Ukraine's Windrose Airlines will introduce flights from Kiev to Belgrade and Skopje, while suspending plans to commence operations to Ljubljana. The development comes just over a week after the carrier inaugurated operations to Zagreb. Services to Skopje will launch on December 6 and operate each Thursday and Sunday, while flights to Belgrade will run on Mondays and Fridays, starting December 7. Commenting on the suspension of its planned Ljubljana flights, Windrose said, “The airline has received an explanation from Ljubljana Airport’s border police that at present, under Covid-19 rules, entry is allowed only for reasons of extreme necessity. Due to the fact that most of our passengers are tourists, the launch of flights to Ljubljana has been postponed by the airline until official permission for entry is given”.
Windrose’s service to Belgrade comes after Ukrainian carrier SkyUp Airlines recently shelved plans to introduce flights to the Serbian capital. It will fill the void left by Air Serbia which suspended operations to Kiev in March until the summer of 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Serbian carrier has maintained services to the Ukrainian capital on an off and on basis over the past few years. In 2014, Air Serbia cancelled plans to launch daily flights to Kiev due to instability in the country at the time. However, it introduced six weekly rotations between Belgrade and the Ukrainian capital in the summer of 2016, utilising leased equipment from Adria Airways, although it lasted only for one season. It then rebooted the route in the summer of 2019 which was maintained until the start of Covid-19.
Windrose's flights to Skopje will mark the first time the Macedonian capital has been linked with a scheduled air service to Kiev. The airline will maintain its flights to both the Macedonian and Serbian capitals with a mix of ATR72-600 and Embraer E145 aircraft, which have the capacity to seat 78 and 49 passengers respectively. Ticket sales for both destinations have been launched via the airline's website. Further details for the Skopje route can be found here, while additional information on the Belgrade service can be viewed here.
They seem to be looking for any market that is open.
ReplyDeleteSmart if you ask me
DeleteIn order to have cashflow, its the only thing you can do at the moment.
DeleteProbably ASL
DeleteMaybe Warsaw?
DeleteFirst non-Wizz route in years for SKP!
ReplyDeleteliterally lol
DeleteWhat was the last non Wizz route?
DeleteI think LO
DeleteLet's see if they actually launch or it will be the same situation as Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteLJU has been suspended because of travel restrictions.
DeleteTheir Zagreb flights seem to be doing well
DeleteDecember is a long way away. Who knows what will happen.
DeleteBy December the second wave of the virus in Europe should be over.
DeleteNice, any new addition is welcome.
ReplyDeleteThis is probably the best suited aircraft for this route to both cities.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the fares to BEG and SKP?
ReplyDeleteBEG return is 225 euros.
DeleteSkopje is the same.
DeleteTheir Zagreb fares are the same too.
DeleteDoes that include luggage?
DeleteYes
DeleteMeanwhile Skyup was selling tickets without luggage
DeleteBEG-KBP 45 EUR
KBP-BEG 39 EUR
^ Well the could be part of the reason they didn't launch flights.
DeleteFor how much did JU sell these tickets?
DeleteIt depended on what fare class you chose. But it was from 180 euros upwards.
DeleteSo Windrose is more expensive?
DeleteWindrose has the perfect plane for this market, both JU and SkyUp failed because they offered too much capacity in a market best served by a regional jet. After all, if B2 can make BEG-MSQ work then I don't see why KBP can't.
DeleteJU also has Atr's 72.
DeleteToo slow
DeleteSo Air Serbia ATR is too slow, but Windroes ATR is not?
DeleteWindrose is sending E145 to Belgrade.
DeleteNo they are not. It will be a mixture of E145 and ATR.
DeleteI am not really sure if SKP will quite work. Windrose used to fly daily to SOF before Corona down to 5 weekly. OHD would have made much more sense.
ReplyDeleteBEG might actually work because they have smaller aircraft compared to SkyUp.
Interestingly, they dropped OTP after operating 4 weekly for quite some time.
OHD is not that far away from SKP. I'm sure Ukrainian tourists will visit it as part of their tour ;)
DeleteOn how much routes they flown this year? 4?
