The national carriers from the former Yugoslavia handled over 6.5 million travellers in 2018, which is roughly the same as the year before. While Adria Airways, Croatia Airlines and Montenegro Airlines saw their passenger numbers grow, with the latter two registering their busiest year on record, Air Serbia shed some 137.000 travellers on 2017.
In 2018, Air Serbia handled 2.480.000 passengers, which was down 5.2% on the year before. It maintained its position as the busiest national carrier in the former Yugoslavia, however, narrowed its lead to 311.000 over Croatia Airlines. The company operated 15.026 flights, a decrease of 3.6% on 2017. It maintained services to 39 destinations, down from 42. In addition to running fewer flights, the airline also put a greater focus on point-to-point passengers, rather than transfer traffic, which further impacted its passenger numbers. The airline's average cabin load factor stood at 71.2% in 2018, down 2.2 points from 73.4% the previous year. It expects its figures to grow in 2019 due to the launch of over twenty new routes.
Croatia Airlines handled a record 2.168.863 passengers in 2018, an increase of 2%. Of those, 1.642.285 travellers were handled on international flights, up 3% on 2017, while 526.578 travelled on domestic services, which is on par with figures achieved the year before. The company operated 28.003 flights during 2018, which was up 1.9% compared to the year before. The average cabin load factor, a measure of seat capacity utilisation, stood at 73.5%, down from 74.4% in 2017. It anticipates for its passenger numbers to grow 5% in 2019.
Adria Airways, handled 1.230.000 passengers in 2018 in spite of operational issues it faced during the second half of the year, which resulted in the cancellation of numerous flights and bad press. It registered a 1.5% increase in traveller numbers when compared to the year before. The airline's busiest year to date remains 1987 when it welcomed 1.740.000 passengers on board its aircraft. The company handled 157.931 travellers from its secondary base in Pristina, down 10.9% on 2017. Adria's passengeer figures are expected to decline this year due to the suspension of a handful of routes.
Adria Airways, handled 1.230.000 passengers in 2018 in spite of operational issues it faced during the second half of the year, which resulted in the cancellation of numerous flights and bad press. It registered a 1.5% increase in traveller numbers when compared to the year before. The airline's busiest year to date remains 1987 when it welcomed 1.740.000 passengers on board its aircraft. The company handled 157.931 travellers from its secondary base in Pristina, down 10.9% on 2017. Adria's passengeer figures are expected to decline this year due to the suspension of a handful of routes.
Montenegro Airlines handled 643.709 passengers in 2018 on 7.536 flights operated by six aircraft. The airline added some 76.000 travellers on the year before, or an increase of 13.3%. The average cabin load factor stood at a record 70%, up two points on 2017. The company's passenger share at Montenegro's two international airports - Podgorica and Tivat - stood at 27%. Montenegro Airlines anticipates handling some 660.000 passengers in 2019.
How come JU does not handle near 4 million with the fleet they have and their business model?
ReplyDeleteBecause they changed their business model.
DeleteSimple answer is because of seasonality. They can have near 4 million with their fleet if utilization of that fleet is much higher and they have bigger load factor. Truth is that during winter months they have big part of their fleet grounded and also LF is much lower than during the summer season.
DeleteJU needs a 100 seat regional jet for 90% of its routes for at least 3/4 of the year.
DeleteExactly. Hope they move to combination of mostly A220 and few A320/A321 in next five years. That is what they need. 2-3 A321 would be useful for charter operations as number of tourists is growing and Serbian agencies are limited with current B737 capacity.
Delete+1000
DeleteIdeally, they should have jets even smaller then A220 which is around 115 seats (smaller)
DeleteAlso, except being new & expensive, don't forget that A220 is not really an Airbus, so no common type rating with A3xx series. So maybe they should keep A3xx series for part of operations and then go for something more scalable at the lower end.
Ideally, instead of taking an extra A319 they should of taken either an extra CRJ or gone for the ERJ190/195 for a fleet of 2 for this summer, increasing to 5-6 for the next summer season as they retire the B733's.
DeleteTheir CLF has struggled to get close to at least 75% the past several years showing an overcapacity which only an aircraft in the 90-110 seat range could only fix.
Bravo Montenegro!
