Norwegian considering new Belgrade service


Norwegian is considering introducing seasonal flights between Helsinki and Belgrade this coming summer. The low cost carrier has filed an inventory listing meaning it has indicated its intention to launch the route but is not necessarily certain it will go ahead at this point in time, thus ticket sales have not started yet. Based on the listing, the airline plans to operate flights between the Finnish and Serbian capitals once per week, each Saturday, starting June 5. The service would be operated by the Boeing 737-800 jet. Norwegian has scheduled and put on sale its flights from Oslo and Stockholm to Belgrade for next summer, with the latter to be restored after a year-long hiatus. It faces direct competition on both routes from Air Serbia.

If launched, the new service from Helsinki would replace Air Serbia, which launched year-round operations between Belgrade and Helsinki in the summer of 2019. The route was discontinued in March at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. During 2019, Air Serbia operated 164 flights (return service included) between the two and offered 18.992 seats. Despite its plans, Norwegian faces an uncertain future. The carrier went into the crisis as one of Europe’s weakest due to a high level of debt built up through an aggressive expansion plan, including low cost long haul flights.

The Norwegian state said last week it was ready to offer aid to Norwegian, after the ailing low cost airline presented a new plan to survive its Covid-induced crisis. Hit hard by the pandemic’s impact on travel, having already been in financial trouble before, the budget airline presented a series of proposals on January 14, including an end to its long haul flights in favour of a refocusing on Europe, and a massive debt reduction target coupled with raising new capital. The government was asked to support the plan and has now signalled its willingness. The company plans to reduce debt and put some fifty aircraft back into operation this year, followed by about seventy more in 2022. At this point, only six jets are being actively used.


Comments

  1. Anonymous09:01

    How did this route perform for JU?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      I believe it was one of their weaker routes. The problem was that the A319 was too large.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:08

      Again the issue of not having a 100 seater plane in the fleet.

      Delete
    3. Nemjee09:09

      In summer it performed really well, many CRJ flights were increased to A319. In winter the problem was that there weren't enough connecting opportunities both ways. For example the return flight at night would only have KRR as an onward connection so naturally loads were extremely weak. BEG-HEL usually had 65 to 100 passengers.

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    4. Anonymous09:21

      So, Nemjee, it practically means that HEL woul d work fine from BEG if there would be better onward connections?

      Is it so difficult to adjust it?

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    5. Nemjee09:26

      Well, yes. Long-term JU needs to work on making sure night flights (especially to destinations operated by the ATR) can work on a year-round basis.
      TIA is a great example how transfer passengers can help out in making sure many destinations are sustainable.
      Consolidating their position in markets with large transfer potential should be their top priority in a post-covid world. Unfortunately I am not sure JU's marketing department is up for the challenge. They have not been doing a good job so far.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    Finnair should stop playing around and launch BEG. There is obviously local demand if both DY and W6 considered launching flights and they could also rely on transfers to the Nordics, Russia and Asia. They have the right plane for the route: E95!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:03

      It won't happen until flights to far East Asia and travel restrictions are dropped.

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    2. Anonymous09:05

      Of course but given the rapid vaccination rate in Serbia I expect travel restrictions to be on the horizon. Greece is also opening its doors to Serbs from March.

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    3. Vlad10:20

      At the moment there's still no hard evidence that vaccination prevents contracting and/or spreading the virus. So I don't think mass vaccination will have such an immediate effect on travel. Maybe just in time for summer, and even that's a big if.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:29

      Israel is reporting reduced infections even after the first dose.

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    5. Vlad17:50

      As expected. But it will take much more than initial reports to drop the restrictions. That's why I'm warning that it's delusional to expect any kind of normalcy this spring.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    Can work as seasonal in peak summer.

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  4. Anonymous09:04

    Another new route would be a great addition.

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  5. Anonymous09:06

    HEL is a notoriously challenging and expensive airport compared to CPH for instance. No wonder why ULCC's avoid it.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      Ha I never realised none of the major LCCs fly there except Norwegian.

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    2. Anonymous09:21

      Wizz used to fly there

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    3. Anonymous09:25

      Do you remember which destinations?

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    4. Nemjee09:27

      To be fair, CPH has a much large catchment area as it also serves southern Sweden.

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    5. Anonymous10:15

      Well, You are right, although Tallin is two hours by boat from Helsinki.

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    6. Anonymous10:29

      Aren't there like a million people in Estonia? Also there is no bridge between Finland and Eesti like there is between Copenhagen and Sweden.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:02

      for now. They are planning a tunnel.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:11

    There must be some interest if Air Serbia tried it, Norwegian is considering it and Wizz Air wanted to fly to Turku. All these airlines must be making these decisions based on some data.

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  7. Anonymous09:11

    This would be great!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:13

    I think DY is looking at picking up diaspora travel during the summer. Same thing they are doing with this route in PRN.

