Aeroflot suspends Zagreb and Tivat flights for 2020


Russian carrier Aeroflot has suspended its flights to Zagreb and Tivat for the rest of 2020 with the carrier planning to return to the two cities at the start of next year’s summer season in late March. The airline discontinued flights to the pair following its grounding this April as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Although Aerfolot resumed a limited international schedule, numerous routes have again been cancelled or postponed. Seasonal flights to Split have also been temporarily discontinued until next summer. The airline now plans to resume commercial operations from Moscow to Belgrade and Ljubljana at the start of the 2020/2021 winter season on October 25. Scheduling changes remain possible.

Aeroflot has announced a major strategic overhaul, which may leave some of its routes in the region in limbo. Under the plan, the Russian carrier plans to focus on long haul premium routes instead. It’s low cost subsidiary Pobeda will take over its entire fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft, while its other subsidiary, Rossiya Airlines, will take over Aeroflot’s fleet of Sukhoi Superjets and its order of Irkut MC21s. Eventually, Aeroflot will operate only Airbus A320s, A321s, A330s, A350s, and Boeing 777 aircraft. As of next summer, Aeroflot plans to maintain operations to the Croatian capital with the Airbus A320 jet, however, services to Tivat are still scheduled to run with the B737-800, indicating the route may be transferred to Pobeda, which itself maintains operations to the Montenegrin city.

In April, Aeroflot suspended international sales until August 1 amid the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the company announced that the ban would be in effect until "there is certainty about the resumption of international air traffic". Due to the pandemic, Russia closed all commercial passenger flights in March, and a partial resumption of commercial operations began on August 1. Currently, Aeroflot maintains operations to Turkey, Tanzania and the United Kingdom.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:01

    Pobeda taking over Tivat would make sense. I find it interesting that they fly year round to TIV.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      I'm surprised they don't fly to Podgorica.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:48

      Aeroflot would be crazy to leave Tivat. They had over 100k passengers last year and there is a need for legacy carriers on this route. I seriously doubt they are going anywhere. Their combination with Pobeda works perfectly.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:50

      I am not surprised, most passengers are tourists from Russia as well as Russians who purchased property next to the sea.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:04

      Most of the passengers going to Tivat are lower yielding tourists. I am sure SU did the maths and realized that they can make more money with Rossiya or Pobeda.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:19

      Lower yielding? Do you have any clue about this market? According to statistics, Russians are the highest spending tourists in MNE by a big margin (literally the second nation is more than double the amount less), they have all this property on the coast and stay in the most luxurious hotels. Even YM manages to have 2-3 daily flights. I am not saying there aren't any low yielding tourists, but they are certainly not a majority.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:32

      If route to TIV is operated by the most premium single aisle aircraft, 737-800 which has 20 business class with in-flight entertainment, why would then they change it to the worst product in the group? It has no any sence to me.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:40

      If all that is the way you write then what's the reasoning for the suspension of Tivat. Theories are one thing but reality another.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous22:09

      We don't know if Pobeda is going to take over. The article simply says that the B737-800 is scheduled on the route and the B738s are going to Pobeda. But they could change the aircraft type.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    One more that leaves ZAG this year...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      It's going to be a very quiet winter at MZLZ.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:10

      As they postponed so many routes so many times I have doubts they will start Belgrade and Ljubljana eider this winter.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:40

      Both LJU and BEG were very busy for them so I am sure they will be back.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:49

      WERE busy before covid. WERE. We'll see.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:52

      With new vaccine found by Russians I am sure they will return first to BEG

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:05

      They were busy because there was an obvious demand, they did not fly as much for the fun of it. Look at BEG-IST, that route boomed this summer because it was strong before, demand was there and it obviously didn't go anywhere in the meantime.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    Maybe an opportunity for Croatia Airlines to start flights to Moscow?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:03

      It is too early for that

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      I don't think they will. They cancelled their seasonal LED flights for this year,

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:10

      I think their logic is that it's easier to just send passengers via VIE, MUC or FRA. Also I don't think LH would be too happy if OU was to introduce Moscow flights.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:19

      They thought about it a few times but always gave up on the idea.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:20

      I think OU could make Moscow work seasonally.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:51

      Didn't they fly to Moscow in the past? I think two weekly on the Q400 could be more than ok.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:08

      Q400 cannot make it to MOW. But there is demand for OU on that route for sure.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:08

      Flying ZAG-SVO on Q400?

      That would be challenge...or better to say torture for passengers!

