' Area Manager for Austria, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina, Martin Gross, highlighted Sarajevo as a "rapidly developing" route, despite strong competition from other regional counterparts including Air Arabia, Flynas and Qatar Airways. "There are many destinations [in the region] which are performing well. Sarajevo, for example, is developing very rapidly. Flydubai now flies there three times per day during the summer", Mr Gross said. The carrier will maintain four weekly flights to Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital during the upcoming winter season, the same as last year. The route was to be upgraded to the Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet, however, the deployment has been put on hold due to the global grounding of the aircraft type.

Commenting on Emirates' operations in Zagreb, Mr Gross noted, "Zagreb is an example of how much our cooperation with Flydubai managed to improve our results. We served the route in winter with our Boeing 777 aircraft. Then last year, the route was maintained for five months by Flydubai aircraft. This winter, Flydubai will operate for the entire winter season because it emerged that this route is not as strong in winter, so we can still continue serving Zagreb well". He added, "The cooperation with Flydubai is definitely a success story for Emirates". This winter season, Flydubai will maintain five weekly flights to the Croatian capital (with exception to the first week of the winter schedule), down from daily last year. "Zagreb was operated with Boeing 737 MAX equipment, but had to be moved to the B737-800. So the entire flight plan had to change and has been partially reduced. Now we have to see when the B737 MAX is allowed to fly again", the Area Manager added.

Mr Gross noted the airline is satisfied with its performance across the former Yugoslavia. "We are well positioned in the region of the former Yugoslavia through our cooperation with Flydubai", he said. In addition to Zagreb and Sarajevo, Flydubai will also maintain daily flights to Belgrade this winter, up from five weekly last year, and Skopje, which will operate twice per week, as was the case during the 2018/19 winter season. Emirates codeshares on all of Flydubai's services in the former Yugoslavia, which are run from Dubai Airport's terminal three. When booked together, as part of the codeshare, Emirates passengers will receive complimentary meals and the Emirates checked baggage allowance on flights operated by Flydubai in both business and economy classes. In the region, both airlines cater primarily for transfer passengers continuing on to far-away destinations. In addition to its home market of Dubai, Australian, Asian and Indian Ocean destinations are on top of the list for passengers originating from the former Yugoslavia and travelling with the two airlines. However, both have seen a rise in travellers from the Gulf heading to the former Yugoslav markets for leisure purposes.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    EK could fly seasonally to Sarajevo with B777.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:08

      Can SJJ handle the B777?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:09

      I also think there is potential. I mean 3 daily B737-800 flights is more than a daily B777.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:11

      Competition is definitely increasing. I think there is a big chance that QR will use A330 for the peak summer next year. This year they are using A330 for half of August.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:18

      I read somewhere that Arab investments in Bosnia are down, hopefully that doesn't affect flights and capacity offered.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    lol EK was butchered by QR in ZAG last winter, they are even sending widebodies this year while FZ is cutting flights. You win some, you lose some. KE also increased ZAG so the market is there, it just doesn't want to fly on LCC, that's a fact.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      "they are even sending widebodies this year"

      For the sake of being precise, they are sending an A330 a total of two times probably because of a group or cargo capacity. Please.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    Something doesn't make sense to me. If ZAG is being reduced because of MAX grounding, how come BEG is being increased despite MAX grounding. Both routes were operated with MAXes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      Because it's an excuse.

      It has nothing to do with MAX grounding but poor route performance.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:31

      How come BEG was reduced last year from the previous. Weak demand last year to BEG.

      Looking at the prices on BEG-DXB and ZAG-BEG I would rather say it is a strategic weapon against the competition in BEG, wheras in ZAG their only competitor is QR.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:33

      Exactly, that is why EY introduced the A320 to LHR. Because of demand. There cannot be anything else but demand.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:30

      Just a note, the UAE finally abolished visas for Serbian citizens around 2 months ago. So I think we will see travel increase between the two countries.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:41

      Dubai was always a popular destination for Serbs, I guess that's why FZ is increasing flights.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:06

    Good to hear that more Gulf tourists are coming to the region.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:08

    This is an indication to me that EK won't be expanding in ex-Yu in terms of flying with its own metal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      unfortunately yes...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:12

      Emirates has a huge number of aircraft on order and will eventually have to factor in more cities in Eastern Europe into its plans. Hopefully we see more of them at our airports soon.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:14

      OTP has around 15m passengers and still no Emirates...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:16

      I don't think size of the airport matters that much. They fly to ZAG with 3 million passengers.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:19

      Yeah but ZAG is currently their only seasonal destination.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:22

      But still destination. And there is no "only", it is the most part of the year daily with 77W.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:25

      Anon 09.22, your comment makes no sense.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:39

      Anon 09.25 your anger about EK choosing to fly to ZAG makes no sense.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:40

      I really don't understand where he was displaying "anger". He said it is the only seasonal destination in EK's network which is true and is a fact. You replied something completely nonsensical.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous09:43

      And also I don't think anyone was making fun of it being seasonal. I would be very happy if they flew seasonally to my airport.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous13:29