ReplyDeletehm what are we gonna do with the low load factor for all 4
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteReally problematic. Hovering around 70% is really low.
I fear JU's LF might stagnate or go down a bit in 2019 with such a major expansion in BEG and addition of some silly routes from INI, like BUD...
DeleteDo we know Adria's load factor?
DeleteIt's an improvement on a couple of year ago when all airlines had their LF at around 67%.
DeleteThat's still very slow progress.
DeleteAll of them have insufficient fleets.
DeletePrimarily all of them suffer from extremely high seasonality which affects their LF.
DeleteIt's interesting that Croatia Airlines operated so many more flights with smaller fleet then Air Serbia for example, but handled fewer passengers.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is they had more flights because of domestic sectors and they have tied flights from Zagreb-Dubrovnik-Rome and Zagreb-Dubrovnik-Athens.
DeleteMore short flights with smaller aircraft.
DeleteThanks makes sense.
DeleteSo many times repeated here...The size of the fleet can't be passenger number indicator.
DeleteIt is not. But still it is 12 planes to 20 planes. Same number of turboprops, so there is no difference, and one wide-body. But Air Serbia has 13 narrow-bodies and Croatia Airlines just 6. That is 117% more. So that is not the fact you are talking about.
DeleteNo domestic lines for Air Serbia and so many for OU - SPU, DBV, PUY, RJK, ZAD, ZAG. The closest destination to BEG is SJJ and JU flies only once daily.
DeleteNow count how many times OU flies to destinations which have distance like BEG-SJJ.
Additionally JU has 1 wide body plane that transports max 500 passengers for 24 hours. How many passengers can OU320 transport in 24 hours?
There you are.
You should compare ASK available seat kilometers statistic between ou an ju
Delete@anon 10:52
DeleteIf JU had competitive prices on routes like Vienna they could fly A320 five times a day.
Air Serbia ASK - 4.03 billion
DeleteCroatia Airlines ASK - 2.3 billion
Available SEAT kilometres (ASK)
DeleteAirline X has 10 planes * 150 seats = 1500 Ask
Airlines Y has 20 planes *150 seats = 3000 Ask
Of coures Ju has more.
You obviously forgot to multiply by kilometers...
DeleteHow much could JU reach this year considering all the new routes?
ReplyDeleteSomewhere around 2.65 million is my guess.
DeleteWhat was the most passengers AIr Serbia handled since relaunch?
ReplyDelete2.62 million in 2016. 2017 was almost the same.
DeleteI think in 2016, but I dont know the exact number.
DeleteIn 2019 they will break their record since relaunch.
What was JAT's best result?
It was 2.62 million in 2016 like anon 9.10 said.
DeleteJAT's best results was 4.531.000 in 1987.
And that same year Inex Adria had 1,74 million. So together two biggest Yu airlines had 6,271,000 passengers that year.
DeleteNow we only need Aviogenex's passenger numbers for 1987 :D
DeleteBack then JAT had six operating bases anround all Socialist Federal Republic capitals minus LJU plus PRN and seasonal DBV. it also had around 40 domestic and around 90 international routes. They had 10 DC-9s, 10 B727, at least five ATR-42, at least seven brand new 737-300s and two or three 707s as seasonal backup, besides three DC-10s. They even used DC-10 on domestic and short haul routes whenever they would be available and demand would be high.
DeleteAviogenex had 547.027 passengers in 1987
Deletehttps://i.ibb.co/tQH8Rgh/598520-377284858997043-1638505911-n.jpg
So all in all 6,818,027 passengers by three domestic airlines in 87. Still more than all ex-Yu national airlines combined today.
Delete@anonym 0926h
DeleteMaybe now people realize how stupid political tensions were almost 30 years ago. The way some politicians behave today, one can say, they did not realize even yet
Sadly that is the case. All four combined can't still reach Yugoslav results.
Delete@JU520 The politicians profited and continue to profit from the tensions. It is the regular people that suffer.
Delete@An.09.24 (the first one )
DeleteCorrections to your post :
JAT Yugoslav Airlines never had any other base but BEG. All flights were starting from BEG, all crew planning and control was only in BEG, the ONLY one operations center was in BEG, all maintenance was done in BEG (except line maintenance of course), all the crew had either to live in BEG or to commute in such a way that they start their duty in BEG, so statement about 6 operational bases has absolutely nothing to do with the real life.
