Belgrade Airport sees Europe network expansion opportunities


Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has seen a number of new routes launched this year and is expected to end 2021 with over a dozen new destinations. However, several key European cities remain unserved.  The number of routes on offer from the Serbian capital currently stands at 71, just one short of 2019. This has made up for the handful of European destinations terminated by Air Serbia, among which are Helsinki and Kiev, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This year, Belgrade has managed to cover three routes that were within its top twenty unserved in Europe in 2020 - Hamburg, Luxembourg and Heraklion. Several destinations featured in the 2019 list were to be inaugurated last year but were cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. These include Lisbon, Cologne and Florence.

In the pre-pandemic year of 2019, Lisbon was Belgrade Airport’s busiest unserved route on the continent based on OAG data. Wizz Air was to introduce services to the Portuguese capital last summer but cancelled its plans due to travel restrictions resulting from Covid-19 at the time. Previously, the route was operated by TAP Air Portugal for just six months, from July 2014 until January 2015. At the time, an airline spokesperson said, “The route performed well during the summer, but bookings for the winter months were not encouraging”. During the winter season, triangle flights via Budapest were maintained. The Portuguese carrier was also experiencing a chronic fleet shortage at the time and discontinued several other destinations in its European network. Cologne was the second busiest destination lacking a nonstop air service in 2019 and the busiest in 2020. Low cost carrier Germanwings used to maintain flights between the two cities but they were discontinued in 2012. Wizz Air was to introduce flights last summer but shelved its Belgrade expansion. 

Common to both last year and the one before was the strong performance of destinations in Turkey, particularly Ankara. Turkish Airlines filed for slots at Belgrade Airport to launch a two weekly service between the two capital cities this summer, however, in the end decided against introducing flights. Notably, the Armenian capital of Yerevan also performed well both in 2019 and 2020, taking into consideration pandemic restrictions last year.

Top twenty unserved European cities to/from Belgrade in 2019


Top twenty unserved European cities to/from Belgrade in 2020


* served through summer charters



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    I really hope Wizz Air will bring back plans to start Lisbon.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      I hope so. But who is traveling here? I don't think there is a big diaspora of Serbian people living in Portugal.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:14

      It's not only Serbian diaspora that flies. People travel. Tourists, business people. Schengen is visa free for Serbian citizens. Lisbon is a beautiful city and a prime tourist spot, not a gasto destination.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:03

      Lisbon would be such a good route for Air Serbia to start. If they concluded a codeshare with TAP they could also get transit passengers from/to South America to the entire region - Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia... Unfortunately, I assume one of the main issues here is fleet. Lisbon is a long rotation by Air Serbia's standards.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:05

      And look at the demand for Porto too! I just noticed it on the list now.

      Delete
    5. Nemjee10:16

      Lisbon could easily work if JU had a decent regional wave in the morning. Flight could leave BEG at around 19.00, arrive there at around 22.00 Belgrade time, leave around 01.00 (23.00 local time) and be in BEG around 05.00.

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    6. Anonymous10:40

      And how many beach-goers would be interested in starting and finishing their vacations at such crazy hours?

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    7. Nemjee10:45

      I don't think many people go to Lisbon for the beaches. Also with that schedule you could still work that day in Belgrade and have a full day on your way back. Btw Wizz Air's schedule was atrocious, I think arrival to Belgrade was at 02.45... or 01.45.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:28

      I found the Wizz schedule. Wasn't that great
      https://www.exyuaviation.com/p/wizz-air-belgrade-lisbon.html

      Delete
    9. JATBEGMEL14:02

      JU has been tweeking with its departures, with a couple of new rotations outside of their usual waves. LCA at 10am and ROV at 8pm. Expanding on these new smaller waves would help boost the viability of these destinations with longer rotations that don't fit into their standard waves.

      LIS seems to lack decent connectivity to the east. A split schedule LIS at 10am and 9pm would fit well within these smaller waves. A couple of destinations would work with current schedules such as TGD, TIV, LCA.

      BEG LIS 2100 2335
      LIS BEG 0030 0515

      BEG LIS 1000 1235
      LIS BEG 1320 1805

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    10. Anonymous14:06

      That would be a perfect schedule.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    Very interesting. I'm surprised about Yerevan. Who is traveling between Serbia and Armenia?

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    Replies
    1. Nemjee09:06

      Serbia and Armenia have a free trade agreement and there is no visa regime. There is also some modest commercial activity with Armenia having a trade surplus with Serbia. I guess when you put together all these you get some demand.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:19

      My friend from Belgrade lives in Armenia with her family, she`s a civil engineer.

