easyJet to temporarily suspend most EX-YU flights


easyJet will be temporarily suspending a number of flights in the former Yugoslavia which it serves on a year-round basis. Affected markets include Slovenia, Serbia and Kosovo.

In Ljubljana, the budget carrier will temporarily discontinue operations from Berlin. Flights will not run until January 8, although only three services are planned during the first month of the year and a further four in February. Operations will then again be suspended for a two-week period - from late February until early March - before being restored to two times per week, increasing to three in April. Furthermore, easyJet, which initially brought forward the launch of its new Luton - Ljubljana service for October 28, has now pushed back the inaugural flight until December 6. As previously reported, the airline has discontinued operations from Stanted to Ljubljana due to its base closure but continues to maintain operations from Gatwick to the Slovenian capital.

In Belgrade, easyJet will run a one weekly service from Basel until October 18, after which the flights will be cancelled until December 6. Operations from Berlin are suspended until December 18, while flights from Geneva will operate once per week until October 23 and will be restored from December 7. Pristina has also been affected, with operations from Berlin cancelled until December 11. Services from Basel and Geneva will continue to run, although frequencies have been notably reduced with operations from Geneva down to just one per week until December. easyJet was Pristina’s second busiest airline last year, handling 268.694 passengers on flights to and from the city.

easyJet, like all other carriers across the world, is struggling with mounting losses and a collapse in demand for air travel. The airline bolstered its finances last week by securing 608 million pounds through the sale and leaseback of parts of its fleet. The low cost carrier has now raised more than 2.4 billion pounds since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, including 600 million from the UK government’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility and just over 400 million from a share placement. It said it would look at future funding opportunities “on a regular basis”.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    LJU is losing routea by the day

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      What's worse is that they are not even resuming flights ahead of Christmas and New Year holidays. It means they don't expect holiday demand to be back before then.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:10

      True it's getting crazy. Swiss, Transavia, easyJet (some routes), Lufthansa (some routes), Wizz Air, British Airways, LOT...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:16

      And then someone comes along and tells me its better this way without Adria. For all its flaws the airline would at least still be flying 4-5 vital routes, which we are losing as we speak.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:19

      LJU is the perfect example why countries rushed to save their airlines. Even Romania saved Tarom which, in the grand scheme of things, is pretty useless.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:22

      +1

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:23

      Well, yes. Airlines are not flying because demand is low.

      There would be no point in having a national carrier fly empty planes with 10 passengers.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:30

      Yes because ALL destinations are flying empty, give me a break. JP had CRJ700 which could maintain daily flights to key destinations like ZRH, MUC, FRA, VIE and so on. Like this we have one or two weekly flights at best to most destinations.

      Once easyJet goes how many airlines will there be left? 5?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:38

      We don't need Adria, they said...

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:21

      It gets worse. The new Luton-Ljubljana route, apart from being delayed, will also not operate between 26th Mar - 6th May for whatever reason.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:04

    Perhaps JU should not have cancelled their plans to launch Geneva. It could have worked like Oslo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      It's interesting that JU and LX are doing really well on BEG-ZRH. Maybe many are using this route to reach Basel or Geneva? Switzerland is not big and this might offer them more flexibility than a one weekly flight?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:06

      It might not necessarily be the loads but what makes them money, for how much they can sell tickets etc.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:19

      Could an ATR reach Geneva?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:20

      Yes but we are talking about Switzerland here so I doubt yields are an issue especially when you take into consideration the size of the market.

      What about Wizz Air's BEG-BSL? Any changes there?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:21

      It will operate 3 times per week in winter and 2 times from November until middle of December. Don't know how that compares to before.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:31

      It was 2 weekly last winter if I am not wrong. I guess now we know why they are leaving BSL (easyJet that is).

