Alitalia suspends Belgrade and Podgorica flights


Italian national carrier Alitalia has temporarily suspended services from Rome to Belgrade and Podgorica as a result of falling demand caused by the coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak. The Italian carrier will not be operating flights to its only two scheduled year-round destinations in the former Yugoslavia until the start of the 2020 summer season on March 29. The airline is cancelling flights to 38 national and international destinations. During March, the company will cancel some 100 flights per day. Furthermore, Alitalia noted its load factors on some domestic routes have dropped to as low as 38%, while they previously hovered around 66%.

Air Serbia and Montenegro Airlines will continue to operate flights to Rome. In addition, the Serbian carrier will maintain its services to Milan, Venice and Bologna, the latter being operated from Niš. However, Air Serbia will reduce its number of flights to Italy’s second largest city of Milan from six weekly operations to five. It has also reversed a decision to increase its overall operations to Milan to eight per week during the summer season. “In the coming weeks, Air Serbia will continue to monitor the situation and adjust its schedule accordingly”, the airline said. It added, “The company is taking all necessary precautionary measures and is upholding procedures required in these kinds of situations. Therefore, passengers have no need for concern. As always, the safety of our passengers and crew is our priority”. Alitalia codeshares on Air Serbia's flights to and from Rome. 

There are fears Alitalia will be unable to withstand the current downturn in the aviation industry being caused by the virus and could cease operations as a result. The airline has been in “extraordinary administration” since May 2017. Last week, the European Commission announced an in-depth investigation into whether the December 2019 government loan for Alitalia breached European Union state aid rules. The newest inquiry is the second looking into Italy’s help for its struggling flag carrier. Meanwhile, Montenegro Airlines itself has warned the virus poses a “significant risk” on its business in the coming period. “The company’s operational and commercial departments have dedicated their full attention to this problem, primarily to the wellbeing of our passengers and crew but also to protecting the company’s business from the spread of the virus”, Montenegro Airlines said.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Air Serbia and Montenegro Airlines will profit from this. It will help fill up their planes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      Profit with 20 passenger's on board?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:09

      First of all neither JU or YM are reducing flights to Rome. Second very few people travelling point to point have cancelled plans to visit Rome which is not near the most affected areas. Thirdly both airlines will get at least 50 additional passengers per flight due to this Alitalia cancellation. Fourthly, Alitalia carriers a lot of transfer passengers on its BEG and TGD flights. The cancellation of a number of other flights resulted in fewer passengers on these flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:52

      The fact that JU decreased MXP for only 1 weekly flight and keeps flying to FCO shows that they are not so strongly hit by this situation.

      Now they will even benefit with temporarily withdrawal of AZ

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:15

      For how long? Not that much. Corona is going to spread in Lazio as well.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:23

      It will spread everywhere in the world and people will learn to lice with it.

      Delete
    6. This is like when Dinkic was telling the story that Serbia will benefit from worldwide economy crisis. All the airlines are getting hit with the virus only ASL will benefit.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:19

      It will affect everyone. Some more than others

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:14

    The end is near for Alitalia. Not sure they will survive this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They will survive this with even more government subsidies!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      Government backed loans are now being investigated by the EU. Doubt they can go on line this for much longer.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:34

      *like

      Delete
    4. No way Anon 09:33
      Firstly large countries in the EU play by different rules.
      And secondly the EU commission just allowed the Romanian government to "loan" money to TAROM.
      https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_312

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:52

      Well I definitely don't see anyone buying them anytime more.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:03

      The Italian government doesn't agree with you. They have given interested parties until March 18 to submit bids. And they announced the call yesterday! LOL.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:04

      Are they serious? Where is the logic? And they give 12 days for bids? Are they crazy?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:05

      Why, after three years of paralysis, does the government give only twelve days for its potential purchase? Because there is no time, its liquidity is running out.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:09

      Maybe they just want to offload it finally and sell it for a euro to someone.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:20

      No, the Italian government wants just another failed bidding process that will allow it to again support financially the airline because no private entity will.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous10:38

      True that's probable. But it can't go on forever.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous 7 March 2020 at 10:20
      Exactly! They are looking for just another excuse to give more subsidies to ΑΖ.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous10:56

