The national carriers from the former Yugoslavia - Air Serbia, Croatia Airlines and Montenegro Airlines - are finalising their schedules for next month with the trio to offer a total of 225.280 seats on the market and operate 2.090 flights at this point.
Air Serbia
From December 1 until the end of the month Air Serbia plans to run 1.040 flights (return service included) and has 116.040 seats on sale. The carrier will maintain operations from Belgrade to 29 destinations. They include Athens, Amsterdam, Banja Luka, Brussels, Berlin, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Istanbul, London Heathrow, Larnaca, Ljubljana, Moscow, New York, Oslo, Paris, Podgorica, Prague, Stuttgart, Sarajevo, Sofia, Skopje, Stockholm, Tivat, Tirana, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Zurich and Zagreb. From Niš, the airline will only maintain a single route, to Hahn, twice per week. The majority - 52.2% of all flights - will be operated by its Airbus A320-family fleet, 41% by ATR72s, 4.6% by Boeing 737s and 2.3% by the Airbus A330. Top routes based on frequencies will be Zurich, Podgorica, Tirana, Paris and Istanbul.
Croatia Airlines
Croatia Airlines plans to operate 750 flights (return service included) during the month of December with some 76.414 seats on offer. The carrier will maintain services from Zagreb to thirteen domestic and international destinations. Among them are Amsterdam, Brussels, Dubrovnik, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Paris, Pula (via Zadar), Rome (via Split), Sarajevo, Skopje, Split and Zadar. International flights will also be operated from Split to Rome, Frankfurt and Munich. Overall, the carrier will primarily utilise its Dash 8 turboprops, which will be deployed on 62.9% of all flights, followed by the A319 on 34.8% and the A320 which will be used on just 2.3% of all operations. Croatia Airlines’ aircraft will frequent Frankfurt the most, followed by Amsterdam, Zurich, Rome and Paris.
Montenegro Airlines
Montenegro Airline will run 300 flights (return service included) with the capacity to welcome 32.826 passengers throughout the coming month. It will operate flights from Podgorica to Belgrade, Frankfurt, Paris, Ljubljana and Zurich, while from Tivat it will serve Belgrade and St Petersburg, if Russia gives the go-ahead for the service. Most frequent destinations will be Belgrade, Ljubljana, Paris, Vienna and St Petersburg. The Fokker 100 will be most utilised during the month, operating up to 94% of all flights. The remaining 6% will be run by the Embraer E195.
Are they YM top routes all the ones they will operate in December? :D
ReplyDeletePretty much, Only FRA and ZRH missing.
DeleteVery small numbers when you think about it across 3 airlines.
ReplyDeleteWell there is the issue of the global pandemic.
Deletewow huge utilisation of Q400 by OU. Smart decision in these times.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised JU isn't using their ATRs more.
DeleteBecause JU gets quite a few transfers, that's what is keeping their network alive despite there being an EU blockade of Serbian passport-holders.
DeleteThey don't have so many of them.
DeleteThey have 5 ATRs which isn't all that bad.
Delete@9.08 I assume that's why TIA is up there in terms of frequencies, mostly for transfers.
Delete@9.09
DeleteOU has 6 Q400s, JU 5 ATRs. Not such a big difference.
Looking at BEG-TIA next week there are going to be 6 flights, 4 on ATR, 1 on B733 and 1 on A319.
DeleteVIE-TIA next week will have 5 weekly on 3 Q400 and 2 E95.
Remember there is that "mini schengen" thing between Serbia and Albania now. Don't know if that makes any difference.
DeleteNot really, that's just a political project. This demand to Tirana is all about transfers and JU's really strong position in Albania. Impressive that they will have as string presence as OS.
DeleteStill, Switzerland and Montenegro are the most important destinations for both ASL and BEG.
Delete^ Makes sense.
DeleteI would say Greece as well, after all in summer they have more frequencies than to Switzerland especially once you factor in all the charters.
DeleteYes, I'm truly surprised they manage to keep Athens and Thessaloniki running. Although this is quite different compared to Zurich. To ATH and SKG you have a lot of Greek local traffic (and I mean Greeks) due to a lot of Greek businesses operating in Serbia. Also lots of transfers from various countries due to lack of flights to Greece at the moment.
DeleteTheir transfer concept business model has helped them with a few routes. On top of that many people are transferring by using different airlines on two tickets. BEG is a good point for them to do that since everyone can enter the country to get their luggage and then head up to check in again.
DeleteJU range of destinations is not bad actually, I guess frequencies are low on all of them.
ReplyDeleteFrequencies on most routes are still quite respectable when compared to many other airlines.
DeleteGood luck to them
ReplyDeleteShould be a bit better than November.
ReplyDeleteThis month is very bad
DeleteNovember along with February is the slowest month of the year for European airlines. Add on top of that the pandemic and it's no wonder it is a disaster of a month.