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:33

      They are only leaving for a month though.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:35

      I think we should be happy about BEG's performance. For example today there are 55 departures which is fantastic especially since Budapest has 41.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:53

      I wonder if it would be successful for JU, especially under the current circumstances. Remember LX suspended Geneva-Belgrade years ago.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous11:03

      LX suspended many routes from GVA back then.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous13:20

      You also forgot about ex Baboo which was biught and destroyed by Etihad Regional. They used to operate flights to GVA too. Swiss flag with golden livery :D :D

      Delete
    12. Anonymous15:09

      Wasn't it Darwin Airline, not Baboo?

      Delete
    13. Anonymous15:10

      Baboo was acquired by Darwin, then Darwin by Etihad, then Etihad handed it over to Adria and then it went bankrupt.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous16:09

      Oh wow, I see. What a mess.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:04

    Winter season is going to be bad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      There will be no meaningful recovery before summer 2021.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:13

    This sucks. Every day some airline is cancelling flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      There will be more and more unfortunately. From all airports.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:43

      Welcome to reality

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:14

      ^ And who wasn't in reality?

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:15

    The issue is that these temporary suspensions lasting one or two months are usually prolonged

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:17

    Not good at all

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:17

    It was just question of time when airlines would start dropping routes for the dead season.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:26

    It seems at this stage that this Winter will be extremely cold for the aviation industry. The only hope remains the vaccine, i really really hope this will come out soon. No vaccine no recovery. May March 2021 be totally the opposite of this March!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:29

    This is so unfortunate

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:42

    :(

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:43

    Unfortunately this will be the post Covid world and this is probably light compared to what other airlines will do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:16

      No, the post covid world will be where demand picks up and flights begin to resume. This is the limbo world between the global lockdowns we had (and realizing that it is not possible to go back to that) and the world before a cure is found.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:44

    I hope they return back as planned.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:54

      They are not leaving for that long. And in some of the markets they will keep at least one weekly flight.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:56

    Shame

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:57

    U2 seem to be struggling in London Southend as well. It has completely pulled out from there too. LJU could've been connected to another London airport. I guess they are now focusing on more profitable routes. Although, MAN-LJU could've been a nice addition.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:04

      Yes they closed bases at 3 UK airports this month - Stansted, Southend and Newcastle

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:05

      Didn't Adria fly Ljubljana-Southend? Or was that from Maribor?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:08

      No, it was a seasonal Maribor-Southend flight but it ended after one season. The explanation was that while the LF was 70% it was all Slovenians which defeated the purpose of the flights which were supposed to bring British tourists.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:08

      ^That was Adria's official explanation but I don't know if I believe them.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:54

      Actually, SEN didn't really achieve a huge success compared to STN or LTN for instance. Although it is only a 1 hour train ride to London.
      FR witnessed some minor expansions and W6 tried with OTP.
      But, given the size of LJU and having quite a number of frequencies to London, SEN may definitely find a place in the near future. There is clearly a reasonable UK-Slovene market.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:57

      MBX-SEN was doomed from day 1. There is no way it could be profitable even with 100%, since they flew 2 empty legs (LJU-MBX-LJU) every time SEN route was operated. Not to mention it was operated with the wrong type of aircraft.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:25

      When did FR operate STN-MBX? How long did the route last and isn't there interest to revive the route?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:41

      2007-2008.

      I think we are more likely to see Ryanair in LJU than MBX.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:03

    I can't believe they only fly to Slovenia, Serbia and Kosovo year round from whole of ex-Yu.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:06

      Their presence it's not that big on this market. They have a big presence in Croatia only during the summer. They suspended Zagreb a long time ago and never came back.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:10

      What routes did they used to fly from Zagreb?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:11

      Dortmund, Paris and Gatwick.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:13

      Interesting. I'm really surprised these didn't work. Especially Paris and London.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:18

      I think the issue in ZAG were the really high fees.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:41

      It's very odd because Wizz Air failed in Zagreb too.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:43