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    3. Anonymous09:27

      How does she fly to Armenia when she goes? Via Moscow or some other way?

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    4. Anonymous09:39

      Moscow, Vienna...

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  3. Anonymous09:03

    Lot's of missed opportunities for JU on that list which will eventually be scooped up by competitors.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:05

    It seems like Wizz Air's cancelled expansion from last year pretty much went down the list of busy unserved routes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nemjee09:07

      What else can they do? They mostly rely on O&D market so these numbers are extremely relevant to them. The real question is why JU hasn't done more to launch some of these routes. CGN could be a good fit for their network.

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    2. Anonymous09:08

      They didn't do well with Hamburg so I'm not sure they would do well with Cologne. Meanwhile HAM has been really successful for Wizz so far.

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    3. Nemjee09:10

      So by that logic they shouldn't consider any new German destination because HAM was a flop for them? In either case, they can always try it over the summer when gastos start returning. It's not like their competition will simply ignore this market. I wouldn't be surprised if Wizz brings it back next summer with the third plane they will have in BEG.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:13

      I didn't mean they shouldn't try anything else, I'm just wondering why it underperformed for them. They actually already tried Hamburg seasonally in 2019 with leased CRJ plane and didn't plan to resume it in 2020, in their pre-covid summer schedule.

      Delete
    5. Nemjee09:21

      I think the answer is very simple: lack of marketing activities.
      They have an ad here and there in Belgrade but outside of Serbia it's nowhere to be found, not even at airports. What matters is that Wizz Air is here to jump in at every missed opportunity by JU. Like that the market doesn't suffer.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:15

      Quite the contrast compared to when JU started under Air Serbia brand. There were ads across European markets. On public transport, TV, online...

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    7. Nemjee10:31

      True, I remember their ads on Athens trams and buses.

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    8. Anonymous10:43

      Ads cost money. You have to tailor your marketing budget to the size of the company. If you are Wizzair looking to fly A321, you may / must spend more on marketing than if you are JU looking to fly Atr.

      Delete
    9. Nemjee12:27

      You gotta spend money to make money. Ads cost you but if you do it right the return on investment can be huge.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:06

    Jat Airways flew to Trieste until Air Serbia came. Why did they get rid of this route?

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    Replies
    1. Nemjee09:09

      I might be wrong but I think Trieste was cut when their fleet started to fall apart so they needed planes for other destinations. Also they didn't fly to Venice at that time so for many Trieste was the starting point.

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    2. Anonymous09:19

      Trieste was a popular destination in JAT times for weekend shopping tours, half of Ex-YU was shopping there. Now it's not so popular, there's everything you need in your local shopping mall.

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    3. Anonymous09:20

      There is actually a sizable Serbian diaspora living in Trieste now and a lot of Serbian students studying there.

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    4. Anonymous09:28

      I think for JU its easier to fly them from LJU or PUY in summer.

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    5. Anonymous10:56

      @Anonymous 09:19 There are still a lot of people from the Balkans that go to Trieste for business and shopping. On weekends you can see lots of Serbian, Slovenian, Croatian, and even Albanian cars around town. Besides, Trieste's shopping offer is among the best within a significant radius. I doubt that people are going to stop shopping there anytime soon.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:11

    That demand for Turkey though. In 2019 there were also so many charters to Antalya yet more than 10,000 people also flew via other cities!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      I think the reason is that there was not enough supply to cater for demand and tour operators were selling people packages with regular flights. I remember a couple of years ago I was going to Heraklion and booked via a tourist agency. They got us two regular flights with Aegean - to Athens and then from Athens to Heraklion. Probably was the case here with TK.

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    2. Anonymous10:18

      Yes, that's probably likely

      Delete
  7. Nemjee09:18

    For BEG this winter season will be key. If most routes perform well and there aren't many cancellations then summer season will be built on much stronger foundations.
    Good thing is that BEG expanded to new markets especially to the east and places like Kiev, Krasnodar, St. Petersburg, Rostov and so on.

    One great thing is that Etihad left the BEG-AUH market and was replaced by a much more reasonable and appropriate option.
    Hopefully tourists numbers keep on climbing especially from places like Russia and Turkey.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:29

      Yes!!!! And W6 increased BEG in winter really fast and they have something like 230 seats. I think they offer more seats in week than EY did with A320.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:25

    But Malaga? Maybe Ryanair can start it :D

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      There is probably even more passengers on that route but a lot of people go to Budapest to fly there.