DeleteInteresting that YM will be using mostly the ancient F100 fleet. Could it be that they can't afford the Embraers?
ReplyDeleteI think it has more to do with capacity. LF is extremely low on YM at the moment. 15 seats less makes a difference. Then again it is possible that YM just schedules everything on F100 and then replaces the flights with Embraer. They did it all through summer too.
DeleteLike someone said, YM owns its F100 meaning associated costs for operating the plane are lower if they arranged power by the hour agreement for Embraers.
DeleteJU is gonna use those B737s to the very last day :D which routes will get them in December? 4,6% of flights means they will be used more than the A330 to New York.
ReplyDeletethey often fly 737s to DUS, BER and FRA(in last few weeks) and sometimes they send it to TGD and ARN
DeleteThey have to because the crew needs the hours to renew their licence.
DeleteBut until when will they be using these B737s. I mean they are in their 30s.
DeleteAge doesn't matter as they were completely refurbished some years ago, engines included. I think they have another year in them.
Delete@Anon 09:34: You don't need to actually fly the aircraft to renew the licence, 2 simulators per year are sufficient.
Delete@Anon 09:41: Have a look at all the dials in the flight deck next time you fly with them, and then name one single airline (legacy, regional, charter, low-cost, cargo, your choice) in Europe that operates such 737s.
There are no 737 classic simulators.
DeleteIf Air Serbia is already at the point they have to let go some employees, is it not better to finally end 737 operations and offer early retirement or let go 737 pilots? Pilots know 737 is close the end anyway. Doesn't make sense to let go Airbus pilots while keeping 737 around.
Delete"There are no 737 classic simulators."
DeleteThere are plenty of them in Europe still, there's one in Sofia at least.
If they retire them, yearly costs will go up if they decide to find replacment.
DeleteBingo. Exactly what last anon said. Same reason they keep flying the oldest ATR (owned by JU) and returned one of the newer leased ATRs to its owner this year.
DeleteYM has 3 embraers and 1 fokker 100 and this one fokker will be more used, nonsense!
ReplyDeleteThat's how they scheduled it. Doesn't mean that will end up being reality. Like I wrote above they do this a lot, where they schedule the F100 on most flights for some reason in booking system and then they just change it.
DeleteThey also own the Fokkers so costs are lower.
DeleteI think that's the main catch. They probably now have power by the hour deals for Embraers so not utilizing them as much likely works best for them financially.
DeleteThe Fokker utilisation is not surprising. 1 Embraer is parked, 1 is based in Tivat and only flies to BEG.
DeleteJU ==> 29 destinations
ReplyDeleteOU ==> 13 destinations
More than double.
Yes true but OU bas far more frequencies especially to key European destinations.
Delete- Croatia Airlines plans to operate 750 flights
Delete- Air Serbia plans to run 1.040 flights
Croatia Airlines operates a domestic network too so many of those frequencies are domestic flights. So I wouldn't agree with your comments. At least for next month. Other than Frankfurt I'm not so sure Croatia Airlines is offering more frequencies. It barely flies to most western european cities at the moment.
With more than double state aid and more subsidies. That's normal.
DeleteWhen you calculate all the subsidies OU gets they are not that far behind.
DeleteIt's also about what you get in return for all those subsidies. With OU you get links to Star Alliance hubs while with JU you get a much wider network, New York included. Also JU is not hampering growth at BEG, meanwhile OU is blocking the arrival of LCCs in ZAG.
DeleteIt’s not like JU gets more then 20 million every year which they don’t need to give back, while at OU even these miserable 33 mil. ( aid before that was in 2012.) are loan so they will need to give them back.
DeleteYes, I'm sure they will give them back... Just because huge PSO subsidy on Zagreb-Dubrovnik or Zagreb-Split route which are highly profitable is not classified as a subsidy doesn't mean it isn't.
DeleteHow much is the croatian PSO subsidy compared with just the serbian PSO subsidy. Anybody got the numbers?
DeleteDon't forget when PSO in Serbia started (2019) and when in Croatia (many, many years ago)...
DeleteHuge difference.
I just wonder how do you call PSO money OU gets on route ZAG-DBV during the summer?
Extra profit, cherry on the cake or ripping off the government?
Anon 10:03
DeleteIt isnt. ZAG-SPU route can be profitabile, but not on more then 2 daily flights during winter or 3 during the summer. Road transport is its major competitor, but for importance of local faster connectivity, PSO is given to OU to keep flying up to 3 daily in winter (sometimes more) and 5 daily in summer. These freqencies have no commercial sence and thats why they are payed for it.
