Air Serbia strengthens EX-YU network


Air Serbia will be adding frequencies to several cities in the former Yugoslavia this coming summer season, with Ljubljana, Zagreb and Skopje to see extra flights while the Croatian market will have the most capacity overall. The Serbian carrier will maintain the additional frequencies it introduced to Ljubljana following the collapse of Adria Airways in late September, with the carrier to run seventeen weekly flights between the Serbian and Slovenian capitals, up from twelve for the majority of the 2019 summer season. Operations will be increased to Zagreb as well, with services to operate thirteen times per week, up from eleven. Furthermore, frequencies to Skopje will grow from nine per week last summer to thirteen weekly rotations this year. Sarajevo will also see extra capacity starting June 20 with one of the seven weekly flights to Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital to operate with the ninety-seat Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft instead of the 68-seat ATR72 turboprop 

Seasonal flights to Rijeka, Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar and Pula in Croatia will all resume in 2020 with the same number of flights, however, services to Rijeka will commence over a month ahead of the rest, in late April. Air Serbia will be offering over 170.000 seats between Belgrade and its Croatian destinations next summer season. In December, the airline said it was “extremely positive, at least for us and our region, that 2020 will be great”. It added, “We are planning an 18% increase in seats and we will announce ten new destinations”. Further afield, the carrier will increase frequencies to Barcelona, Larnaca, Madrid, Tirana and Prague.

The Serbian Minister for Finance, Siniša Mali, who in the past served as the Chairman of the airline’s Supervisory Board, previously said, “Our goal is to eventually fly twice daily to all cities in the region but before we do that we need to connect the last city in the former Yugoslavia that we do not fly to yet - Pristina”. A political and public opinion polling agency, which is said to be close to Serbia’s ruling party, recently started conducting a survey to gage public opinion on the resumption of flights between Belgrade and Pristina. The Serbian government formed a task force for the "normalisation of air travel in the Balkans" in 2017 with its main objective being the resumption of services between the two cities, however, no concrete results have been achieved since.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    Some cities are still no served with the same frequnecy as pre consolidation phase. For example ZAG used to be double daily.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      Zagreb is the only one I believe.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:14

      Skopje also used to be double daily.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:27

      Skopje used to be double daily before W6's great expansion that connected SKP with all the major gastarbeiter cities of Europe.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:28

      It used to be double daily as early as summer 2014. Wizz Air was already present in Skopje.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:40

      So? It's 13 per week instead of 14. Big deal.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:42

      Let's see if it will be 13. They schedule it as 13 for each summer and then end up flying 9 times per week.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:42

      W6's presence in SKP back in 2014 was much smaller than what it is today.
      Plus back then JU was even less interested in things like CASK, RASK than it is today.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:47

      My guess is that JU decided to use capacity elsewhere where it can make more money. My guess yields in SKP are not that great compared to LJU, TIA, ZAG, OTP...

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:08

      I AS je 2014. imala mnogo manju mrezu nego danas

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:16

      In general they have to do something about SKP. Their reputation is not that great here and their passenger numbers are going down.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous10:24

      @9.04 Banja Luka as well. Used to be daily. I think in summer it is now 5 weekly.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous10:35

      Anon 10.16

      My guess is that even with those numbers yields are ok, I doubt JU would be increasing a destination where they were losing money.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:04

    I hope this time they follow through with Skopje frequency increase. They announce it every year but always end up with 9 or 10 flights max.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      I agree. They seem to have a lot of trouble with Skopje in general. Their numbers should improve thanks to Adria's bankruptcy.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      Do they still operate some flights with Airbuses to Skopje in the summer?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:29

      SKP traffic is more and more focused on o&d travelers.
      W6 has direct connections now with almost all destinations that there is demand from Skopje.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:34

      Anon at 09:29
      +1
      BNX is going the same way. No that there are more direct option to travel to Europe traffic to BEG will be mostly locals instead of transfers.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:48

      JU at BNX is departing chronically full and around 45% are transfers. JU and QR have an interline agreement so they get Australian passengers as well.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:58

      What is the difference between interline and codeshare?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:31

      Interline = you can purchase flights from two unrelated companies on the same ticket, each with its own flight number, and check luggage through to your final destination.

