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.
Great news! Fantastic to see Nis growing again.
ReplyDeleteBest 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.
ReplyDeleteNow let's see who will be first to introduce BVA.
Well they are opening just one route which is unrelated to JU's INI operations.
DeleteIt may be unrelated to their INI operations but it's very related to their BEG operations. So clearly no protectionism here.
DeleteWeren't people hysterical how Ryanair and Wizz Air would leave Nis once Air Serbia launches its flights?
ReplyDeleteWho knows, maybe one of the would have opened a base now if it were not for JU ;)
DeleteHighly 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.
DeleteI'm surprised there is demand between Nis and Malta. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteGuest workers and tourism.
DeleteWould love to see the underlying analysis.
DeleteIt's a seaside destination, new base for Ryanair, catchmsnt area is bigger then Nis for sure, so makes sense to try it...
DeleteAlso 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.
DeleteSofia has 3 flights in summer with 2 in winter and 3 around New Year. Ryanair sensed an opportunity and is going for it.
It's great that these flights will operate in winter too!
ReplyDeleteNice
ReplyDeleteNow it would be nice for Wizz to add a route too :)
ReplyDeleteBeauvais would be the best option.
DeleteHopefully FR launches it, I would like them to expand in INI more and more. There is enough Wizz Air in ex-YU already.
DeleteThere is potential from Nis for flights to France, Spain, Turkey and Russia.
DeleteThere are are a lot of possibilities. Will have to wait and see. But great news for INI.
DeleteThey can open route to Oslo as well. There is only norwegian who is flying from BEG.
DeletePa drzava skroz unisti Nis,jos da prosire terminal i izgrade toranj i mogu katanac da stave.
ReplyDeleteHow many passengers could we expect at Nis Airport this year?
ReplyDeleteLast 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.
DeleteWhy is the flight from BUD not filled?
DeleteVery 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.
ReplyDeleteThere are more and more workers from Serbia in Slovakia so I am sure this route suits they quite a bit.
DeleteNext year INI will comfortably reach 550.000 passengers.
DeleteSo next year it could come really close to Tuzla?
DeleteCould be especially since TZL seems to be struggling.
DeleteWhere is previous management now to comment? They claimed Air Serbia would shut down competition at INI because of Vinci concession in Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteOr how they would limit their growth...I guess they are limiting it with more flights to Malta. hahah
DeleteEvo ga komentar Bojana A, bivseg direktora RRA Jug koji tvrdi da je doveo loukostere u Nis:
Delete"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 :)
The schedule is great for a weekend trip.
ReplyDeleteWill this have an affect on JU and W6s flights to Malta from Belgrade?
ReplyDeleteMaybe 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.
DeleteSo it could affect the SKL-MLA flight...
Delete*SKP
DeleteI don't think anyone will be affected. None of the routes from INI affected Skopje and none of the routes from Skopje affected Nis,
DeleteThis actually complements the SKP flights. SKP flights are on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Ryanair flights are Monday and Friday. Travelers have more options now.
DeletePlus INI-MLA is at 19.25 so people have time to nicely arrive to the airport without getting up at dawn.
DeleteKeep up the good work INI.
ReplyDeleteGood news. When was the last time they added a new route from Nis? I think it's been a while.
ReplyDeleteIt has been while. The last new route they added to INI was Skavsta back in the summer of 2017.
DeleteGo Ryan Air
ReplyDeleteMissed opportunity for Wizz.
ReplyDeleteWizz seems to be having quite a lot of those in Serbia.
DeleteThey don't seem to be focusing on the market much.
Deletewow only 25 minute turnaround.
ReplyDeleteTypical for FR.
DeleteIt's crazy how quickly traffic developed at this airport.
ReplyDeleteAnd that after everyone claimed there was no market in Nis :)
DeleteIt 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.
DeleteSo, 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
Great news for Nis and more generally travellers in Serbia.
ReplyDeleteThe more options the more people will travel. The triangle cities of Niš, Skopje and Sofija will soon be a low cost heaven.
ReplyDeleteThey already are.
DeleteThe winter season at INI will be very strong.