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:41

      If the Q400 can make it from Iceland to Scotland then I am sure it can make it from ZAG to MOW.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous11:49

      Please try to find some bacis facts.

      Q400 flying range 1100 nautical miles
      SVO-ZAG distance 1160 nautical miles

      Now you can do whatever you want with Scotland and Iceland but Q400 can't make it from ZAG to SVO.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous12:06

      But it's not like the plane will fly full, there will be around 50% so it should be doable. Once loads pick up they can increase it to A319. By the way, they can also add a stop on the way like they do for FCO and ATH.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous12:30

      Do you realize that it is not allowed to fly more than your range is no matter what is LF? Just have a look what happened to LaMia flight 2933...

      Especially as you need to have extra fuel in the case of alternative airport, bad weather etc. Those are the basic safety postulates in aviation. So direct ZAG-SVO on Q400 is big no go.

      Flying 1000 nautical miles on Q400 would be tortute by itself and you want even to add a stop on the way. I am sure you would be very successful route plan manager.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous15:29

      "Do you realize that it is not allowed to fly more than your range is no matter what is LF? Just have a look what happened to LaMia flight 2933..."

      Most airliners cannot take full tanks of fuel with full payload because maximum weight without fuel + full tanks would exceed maximum takeoff weight. Even after you reduce the payload far enough so you can take full fuel, further reduction in payload will increase range, because - just like cars - the less passengers/cargo on board, the less fuel the aircraft will consume.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous09:07

      And you still can't fly further than your flight range is....

      Delete
    15. Anonymous09:35

      Range is not fixed for aircraft, right?

      It depends on a lot of things, such as departure airport runway length, obstacles, temperature, wind, winds enroute, etc.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous11:39

      Max flying range is fixed per each aircraft type.

      Everything else are games airlines play trying to save fuel costs.

      Delete
    17. Max range is based on full tanks. Overall shall be extra 30min reserv, contingency*, alternate fuel. So you ll get ruff 900nm actual

      Delete
    18. Anonymous13:26

      Exactly!

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:03

    I think ZAG will most definitely get switched to Rossiya, that is why it is delayed until next year. Makes no sense to resume it now before the big switch.

    JU can profit nicely from this as its flights are perfectly timed to connect to/from Moscow. Morning arrival connects to ZAG while the return flight to BEG connects to SU and the evening flight out of ZAG connects to the night departures of both SU and JU. I see SU plans triple daily flights from October.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      I don't think it will be switched to Rossiya because Aeroflot has switched the route to A320 for next summer, which means Aeroflot mainline aircraft.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:20

      Yes but that was before their new business plan was published. Btw SU planned A320 last year as well and then ended up sending the SSJ.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:09

      Aeroflot has been transferring A320s to Rosiya too, and the newer ones with sharklets to be exact, so i don't see what is their strategy exactly.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:42

      Research the archive on here and you will see what their new strategy is.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:04

    Hopefully they resume it earlier if travel begins to recover.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:09

      Russian border is still closed to all foreigners except UK, Turkey and Tanzania nationals so until the borders are re-opened there will be no flights. I am sure Russian is not in rush at all to re-open their borders so this might last longer than October.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:05

    Aeroflot will just send all the passengers to Tivat via Belgrade, JU has a code on all SU flights ans SU has a code on all JU flights.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:06

    I hope ZAG doesn't become a seasonal route and that it returns on a year-round basis.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      Don't think that will happen.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:07

    I find it impressive that SU plans triple daily flights to BEG. I guess with the vaccine being registered in Russia they expect the situation with air travel to normalize. Could this also be that Aeroflot mainline will focus on BEG to distribute passengers around the Balkans in cooperation with JU? Triple daily in winter seems a lot, have they loaded any other cities like Sofia, Bucharest, Thessaloniki...?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:58

      tripple daily is very unrealistic even if its in the system as of now

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:42

      Ok, please let SU know, just to be on the safe side.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:14

    Looks like they only plan to focus on Turkey in 2020....

    10 daily flights today to 4 Turkish cities and most of them with 777-300ers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      I think other countries are not letting Russian citizens in.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:26

      Serbia is, that is why Red Wings is resuming flights in mid-August and Air Serbia is resuming SVO and KRR in September.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:46

      It is already mid August... I don't see Red Wings resuming those flights this month.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:34

      It's fake info about red wings flights. Russia allows flights only to UK, Turkey, Belarus, Tanzania and Abkhazia. So currently it's impossible for any company to fly to Moscow from Belgrade

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:07

      Isn't SU flying those two weekly flights to BEG just for transfer passengers?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:13

      @12:07 not anymore in the past 2 weeks there were no SU flights to Beg
      @09:26 JU will not be resuming SVO as of September although it is in the system, borders of Russia are closed to all foreign citizens (except Turks, UK and Tanzania) and are likely to remain so for a while. If flying restarts in October that will be considered lucky!

