Ryanair launching new Niš service in November


Europe's largest airline, Ryanair, will expand its operations from Niš Constantine the Great Airport this winter season with the introduction of flights to Malta. Services between the two will operate twice per week starting November 8 and will run each Monday and Friday on a year-round basis. Ryanair's Chief Commercial Officer, David O'Brien, said, "Ryanair, as Europe’s number one airline, is pleased to continue its Central and Eastern European expansion with the launch of a new twice weekly Niš route to Malta, commencing in November as part of our extended winter 2019 schedule. To celebrate, we are releasing seats on sale from just 12.99 euros for travel until the end of November 2019, which must be booked by midnight Saturday, August 17. Since these amazing low fares will be snapped up quickly, customers should log onto our website and avoid missing out".

Ryanair has been in discussions with Niš Airport over flights to Malta since 2016. A notable number of locals from southern and south-eastern Serbia live and work on the Mediterranean island. This winter season, Ryanair will maintain services to five destinations from Constantine the Great Airport. In addition to Malta, these include Berlin Schonefeld, Bratislava, Bergamo and Stockholm Skavsta. Niš Airport itself has registered strong growth in July as Air Serbia introduced the first of twelve new routes from the city. It welcomed 35.646 passengers, representing an increase of 11.9% on the same month last year. During the January - July period, it handled 201.304 travellers, down 2.3%.

Ryanair faces no direct competition on its new Malta service. On the other hand, both Air Serbia and Wizz Air maintain flights from Belgrade to the island state. The latter recently also launched services from Skopje to Malta. Demand for flights from Malta to the former Yugoslavia has been growing in recent years, with Montenegro also seeking to establish services to the country. In June, Ryanair agreed to establish a Malta-based carrier to grow its presence on the island and access to North Africa, adding another subsidiary to its group of airlines. Ryanair plans to move six of its aircraft currently based in the country into Malta Air. Europe's largest low cost airline said it planned to increase its fleet on the island to ten aircraft within three years and rebrand them as Malta Air for the 2020 summer season.

Further flight details for the new Malta - Niš service can be found here.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Great news! Fantastic to see Nis growing again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    Best part about this is that it puts an end to conspiracy theories that airlines will stay away from INI because of JU base. Thanks FR for proving them wrong.

    Now let's see who will be first to introduce BVA.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:29

      Well they are opening just one route which is unrelated to JU's INI operations.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:32

      It may be unrelated to their INI operations but it's very related to their BEG operations. So clearly no protectionism here.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    Weren't people hysterical how Ryanair and Wizz Air would leave Nis once Air Serbia launches its flights?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      Who knows, maybe one of the would have opened a base now if it were not for JU ;)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:20

      Highly doubt it, both Wizz Air and Ryanair were either stagnating or reducing flights. A base was highly unlikely. However these Malta flights are showing that FR is committed to INI and I am sure more flights will come in the future.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:03

    I'm surprised there is demand between Nis and Malta. Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      Guest workers and tourism.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:15

      Would love to see the underlying analysis.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:08

      It's a seaside destination, new base for Ryanair, catchmsnt area is bigger then Nis for sure, so makes sense to try it...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:16

      Also BEG has the most flights to Malta in the region (4 in summer, 2 in winter with 4 in December) while FR doesn't fly anywhere in the region from Malta.
      Sofia has 3 flights in summer with 2 in winter and 3 around New Year. Ryanair sensed an opportunity and is going for it.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:04

    It's great that these flights will operate in winter too!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:04

    Nice

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:05

    Now it would be nice for Wizz to add a route too :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      Beauvais would be the best option.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:12

      Hopefully FR launches it, I would like them to expand in INI more and more. There is enough Wizz Air in ex-YU already.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:30

      There is potential from Nis for flights to France, Spain, Turkey and Russia.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:38

      There are are a lot of possibilities. Will have to wait and see. But great news for INI.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:17

      They can open route to Oslo as well. There is only norwegian who is flying from BEG.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:05

    Pa drzava skroz unisti Nis,jos da prosire terminal i izgrade toranj i mogu katanac da stave.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:08

    How many passengers could we expect at Nis Airport this year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      Last year they had 351.000 so my guess is that they are definitely going over 400.000 so maybe 410.000? All JU flights except BUD seem to be filled to the last seat so it will boost numbers a lot.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:16

      Why is the flight from BUD not filled?