      Codeshare = company A places its own flight number on the flight of company B, company A can sell seats for the flight on company B directly, and vice versa.

      So codeshare agreements are expanded/upgraded interline agreements basically.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:49

      Thank you very much.

      As far as I understood for the customer it is the same. You buy one ticket and you check your luggage through to your final destinations in both cases.

      Now, the only difference is that on code-share there are flight numbers of one airline on the actual flight of the other.

      Probably totally irrelevant for the customer.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    PRN would be quite successful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      It would provide great feed for JFK flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:48

      First thing that needs to happen is for the airport to be renamed. Same way SKP did it before flights to Athens took place.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:57

      Nothing to do with the airport name. Prishtina breaks the deal asking too much in return, political-wise.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:36

      I am not saying name is the blocking issue but that it should be one of the requirements.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:08

    I'm surprised by the amount of capacity being offered to Croatia. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Frankly, hard to understand why AS starts flying to the coastal airports that late in the year.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:10

    Interesting that Rijeka will start before Dubrovnik. Is it that popular of a route?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      Rijeka was supposed to run for the entire year then they downgraded it to seasonal.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:11

      I think maintaining Dubrovnik year round with 2 weekly flights in winter could work.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:15

      ^ I don't see how. Transfers are taken care of by British Airways and Turkish Airlines.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:31

      Both BA and TK are badly positioned to bring European passengers to DBV.
      LHR and IST include major detour for anyone from continental Europe.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:32

      Well if nothing it's well covered by Croatia Airlines with several daily departures to Dubrovnik.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:42

      Transfers can be taken care of by any airline that is proactive and fills the gap.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:50

      OU's winter network is a disaster so I don't see what they can offer so as to be better option than JU. As for RJK, don't forget that there are a lot of Serbs living in that area. I think Zadar could also work in winter on the same principle.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:54

      JU will be offering JFK connections from DBV this summer for the first time

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:01

      Actually IST is better positioned compared than LHR for DBV when you count the transfers from Russia, Middle East, whole Asia and Africa and even Centreal & Latin America. For North America LHR has a slight advantage but TK seems to be carrying more north american transfers to Ex-YU thanks to price policy on those flights.

      But for European transfers, I agree both airports are not very well positioned, we could easily say one of them is located in where Europe ends in West and the other in East.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:28

      For European transfers BEG as well as ZAG are much better position to serve DBV traffic.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:15

    The missing city in their regional network is MBX ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      Could it work with 17 weekly flights to Ljubljana?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:26

      or Portoroz :D

      Delete
    3. Balkanboy09:28

      What about OMO?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:53

      JU looked at OMO for this summer but there were some issues with pilot training or something.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:56

      It is possible. OMO suffers from bura wind in and that requires pilots to depart from the other side of the runway over the mountains visually. Therefore pilots need special training.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:37

      There we go, that was the issue then. OU doesn't have those problems due to its coast so pilots are familiar with it.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:27

      Do you have a source for JU looking at OMO, I have never heard this. That route would be absolutely perfect for me if anybody has any friends there tell them they would have at least one very loyal customer

      Delete
    8. Anonymous15:29

      They held talks last year. It was reported here, second paragraph

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/04/air-serbia-eyes-new-regional-routes.html

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:16

    Mostar, Brac, Ohrid and Pristina are the last four destinations in ex-Yu they should add in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:18

      YU
      Looked at brac airport to

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:27

      YU = Yugoslavia
      JU = Air Serbia

      Thank you.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:52

      YU is actually EuroAtlantic Airways.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:18

    Pity they dropped Ohrid. Missed opportunity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      It obviously wasn't working for them financially.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:20

      Well not at the times they had it scheduled. It comes down to fleet shortage.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:23

      And in summer timetable 2013 during Jat Airways they had 6 weekly flights to Ohrid.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:19

    lol why does the government need a polling agency to question about PRN flights? Stupid.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      Because the government is scared that it might be an unpopular move. This government does polls for everything every day. They are obsessed with popularity and then respond in line with the results.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:23

      Weird.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:33

      When it eventually starts I wonder what frequency will BEG-PRN be.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:45

      It's common practice around the world. Not sure what you find strange about it?