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  9. Anonymous09:13

    Lets see how Norwegian performs in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:23

    Belgrade airport receives good news these days.

    Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:30

    Very good.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:30

    Fingers crossed it happens. Would be very useful for us living in Finland!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:32

    I'm not surprised. Norweigan has quite good coverage from Helsinki with nonstop flights to Tivat, Pristina, Split and Dubrovnik.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:32

      All are seasonal of course.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:43

      Yes but they are not that active on the ex-Yu markets compared to their competitors

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    3. Anonymous10:41

      In Croatia usually they were more active then Wizz.

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    4. Anonymous10:46

      That's true

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:35

    I think this airline will eventually collapse.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:42

      It's already on the brink.

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    2. Anonymous09:42

      Long haul was their big mistake.

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    3. Anonymous09:46

      True

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    4. Anonymous10:05

      Why this bad wish?

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    5. Anonymous10:06

      It's not a bad wish. Just commenting on the state the airline is in.

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    6. Anonymous11:07

      They were already on the brink before the pandemic, but somehow they're still standing today. All that consolidation might give them a chance

      Delete
    7. Anonymous20:57

      They are a dead men walking, just waiting for the last person to switch off the lights.

      They have an enormous amount of debt and absolutely no way of paying it back, even with leasing companies giving them aircraft for free (pay per flight hour only).

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:35

    Looking at the map of Nordics, all that's missing is KEF. I wonder if FI could make BEG work with their B757 at least two times per week. Enough passengers for Canada and the US.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:41

      That's a bit of a stretch.

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    2. Anonymous09:47

      If they can make Anchorage work then I don't see why BEG is a stretch.

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    3. Anonymous10:00

      Although Iceland is very expensive it is very worth visiting!

      Direct connection between BEG and KEF would help Serbians to "discover" Iceland, but also to offer good connections to N.America

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:02

      There are also around 500 Serbs there so that should help as well.

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    5. Anonymous10:03

      Even if all of them were to decide to visit Serbia once during the year it would barely fill two planes. Definitely not profitable.

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    6. Anonymous10:06

      Who said that route would rely on them alone? They would help boost yields on the route.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:42

      That route would not work definitly.

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    8. Anonymous10:47

      Of course it wouldn't. Wishful thinking.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:02

      And W6 keeps BUD-KEF

      Probably because it is not profitable :-)

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    10. Anonymous11:03

      W6 keeps it because Budapest is a big tourism destination and Hungarians travel a lot.

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    11. Anonymous11:48

      Hungarians travel a lot?

      Not if to judge by recent developments.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous12:15

      Still, there is no potential for such routes.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous13:00

      I like this logic. Because there were flights from KEF to Budapest and Anchorage, there must be flights to BEG as well.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous14:16

      I like the logic- no matter what BEG has no potential for some exotic flights.

      FYI - BEG has the biggest potential of all ex-yu airports.

      Like it or not.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous14:56

      Who said it doesn't? Does it mean Icelandair will fly there? Is that how it goes?

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    16. Anonymous15:04

      Over 60% of FI's passengers are transfers. BEG is a massive source of transfer passengers ergo FI could do well here with passengers going to Toronto, Vancouver, Boston, Chicago and so on.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous15:51

      Yes it has biggest passanger numbers in ex-yu but that doesnt mean demand for flights to anywhere. And i dont see airport who doesnt even have basics in Europe like SN, KL, IB, BA, OY and SK to somehow get and have demand for unusual airline for this part of europe like FI.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous16:00

      KEF barely has 4-5 daily pax flights nowadays. God knows when they will be able to return their pre-Covid network. But if you insist, then im waiting for FI's announcement :)

      Delete
    19. Anonymous16:09

      I hope i will be alive when they annonce to fly anywhere in thd region.

      Delete
    20. Anonymous19:47

      No one said they wi fly tomorrow but in the future. Belgrade already has a decent lineup of airlines and like someone wrote, if they can make Anchorage and some other places work then why not BEG. Feed to the US alone would be enough to fill two weekly flights.

      Delete
    21. Anonymous20:35

      In reality Belgrade doesn't have many of those 'basic' airlines simply because it's almost the only country in the region which has a competitive home carrier that flies to those places.

      Same like in IST.

      How many European airlines fly to Istanbul?

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    22. Anonymous20:38

      Among those listed above, none.

      Delete
    23. Anonymous21:56

      KL and BA don't fly to Istanbul?

      Delete
    24. Anonymous09:47

      FI cannot even make year round 2 weakly flights to Madrid so i dont know what are you talking about.

      Delete
    25. Anonymous12:23

      So just because they can't make MAD work BEG can't either? By that logic some other destinations in their network shouldn't work either.

      As for IST, over the past years they lost many legacy carriers starting with Delta, Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Alitalia and even Lufthansa from Munich.