      Ironically they also flew from Dortmund

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:19

      I agree. and even more odd they never tried GVA-SKP and BSL-SKP

      Delete
    9. Anonymous15:03

      Like someone said below, they can't fly from Geneva due to the bilateral between Switzerland and Macedonia.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous15:08

      I think easyjet has been ignoring the Macedonian market because Wizz Air is simply too dominant.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous16:06

      Seems like north west Germany isn't a big market from Zagreb, EW also failed from DUS.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous17:02

      Easyjet Switzerland with bases in Geneva and Basel dating from times when Wizz wasnt even around could have rulled the lcc gasto-market between Switzerland and south-east yugo (SKP,PRN,OHD,INI)

      Im stil waiting for a logical explanation of not launching GVA-SKP ... they are the only lcc that has right to fly GVA-MK. Wizz flying to Basel from literally every airport in the region must be humiliating for EasyJet

      Delete
    13. Anonymous18:44

      Oh well, their loss

      Delete
  16. Anonymous10:06

    I have a feeling a lot of these routes won't start until March 2021.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:20

      My thoughts too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:20

      Agree. If there is an airline that is worse than Wizz Air in terms of selling flights that won't happen then it's easyjet. They did it all the time during the lockdown.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:20

      easy staying clear of Skopje might have something to do with Stelios Haji-Ioannou :D

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:22

      I think it has more to do with Wizz Air than Stelios.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:25

      @11.20 its so absurd that you may actually be right :)
      @11.22 Wizz cannot fly to GVA

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:16

      Why can't they fly from GVA?

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:12

    Bound to happen.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10:15

    I can't keep up anymore with all these cancellations and temporary suspensions.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous10:15

    Out of the three cities, it seems Pristina did the best.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:15

      I mean it saw the least cuts.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:44

      Because 2 out of 3 routes are from Switzerland which is the biggest market from Pristina because of the massive diaspora.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:44

      And there are limited alternative options.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:07

      PRN will probably be one of the hardest hit airports in ex-Yu. Only 4 flights today.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:07

      "Out of the three cities, it seems Pristina did the best."

      Quite the opposite. It did the worst in terms of reduction of flights because Wizz Air used to fly Geneva daily. Now there will be 1 flight.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous10:18

    The recovery in European flights stalled in early September, since Ryanair and easyJet both had a sharp decline in relative movements compared with 2019.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:05

      Travel restrictions and quarantine are the reason.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:43

    This will happen more and more

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous11:17

    daily route PRN-GVA reduced to only one weekly clearly shows whats going on.
    just wondering where the PRN "fanboy" is who was preaching that PRN is "recoving strong" and will maybe even have a growth :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:04

      The airport has around 3-4 flights per day unfortunately.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:12

      Depressing

      Delete
  23. Anonymous15:05

    Easy jet is cancelling many routes from many airports around Europe. So it is not surprising.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:14

      LCCs that drove the "recovery" around Europe during the summer are the biggest loosers this winter.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous15:06

    Wizz Air will benefit from this on the Belgrade-Basel route.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:08

      They have already added one extra weekly flight in winter.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:17

      That's a quick reaction.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:17

      Let's hope it sticks.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous16:13

    Can someone tell me what were the frequnecies of these routes last winter?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous17:07

    Not so certain those resumption dates will materialise.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous19:12

    Battle between the two airlines in the photo over who is going to suspend more flights in the region.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous19:23

    Everywhere the situation is very bad. I just saw on FR24 that OS operates VIE-OTP with Q400 while RO sent the ATR (two hours flying time!). This route used to see A320/321 by OS and B733/A318 by RO. Everyone is struggling right now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:58

      Wasn't JU also sending ATR to CPH and SVO?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:18

      Not true. Especially since foreign airlines still do not fly to SVO, Air Serbia included.

      Delete

Post a Comment

EX-YU Aviation News does not tolerate insults, excessive swearing, racist, homophobic or any other chauvinist remarks or provocative posts with the intention of creating further arguments. A full list of comment guidelines can be found here. Thank you for your cooperation.