ReplyDelete?
DeleteHopefully JU will restart the route in June and won't be discouraged from the competition.
ReplyDeletethis route has always been unstable with JU. Hope Windrose has better luck.
DeleteLast years relaunch seemed to have gone ok considering they kept it for the winter season, and intended to launch LWO for this summer season.
DeleteNice surprise!
ReplyDeleteGuess we won't see JU resuming this route.
ReplyDeleteKBP was mostly transfer destination for Air Serbia so maybe next summer when the newtwork is rebuilt.
DeleteIf the state support package is large enough they could launch it and not worry about things like yields, CASK, RASK etc.
DeleteThe fact they suspended it during corona shows that they do care about yields, CASK and RASK.
DeleteSame was said when SkyUp announced BEG.
DeleteDo they offer connections?
ReplyDeleteYes, onto domestic flights in Ukraine.
DeleteThey have convenient transit flights with short connections from Kharkiv, Dnipro and Odessa.
DeleteNice to see new routes at this day and age.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteGood to see BEG found a replacement so quickly.
ReplyDeleteIt's more like Windrose found them.
DeleteVinci should have instead offered support to ASL to keep this route.
DeleteI don't understand why JU hasn't resumed it in the first place. It's one of the rare markets which is open both ways. Those that are seemed to be performing very well (Cyprus, Turkey).
DeleteThey don't have a subtitle aircraft for this route in times of diminished demand.
DeleteThey didn't even try. Perhaps demand could have been stimulated seeing as Serbian citizens don't have too much choice of where to travel. City break tours could have been organised with tour operators.
Delete09:55
DeleteWhy would they support JU if another airline wants to open a route without any support? Vinci is here to make money, not to support JU and make less money for more passangers.
JU is lazy and they want to go after markets where they can do well without big investment. Kiev, Helsinki, Hamburg... are routes that need a lot of marketing activity to become sustainable.
DeleteGreat thing about BEG is that if JU doesn't want to operate a market then there are always those who can and want to. The market is not held hostage by their lack of vision.
Hopefully JU understands the value of marketing in the future if they want to move beyond basic, primary markets. Secondary and tertiary markets are great source of income and profit for many.
As well as great source for evening the seasonality.
DeleteThere is also Lvov in Ukraine extremely close to BEG.
Can Ukrainians enter Macedonia?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteBut do they need a negative test?
Deletewell they will have heard from now on
Delete@14.19 wrong thread. was meant as an answer to "nobody in BEG and SKP have heard of Windrose"
DeleteI was thinking just the other day why doesn't Windrose start flights to BEG. They have the perfect capacity aircraft and Ukrainians can enter Serbia, and Serbs can enter Ukraine. Win win.
ReplyDeleteWhose going to fly to Ukraine...
ReplyDelete" Due to the fact that most of our passengers are tourists"
DeleteIt's primarily targeted at Ukrainians who have a very limited choice of where they can travel at the moment.
DeleteThe more new airlines the merrier.
ReplyDeleteAnyone knows more details about this carrier? They seem to be looking a lot into this region lately.
ReplyDeleteHopefully it will be used by Ukrainians and locals from Serbia and Macedonia too.
ReplyDeleteOn Wikipedia it says
Delete"It is most probably part of the Privat Group of billionaire Igor Kolomoysky which also owned PrivatBank before it was nationalised,[2] Ukraine International Airlines, as well as formerly owned now-defunct airlines Cimber Sterling, Donbassaero, Dniproavia and AeroSvit."
I love the MOST PROBABLY part haha
Regardless of who owns them, they have been around for almost 20 yrs.
DeleteOh and their ATRs are brand new.