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    2. Anonymous09:53

      Catania being on the list is even more interesting to me.

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    3. Aэrologic10:04

      Catania was proposed long ago as an Atr destination for JU.

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    4. Anonymous10:06

      Quite a lot of surprises for me too. Besides Malaga and Catania also Dublin, Krakow, Porto, Tbilisi...

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    5. Nemjee10:46

      JU could easily operate Krakow with the ATR, I think the flight would be shorter than Prague and a bit longer than Vienna.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:06

      I wouldn't be surprised if we see LOT start the flights seasonally next summer.

      Delete
    7. Krakow route could really be successful in stimulating demand too. Lots of spring/autumn tourists from Serbia visit Krakow and most of them go by a bus so I think these numbers are well short of the realistic demand. So Air Serbia's ATR would be the perfect solution.

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    8. Anonymous12:22

      I`d go to Krakow myself ages ago, had there been a better road connection with Belgrade. But there`s no motorway trough Slovakia - if You don`t want to do quite of a detour - and with no direct flights... I went elsewhere. So, yes, Krakow has huge potential, and air Serbia could counter LOT in Poland/Serbia market by flying there (or to Katovice).

      I also think LCC could work - I saw a number of Polish tourists here before Covid struck.

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    9. Anonymous14:52

      Before covid LO launched BUD-KRK so if that route worked I think BEG can too. They also fly to ORD from there so they can arrange for connections.

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    10. Anonymous15:12

      Why would they sell connections from BEG onto ORD via KRK rather than via WAW? Talking about connections onto ORD from KRK, they probably prefer to sell WAW-KRK-ORD.

      BEG-KRK is a route for JU. Hopefully it starts one day.

      Delete
    11. Nemjee17:56

      Before covid WAW was extremely overcrowded and the airport experienced serious issues with space, it was getting really difficult for airlines to get the slots they wanted. By re-routing some passengers away from WAW they would relieve some pressure until the new airports opens.

      Anyway, I don't think BEG-KRK-ORD would be their main focus, I am just expanding on the other guy's thought.

      I do agree with your statement that JU would be ideal as they could offer some competitive connections via BEG. Right now only VIE offers convenient flights to the Balkans without much backtracking. Air Serbia and Belgrade would be the most directed option.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous18:59

      KRK-BEG would be great for city breaks in KRK or BEG. I do not see tourists from KRK or KTW going to the Balkans with transfer in BEG. Too many direct options on Rynair or Wizz to bother with transfers. Even more so with business travellers, who would have more frequences available transferring in WAW, VIE or MUC. But for tourism between the cities great.

      Delete
    13. Nemjee20:22

      I think JU could be competitive with transfers because they would offer greater flexibility to their passengers. What is the most frequent city pair between Krakow and the Balkans? Do any destinations have daily flights? I am not talking about airlines and airports that rely heavily on transfers (PS, OS, TK...).

      Look at Vienna, so many non stop options yet JU still manages to carry some transfers. Don't forget that the ATR is a small aircraft. If they have 10% transfers then that's around 7 passengers per flights which is nothing.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous20:56

      Are you talking about tourists or business?

      Tourists will not want to transfer. Why bother, if as a tourist originating in KRK or KTW there is plenty of options where you can go without hassle of transferring. If tourists have a direct flight to X, they will go to X. If you open KRK-BEG, many will consider a city break in BEG, but if there is no direct flight they will not consider this, but rather choose what is available like SPU, ZAG, DBV, TDG or TIA to name the Balkan destinations. They do not have to go necessarily to BEG. The same way tourists will not go in any material numbers to SJJ via BEG, just because there is direct flight to BEG from KRK and they could seamlessly transfer in BEG to SJJ.

      As to business travellers, if you open three weekly BEG-KRK (like BEG-PRG), by definition you have limitations as to frequences a transfer passenger may have to ultimate destination via BEG. Even if there would be transfer to the ultimate destination available each time a plane lands from KRK in BEG, still it will not be more than three weekly. More frequences will be available via WAW, VIE or FRA, so it will be more attractive for business.

      And I would also not overestimate business travel between KRK and the Balkans. LOT currently flies to BEG a mere six weekly on smallest Embraers.