      Delete
  10. JU520 BEGLAX09:23

    THANK YOU to Air Serbia for connecting our region that well again. It's good and important for the development and trade of the individual republics to have shortest possible transit times and good air connections.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:24

    What about Tuzla?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      What would be the demand? They can't compete against Wizz Air to west European destinations.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:49

      Agree. There is no P2P demand and western Europe is covered by Wizz Air (even they struggle on some routes). Best Air Serbia could do is get some transfers to Istanbul.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:26

    They need ATR42s for some routes in ex-Yu to work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:27

      Is the ATR42 still in production?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:28

      Very much so.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:33

      Would be perfect for some routes.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:19

      They dont need it, difference in operating cost are insignificant.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:36

    What routes in ex-Yu does JU send Airbuses and not ATRs on a scheduled basis?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:42

      Dubrovnik, Split, Podgorica, Tivat.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous08:16

      Ljubljana

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:50

    task force for the "normalisation of air travel in the Balkans"

    wow what a name :D

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:53

    Great developments overall. BEG is certainly becoming better and better connected not only to ex-YU but to the Balkans and beyond. This summer more exotic destinations will be added thanks to JU such as ROV, LWO, KIV... and these destinations will be accessible from ex-YU thanks to short connections.

    I am especially glad LJU will stay as 17 weekly. I remember there was a lot of skepticism on here saying how JU will keep them only until LH announces its LJU flights. I guess they were all proven wrong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:59

      LH is very limited in what it offers at the moment in LJU. Small aircraft, low frequencies and poor scheduling. Might improve somewhat with better schedule in summer.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:25

      Don't they have 21 weekly flights from LJU to FRA?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:27

      No, it is 14 weekly and Munich is 7 weekly.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:29

      Ok, it is still 21 weekly by LH to Germany and bbtter than 17 weekly JU flights.

      Why do you say then that they have low frequencies?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:38

      Because they can barely pull off 7 from Munich in a market where they have a loyal fan base. Also don't forget JU has 2 flights from INI so in total 19, just 2 weekly frequencies less than LH. Now look at the size of the two airlines and you will see who has more success in Slovenia.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:48

      JU and LH ca't be compared that is for sure.

      But still 21 is more than 19 even if you include INI no matter how big the company is.

      LH just started flying to LJU so despite the fact that Air Serbia has excellent results in Ljubljana I wouldn't still say JU is more successful than LH.

      Let's wait for at least one year and then we can comment it.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:49

      LH operates from two hubs so their operations is split. JU is still the busiest airline in LJU in terms of flights between two hubs. LJU-BEG is currently number one in terms of weekly frequencies. I don't see that changing in the future. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if eventually JU goes 21 weekly to LJU.

      Delete
    8. Number of seats is a far more reliable method of comparison.
      One A320 has 2.5 times the number of seats of an ATR.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous14:41

      You don't make money per plane, you make (or lose) money per seat. It is as simple as that.

      For example in ZAG or LJU or SKP JU has in many cases higher number of frequences, but lower (compared to other airlines) of total seats. In my view it makes sense: they need frequences to match others, but at least for now they cannot reasonably offer as many seats as others do (they would have no chance to fill them).

      On a separate topic: I also wonder how the fact that the flight is at night (the JU night bank in BEG) impacts on the fare, ie what is the discount needed to fill that plane at night.

