Airlines are further delaying the launch or completely cancelling new routes to cities across the former Yugoslavia, which were to commence in March, April and May, as a result of the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. Only seven planned services are set go ahead according to schedule. Among them are Smartwings’ Paris - Podgorica route starting May 1, Eurowings’ Stuttgart – Belgrade and LOT’s Budapest - Belgrade service commencing May 21 and May 27, as well as the Polish national carrier’s new seasonal operations between Rzeszow and Zadar starting May 30, although these are all subject to change.
| Route | Original date | New date |
|---|---|---|
| Vienna - Zadar (Austrian) | MAR 29 | MAY 04 |
| Vienna - Dubrovnik | MAR 29 | MAY 10 |
| Vienna - Zadar (Lauda) | MAR 30 | MAY 08 |
| Paris - Dubrovnik | MAR 30 | MAY 04 |
| London Luton - Ljubljana | MAR 30 | APR 20 |
| Poznan - Podgorica | MAR 30 | MAY 11 |
| Gdansk - Zadar | MAR 31 | CANCELLED |
| Kraljevo - Thessaloniki | MAR 31 | MAY 02 |
| Stockholm - Tivat | APR 01 | JUN 03 |
| Dublin - Podgorica | APR 02 | MAY 10 |
| Vienna - Banja Luka | APR 03 | MAY 08 |
| Hahn - Rijeka | APR 04 | MAY 09 |
| Paris Orly - Pula | APR 04 | MAY 19 |
| Nantes - Dubrovnik | APR 11 | MAY 20 |
| Athens - Split | APR 19 | MAY 03 |
| Brussels - Pula | APR 25 | MAY 13 |
So far, sixteen new routes that were planned to launch this summer season have been completely shelved, all of which were to operate to the Croatian coast. They include a number of Lauda flights from Zadar, as well as airBaltic’s new services to Dubrovnik and Rijeka, Qatar Airways’ operations to Dubrovnik, as well as Braathens Regional Airlines’ (BRA) seasonal flights from Malmo to Split. BRA has filed for protection in order to undergo a restructuring exercise. It has suspended all services from April 6 with the intention of gradually resuming flights “after the summer”. Tunis Air has pushed back its new seasonal flights from Monastir to Zagreb by a month, while Norwegian Air Shuttle, which was to commence services between Stockholm and Tivat on April 1, has now postponed the route until June.
| Route | Original date | New date |
|---|---|---|
| Zagreb - Sofia | MAY 01 | JUN 01 |
| Wroclaw - Zadar | MAY 01 | CANCELLED |
| Vilnius - Dubrovnik | MAY 02 | CANCELLED |
| Zadar - Riga | MAY 03 | CANCELLED |
| Zadar - Cork | MAY 03 | CANCELLED |
| Zagreb - Podgorica | MAY 03 | JUN 02 |
| Beuvais - Zadar | MAY 06 | CANCELLED |
| Zadar - Kaunas | MAY 06 | CANCELLED |
| Zadar - Bremen | MAY 07 | CANCELLED |
| Vilnius - Rijeka | MAY 07 | CANCELLED |
| Zadar - Liverpool | MAY 10 | CANCELLED |
| Zadar - Maastricht | MAY 11 | CANCELLED |
| Zadar - Aarhus | MAY 15 | CANCELLED |
| Zadar - Hamburg | MAY 15 | CANCELLED |
| Zadar - Toulouse | MAY 16 | CANCELLED |
| Doha - Dubrovnik | MAY 18 | CANCELLED |
| Manchester - Tivat | MAY 21 | JUN 18 |
| London Stansted - Tivat | MAY 21 | JUN 18 |
| Izmir - Skopje | MAY 23 | JUN 06 |
| Tel Aviv - Ljubljana | MAY 23 | JUN 02 |
| London Stansted - Zadar | MAY 24 | JUN 17 |
| Manchester - Zadar | MAY 24 | JUN 17 |
| Qassim - Sarajevo | MAY 25 | MAY 27 |
| Monastir - Zagreb | MAY 27 | JUN 24 |
| Malmo - Split | MAY 30 | CANCELLED |
Woes continue to mount for major airlines that are being forced to park a record number of aircraft after the Covid-19 pandemic created a historically low demand for flights. About 10.500 passenger airplanes, or roughly 40% of the world's fleet, has been grounded as travel restrictions increase to stem the rapidly spreading virus, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The decline is projected to translate into a multibillion-dollar revenue loss. Last month, IATA estimated that global industry passenger revenues could plummet $252 billion, or 4%, from 2019. The recovery in air travel, whenever it may occur, could depend on many factors including social distancing rules and the state of the global economy.
