Markets across the former Yugoslavia will be better connected to Ukraine than ever before by mid-December with four capital cities to boast links to Kiev with scheduled year-round flights. Ukrainian carrier Windrose Airlines is leading the way in improving connectivity, however, others are set to join too. Ukraine is a rapidly growing aviation market and has a strong tourism potential with more than six million foreign tourists annually.
Windrose began its expansion in the former Yugoslavia by launching two weekly flights between Kiev and Zagreb earlier this month. The service has proven successful with healthy loads and will be increased to three weekly from December. Over 11.000 people flew indirectly between the two last year, mainly via Vienna and Warsaw. Zagreb was Kiev’s largest unserved market in Central and Eastern Europe, other than Russia. Ljubljana is now Kiev’s largest unserved market in the region. Windrose itself planned to launch operations to the Slovenian capital this month as well, however, entry restrictions have delayed such plans indefinitely.
The Ukrainian airline will be introducing two weekly services to Belgrade from December 7 and will fill the void left by Air Serbia which has temporarily suspended the route since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The Serbian carrier has tentatively scheduled its service resumption to Kiev for May 30, 2021, with two weekly rotations, which is down from three weekly during the summer of 2019. Changes at this early stage remain likely. Ukrainian low cost carrier SkyUp, which initially scheduled a new service from Kiev to Belgrade from October but later cancelled its plans, has filed a preliminary schedule indicating it will commence operations to the Serbian capital from January 1, 2021 with two weekly rotations using its Boeing 737-800 aircraft. However, tickets are yet to be put on sale, and it remains unclear whether these flights will materialise.
Windrose will also spread its wings to Skopje, linking the city with a nonstop scheduled service to Ukraine for the first time from December 6. A week earlier, the carrier will inaugurate flights to Podgorica. Montenegro Airlines also plans to introduce a new one weekly service to the Ukrainian capital this winter season, the head of operator Airports of Montenegro, Danilo Orlandić, said recently. He did not indicate when exactly the flights will be launched. Montenegro Airlines is yet to schedule the service, however, last month the company said it was working on introducing flights to the Ukrainian capital.
It makes you wonder what Croatia Airlines has been doing for the past few years if the Ukrainian market had so much potential and Croatia was its largest undersved market in CEE.
ReplyDeleteAgree. OU could have also offered regional connections and most importantly connections to the coast.
DeleteThey probably thought it was “too early” to react.
DeleteThere are several underserved markets Croatia Airlines could have made a success out of. But until there is a proactive management we won't see too many changes.
DeleteAgree with last anon completely.
DeleteWhich markets do you think OU should serve which it isn't?
DeleteIf Skyup goes ahead and launches the flights won’t the market be a bit saturated with three airline serving BEG-KBP?
ReplyDeleteI think they swapped BEG with SOF instead in the last moment. They realised FR is resuming flights in spring. Still surprised BEG wasn't given a longer chance.
DeleteIf they promote it right then no, it should be ok. Look at Israel, we went from no flights due to a flight ban to having three flights today bringing 500+ people (A320, A321neo abd E95).
DeleteStrange that JU isn't joining the party.
DeleteSomeone below said they already promoted it at the airport. They also did on Facebook if I am not mistaken. There might have been not much interest or few bookings. After all, they use a huge aircraft on a regional route.
DeleteJU should fly to Lvov and Odessa with ATR.
DeleteSurprising that JU isnt at least operating with the ATR to KBP.
DeleteAbsolutely.
DeleteIt’s great to see. Ukraine is a huge market.
ReplyDeleteSo ZAG was their top unserved market which was satisfied with three weekly flights on the ATR? Then people wonder why OU didn't launch it.
ReplyDeleteWe don't know if it was satisfied by three weekly flights. There could be potential for more and perhaps you should remember we are in the middle of a global pandemic.
DeleteYes, the pandemic has been a disruptive force. Let's pray it passed soon so that we can go back to booming pre covid levels.
DeleteI hate Corona so much.
DeleteIt's Croatia, not Zagreb that was their largest market, especially in summer.
DeleteI think Albania has more flights in summer than Croatia.
No. It's Zagreb that's their top unserved market not Croatia as a whole. The article talks about city pairs not the entire country market.
DeleteI think Croatia has more flights to Ukraine in summer. Someone knows more?