      So I see BEG-KRK as a great opportunity for citybreaks in each of the cities.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous22:46

      You were explained everything above but you still repeat line a parrot.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous22:46

      Like*

      Delete
    17. Nemjee23:24

      So you are saying that people will consider a holiday destination only if there is a non-stop flight from their hometown or a nearby airport? Somehow I have a hard time believing that. People will want to go to a certain destination regardless of what flights are being offered. If someone from Krakow wants to visit Sarajevo he will not wait for the non stop flight to be introduced. He will look at what's available and eventually buy a connecting flight.

      Take Aegean from Belgrade. A huge part of their summer traffic connects to the Greek islands. Why? Well because people want to go there.

      Also why are you comparing what LO is sending now during the crisis? Before covid they had a decent presence in BEG and E95 was standard equipment. Same with Prague. It might be 3 now but before covid it was planned for the 10 weekly flights to be restored.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous00:26

      Many times people say that lcc stimulate market, because only a small number of people flew indirectly on a given route and after opening of direct flights the number of people using those flights is very high. This contravenes what you say. In your optics all those people should have flown indirectly before (on legacies or on low-costs with self-transfer). In my optics the indirect flights were used by people flying for business and very few other passengers (having relatives or friends at this specific destination, working there or having other special reasons to reach this specific destination). If you cancel a route from KRK to Malaga or Valencia and instead open Bilbao, you will easily find out how this market stimulation works: a lot of people will be now flying to Bilbao instead of Malaga or Valencia and very few people will be flying indirect to Malaga or Valencia. It proves that for very few people it actually mattered whether they spend nice time in Bilbao or in Malaga or Valencia. It might be different if people had no options to fly directly from a given airport to alternative leisure destinations and thus were anyway forced to fly somewhere indirectly, but this is not the case in KRK. In brief, I think tourists very much prefer direct connections.

      I think there is very little chance that LOT will make this venture and I am therefore looking forward to JU on BEG-KRK.

      Delete
    19. Nemjee08:03

      No one said demand is not stimulated when a new route is launched, it usually is but it also depends by how much and what is being done to make sure passengers book flights.
      After all, how many new routes were reduced and suspended after being announced/launched. Same scenario with Belgrade and Krakow. JU/W6/LO might launch it but the success also depends on how they market these flights. Take JU's HEL flights which were used 90% by transfers going to places like Krasnodar, Athens, Montenegro, Croatia (despite having non stop flights to these destinations). Why wasn't the market stimulated so that more locals use this route? Where were they and why didn't they show up?

      I also gave you the example of Aegean which takes people where they actually want to go. When it comes to BEG-KRK you might first want to make sure people want to go there and then to make sure they end up flying with you. Does Air Serbia have the negotiating skills to get people out of buses and into their ATR? Remains to be seen.

      I still think that people/tourists will travel with transfers if they want to go somewhere. Air Serbia's network in summer is a great example. Just look at how many Russians they carried to Montenegro before covid even when there were non stop options out there.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:28

    I see a lot of potential successful routes for Wizz Air here and some for Air Serbia. Also Turkish/Anadolujet/Pegasus but I guess the bilateral does not allow for that.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:32

      I think they will have to add flights if demand starts growing. I mean TK added the A330 this summer so the bilateral is not thta restrictive. I think more flights will be added only if geriatric JU does well and if they need to expand.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:31

    For me the event of 2021 was the arrival of Luxair and their success on the route.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      Agree. I'm really happy they are doing well. They kept it two weekly during winter and are increasing it to three weekly next summer.

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    2. Anonymous11:29

      100% agree! Nobody saw that coming and that was a fantastic addition.

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    3. Anonymous11:32

      They have the perfect aircraft for it

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  11. Anonymous09:38

    Seeing Manchester on the list, I realized that since YU broke up, I don't think there have ever been flights to any other city in the UK from Belgrade other than London

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:54

      I think you are right. I don't remember there being any other city in the UK served from BEG since the early 90s.

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    2. Anonymous13:38

      There hasn't been. Only LHR and Jat one year (I think 2011 or 20212) flew both Heathrow and Gatwick.

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    3. JATBEGMEL14:04

      I think JU flew LGW from both BEG and TIV.

      Delete
  12. Bigger problem is the number of routes which are only served few times a week and are not suitable for most business passengers. We need increased frequencies to some routes.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:49

      Very good point. But are the passengers flying with JU willing to pay more for this flexibility? More frequences with smaller planes means also higher cost per seat. And on many routes planes that are used are already small showing that there is limited demand even with less frequences.