ReplyDeleteYes and on top of that Wizz will be flying Memmingen this winter unlike last.
Deleteimpressed for Nis.
ReplyDeleteGreat news! I hope Wizz will respond to this . France,Spain and Nordic countries markets are still up for grabs.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we might see more flights from MMX or maybe even OSL?
DeleteThis is great news for Nis. Remember that the airport was completely dead just a year ago.
ReplyDeleteYes this is a really cool add.
DeleteGood choice and makes perfect sense
ReplyDeleteCoolest part is that this will be operated by Malta Air and not Ryanair.
ReplyDeleteWhere did that Garrett that from?
DeleteWell FR transferred 11 planes to Malta Air their new subsidiary.
DeletePity it's only 1 route
ReplyDeleteBetter one than none.
DeleteSo we will have Air Serbia with 12 routes, Ryan and Wizz with 5 each and Swiss with one.
ReplyDeleteTotal 23 routes this winter.
DeleteNot bad at all
DeleteThe diversity is impressive for a small airport like Nis,
Deletediversity of airlines I mean.
DeleteAnd a good mix of LCC and legacies.
Deletelol which legacies? JU s flying for 20-30€ even in August
DeleteAnd Swiss is what?
DeleteJU is flying at those prices because that was the whole point of the PSO tender. To offer people cheap fares.
DeleteSo glad FR opened this route! I wish them all the best...
ReplyDeleteInteresting route. A bit of a surprise!
ReplyDeleteMalta has been talked about for a long time.
DeleteVery interesting 'exotic' route.
ReplyDeleteMore like gasto route :D
DeleteI think it's a mix of many things, gasto and tourism.
DeleteCan we expect any more destinations from Ryanir soon?
ReplyDeleteOf course, but I think for the winter that's it.
DeleteAnyone know what FR's best performing route from Nis is?
ReplyDeleteSkavsta-INI (2018): 32.949
DeleteBratislava-INI (2018): 32.924
Dont know about SXF and BGY.
Will JU fly Malta from Belgrade during the winter, or is the route still seasonal?
ReplyDeleteIt's seasonal. In winter only Wizz Air flies to Belgrade to Malta.
DeleteThank you
DeleteI wonder if Wizz Air might react with more flights this winter season.
DeleteThey will soon have to expand the airport to terminal to accommodate all the passengers.
ReplyDeleteThat's planned for next year.
DeleteBut from what I know flights are spread out, very rarely do more than two flights leave at the same time, no?
DeleteS juga bas svuda :D
ReplyDeleteI hope they eventually open a base in INI.
ReplyDeleteDoubt it will happen any time soon.
DeleteIt seems that the Serbian diaspora is growing even more in Malta. Unofficial figures suggest already 7 thousand! I suppose it's a gasto route...
ReplyDeleteSo in ex-Yu we now have Belgrade, Skopje and Nis with year round flights to Malta. Nice.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised there are no flights from either Ljubljana or Zagreb to Malta.
DeleteThere are charters from LJU to Malta from time to time but no scheduled flights.
DeleteWell 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.
DeleteI was in hotel Seabank Resort in Malta.
DeleteThere are so many Serbs working in that hotel that locals started calling it Serbbank Resort :-)
@11:30 Ryanair starts MLA-Trieste in October, 2pw.
DeleteBRAVO INI!!! Congratulations and greetings from RJK!!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe next year someone introduces INI-RJK like you proposed. :D
DeleteThe next one that's sorely missing from Nis is surely Istanbul!
ReplyDeleteOr Paris? Would be nice to get EIN/DUS back.
DeleteIt would be perfect to get Transavia to AMS and ORY, but W6/FR to EIN and BGY are propbably more realistic.
DeleteBut for that flight INI-IST Directorate must give its approval and we all know it does not go so easily...
DeleteYep... the good old directorate. I'm aware that's the huge barrier, but I really think that's a good opportunity for ASL.
DeleteThe good old directorate - good only in hindering the growth and success of Belgrade airport and Vinci.
DeleteThey are a nuissance !
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.
ReplyDeleteAnd cancelled it during the winter season.
DeleteReally pathetic
Bravo Srbija - Jug!
ReplyDelete