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:15

    Let's see what happens in the end.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:16

    Was ZAG daily on Aeroflot?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      I think daily in summer, 5 weekly in winter.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:24

      4 weekly*

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:19

    I really hope they come back to ZAG.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:23

    Unfortunate.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:29

    What a terrible year.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:33

    I think it's time for ZAG management to be fired. Proportionally ZAG has lost the most airlines and frequencies compared to airports in the region.

    BUD got Luxair and a few new routes on Wizz Air, so did OTP. TIA got a three A320 base while BEG got a commitment from Wizz to stick to its expansion plans next summer while only Vueling cancelled flights until next summer. Even almost-bankrupt DY kept flying despite JU launching OSL. VIE got Belavia at the height of corona as well as more routes from Wizz/Ryanair.

    Seems all airports in the region have taken a proactive approach to ensuring there is more connectivity and flights. Meanwhile in ZAG the situation keeps on going from bad to worst, we are no longer talking about airlines like Eurowings but legacies like LH (FRA) or Aeroflot and Aegean.

    So blaming corona is no longer enough.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:43

      I think you are fully right.

      And regarding BEG...Let's not forget that Vueling got competition for flights to BCN from JU and from W6 (later on moved to spring 2021).

      If they remained the only carrier on BEG-BCN route maybe they would not cancel flying to BEG this year...

      Totally opposite comparing to ZAG. All the airlines that cancelled ZAG route this year were single carriers (except FRA owith LH) on the routes they performed.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:54

      There is also Athens where Aegean competes against OU flies via DBV though.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:59

      So we have following airlines that left ZAG in the last 10 months permanently or until the end of summer season / until the end of 2020.

      - Swiss
      - Czech Airlines
      - Lufthansa to FRA
      - Air Transat
      - Canada Rouge
      - Emirates
      - Korean Air
      - Aegean
      - Aerofot
      - Iberia
      - Brussels
      - Eurowings to BER and DUS
      - Windrose

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:05

      I am still shocked that FRA didn't return on LH. That has been a landmark route for the airport and one of its busiest.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:07

      It has been taken over by OU which has increased freuqnecies.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:12

      They just force OU to operate these flights. 0% stake but 100% control. I think there are currently 3 or 4 daily flights to FRA which is totally ok for the current times.

      And I still dont know why are you talking about lost airlines only at ZAG. Literally every airport lost some routes and frequencies.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:21

      "I think it's time for ZAG management to be fired."
      And if I can ask, who will fire them?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:27

      I am talking about ZAG as that airport is today's topic.


      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:20

      ZAG-FRA 4 daily on working day, 3 daily on weekend. Mostly on A319/A320, some flights on Q400.

      That is just one daily flight per day less than 2019. That is something to be congratulate to Croatia Airlines.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous12:23

      Congratulate on what? For taking over a market LH considered as loss-making?

      Delete
    11. Anonymous12:24

      It is fact that lot of companies cancel Zagreb routes. 4 of them are long-haul and that is reality concerning fact that no tourist or other passengers want to play long distance. And that is not something Zagreb can influence. Of course those airports which did not have long-haul flights can not loose them.

      On the other hand Zagreb has much more flights than any other airport in exYU exempt Split. Even 10% more than Belgrade. So, it is not important that some companies stay with just one flight per week (symbolic presence), as at the end most important fact is how many flights per week you have, and how many passenger.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous12:32

      And what's the point of having flights if they are not full? You just end polluting earth.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous12:36

      Could you please provide proven facts about the number of passengers in BEG and ZAG in first 6 months of 2020?

      If you can't find it I will help you
      BEG 1.008.000
      ZAG 547.735

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/07/ex-yu-airports-hit-by-steep-passenger.html

      So having more flights in month or two means nothing as long as these flights are almost empty.

      BEG had almost double more passengers than ZAG and ZAG as 10% more flights. You can make your own conlusion how much money got burnt on those empty flights.

      So it is not important how many flight you have but how many passengers you have on them.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous12:37

      *has

      Delete
    15. Anonymous12:47

      Can someone please specify what aircraft movement are we talking about? Only passenger, civil aviation flights or ALL in total.