      "Romania committed to ensure that, after six months, the loan will be fully repaid, or TAROM will either submit a liquidation plan or carry out a comprehensive restructuring in order to become viable in the long-term. Such possible restructuring would be subject to the Commission's assessment and approval".

      https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_312

      AZ and OU will be in this situation soon too.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous11:14

      What you didn't say is that they allow different component of AZ to be sold separately. And don't you worry. AZ won't go bust. One thing is AZ and another one is Tarom or OU.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous14:20

      Selling the company's components bit by bit is the worse possible scenario.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:54

    Shame. Despite their brand being in tatters, Alitalia isn't a bad airline at all. They are a great alternative to JU on the FCO route. Their prices are good are competitive, they don't charge for luggage and they have some sort of service on board even on short haul flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:59

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:45

      "Alitalia isn't a bad airline at all."

      Airlines should be businesses. Alitalia is a dumpster fire in this regard.

      "Their prices are good are competitive, they don't charge for luggage and they have some sort of service on board even on short haul flights."

      Easy to be competitive on pricing when you are loosing almost 1m EUR per day and your government keeps pumping in money like there's no tomorrow.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:50

      You mean they are pumping money in Alitalia so unlike what the governments of Serbia and Montenegro are doing with their respective airlines?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:54

      Anon at 10:50
      No arguments here.
      JU and YM would probably be in an even worse state than Alitalia without government subsidies.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:59

      JU and YM are not the only carriers that receive financial help in ex-Yu.

      Others who do not have even similar route map as JU would already go belly up.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:22

      The more subsidies you get the bigger the route map can be.
      Look at Alitalia and Etihad!

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:34

      Croatia got a lot of money and all they opened is SOF and TGD - each only 3 pw.

      Money goes somewhere else

      Delete
    8. Anonymous16:27

      Money was not given for opening new routes, it was given for stabilising the compan.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous20:46

      Even worse

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:54

    Anyone know which other routes they have cancelled. You would think the airline would at least put up a list on their website.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:59

      This is Alitalia we are talking about. They don't do anything promptly.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:59

      A list would be interesting. Like Korean published.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:57

    Ironically Alitalia has launched a very interesting offer, with many discounted tickets up to 40% for traveling in Europe and in the rest of the world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:59

      They need cash immediately. This is not a good sign at all.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:58

      Yes, they need liquidity. Eurowings are doing the same.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous10:38

    Anyone know the loads for:
    BEG-FCO (JU)
    INI-FCO (JU)
    TGD-FCO (YM)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:16

      I flew INI-FCO last week and it was quite empty. Great for us passengers though.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:57

      I think most of their routes from Nis are empty. Virus or no virus.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous11:31

    JU cancelled JU560/1 BEG-VCE on March,11th.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous13:47

    We will see what happens with AZ in TGD.
    W6 MXP-TGD remains unchanged for the time being. They launched their winter 2020 already!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:15

      Why? You thinl they won't resume Rome-Podgorica?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:58

      *think

      Delete
    3. Anonymous20:04

      I would say CIA-TGD and not FCO.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous15:00

    Which equipment does Alitalia use to BEG and TGD?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:29

      BEG A320

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:24

      Podgorica is operated by Alitalia CityLiner.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:25

      So that's E175/E190.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:31

      Good. Thanks!

      Delete
  10. Anonymous16:12

    I guess BEG can kiss seven million goodbye.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:26

      Let's wait and see. I believe the recovery will be strong across all airports/airlines in the world. A sharp spike as there is a sharp decline at the moment. This proved the same with Sars and H1N1.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous16:29

    I hope they resume both on MAR 29.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:31

      Depends how the situation evolves. They will certainly be resumed as soon as the situation stabilises.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:33

      If they don't go bankrupt in the meantime.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous16:30

    Out of curiosity, how many frequencies for Alitalia have to BEG and TGD during the winter?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:07

      Belgrade was daily.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous16:30

    Can't believe Alitalia only flies to Belgrade and Podgorica in ex-Yu. I think years ago they had a much more substantial network.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:32

      They used to fly to Skopje and Zagreb in the past. Not sure if there were other cities too.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous17:59

    Hate to be grammar police, but I'm sure 'fledgling' in the first sentence means something very different.

    ReplyDelete

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