DeleteHighly doubt it.
Delete- re city pairs
DeleteGreat news about Belgrade. Seems like SkyUp has scheduled BEG flights right after first covid vaccine.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know that the vaccine has been scheduled.
DeleteYes it was announced by the government
DeleteOh yes, because governments know when the vaccine will be ready for mass usage.
DeleteI think they know more than you do.
DeleteI didn't say I know when the vaccine will be ready. They are merely guessing.
DeleteThat's not what they said.
DeleteI was flying to BEG last week and I was surprised to see advertisements for SkyUp in the arrivals hall even though the route has been canceled. There was no date on the advertisements but it's a good sign that the rescheduled flights will happen.
ReplyDeleteThose have been up for over a month or two. I guess they didn't take them down for a reason. Let's hope SkyUp launches Belgrade. We saw the massive benefit from Israeli tourists which are saving our hotel industry in Belgrade. Hopefully Belgrade promotes itself in Kiev like they did in Israel, China and Turkey some years ago.
DeleteWhere do you see this? BEG is not bookable on their website yet even though they already launched their summer 2021.
DeleteYou might want to read the article again.
DeleteExactly, all the answers you seek regarding SkyUp can be found in the article above.
DeleteWell at least this virus situations allowed Windrose to focus more on this region.
ReplyDeleteThey announced flights to ZAG and LJU late last year. But they had to move/cancel flights because of corona. What is fantastic is that their ZAG flight is doing well despite the virus.
DeleteReally glad for ZAG, it seems Windrose is doing quite well in the rise of the pandemic.
ReplyDeleteTime for OU to step in and compete. The Dash is the perfect bird for the route.
TGD looks promising.
SKP might struggle with loads, but let's see.
BEG should do fine with a smaller plane. Filling a 738 can be challenging.
LJU should also do fine, when the borders become eased.
Expert!
DeleteWhy does TGD look promising and SKP not?
DeleteBecause Crna Gora is way more touristic compared to NMk. TGD is currently booming, you can see what FR did - 8 new routes in less than 2 years time with no base including London and Dublin and not to mention the attraction of the Poles, which are closely related to Ukrainians.
DeleteTGD-KBP will be a good route.
@10.10 because he is probably the Montenegro keeps winning guy :D
Deleteyes more touristic but only between June and Sept. outside that time interval Crna Gora is basically closed.
Deleteregarding the Windrose flights to SKP they are catering for winter tourism
"Авиакомпания Windrose открывает новый рейсы из Киева в Скопье
Рейсы будут выполняться с 06.12.20 до 25.03.2021.
Путешествия ориентированы в первую очередь на зимний отдых на горнолыжных и бальнеологических курортах Попова-Шапка, Маврово, Дебарски-Бани и ряд других."
P.S TGD currently booming? only flights to BEG today
What does it say?
Deleteit was about time.
ReplyDeletefingers crossed because of the pandemic
The good thing with Windrose is the equipment it will use on these routes.
ReplyDeleteI really hope all of these work out.
ReplyDeleteIs there any interest for flights from Kiev to Sarajevo? Have they considered it?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't seem to be unfortunately.
DeleteWell you also have to have an airport that is constantly trying to attract airlines. That is not the case in Sarajevo. SJJ hasn't even attended any routes conferences where airlines and airports negotiate new routes.
DeleteThis is very true. You can't sit with your arms crossed waiting for airlines to flock to you.
DeleteI'm surprised Ukraine International hasn't started any flights to ex-Yu cities.
ReplyDeleteI think they are fighting for survival.
DeleteUIA announced something like 3 years ago that they would start Kiev to Zagre and Belgrade in 2020 and 2021. It was the weirdest announcement I've ever seen.
Deletehahaha I remember that. Very odd.
DeleteI think it was because they announced some 5 year expansion plan.
DeleteWhich is silly considering market conditions change each year.
DeleteUIA was good until Wizz and Ryan slipped into the Ukrainian market
DeleteAnd you are letting your competition know which destinations are on your radar.
DeleteAre there UIA comertial flights to TIV or they are charter ones same as in SPU?
DeleteI think they are charter. You can't buy the tickets online.
DeletePerhaps there could be some interest from other Ukrainian cities too? Not just Kiev.