DeleteTheir interior looks great
Deletehttps://scontent.fbeg10-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/120949419_3334864286569436_7163183010384282164_o.jpg?_nc_cat=110&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=uNwkVb1CUVUAX88PXM7&_nc_ht=scontent.fbeg10-1.fna&oh=ad03eb1b72a40a5075c68301d1823105&oe=5FADC6A7
https://scontent.fbeg10-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/120948080_3334865496569315_1373670716057552959_o.jpg?_nc_cat=109&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=C5xQLFEqsFgAX_OLnJM&_nc_ht=scontent.fbeg10-1.fna&oh=8a74c81fc9d6bb50b0dec8b740b933db&oe=5FAE9871
No one in Serbia or Macedonia has ever heard of Windrose. So if they want to attract locals, they will have to do some promotion.
DeleteWell they have until December. It's not like the route is launching in two weeks, which is how long they left between their Ljubljana announcement and launched but it didn't go ahead.
Delete@10.22 I think your response was meant for the first @10.11 commentator ;)
DeleteThey should have tried Lvov from BEG.
DeleteAnon 10:22
DeleteI dont think this route is made for locals. Ukraininans which are major market for this route heard for Windrose.
I agree with Anon 12:19
DeleteLviv would be a much better and more attractive option ex BEG.
I don't know about attractive but cheaper to operate.
DeleteBEG should be linked with both KBP and LWO, possibly Odessa.
BEG - Odessa in a normal summer without covid is a sure win!
DeleteEspecially that Odessa is a 1 million people city with lots of transfer potential.
DeleteI'm not so sure this will work out long term
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteI don't believe there is a big enough market to sustain year long flights which will mainly be point to point traffic.
DeleteDon't underestimate the Ukrainian market. It has over 41 million people.
DeleteIf it works for ZAG there is no doubt it will work for BEG too
DeleteI just hope this is sustained and not cancelled before it starts.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to Windrose, SKP and BEG.
ReplyDeleteKBP-SKP - Are they crazy?
ReplyDeleteMy thought too. They are either very desperate or something is missing here. Plus, I have never heard common things between UA and NMK let alone a non-stop 2 weekly flight. The only common thing is the Cyrillic alphabet.
Deletehah mr.notorius and his buddy. hard day for you fellas :D
DeleteYeah, really hard.
DeleteGetting KBP ahead of MOW makes no sense.
DeleteRussia's stupid policy makes no sense.
DeleteIt's like they're battling the black plague.
There were no flights between Skopje and Moscow before pandemic either...
DeleteI mean in general.
DeleteAeroflot around 2001
DeleteFinally a flight between Macedonia and Ukraine
ReplyDelete225 Euros is very expensive to fly to a northern city from BEG with little warmth and sun except the summer months
ReplyDeleteEastern city.
DeleteKiev is mostly historical while unlike SkyUp Windrose offers connections to the rest of Ukraine.
Miroslav
DeleteWould you say the same for Stocholm, Berlin, Bruselss?
he is from NY?
DeleteI'm from Serbia and I would take this flight if it weren't so expensive (and if the situation with corona becomes better)
ReplyDeleteWell on the other hand Kiev has some of the cheapest priced hotels in Europe. So you spend more on the ticket, less on the accomodation.
DeleteIn general in the West you spend 10 Eur. for the ticket but 100 Eur. per day in just being there.
DeleteKyiv is still the capital.
DeleteThe corona situation is the main trigger.
Without other direct options available the price is correct. With more competition price must go down.
Is Sarajevo or Podgorica next?
ReplyDeleteAirlines from UKR have been throwing spagheti at the wall (in the form of service announcements to Ex Yu) both before Covid and now, both to EU and non-EU destinations in the region. Appears to be chaotic, impulsive and unrelated to Covid restrictions. The only common theme is to open as many as possible destinations in the Ex Yu. Business plan seems to be: Let's see what sticks to the wall.
ReplyDeleteWhy not?
DeleteBetter than some Ex-yu airlines that do nothing.
Other than cutting and storing fleet.
"Why not?" and "Better than Nothing!" means "I will regret this later" when getting a tatoo or opening an airline service. Good luck when you get sober.
DeleteI think you can politely shut up.
DeleteAirlines do it all the time.
Just how many routes Wizz Air announced but never launched?
Yet it's only a problem when a Serbian or a Ukrainian airline done so.