ZAG-DBV is little bit more profitabile, because of bad road connectivity, but still do you think is profitabile to fly 4 daily flights in winter to a city with 40.000 people? Of course not, 2 daily would have commercial sense, but 4 definitly not. Thats why they are payed.
yea but how much is it (amount of CRO PSO OU gets - operating costs)? It would be interesting to compare it to the yearly JU subsidies (40mil earlier down to 20mil)
DeleteYou cannot compare yearly subsidies to PSO. There is 0 logic in that. PSO is a contract where any EU airline can be in a run for route subsidies. While you cannot be in competition for JU subsidies from Serbian goverment. That is no.1 difference when you compare it. Also PSO is made as contract where in a period of 4 years airline will every year get amount of money for operating defined numbers of montly flights. While subsidies to JU dont have these defined rules.
DeleteThey do actually. It outlines exact number of frequencies and timeframe when flights are to be operated. Read the tender.
DeleteA pointless discussion. Over a billion euros has been poured into Croatia Airlines and Air Serbia. The question is what you get in return. With JU you get an extensive network, with the majority of routes operated on a year round basis. At the same time you have an LCC based at its hub serving as an alternative. With OU you get an extensive number of frequencies to Lufthansa Group hubs, with the majority of its network operating on a seasonal basis. There is also no LCC alternative at its hub airport.
DeleteAnon 11:30
DeleteThere is a tender for state aid?
Anon 10:32
10 mil for 90 weakly flights against 28 weakly flights for 7.5 mil.
Huger difference right?
The tender is open to everyone if they meet the requirements. Stop being a wiseass.
DeleteAlso your comparison is stupid. Croatia is funding with 10 million flights which last for 30-40 minutes. On top of that, on these flights some city authorities, like City of Dubrovnik buy out seats, giving funding boost. Almost all flights from Nis that are being funded are those lasting over an hour and a half, none are operated by turboprop planes, and they are all operated to European airports outside of the country, some of them main airports like Rome.
So? Its still far more flights?
DeleteOperating costs can't be compared. Therefore more money makes sense despite fewer flights.
DeleteOperating costs? Really? Are they really higher then at Croatian airports?
DeleteAnd many of these planned flights will probably be cancelled.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteRange of JU destinations is quite good. Interesting to see TGD, TIA and IST in the top 5.
ReplyDeleteIsn't TGD always in the top 5?
DeleteWell not surprised for TIA and IST as there are no travel restrictions. For TGD you need a test but you can still enter. As for ZRH it shows how huge the diaspora there is that it can sustain the flights purely based on them travelling. CDG I would say is mostly transfer (both pax transferring via BEG to CDG and BEG based passengers transferring via CDG to US).
DeleteI think TGD was number 6 last year, they were replaced by MUC. I'll check later on.
DeleteWonder if Russia will finally give the green light for flights from Montenegro to start.
ReplyDeleteIt's a market of big importance for YM. So it would be useful.
DeleteOne of the very few remaining legacy carriers in Europe. Even LH group is introducing BoB next spring.
DeleteReally?
DeleteDo you have any link supporting it?
Supporting what?
DeletePity JU is down to just one destination from INI.
ReplyDeleteHope they will resume once things calm down.
Deletereasonable decision to focus on BEG where they make some money
DeleteThe good thing is they still get all the sweet subsidies, even after breaking the rules of the tender.
DeleteA) you don't know if they get the subsidies or not, B) there are emergency clauses in every such tender which outlines what happens in case the airline is unable to perform operations due to an event outside of their control.
Deleteexactly as 11.22 said
DeleteJust like OU kept PSO subsidies despite many flights and frequencies not being operated this year. ;)
Deleteboth of you: even if the airlines keep the money the airports are gaining nothing because flights are on hold (at least)
DeleteI can only imagine how big of a decrease this is compared to same month last year.
ReplyDeleteNot such a decrease in destinations for JU as it is in frequencies.
DeleteSo OU for December will have 375 departures, divided by 31 the days of the month they will have 12 to 13 departures on average a day from 2 airports. That's so sad. Damn coronavirus!
DeleteThat's not that bad compared to the current month.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA319 is a part of A320-family.
DeleteWonder which routes have the most capacity.
ReplyDeleteAnd also which route currently has the most passengers.
DeleteI love the plane model graphics :D
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSo OU cancelled those few flights to Mostar that were planned for December?
ReplyDeleteYep, cancelled
DeleteWhen will YM retire the F100?? It's getting quite old.
ReplyDeleteIt was meant to be this year but I don't think that's happening now.
DeleteThe issue is they need to lease more Embraers to replace the F100s. And they currently don't have any money on it. We also don't know what the future government's plans are with YM which has, up until now, been run by the same party since its foundation.
DeleteIs the Italy flight ban still in force? I notice YM and JU are still not fkying there.
ReplyDeleteI think they are allowed to fly now but they literally can't carry anyone on these flights ad the entry conditions are much harsher than the rest of EU.
Delete*as the entry conditions
Delete