      Also don't forget that for many markets there can't be flights from BEG. Simple as that. So even if ZAG is ahead, which I doubt, then it's because of circumstances and not because of market dynamics.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:35

    Montnegrin politics caused this, unfortunately. Furthermore, it's rumoured today that Serbia will introduce a PCR test requirement and 14 day quarantine on travelers coming from certain countries. If one of those countries turns out to be Montenegro, then Tivat Airport will virtually not operate this winter season, with the exception of private jets.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:55

      All this has to do with politics which is why I think Serbian government will wait for the result of the parliamentary elections which are going to take place in about two weeks. However, for the sake of the MNE economy I hope the situation stabilizes, the coast was destroyed economically this year. Arrivals were down like 96% in June or something like that.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:43

    :(

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:44

    Hope SU's new strategy works out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:45

      It would be good to see more Pobeda in the region, which might happen.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:18

      @09:45 Pobeda is an awful airline with only one virtue they can brag about ... money extortion for everything! So the less Pobeda is in the region the better it is.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:37

      They actually have pretty decent prices from TIV to VKO with the luggage and free seats selection both included!

      Тиват по Москва (Внуково)
      14:30
      TIV
      2ч 15м
      18:45
      VKO
      Понедельник15февраля2021
      Выгодный
      Рейс
      DP 830
      Москва (Внуково)поТиват
      11:20
      VKO
      4ч 20м
      13:40
      TIV
      Воскресенье21февраля2021
      Выгодный
      Рейс
      DP 829
      1 взрослый
      Туда:
      TIV - VKO
      61,34€
      Обратно:
      VKO - TIV
      61,34€

      Общая стоимость
      122,68€


      Delete
    4. Anonymous21:27

      wow that's a really good price

      Delete
    5. Anonymous21:28

      Ok I do notice it is for February which is the dead season but still not bad.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous09:45

    They are a great airline. Hope to welcome them back.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous10:05

    ZAG so far registered more than 600,000 passengers, which means that by the end of the year it will most likely surpass 1 million. Come on, guys. It's not that tragic.

    https://www.zagreb-airport.hr/en/business/b2b/statistics/statistics-for-2020/629

    Cargo figures are also not that bad.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous10:31

    When is JU to Moscow returning?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:43

      September

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:21

      It is unknown. They are selling tickets for september but cannot guarantee realization of flights. It depends on Russia

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:21

      @10:43 You are too optimistic! no chance of it happening in 3 weeks!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous21:22

      It is possible if Russian authorities approve them. There is indication they may approve foreign airlines starting flights in a few days.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous11:26

    The Russian government does not want to announce a clear date for resumption of air traffic to international destinations other than Turkey and GB. There are many inluential people im Moscow who do not want this happen any time soon. The reasons for allowing flights to Tansania are not clear as no Russian airline flies there (Aeroflot did not fly to Tansania for at least a couple of decades). In the meantime Aeroflot was heavily criticised for selling tickets for flights that were eventually cancelled. So, they had to cancel all other international flights for the summer season.

    In summer Tivat is an important tourist destination for several Russian airlines, not just for Aeroflot. However, in winter traffic is limited. So, I am sure Aeroflot will resume flying to Tivat next summer. Other companies, such as Pobeda, S7 and Montenegro will resume flying from Moscow to Tivat as soon as the Russian goverment allows them. I would expect this to happen in September or, more likely, October unless the situation with COVID in Russia worsens.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:09

      The reason (or one of) is for the money to be kept inside Russia and invested into Russian business such as in Crimea etc.

      https://www.flightradar24.com/data/airports/sip/arrivals

      Delete
  23. Anonymous20:09

    Koliko ovde ljudi uopste ima veze sa avijacijom??????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      ... or english?

      Delete
  24. Anonymous20:44

    Sad to see them leave.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous21:06

    If the situation improves during the winter, I hope we can see them there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:21

      Considering the way the covid situation is developing around the world and particularly Europe, it is not looking likely.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:21

      I'm not so sure. More of a chance that BEG and LJU may be pushed back too.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous21:27

    Russia has been so odd with these flight restrictions. One day they are allowing Aeroflot to fly everywhere, the next they are allowing Aeroflot only to fly to a few countries, the third day they are not allowing any foreign airlines. Make up your mind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:08

      Station is volatile. It's logical decisions will change.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous01:27

      Russian politicians are incompetent to their bones .

      Delete
    3. Anonymous06:01

      Like your regional politicians?

      Don't think so.

      Delete

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