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:09

    Very nice. And I see they are keeping Bratislava too despite people's predictions they would end it because of Wizz Air's flights to Vienna.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      There are more and more workers from Serbia in Slovakia so I am sure this route suits they quite a bit.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:10

      Next year INI will comfortably reach 550.000 passengers.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:21

      So next year it could come really close to Tuzla?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:38

      Could be especially since TZL seems to be struggling.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:09

    Where is previous management now to comment? They claimed Air Serbia would shut down competition at INI because of Vinci concession in Belgrade.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      Or how they would limit their growth...I guess they are limiting it with more flights to Malta. hahah

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:09

      Evo ga komentar Bojana A, bivseg direktora RRA Jug koji tvrdi da je doveo loukostere u Nis:

      "Prelazak Rajan era iz Niša u Beograd će biti poguban za Er Srbiju"

      izvor: https://www.danas.rs/ekonomija/prelazak-rajan-era-iz-nisa-u-beograd-ce-biti-poguban-za-er-srbiju/

      Samo se "malo" presao sa prognozom, Rajan ne dolazi u Beograd a upravo je dodao linju za Maltu. Toliko o prethodnom menadzmentu :)

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:12

    The schedule is great for a weekend trip.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:14

    Will this have an affect on JU and W6s flights to Malta from Belgrade?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      Maybe to a certain extent but I think people from the south used SOF and SKP for Malta flights rather than BEG. If you live in Pirot or Vranje then Belgrade isn't that convenient.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:25

      So it could affect the SKL-MLA flight...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:16

      *SKP

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:17

      I don't think anyone will be affected. None of the routes from INI affected Skopje and none of the routes from Skopje affected Nis,

      Delete
    5. This actually complements the SKP flights. SKP flights are on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Ryanair flights are Monday and Friday. Travelers have more options now.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:17

      Plus INI-MLA is at 19.25 so people have time to nicely arrive to the airport without getting up at dawn.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:18

    Keep up the good work INI.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:20

    Good news. When was the last time they added a new route from Nis? I think it's been a while.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      It has been while. The last new route they added to INI was Skavsta back in the summer of 2017.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:21

    Go Ryan Air

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:23

    Missed opportunity for Wizz.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:58

      Wizz seems to be having quite a lot of those in Serbia.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:17

      They don't seem to be focusing on the market much.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:24

    wow only 25 minute turnaround.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      Typical for FR.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous09:27

    It's crazy how quickly traffic developed at this airport.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:18

      And that after everyone claimed there was no market in Nis :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:53

      It was always claimed there is market in Nis but for cheap tickets...And we have now Air Serbia offering cheap tickets sponsored by GoS and ULCC opening new destinations.

      So, there is no market for full price legacy carriers apart from Swiss who anyhow transports gastos only. You won't see AZ, AF, LH etc in Nis as there is no market

      Delete
  20. Anonymous09:27

    Great news for Nis and more generally travellers in Serbia.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous09:28

    The more options the more people will travel. The triangle cities of Niš, Skopje and Sofija will soon be a low cost heaven.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:33

      They already are.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous09:33

    The winter season at INI will be very strong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:19

      Yes and on top of that Wizz will be flying Memmingen this winter unlike last.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous09:34

    impressed for Nis.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous09:36

    Great news! I hope Wizz will respond to this . France,Spain and Nordic countries markets are still up for grabs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      I wonder if we might see more flights from MMX or maybe even OSL?

      Delete
  25. Anonymous09:39

    This is great news for Nis. Remember that the airport was completely dead just a year ago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:58

      Yes this is a really cool add.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous09:41

    Good choice and makes perfect sense

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous09:59

    Coolest part is that this will be operated by Malta Air and not Ryanair.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:00

      Where did that Garrett that from?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:18

      Well FR transferred 11 planes to Malta Air their new subsidiary.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous10:05

    Pity it's only 1 route

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:29

      Better one than none.