2. JAT Yugoslav Airlines at its golden times, which we are talking now, had not 3 but 5 DC-10's. Number you talk about were DC-10's which were JAT property, but in addition to these 3, another two for total of 5 were in fleet permanently, on long-term lease.
3. At that golden times, there were that many long-haul flights that there was absolutely no space for domestic or short international flights to be operated on DC-10. The only two non-long-haul DC-10 destinations were LHR, once weekly, and BGW (Baghdad ) twice weekly, and even Baghdad only before 1987. If you know about isolated case of domestic flights operated by DC-10, those were very seldom exceptions when due to some irregularity, passengers from domestic flights were flown on domestic segments of otherwise purely international long-hauls, and only between BEG and ZAG, LJU and DBV but once again DC-10 at that time did not operate domestic flights only because of the demand. It's simply not true.
Number of destinations and fleet composition you quote are more or less OK .
Ciao!
My prediction for 2019
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia 2.6 million
Croatia Airlines 2.28 million
Adria Airways 1.07
Montenegro Airlines 660.000
With such a growth from BEG, INI and charters overall I guess 2.8 is feasible
DeleteI don't think that it will happen and it will probably be around 2,6-2,7. Q1 was quite bad for JU in terms of passenger numbers.
DeleteMore flights would mean more pax IF there is demand for those flights or if ticket prices are low enough.
DeleteIt remains to be seen how these new routes will perform, especially after the summer is over.
Just my2cents
By the end of July JU already had a passenger growth for all 2019.
DeleteAnonymous at 09:45 could you share the numbers?
DeleteMany thanks!
Well I don´t have numbers. Just a feeling.
DeleteIn my opinion quite bad results all around. With better fleet utilisation all airlines could have had more passengers.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteMy goodness just look at what INEX ADRIA had in 1987 - 1.7 million. Still a distant dream for Adria.
ReplyDeleteThe most important of all is their financial results.
ReplyDeleteWe have all of them. We are just waiting on Adria.
DeleteShould be on Monday...
DeleteFrom this year we will be able to add FlyBosnia to the list :)
ReplyDeleteI agree that these results overall are a sad state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteAnd easyjet handles million passengers from/to Croatia each year and they fly for 7 months per year. Croatia Airlines flies all year and handles just 2.1
ReplyDeleteThey handled 1 million cause they have over 20 daily flights to Split and Dubrovnik throughout the season and Zadar and Pula also get daily or double daily flights.
DeleteGood to see the load factors improving at Croatia Airlines and Montenegro Airlines.
ReplyDeleteBarely. And YM having 68% LF in 2017 is a disaster. Thank goodness they reached the 70% mark in 2018.
DeleteKeep in mind that YM is the only airline in ex-Yu that doesn't have aircraft under 100 seats in its fleet. That is very hard to fill in winter.
DeleteDoes anyone have data how many passengers were handled by TAROM, Bulgaria Airlines, CSA in 2018? It would be interesting to compare ex-Yu airlines with similar sized carriers nearby.
ReplyDeleteTarom - 2,74 mil
DeleteThanks. I think that was a substantial increase on 2017.
DeleteYes in 2017 TAROM had 2.34 million passengers. So in 2017 they transported fewer passengers than Air Serbia while in 2018 they had significantly more passengers than Air Serbia.
DeleteAlso Tarom's LF went from 71.6% in 2017 to 74% in 2018.
DeleteRO had 2.75m pax. Their numbers were always close to JU ones.Despite the fact Romania is much bigger and wealthier, they also have Blue Air, Wizz and Ryan as competitors even ondomestic routes. Bulgaria air is insignificant even locally. I winder how they remain in life
DeleteIt should be noted that TAROM also had a loss of 27.5 million EUR last year.
DeleteAny info on Blue Air's passenger numbers?
Delete^ 5.2 million!
DeleteBulgaria Air has 1.3 milion passengers in 2018 (1.28 in 2017).
DeleteTarom also has lot domestic flights
DeleteFB is a money laundering service for TIM Group, not a regular business.