      I don't think EK will be expanding much, they are struggling financially with massive drops in revenue and profits. They are introducing many ancillary charges.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:10

    And not even a mention of LJU. Really unfortunate. Why can't LJU attract Flydubai?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JATBEGMEL09:44

      LJU would eat into their ZAG loads. Alot of Slovenians are using the EK flights out of ZAG, as well as the many Far East Asian groups who visit Slovenia as well.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:05

      Ljubljana and Gulf flights. A never ending saga.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:25

      I wish FZ started flying to Ljubljana but I doubt that's possible with EK flying to Zagreb.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:28

      Well if FZ is not interested, there is always Wizz Air who could start LJU - Dubai World. They already fly the route from a few cities.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:23

      They fly the route from cities where they have a base.
      There is no W6 base in either LJU or DWC.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:45

      With JP slowly but surely collapsing, it's time for W6 to consider a LJU base. A single A320 could do wonders.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous14:47

      Ljubljana has to understand that they've no chance with ME carriers, due to the distance and size of their market. Narrow bodies can hardly reach LJU, and the size of their market is half of Zagreb.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous14:51

      FZ flies to Bratislava, isn't that further away than LJU?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous15:14

      LJU is further away by about 100 km.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:13

    The biggest "problem" EK has is that they mainly fly bigger planes which can be tricky for smaller cities and markets. This deal with Fly Dubai is perfect for them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      It is good deal, but not the perfect. When they receive A330s and A350s then they could open more smaller markets with their own metal, and no need to cooperate with almost LCC FZ. Lot of people avoid to fly with them and choose other airline, ZAG is the best example. First year, EK had more passengers in 5pw than FZ in with daily operations.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:26

      If they have A330 they could survive winter in ZAG. But at this moment, 777 is actually very big and not profitable for them.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:30

      Anonymous at 09:21
      SMFH...
      Of course EK with 5 weekly 777-300ER carried more passengers than FZ with 7 weekle 737s!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:41

      2 times I flight from ZAG in winter last year and 737 max was 60-65% LF....

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:44

      I flew 2 times with EK first year, ZAG-DXB was around 50%, DXB-ZAG around 65% LF... so..that is 2 times more pax per flight than with FZ.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:45

      ^I assume you are talking about winter?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:45

      Yes, about winter... I flew EK in jan and march

      Delete
    8. JATBEGMEL09:50

      EK loads to ZAG are decent in the summer, its that winter was the problem. Under 100 pax is ok for QR who send the A320 to ZAG, however for EK on the B77W its a horrible load.

      QR has the advantage, not only in frequency, but in product compared to FZ when it operates. QR also market themselves alot better on the Croatian market compared to EK.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:16

    No surprise people from here are traveling most to Australia. Wonder what the Indian Ocean destinations are.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      Not sure for other markets but tour agencies from Serbia are selling Zanzibar like crazy and it's not expensive at all. From what I see they mostly use FZ for these tours.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      They use it because its cheapest to include FZ in travel package. And later, people will need to pay for everything, food, drinks, entertainment...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:58

      Some agencies use QR too.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:18

    Well it's good that they are focusing more and more on the region which was a black hole for them just 5 years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:19

    It would be interesting to see FZ loads to BEG, SJJ, ZAG and SKP if someone has them :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:20

    The biggest obstacle for Emirates in Belgrade is Etihad. While Etihad has sway on the airport, the directorate and the national airline, I doubt we will see EK.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      It's not just EK, it's also SU and TK. Both of these have a lot of O&D market so they can afford to offer lower prices for transfer passengers. Not to mention that they all offer multiple daily departures, it's not easy competing against that.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:31

      Anonymous at 09:20
      +1

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:15

      I doubt that they have any sway on Directorate regarding flights to UAE, as we have open skies with them. for Turkey, probably yes, because of bilateral, but for Russia and UAE no

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:17

      When Emirates requested technical details from BEG 2 years ago, the airport didn't respond to them for two months.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:46

      I guess I know who pulled the strings here

      Delete
    6. Anonymous14:52

      Biggest obstacle for EK in BEG is not EY, it is QR. When flying two daily, QR sends A321 and A320, more than Etihad with 2 A320. QR has been growing faster than EY/JU at BEG in the past couple of years. Does that mean Qatar has a sway on BEG management/Vinci??? QR is more agressive, has better service and offers more destinations than EY.