ICN-ZAG will also get axed as KE grounds its fleet. We have to see who steps in to fill the empty space. Market is massive and no one will just give it away. I hope for LO, maybe BUD-ZAG-ICN-ZAG-BUD
ReplyDeleteThere won't be any market this year. And they haven't officially cancelled it.
DeleteOf course there will, there always was. Don't forget that South Korea fought corona very efficient and they are almost out of crisis. They will want to travel more tan before and Zagreb was always popular for them in Europe
DeleteDon't expect much travel this year. Koreans have mostly used their holidays for 2020. Everyone will be back at work for the rest of the year.
Deletemany cancellations still to follow. I doubt that any of the new routes will be launced. LO will back from its BUD base.
DeleteAnon @ 09.10
DeleteHow naive you are? With the worlds' economy ending up in shambles and just a fraction of the pre-corona number of people will be able to travel for holidays since so many will or already lost their jobs/
Also, what does have South Korea's efficiency in battling CoViD-19 have to do with this, if they could easily get infected abroad and bring it back to their country?
@frishki: at least one with common sense - 100 % approval!
DeleteUnemployment in Croatia grew by 1.215 today to reach 152.400! For a country of around 3.85 that is a lot. With tourism going down this year things won't be pretty. Outbound demand will collapse as well.
DeleteThings are not looking up and I'm actually getting worried.
Greek authorities said that they don't expect swimming to happen until the second half of July. So I guess tourist season will be dead in June and July. I guess the same applies for Croatia. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more delays and cancellations.
ReplyDeleteGreece is being used as a good example of how to deal with this situation. Very few cases for such a country.
DeleteVery few cases or very few KNOWN cases. That is a big difference. It it is known cases than I doubt GR will let anyone in for the rest of the year. Unless they do not care of course.
Delete@ANONYMOUS 10:43 Greece is not Erdogan, to hide for several weeks the positive coronavirus cases. They announce their coronavirus cases properly. Greece fortunately took measures very early than other European countries.
DeleteOf course, Greece is a serious country.
DeleteThis will be a disastrous year for countries that depend on tourism. In our region that's Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro. Let's see what YM and OU do.
ReplyDeleteBoth will get state aid and continue flying.
DeleteOr they can do what Greece did with Olympic and let them die. Greece has thrived after OA.
DeleteI wouldn't put in the same basket Slovenia. 2017: Croatia 25% total contribution to gdp from tourism, Montenegro 23.7%, Slovenia 11.9%.
DeleteCroatia will suffer the most, no doubt
DeleteThe Slovenes will for sure save the croatian tourism this summer.
DeleteSlovenia has a bigger challenge. With no domestic airline, they have to hope that they do not see, too much cancelling from current operators. Even more is the question when foreign operators will resume operation to LJU.
DeleteAs a dominant group in LJU, LH will probably start flying from the beginning of May. And none of them are cancelling their operation to LJU.
DeleteProbably? LH is restructuring for the first time
DeleteSN is as well though I'm sure LJU BRU IS more than safe.
DeleteI don't think there will be any flights to DBV in May unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteIt is good that JU´s dependance on leasure destinations is low. With most Mediterrean destinations written off this year it would be a desaster.