      Delete
    10. Nemjee14:58

      Well JU could be sending the A320 17 times per week to LJU but they wouldn't be making money. On the other hand they do with the ATR.
      Increasing capacity is not the solution to every problem. Even TK is bringing back the A319 into their fleet.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous15:22

      LH does not send A320 to LJU but CRJ900 that has only 20 seats more than ATR

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:58

    They need to start INI, they'd get significant number of transfer pax

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:59

      Don't they already fly INI?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:21

      They fly from INI, there's no BEG-INI

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:23

      But would there be a point to launch BEG-INI now that they have over 10 routes from Nis?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:44

      BEG needs to get a domestic transfer gate for INI to work. Currently all pax have to pass passport control.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:58

      The same goes for KVO

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:44

      The aircarft comes from BEG, does the VIE rotation and flys empty back to BEG, so why dont thes sell the BEG-KVO-BEG flights, the crew is there anyway and you would only need a few moere water bottles to distribute at the entry, because the flight is to short.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:24

    Will JU fly charters from Banja Luka this year to Greece?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:26

      Yes they will. Athens and Antalya (Turkey) .

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:28

      Great. Thanks for the quick response. Yes, I completely forgot about Antalya. Do you know when these start?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:39

      There were discussions of Hurgada as well from BNX but I think that will be left for next summer.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:43

      Both Athens and Antalya start of 5th of June and last until September.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous11:09

    Honestly, still puzzled why SOF was not increased together with OTP. They are regularly sending A319 and connections via BEG are quite good together as well as prices.
    LO will have almost the same schedule to BUD as JU but the connections via BUD are still less compared to the ones in BUD.
    That said, this summer there will be 11 weekly flights from SOF to BUD.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:03

      Places like SOF, OTP, ZAG are where there is a lot of competition by bigger players that offer a wider network and bigger frequences in their hubs. They also fly bigger and therefore more economical planes. So in order to get pax in places like SOF, OTP, ZAG you would have to cut fares even more and that while having a higher cost of fuel. Aparently JU looks more for its chances in places where the routes are really thin and therefore there is less competition. I mean TIV, TGD, TIA, SJJ. Look at how small are frequences by other airlines flying there, and in particular how many mainlines fly there.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:04

      Yet JU boosted both OTP and ZAG ;)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:31

      To anon 13:04

      I was not critising this approach. I was just stating a fact.

      And yes it "boosted" both OTP and ZAG, but both the boost and the ultimate presence is very small compared to the market in OTP and ZAG (market share). It cannot be compared with market share of JU in places I named like TIV, TDG or even TIA and SJJ. It clearly show where they concentrate (on purpose or accidentaly).

      Delete
  19. Anonymous11:17

    I think they better think of how to replace the ATR fleet in winter - currently three days of chaos in BEG .huge percentage of cancelled flights because of the fog - two days they were sending flights to Nis (i.e. Ljubljana Tuesday and Wednesday) now they gave up and grounded ATR's and cancelled most of their flights while the others running late (LJU yesterday evening 5h, currently at least 3h)...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:50

      And first Kosava will solve all these problems free of charge

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:52

      And what happens to London airports the moments an inch of snow falls? Or when there is a thunderstorm in Dubai? Wasn't EK paralyzed for days because it rained. lol

      Weather related issues are common everywhere. Atr is fantastic on short regional flights and it allows them to boost frequencies so as to improve connectivity in BEG, LJU and PRG are fantastic examples of that.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:11

      yes, FANTASTIC as long as you are not relying to arrive at certain time to certain point (i.e. business meeting). but yes, fantastic to have some sighseeing of southern serbia, or seeing belgrade by nihgt,....or drinking coffe in the airport ...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:40

      No one is saying it's "fantastic", but that you are overexaggerating. All airlines face weather-related issues every now and then. I will point you to the commenter above and EK (people here would call it a prestige airlines) who had issues because of rain. Unlike them, we live in an area with 4 distinct seasons and we are doing our best to combat 30+ cm of snow, followed by apocalyptic rains and thick fog and then Dubai-like temperatures in the summer.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous11:31

    Sarajevo nadogradjeno subotom na CR9

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:52

      Ponovo dolazi CR9?

      Receno je da dolaze 2xATR (jedan odlazi) i 1xA319.