DeleteLooking at such low LF for Air Serbia, INI flights might even end up helping it! All the routes except for BUD seem to have a higher one than the company average. Winter is always horrible though...
ReplyDeleteAll airlines are facing significant competition in their home markets. Considering this, I think they have done quite well in 2018.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I don't think they have. All of the get direct or indirect money from the state and have done very little to warrant that investment.
DeleteInteresting that YM has a smaller share in the country than Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteIt's incredible Montenegro airlines still exists...
DeleteI believe that out of the national airlines, Adria still has the biggest share of passengers on its home market, then JU, OU and YM.
DeleteDoes anyone know how is JP doing is doing this year?
ReplyDeleteBadly.
DeleteFrom yesterday's article. "Adria Airways saw its figures decrease 7.6% during the January - May period."
DeleteThey are doing great. No cancelled flights, the newer aircraft are flying in LJU and only small number of older aircraft are leased out. Call center picks up within seconds, passengers get their compensations paid within a week after claim. Suppliers say Adria pay the same day after receive the invoice and banks are considering giving them unsecured loans for fleet expansion due to good standing eith credit bureaus.
Deletehaha sad but funny
Delete@anon 10:21
DeleteFake news! No passengers have requested compensation as there were no cancellations or delays :)
LOL, that was great!
DeleteHow come OU handles so many PAX with 12 aircraft, while JU hast 22 and only slightly more pax?
ReplyDeleteJU has the wrong fleet
DeleteA330 sits at the airport large part of the year. For short period it is utilised 6x week.
3 B737 only operate during summer charter season and occasionally step in for regular service.
6 ATRs are more than enough for regional flights. They are only busy in short seaside season when JU performs more flights to Adriatic and nightly Thessaloniki.
7xA319 and 2xA320 are too much for their European and Mediterranean operations in winter and cover all summer schedule without problem.
One A319 from INI is sufficient for all operations there.
OU has a big domestic network. It is also closer to West Europe. So their rotations are much shorter. They do not maintain so much 2+ hours flights as JU does. It translates to OU having more rotations and boardings per aircraft.
DeleteHonestly I was expecting much bigger growth from Adria last year. Even though short lived they did fly an extra 8-9 routes.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteLJU is actually small market and lot of newly launched routes were operated with smaller aircraft. Also, some flights were cancelled, I am not surprised with their numbers. It's actually good. I was expecting a decline.
DeleteI read this as a proof that OU is quite efficient in their operations.
ReplyDeleteEfficiently loosing money.
DeleteAir Serbia's new business model and product obviously a miss with passengers.
ReplyDeleteThe white, blue, red color fares were a very bad move indeed.
DeleteThey still have the same system, they just changed the name of the fares.
DeleteMaybe, but if they saw a 5% decrease in pax while reducing their operational costs and increasing ancillary revenue at the same time, it was a good call overall.
DeleteExactly last anon. At the end of the day financial results matter the most. You can handle 10 million passengers, but if you are operating at a loss then there is nothing much to celebrate.
DeleteWhen you combine it all together, it is a really poor figure for four airlines
ReplyDeleteI find this tragic considering the fact that we’re talking about a market of more than 20 million people.
DeleteThe market is much more than 20 million. There is nothing stopping JP or OU to operate other flights either inside EU or in/from EU to other countries.
DeleteWell JP tried from other EU markets and it didn't work out.
DeleteLong haul growth within the region is slowing down while it is growing in CEE. In 2020 LOT will fly to ORD, JFK and ICN during summer, and American Airlines just announced for 2020 ORD-PRG, ORD to KRK (Krakow) and ORD to BUD, but nothing new to the region like PHL-ZAG. Long haul is important component and region is now lagging behind.
ReplyDeleteHow exactly is this related to passenger numbers at ex-Yu airlines?
DeleteLocal airlines gave up or in the case of JU are giving up on this important and growing segment. OU could have used couple of widebody planes to fly to Korea, Canada and the USA. JU had a chance to fly to more destinations in Asia and North America. If they both did they would have more transfer options and passenger numbers would grow faster.
DeleteAt least AA PHL-DBV is going daily in 2020.
DeleteYes, phl.org is writing about daily DBV service in S20
Delete