DeleteYou might want to take a look at JU's charter network and the amount of revenue they get from it. This year is a disaster for them.
DeleteIt is still much, much less than regular traffic
DeleteExactly, for JU It's basically three planes in their fleet running charters all the time, but more on some other days.
DeleteNorwegian is the only realistic one.
ReplyDeleteAnd Tunis Air.
DeleteTunis Air? Are you serious? There is no chance they can hide corona there until June; It's barely working now.
DeleteHow do you enforce social distancing on A320 with a 3-3 configuration at 10 000 m in the air?
ReplyDeleteDear I think social distancing will be over by the times these airlines resume flights.
DeleteI'm surprised EW is going ahead with BEG flights. Nice to see them remain confident about the route.
DeleteEW is also the only one that has kept flights to ZAG during this whole crisis.
DeleteIt won't be over since this is the only prevention we have against the virus. Get ready to social distancing for months if you don't won't another outburst in the future.
DeleteFor months? That is pretty optimistic...
DeleteI really wonder which will the first airline to resume flights at each airport (except ZAG which is open).
ReplyDeleteTurkish? Is there any indication when they plan to resume flying?
DeleteTurkish government is not allowing any international flights at the moment.
DeleteI expect LH at BEG, so far they are planning on having two daily flights on 30.04.
Time to start planning for 2021. This year is a lost cause.
ReplyDeleteI'm not as pessimistic as most here. The virus is showing signs of becoming weaker. If you look at major countries (US included) you will notice that the number of new cases is increasing by very small amounts now. In the US it's around 8% daily increase compared to 30-40% in the last few weeks. There are more and more asymptomatic people to the virus, which is also an indication that it is mutating and loosing its strength (like SARS). I believe that the demand for travel will rebound significantly as soon as this is over.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I'm an optimist and I think all the pessimistic and dark predictions won't materialise. I think the rebound from this will be much quicker and bigger than most believe. Just look at the US. US stocks have just recorded their biggest weekly gain since 1974.
Delete"Markets have been encouraged by corona curves flattening in Europe, exits from lockdowns in China, and talk of economic reopening globally. The level optimism has caught virtually everyone by surprise."
DeleteI do not know how anybody can see any weakening by making up some optimistic numbers; in the US there are still 2000 death each day; and better let's better not talk about our numbers; and those numbers are as they are in a time of an extreme lockdown; how can anybody assume that the numbers will go down when the measures get lifted and millions of people flow each day through the huge hub airports
Deleteand even if corona will magically disappear as it was announced by some of our wise leaders, just looking at the unemployment numbers should be enough to know that there will not be much of touristic demand soon, and neither will there be as much demand for business travel as there was until recently
The virus is not weaker. Unfortunately. The reduction (?) is only the result of the measures of the countries against it. As soon as you start moving around like before, it will come back. The virus will just stay with us till we discover a new vaccine. That means that our weapon is only social distancing.
DeleteYou can be as optimistic as you wish, but that doesn't reflect the reality. The numbers might be slowing down in certain countries, but that is only because of the lock-down effects, not because the virus is weakening. The moment you loosen up the lock-down rules, the spread could and probably will skyrocket again.
Delete+1.000.000 to FRISHKI unfortunately many people in this blog live in their own dreamworld. Personally I admit it I am a p..... y and even if the measures end let's say tomorrow I will not travel at least for the next three months.
DeleteSome people live on the moon or they don't understand why lockdown means. Don't you understand that the cases aren't increasing 30% anymore because bars, restaurants, cinemas, gyms, schools, borders are closed ? The virus doesn't show any weakness, this is just the lockdown measures which came into effect. Stock markets ? They don't know how to deal with the virus. They just think it will disappear after lockdown is lifted ! But 2 months later : how do you do with the 10/20% people unemployed, the companies which closed ? How to reimburse this huge debt ? And, last but not least : after the fear, do you really think the first idea from people will be to go to the airport and take a plane ? I'm sorry but you're more funny than optimistic :)
DeleteFrishki, fyi, I work in the medical field and when I read something like "there is no sign the virus is weakening" it seems to me that you genuinely have no idea what this situation is all about. All this containment is not because we should wait for covid to "weaken" but so that enough people would get immunity to it, so no thousands or 10s of thousands of patients would simultaneously overwhelm the intensive care units and mortuaries.