ReplyDeleteWell JU was to launch Lviv this summer.
DeleteAnd it was supposed to be 4 weekly even
DeletePlanned schedule
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/p/air-serbia-belgrade-lviv.html
Looking at that schedule, it seems to have been purely for the purpose of getting transfer passengers, not point to point.
Deletetrue JU planned to launch Lviv (probably because of transfer pax) but the most interesting one for exyu people beside Kiev is definitely Odessa (although it would work only during summer schedule i guess)
DeleteKharkov is a huge almost 2 million people city in the East, but it's now better served with Windrose and connections through Kiev.
DeleteI guess that was the best they could do considering the shortage of aircraft in the fleet.
DeleteThere is no shortage to speak as of now.
DeleteLviv will work 100% year round and Odessa during summer too.
DeleteSo LJU is no.2 market from Ukraine yet Adria failed miserably on this route. Trying to launch it several times. It just goes to show that you actually have to provide a decent product with decent connections and times and do some work on the ground as well to promote the airline, talk to tour operators etc.
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteVery true. That is why I hope Windrose will be more successful. They know the Ukrainian market better and are well connected with local tour operators.
DeleteDid Aerosvit fly to ex-Yu cities before they went bankrupt?
ReplyDeleteThey flew to BEG, not sure where else.
DeleteSPU and DBV also i think.
DeleteSPU, DBV and PUY were launched in 2011. 3 weakly each with 737-400 (SPU was sometimes on A320)
DeleteGreat :) thank you
DeleteDo they still fly all those?
DeleteWho? Aerosvit?
Delete^ Oops sorry, I thought we were talking about UIA not Aerosvit. They obviously went bankrupt :D
DeleteGreat to see more connections between ex-Yu markets and Ukraine. it's a huge market that has been overlooked for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that all of these will work but good that they will give them a try.
ReplyDeleteWhich route(s) do you think won't work?
DeleteI'm not so sure about TGD and SKP. I'm sure OHD could work in summer and obviously TIV.
DeleteWhat about KBP-PRN? Could it work?
DeleteJust think little more about it and you ll find the answer. Its pretty clear
Delete"Over 11.000 people flew indirectly between the two last year, mainly via Vienna and Warsaw. "
ReplyDeleteThis is a huge number actually. That's around 916 passengers per month! There is more room for Windrose to expand.
True! It's interesting to see that LOT and Austrian have most to loose from these nonstop flights.
DeleteAustrian carries an enornous amount of transfers from ex-Yu. I don't think there has been an airline that profited more from the collapse of Yugoslavia then them.
DeleteGreat news. Keep them coming.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting detail in that news is that Zagreb and then Ljubljana are Kyivs most import destinations missing in the wider region .
ReplyDeleteYou might think that it would be Belgrade, this is clearly proof that Serbia is not included as market in all that analysis .
I guess it is because being European is misinterpreted with being in the EU .
Serbia thus gets not included in the data and thus simply forgotten .
It would be interesting how many routes did not materialize just because Belgrade never popped up in any " European " market survey "....
Belgrade was not unserved until covid so it didn't apply to them. They factor in both seasonal and year round operations.
DeleteOh yes surveys hate BEG.
DeleteAt my workplace people did argue with me if Serbia is in Europe .
DeleteThey were really convinced that it is a former Soviet republic somewhere in the Caucasus .
I dont find that funny at all .
@17:31
DeleteI'm sorry but your argument is meaningless. If there is demand towards Slovenia and Croatia and not Serbia has got nothing to do with EU membership and because Ukrainians don't see Serbia as European. Besides, Ukrainians have opened up to Europe quite a lot. You now have more and more cities connected to mainland Europe.
Even during Aerosvit times, the demand for travel between both Serbia and Ukraine was not that high even if you have the same alphabet and culture to some extent.
The same applies for Romania, where we clearly see lack of demand between both countries and Romania is actually an EU member.
With Bulgaria it's quite different because there is a sizeable population of Bessarabian Bulgarians in Ukraine and logically more demand.
It's now entirely up to both governments to stimulate travel between Serbia and Ukraine by promoting cities, culture, etc.
It is great to see a boom in flights to anywhere in these depressing times. Great work!
ReplyDeleteThank you Windrose
ReplyDelete