      Sa CR9 to bi znacilo da dolaze neto 3 aviona sledeceg leta u flotu

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:54

      Just checked, it's already in the system, flight time on Saturdays is 45 minutes in stead of 55.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:55

      Nobody said that the CRJ wouldn't come because of the arrival of ATR. No one announced another A319.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:05

      CR9 dolazi sigurno i ove god. Vec je ulistan za neke letove Helsinki,hamburg...Za pojacanje flote saznacemo verovatno do kraja meseca kad budu objavljene nove rute.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:13

      I wonder how they will fly to VLC, AMM, ROV, OSL... if they do not add one more A319

      Obviously CRJ900 will be used for wider region (SJJ, KBP, SKG etc...) and already leased planes need to cover INI, charters and currently existing European destinations (together with NCE as seasonal destination).

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:31

      i have heard rumors that they want to replace A320 for 2x319. That would be a grate support. just a rumor at the moment.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous13:08

      1 CRJ was already in fleet last year, so it is not additional airplane if we compare season to season.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous17:16

      DBV will also get it.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous11:56

    Nice to see Sarajevo with a jet engine plane at least once weekly.

    ReplyDelete
  22. SJJ really needs an evening arrival from BEG and a morning departure... I know, I know, airport hours are not good enough for that - but it would still be SO SO SO good to have it.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous13:48

    Which is the route making JU most revenue? ZRH, TGD or Croatian Riviera?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous14:40

    It's nice that JU is expanding in the region - however, they are becoming hugely unreliable for Zagreb and Ljubljana. Every few days they have 2-4 hours delays (today Ljubljana). Business travelers cannot count on them for daily flights, as they are loosing one ATR every now and then, and these two destinations suffer the most. I am chosing to go by car now, as I had 3 three hours delays for ZAG for the past 12 flights.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous14:42

    And honestly, the visual state of interior of Lima November, Oscar and Papa is sad and below any standard for European aviation. Not sure about Africa, but the parts are literally falling down. I don't think that this actually influence the safety, but the product and passenger experience are 1/10.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:14

      Is it really so bad?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:33

      What about ANI, ANK and AND?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:09

      Unfortunately, it is really bad. Every third reading light is working, you need to smack it to work actually, last time the emergency light cover (with the titles) fell off of the emergency door and wouldn't stay when returned. Number of seats "automatically" reclining when you have an adult seating. State of noise with -200 series is enormous, cannot be compared with -500. The walls colors is yellow/brown, these guys are really tired. I recall last year of Aviogenex' AKD, it was much much better then this.

      Flew with ANK two years ago, it was fair, much better then ATR's.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:21

      Apart from the noise it sounds like it could be all easily fixed within couple of days...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous19:24

      I'm not anon above explaining how does it looks but I can confirm it is very bad. I have a lot of flights with JU ATRs and experience is really bad. I understand that they are economical but anyway...reason like "passengers will fly because they don't have other choice" are for sure true up to some level but on the other side company reputation is ruined that way.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous20:31

      3/6 ATRs are in a bad shape, you should know that if you fly them regularly.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:18

      I would say that those 3 are in disastrous shape, while others are not being exactly stellar. And I'm talking from passenger perspective ie. look, feel & comfort.
      Do you think that average passenger wants to differentiate between -200 & -500 types, or think about airline economics? People will usually remember and talk about their worst experiences.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:45

      Agree. Extremely bad, especially -200. And, yes, there is not much choice one some routs, e.g. from LJU to SJJ (due to the lack of LJU VIE flights). I don’t know about Africa. Just returned from Asia, flying Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao and Myanmar operated airlines with ATRs, all in much much better condition.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous14:46

    ZRH...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:41

      Most profitable route.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous18:15

    How many destinations does JU fly to? Seasonal and not. What about weekly frequencies?

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous00:00

    Rim vracen na 7X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous07:35

      Вероватно опет немају авиона за сва повећања пошто сам чуо да је чартер саобраћај и ове године порастао за неких 15%!

      Delete
  29. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

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