      Second obstacle for EK in BEG is FZ. They offer inferior service to QR and connecting passengers prefer QR all the way, rather than FZ+EK from BEG. That's the truth and EK should learn from it. But since they have area ridiculously carved out as Austria, SVK and ex-Yu, they just don't want to learn.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:26

    As someone who flew Sydney-Dubai-Belgrade once per year for several years I would recommend people avoid the Emirates and Fly Dubai combination. It's just not worth the hassle and the Fly Dubai service leaves a lot to be desired. Also the "free food" is so tiny its hilarious. Also the crew acts as if you are a regular passenger not EK passenger and they will try to sell you food. Only if you tell them that you are coming from an EK flight will they check and give you something awful. This is for eco class though so maybe its probably different in business. Etihad service is nothing better either.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:28

      And then people wonder why QR increased BEG to 10 weekly this summer. lol

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:36

      I didn't want to mention them because I didn't want my comment to be interpreted as some ad but more and more of my friends have migrated to the Qatar Airways option. Those using Emirates and those using Etihad. In my opinion, at the moment it is the best option with some very good prices. Their service is also very good. Due to circumstances I used Etihad this year and to tell you the truth never again. The Abu Dhabi - Belgrade sector is fine but Sydney-Abu Dhabi was just a disaster. And this may be an isolated incident but I think the air conditioning was broken on the flight from Sydney. It was so cold in the cabin people were sitting in their jackets for the entire flight. Thankfully we had them since it is winter in Australia.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:26

      Qatar service to BEG is way behind. I flew A320, no IFE, hard seats, absolutely non comfortable for a five hours flight. And it was routed over Syria - I really do not have any fear of flying, but that time I felt a bit thrilled having the MH17 in mind.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:41

      You were really unlucky if you got a non-IFE QR A320. They have only 3 of those in the fleet. I actually prefer their A320s then the A321 they use on the midday flights from BEG because it has wifi.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:34

    PR at its finest, at least in case of ZAG. In reality, QR blew them to pieces (or sent them to ćevape) in all periods except for Summer. Plus it is pure luck for EK/EZ that QR cannot currently also serve DXB and Saudi Arabia, as that would dent their prime DXB sales as well.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:59

    Gulf competition is really heating up

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:24

      Yes!

      Looking back 3, 4 years ago how much capacity was added from DXB/DOH/AUH to ex YU + TK as well...simply amazing!

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:04

    What's up with Skopje? Why so few frequencies. Even Qatar doesn't maintain too many flights?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:06

      Because Turkish is king in Skopje.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:10

      It used to be in Sarajevo too but things have changed.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:14

      Yes but Sarajevo has a lot more point to point demand.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:15

      Not enough demand

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:30

      If there was more demand then they would add more flights to SKP.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:47

      Sarajevo is a mich bigger tourist destination than Skopje, hence the bigger point to point demand

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:29

      TK's success to Skopje has more to do with SKP limited options to European than the existence of massive demand for travel to Turkey.
      If SKP manages to attract major European carriers and gets connected to their hubs TK's position will diminish.
      But it looks to be more focused getting connection to villages from W6 instead.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:46

      Didn't TK decide against increasing SKP a while ago?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:56

      Im actually very satisfied with flight options to the middle east and Asia/Australia from SKP: QR, FZ and TK (and some star alliance options). For a country of 2 million, that is actually pretty good.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous14:17

      It's not bad but would be better if more frequnecies were available.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous18:53

      TK is 2x daily
      QR is 4x weekly (in summer) and
      FZ is 2x weekly
      Again, for the Macedonian market its quite good

      Delete
  16. Anonymous10:24

    I think next for Flydubai in ex-Yu will be Pristina.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:46

      Split could be a possibility.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:56

      SPU makes much more sense IMHO

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:29

      DBV too.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:31

      Flydubai already flies to DBV, seasonally.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:38

    Has the UAE abolished visas for Montenegrins, Bosnians and Macedonians? It is an unnecessary and expensive hassle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:40

      They have abolished visas for Serbs and Montenegrins. Bosnians and Macedonians still require a visa unfortunately.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:41

      This is a must

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:47

      UAE wanted to abolish the visas a long time ago for Bosnians, but its stuck in the Bosnian Parliament for ratification.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:50

      Shame

      Delete
    5. It's an electronic visa, fairly easy to get.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous10:47

    Hope they add more destinations in ex-Yu soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:10

      Other than LJU I don't think anything else could work.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:18

      Pristina could work out potentially.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:25

      Air Arabia tried and failed,

      Delete
  19. Anonymous11:03

    We all remember very well that EK announced few months before opening ZAG that they are not interested in ex-Yu market.

    So for me their announcments are worth zero. Nothing but PR.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous12:58

    What has happened to FZ's plan to relocate to DWC? Has this been cancelled?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:09

      They are delaying it as much as possible and as partnership with EK grows it will probably be shelved. The entire DWC project is a complete miss for what it was originally planned.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous08:35

      New IST will destroy any more ideas about that project!

      Delete
  21. Anonymous14:20

    I wonder if Emirates and Etihad will eventually merge.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous14:27

    I think SKP could work great for EK. Big catchment area encompassing several countries. Skopje has already shown it can easily handle large birds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:33

      That's a stretch.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous07:05

      Yes, that is why FZ 737 is 2 weekly and QR 320 3-4 weekly?

      Delete
  23. Anonymous14:27

    Time for Fly dubai to finally launch Ljubljana! Why is every Gulf airline overlooking it?!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:33

      Too close to other cities with nonstop flights to the Middle East.

      Delete

Post a Comment

EX-YU Aviation News does not tolerate insults, excessive swearing, racist, homophobic or any other chauvinist remarks or provocative posts with the intention of creating further arguments. A full list of comment guidelines can be found here. Thank you for your cooperation.