Qatar Airways suspends Skopje, Sarajevo until winter


Qatar Airways has suspended its flights from Doha to Skopje and Sarajevo until the start of the 2020/2021 winter season on October 25 as the airline, which has maintained operations throughout the height of the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic, begins rebuilding its network. The Qatari carrier is instead offering one-stop connections to the capitals of Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina via Zagreb in cooperation with Croatia Airlines until the start of winter. As of October 25, Qatar Airways will maintain flights to Skopje and Sarajevo three and four times per week respectively. Both routes will continue to operate with the Airbus A320 aircraft. Within the region, Sofia and Bucharest are also suspended until late October.

Services to the airline’s two other remaining destinations in the former Yugoslavia - Zagreb and Belgrade - have been pushed back from June 1 to July 1 and have also been downsized. Operations to Zagreb will be maintained three times per week with the A320 jet, down from two daily last year, while services to Belgrade will initially run three times per week before increasing to four with the A321 aircraft, down from up to ten weekly operations last summer. The airline’s planned new seasonal service to Dubrovnik has been cancelled. “Having maintained flights to at least thirty destinations where possible during this crisis and to most continents, helping to take over one million people home, the airline has been in a unique position to closely monitor global passenger flows and booking trends to confidently begin planning the gradual reintroduction of additional flights and destinations to its network”, Qatar Airways said.


By the end of June, Qatar Airways aims to have eighty destinations in its schedule including 23 in Europe, four in the Americas, twenty in the Middle East and Africa and 33 in Asia-Pacific. The gradual expansion will focus initially on strengthening connections between the airline’s hub in Doha with the global hubs of its partner airlines around the world. By the end of June, within Europe, Qatar Airways will maintain flights to Athens, Budapest, Moscow, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Barcelona, Brussels, Paris, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Rome, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Manchester, Munich, Milan, Oslo, Berlin, Vienna and Zurich.

Meanwhile, a total of 23 planned new routes to the former Yugoslavia during the 2020 summer season have been cancelled so far. The full list can be found here.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Wow that is unfortunate. I'm also very surprised OTP and SOF have also been relegated to October.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      Me too. Anyone know their frequencies on these routes pre-Covid?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:36

      Weird. More competition maybe?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:04

      Demand to the Gulf area is really lower during the summer season in Sofia. People travel to Europe or the Americas. DXB is also squeezed.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    A good indication of which routes perform well for them in the region.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      BEG will have more capacity to DOH than ZAG. I don't know if it was ever the case

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:09

      It was indicative by the frequencies and aircraft type too.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:17

      I guess it's logical @9.09. There will be fewer tourists which are a big source of passengers on that route.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:25

      As we read yesterday, Serbia is preparing a massive ad campaign in China soon. Qatar will profit from this as well so I am sure they will respond accordingly. Shame they don't have at least one or two weekly night flights, those are needed for improved connectivity.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:46

      since they downgraded all i would say none

      Delete
    6. Anonymous15:25

      Good thing about Serbia is that in the last 24 hours 5.521 people were tested and only 57 were positive. Hopefully this speeds up the normalization of the overall situation so that we can start traveling normally soon again.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    This is sad news because QR at the moment (and probably in the future) has the biggest network to many places where there are still people stuck and trying to get home.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      Yes. I know quite a few people that was supposed to fly with QR in June to BEG to get home. Not sure what they will do now.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:04

    Do they have some sort of an interline with OU?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      Yes I believe so.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:36

      and that is one of the several reasons these flights will be via ZAG and not BEG.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:39

      Yet they will have fewer flights and capacity to ZAG.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:48

      They are also routing their DBV pax via ZAG.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:28

      There will be more empty seats from ZAG than from BEG.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:42

      They concluded that Zagreb route needed more support.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:24

      or they concluded that the connectivity from both SJJ and SKP was better to ZAG than to BEG

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:31

      https://seenews.com/news/croatias-economy-to-be-worst-hit-by-coronavirus-crisis-in-eastern-europe-wiiw-697921

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:36

      No one wants to fly empty planes.

      Delete
    10. mlatite praznu slamu bez potrebe

      Qatar offers one-stop connections to Skopje for the time being via: Vienna, Istanbul-Sabiha, Belgrade and Zagreb

      if you dont believe me check qatarairways.com

      Delete
    11. Anonymous16:06

      Actually, i'm sorry to disapoint you all but as far as Ex-Yu goes BEG is their main transfer hub in the region.

      Most of flights from SKP are offered through BEG, SAW and VIE.

      ZAG appears very rarely and is often the most expensive option cause the connecting times are not convenient.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous18:09

      "as far as Ex-Yu goes BEG is their main transfer hub in the region."
      Transfer to where? Except LJU and TGD all other capitals had direct flights to DOH.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous21:45

      Right now with SJJ and SKP cancelled.

      Most of the flights are offered via BEG.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:05

    Is there any chance SKP and SJJ might resume before this sate if things calm down?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      Hopefully.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:20

      Well if recovery is quicker than expected than sure but I wouldn't hold my breath.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:37

      Nope, no chance. They see advance bookings.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:06

    Unfortunately this will be the post Covid world and this is probably light compared to what other airlines will do. Qatar will probably keep most of its routes because of the 2022 World Cup but for other airlines, I'm not so sure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:13

      Like the title of an article in the Economist reads - "The new nearly normal will be a long way from status quo".