DeleteAnd there is another reality to yours, and that is that luckily the peak of infections has been reached in several European countries and the figures are going down.That is why governments have announced that they will gradually start to relax the containment measures.
I am looking forward to flying again as soon as possible (hopefully already in May) and for those of you who wait for the virus to "weaken"... well, just stay at home and wait.
@ANONYMOUS 17:14, you are free to do whatever you please as long as you will be far, far, far away from me, thank you.
DeleteAlright, doctor, let's see when things will come back to normal and when life will be as it was before. And you could've log in to see anything else but "anonymous" so we can actually know who was more right in the months to come.
DeleteChina, who is supposed to be on a mend is barely coming back to what is still far from being life as we knew it. Half of their domestic flights are canceled. Why? I thought the virus has weakened. I thought people will have the money to travel. What is it then?
I don't get you frishki. Whenever someone has a different opinion than yours you attack them and call them names. As if you are the only one that is always right.
DeleteWho attacked him? I gave the examples that go against his theory. Where is the attack?
DeleteThe good thing is that the majority are just moved for a later date and not cancelled.
ReplyDeleteExpect many more on that list to be cancelled.
DeleteEspecially flights that relied on tourism.
Delete@9.56 are you seriious? just look at what happened to the Zadar flights
DeleteZadar flight got cancelled because they decided not to open a base. It's not the same.
DeleteThey would fly if there was demand for Zadar.
Delete
Deletealmost all touristic flight this summer to croatia and montenegro will not happen; corona came very late to dalmatia, but we are already seeing the limits of the health care system in handeling those few case; the tourist industry here depends on the fact that lots of people are very close to each other; there is no mass tourism in dalmatia with social distancing...
It will take at least a month or two after things show some kind of normalcy before people start booking tickets again. Media will play an important role here. As they have played in spreading the hysteria as well.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of delusion about the virus. The virus will not go away.
DeleteThis will take several years to overcome.
You are right. It will take centuries to overcome. Best that we commit suicide so the virus doesn't get us. Get a grip.
DeleteRyanair just seems to be delaying their new routes by a week each passing week.
ReplyDeleteIt happened at an unfortunate time of year. Croatian coast will be hardest hit by this and it will be a difficult year for people living in coastal areas relying on tourism.
ReplyDeleteBEG-STR will probably be cancelled as well with germanwings supposed to operate the flights with is shut dow with immediate effect.
ReplyDeleteThere are enough machines in the Eurowings/Lufthansa system to operate any route with demand; they will operate the route in case that there is any chance to sell 50 seats; but why should there be any demand for STR soon? (there is no indication that travel restrictions will be lifted in Germany this month or the next; it was tightend just this week)
DeleteWill JU be able to secure a wide-body at a good price now that many larger carriers need to dump some? The only realistic foreign passengers that BEG can expect in the near future.
ReplyDeleteEU commission wants non essential travel to be stop at least to 15 May..
ReplyDeleteAustria is ready to invest €800 million into Austrian Airlines. Latvia already invested €135 million. Israel is planning on giving EL AL some €250 million. Lufthansa will request €10 to €15 billion from the government. US carriers are getting €50 billion from the state. Denmark and Sweden will invest into SAS. Norway said they will give a loan to Norwegian... Will be interesting to see where some airlines like easyJet, Wizz Air and Ryanair get their financing from.
ReplyDeleteAnd people were saying yesterday that JU shouldn't get 40 mil.
DeletePathetic