      Delete
  29. Anonymous10:07

    So we will have Air Serbia with 12 routes, Ryan and Wizz with 5 each and Swiss with one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:07

      Total 23 routes this winter.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:10

      Not bad at all

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:13

      The diversity is impressive for a small airport like Nis,

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:13

      diversity of airlines I mean.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:32

      And a good mix of LCC and legacies.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:49

      lol which legacies? JU s flying for 20-30€ even in August

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:59

      And Swiss is what?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:00

      JU is flying at those prices because that was the whole point of the PSO tender. To offer people cheap fares.

      Delete
  30. Anonymous10:07

    So glad FR opened this route! I wish them all the best...

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous10:15

    Interesting route. A bit of a surprise!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:29

      Malta has been talked about for a long time.

      Delete
  32. Anonymous10:19

    Very interesting 'exotic' route.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:21

      More like gasto route :D

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:32

      I think it's a mix of many things, gasto and tourism.

      Delete
  33. Anonymous10:21

    Can we expect any more destinations from Ryanir soon?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:24

      Of course, but I think for the winter that's it.

      Delete
  34. Anonymous10:26

    Anyone know what FR's best performing route from Nis is?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:40

      Skavsta-INI (2018): 32.949
      Bratislava-INI (2018): 32.924
      Dont know about SXF and BGY.

      Delete
  35. Anonymous10:30

    Will JU fly Malta from Belgrade during the winter, or is the route still seasonal?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:31

      It's seasonal. In winter only Wizz Air flies to Belgrade to Malta.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:33

      Thank you

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:33

      I wonder if Wizz Air might react with more flights this winter season.

      Delete
  36. Anonymous10:36

    They will soon have to expand the airport to terminal to accommodate all the passengers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:38

      That's planned for next year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:01

      But from what I know flights are spread out, very rarely do more than two flights leave at the same time, no?

      Delete
  37. Anonymous10:38

    S juga bas svuda :D

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous10:40

    I hope they eventually open a base in INI.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:42

      Doubt it will happen any time soon.

      Delete
  39. Anonymous11:16

    It seems that the Serbian diaspora is growing even more in Malta. Unofficial figures suggest already 7 thousand! I suppose it's a gasto route...

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anonymous11:29

    So in ex-Yu we now have Belgrade, Skopje and Nis with year round flights to Malta. Nice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:30

      I'm surprised there are no flights from either Ljubljana or Zagreb to Malta.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:33

      There are charters from LJU to Malta from time to time but no scheduled flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:34

      Well according to yesterday's article maybe there would be MLA-ZAG but OU isn't allowing it even if they don't want to fly it. Don't forget Lauda wanted a base in Zagreb so they would operate this route or Malta air would, they are all owned by Ryanair anyway.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:48

      I was in hotel Seabank Resort in Malta.

      There are so many Serbs working in that hotel that locals started calling it Serbbank Resort :-)

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:26

      @11:30 Ryanair starts MLA-Trieste in October, 2pw.

      Delete
  41. BRAVO INI!!! Congratulations and greetings from RJK!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:02

      Maybe next year someone introduces INI-RJK like you proposed. :D

      Delete
  42. Anonymous12:15

    The next one that's sorely missing from Nis is surely Istanbul!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:21

      Or Paris? Would be nice to get EIN/DUS back.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:44

      It would be perfect to get Transavia to AMS and ORY, but W6/FR to EIN and BGY are propbably more realistic.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:46

      But for that flight INI-IST Directorate must give its approval and we all know it does not go so easily...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:31

      Yep... the good old directorate. I'm aware that's the huge barrier, but I really think that's a good opportunity for ASL.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous21:35

      The good old directorate - good only in hindering the growth and success of Belgrade airport and Vinci.
      They are a nuissance !

      Delete
  43. Anonymous14:50

    And what is Wizz Air doing in Serbia? They only launched LYS and only because they were encouraged by Vinci. Hope FR adds more flights to compensate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:24

      And cancelled it during the winter season.

      Really pathetic

      Delete
  44. Anonymous17:39

    Bravo Srbija - Jug!

    ReplyDelete

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