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:08

    Maybe a glimmet of opportunity for Flydubai to better position itself in SKP and SJJ.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      * glimmer

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:11

      Let's wait and see if they cull their network too

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:13

      ^ They most likely will.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:15

      Interestingly according to this article QR overtook Flydubai in Skopje last year.
      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/05/ex-yu-markets-miss-out-on-wizz-abu.html

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:25

      Or a chance for Wizz Air Abu Dhabi :D

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:30

      No wonder, since QR offers a much better product than FZ + you don't have to switch terminals when you transfer to most routes- and this for the same price.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:32

      Yes. Ironically one is an LCC and the other considered one of the best airlines in the world yet their fares are more or less the same.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:59

      FZ is not a real LCC.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:01

      Their service certainly is.

      Delete
    10. JATBEGMEL15:58

      @ anon 09,30

      FZ operates both ZAG and BEG from EK's T3, no change of terminal needed for most connections.

      SJJ, SKP, TIV, and DBV is from T2.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:17

    I'm actually very surprised they even launched Skopje.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:18

    Not surprised at all. These two routes are one of the few they launched with low frequencies and never increased them.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:18

    Kudos to them for still flying to so many cities.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:21

    But they keep flights to Rome, Milan, Barcelona and Madrid?!?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      Yes. Huge hubs and world cities. Corona or no corona.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:26

    Welcome to reality

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:30

      There will be more and more news look this :(

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:35

      Airlines will have to rethink their strategies.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:33

    Don't know if anyone has seen their prices for winter 2020-2021. I'm finding fares from BEG to places like Bangkok, Colombo, Male for 350 euros return!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:47

      Yes, and this from many cities in Europe for many destinations and for the top season around New Year.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous10:06

    Well that buries any chance of LJU getting QR any time soon.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous10:29

    When does the extra weekly flight DOH-BEG start?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous10:33

    Dubrovnik unfortunately not rescheduled for next year. Shame :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:01

      It cannot be that their schedule for summer 2021 is already complete and entirely loaded online.

      Delete
  17. I just spoke with QR support and yes they will reroute me through ZAG. I asked if SKG is an option as well, since that will work for me as well, they told me flights to SKG are canceled for the summer season.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:47

      Hey Angel I have a question. Did you call their global call center? I have a flight in June from BEG (it's essential travel not tourism) and I'm trying to see my options. The flight still isn't officially cancelled even though all BEG flights are removed from the system in June. But until it's cancelled they can't do anything. Can't get through to their BEG office (on hold for over an hour).

      Delete
    2. I contacted them through whatsapp as a gold member. You can try via twitter or facebook they reply promptly there as well

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:21

      Did they give you any other option besides Zagreb?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:27

      Thank you for that! I didn't even realize they opened a whatapp number. I'm a gold member too so I will try that :)

      Delete
    5. Good to know. They say they can reroute to any airport within 500 miles. I'm trying to get reroute via Vienna now, so I can be on a wide body for both segments. You can try that too

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:32

      Did they offer you any other alternative except ZAG?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:56

      I managed to get through they are offering to reroute me through Athens with a flight from Belgrade to Athens with Aegean and then I continue to Perth via Doha with QR. But I’m sceptical because I’m supposed to travel in the first week of June (they rebooked me originally for that date since I was supposed to leave in late March and it was the first available flight). As I’m doubtful Aegean will be flying to Belgrade in the first week of June we agreed to wait for another week to see when will BEG open and what will be the flight options.

      Delete
    8. Did they told you if the segment from BEG to ATH will be covered by them or you'll need to pay for that part

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:34

      I should check that. She didn't mention anything about paying. I just assumed since they are the one cancelling the flight they are the ones that are supposed to cover your alternative.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous12:39

      For me the most interesting part is that Aegean will operate flights to BEG in June already.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous12:42

      I think that's just automatically loaded. I don't think they have made any resumption plans yet.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous12:43

      Angel - did you receive any other options than via ZAG?

      Delete
    13. I'm double checking with them now, at this moment they told me seats through ATH are not available for my flight in October. I'm waiting to get their next reply and will let you know the outcome.
      And yes, at this moment I'm not sure if they will actually cover the segment to either ZAG, ATH or VIE. I'm waiting on their reply about this.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous12:58

      Easiest for you would be to go via BEG or IST.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous13:48

      Thanks Angel. Let us know what they say about the payment.

      Delete
    16. So I got reply from them, with SKP to ZAG segment included as part of the itinerary without a charge. I'll think a day or two before accepting this offer, just to see if availability will open to fly through VIE and travel on a wide body for little big longer and enjoy the best business class a bit more :)

      Delete
    17. Anonymous15:28

      So there was only option through Zageeb and Vienna?

      Delete
    18. Anonymous15:58

      If you visit QR's website they offer BEG, SAW and ZAG. BEG is usually the cheapest probably because one segment is on the ATR.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous22:06

      Jaysus, you are all obsessed with BEG!
      It can't be allowed that someone does not want to fly via BEG?

      Delete
  18. Anonymous12:25

    I hope they return back in winter as planned.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous12:28

    It's really unfortunate because this is the only oneworld airline operating to Sarajevo and Skopje. Hope we see them back sooner than October.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous13:49

    Not surprised, SKp is their worst performing route. Even without corona

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:15

      as if you knew, lol

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:26

      Perfect opportunity for JU to jet those pax through BEG

      Delete
  21. Anonymous14:54

    What about Turkish Airlines, when do they plan on resuming flights to ex-YU?

    ReplyDelete
  22. How am I going to get to Australia now the Qatar that brought me here in march is not taking me back.can anyone help me please

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:42

      Call Qatar Airways and they will have to arrange alternative transport for you.

      Their call centre number is
      00974-4022-6000

      Delete
  23. Anonymous18:47

    Very unfortunate! SJJ - Doha was very important for Bosnia, since Doha is a major hub for entire Asia. Hope they resume flights in October.

    ReplyDelete

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