      Delete
    26. Anonymous12:58

      So just because they can make Anchorage work does that mean BEG will work too?

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:42

    Good. We need all the routes we can get in this sort of situation.

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  17. Anonymous09:43

    What happened to that rumor that they chose Belgrade as their primary hub in the Balkans for future expansion. Remember someone writing about it in the comments here.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:47

      what does a "primary hub for future expansion" mean anyway?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:47

      It was dropped because it was the same time as Wizz Air's massive expansion in the region. They eventually went to other places like London and Barcelona where they lost millions.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:46

    Yes please!

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  19. Anonymous09:48

    I have never tried them but a lot of people that have said they are a good airline.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:57

      I thought I heard their service was awful ...

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    2. Anonymous10:15

      Great service, good leg room and free WiFi on board.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:29

      Norwegian is one of the friendliest low-cost airlines I've used. Can't even start comparing it with Wizz air, whose standards resemble Nis Ekspres.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous20:58

      Well you certainly can't compare them to any European LCC financially, as most of them were making big profits before Covid.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous08:01

      I guess to make a profit you pretty much have to have no service at all.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous09:50

    So new routes for this summer:

    Wizz Air: Hamburg, Oslo (Torp)
    Eurowings: Stuttgart
    Air Serbia: Geneva
    SkyUp: Kiev
    Luxair: Luxembourg
    Norwegian: Helsinki (possible)

    Airlines that didn't fly in the summer in the past: Windrose (Kiev) and Nordwind (Moscow).

    Not bad for a pandemic year.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:51

      That is impressive. Well done.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:57

      Taking in consideration all the circumstances this is amazing!

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    3. Anonymous09:57

      Seems like Wizz Air might add BEG-MXP, the route is still listed on the website despite all others being dropped. It would make sense since no other airport in north-western Italy is offered from BEG.

      Would be fun if FR launched BEG-BGY

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:57

      Let's see if and what launches out of those.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:02

      @9.57 where do you see Milan listed on its website when you select Belgrade? I don't.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:03

      Unfortunately MXP-BEG was removed last night. Seems like they decided against it. Good news is that from today PCR tests might be removed for those coming from Hungary. Let's hope more tourists come for a visit and why not, some might fly from BEG now that BUD is almost dead with no flights.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:05

      During the summer quite a few Hungarian passengers flew out of Belgrade. Same the other way around when there were very few flights and people were still trying to get home.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:07

      That's actually very true especially from places like Szeged which is less than 3 hours away from BEG. BEG has a large catchment area and it should profit from it like someone mentioned CPH above.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous17:34

      BUD is "dead" because of the borders being closed. Even so, it still remained to receive 4 million passengers in 2020 compared to 1,9 in Belgrade.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous19:49

      Meaning that Belgrade managed to narrow the gap. Numbers before covid were more than double so at least the trend is encouraging.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous20:29

      Uhh, BEG and Serbia borders were closed for about 10 years.

      That's how BUD managed to get that far ahead in the first place.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous21:53

      Of course, just not because Budapest is twice the size of Belgrade and an European touristic hotspot

      Delete
    13. Anonymous22:40

      Not only. There is a large student community and business EU capital. Lets not forget the various connections to China and Northern America as well as the extensive leisure destination connections.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous12:24

      Hungary has a headstart compared to Belgrade as they didn't have the same experience in the 1990s and early 2000s like we did. What matters is that BEG is developing nicely and unlike BUD, we have a local airline that's offering connections. Little by little the gap will be cloesd. You are not that illusioned to think BEG peaked at 6 million?

      Delete
    15. Anonymous13:01

      No, you are illusioned to think BEG will ever surpass BUD

      Delete
    16. Anonymous18:58

      Ok, people also said the same about BEG getting JFK flights or EY buying JU yet here we are.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:16

    Excellent. Good news

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  22. Anonymous10:37

    Hope this happens but I would be happier if Pegasus could increase flights to BEG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:38

      Why Pegasus in particular?

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    2. Anonymous10:52

      Because they are right now the most handicapped

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    3. Anonymous10:56

      But I though IST flights from Belgrade were performing well. The amount of capacity would indicate so.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous08:00

      They are. Not sure what anon @10.56 is talking about.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:47

    JU je nedavno revidirao red letenja. Helsinki je zadržan u prvom delu destinacija gde se nalaze direktni letovi tako da je vrlo moguće da i oni objave početak letova.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous08:00

    When will we know their decision?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous12:34

    It was announced today that Putin gave the green light for the production of Sputnik in Serbia. This is big news as it means the country will have a constant supply of vaccines meaning aviation should be more stable in the future. Another 2 million doses were confirmed in the next two months which is also fantastic news.

    ReplyDelete
  26. It’s good and sad news. I’d rather keep Air Serbia on the route. Norwe has lot of problems and they are not the best one what comes to customer satisfaction.

    ReplyDelete