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    2. Anonymous13:39

      JU frequencies are quite decent and most routes in general (we can't really say that now because of Covid but in normal times). It is mostly Wizz which has poor frequencies of around 2 per week for most destinations.

      Delete
    3. JATBEGMEL14:08

      Frequencies are typically good, with only a few destinations being less than 1 daily. This is prior to covid. New destinations have started with lower frequencies, but many companies do this. TK started BEG with 3 pw. QR had a couple of flights per week via ESB, later SOF before daily non stop.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:41

    Very interesting list and really nice to have a look. But introducing some of these routes by say JU could have a negative impact on their existing flights. For example, I'm sure starting Manchester would decrease their passenger numbers on the London Heathrow route. Or starting Trieste would have a negative effect on their Venice flights and so on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:55

      Actually most people connecting to the UK from Belgrade do so via AMS. They would fly with JU to AMS and then with KLM. Now that KLM is flying to BEG, they will probably do it all on the one airline.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:54

    Seems like there is a lot of demand for Italy.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:56

      Not surprising really. Business ties with Italy are very strong. Over a 1000 Italian companies operating in Serbia. Plus then there is a big Serbian diaspora in Italy and leisure travel.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:57

      JU should use the opportunity now that Alitalia is no longer on the market and ITA won't come to Belgrade until next year.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:15

      These are tourists and business people.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:41

      JU flies in general to Rome, Milan and Venice from Belgrade and to Bologna from Nis plus they were supposed to introduce Belgrade-Florence in 2020. I think that is good coverage. Covid screwed up their plans and it makes little sense to start the flights now especially with Italy's 5 day quarantine for people arriving from Serbia.

      Delete
  15. JU should operate like low cost from niš, like 2y ago.... but it was subsides and olny to screw ruan expansion

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:41

      What do you mean?

      Delete
  16. Anonymous10:07

    Never would have guessed that Yerevan would have been top performing from the caucus country markets. Would have thought Tbilisi or even Baku.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:42

      Same! Positively surprised. Maybe that new Armenian national airline considers Belgrade at some point, although Air Serbia would have more to gain and could get good transfer feed to its other destinations.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:08

    Interesting that JU started Bologna from Nis but not for Belgrade. It seems like it would have been a good performer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:19

      It is likely that most of those passengers are Serbs living in Bologna who actually come from east Serbia. Most of the Serbian diaspora in northern Italy (which is where most Serbs live) are actually from eastern and southeastern Serbia.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:43

      Didn't know that, thanks

      Delete
  18. Anonymous10:15

    Whenever JU expanded to the east as in Russia, it turned out as a great investment so I think they should consider Yerevan, plus don’t forget that Armenia has a huge diaspora in Europe so JU could offer transfers!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:22

      It's going to be too late by the time Air Arabia launches new Armenian national carrier. JU could have used the opportunity of there being no national airline in Armenia, launched flights, offered good connections. The P2P demand is healthy so they could get quite a few transfers. Plus opportunities for cargo...

      Delete
  19. Anonymous11:07

    Some of these routes could be easily covered. But the airport also has to do some homework as well and try more to attract airlines. Not everything can be launched and operated by JU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:26

      The issue is all these routes are potential JU routes and the airport was probably told not to cast the net too far wide in pursuit of new customers.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:15

      What do you mean by that?

      Delete
  20. Anonymous11:33

    If bilateral with Turkey did not limit the number of airlines/frequencies I'm sure we would have much better coverage.

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  21. Anonymous12:03

    Lot of opportunities for airlines

    ReplyDelete
  22. Malaga has much higher number as many travel with Ryan out of Budapest

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:34

      Idk why people are so surprised about Málaga. This city is visited by millions. It is packed with so many nice places nearby and winter is like 10-15C. It is 4th busiest airport in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona and Mallorca.

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    2. Anonymous13:44

      I think it's a surprise because in general we didn't have any nonstop flights to Spain for over 15 years so didn't really gather that the country was so popular.

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    3. Anonymous19:34

      KLM did not fly to BEG in the last thirty years.
      According to your logic it is because there is no demand.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous15:38

    What happened with Belgrade Airport seeking flights over 7 hours?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:04

      covid is the excuse for everything!

      Delete
  24. Anonymous16:00

    Tbilisi, Baku and Yerevan are a no brainers for JU. I really hope that they will launch all three at the same time, having the same departures from BEG (lets say, 1900, 3 PW) and same arrivals to BEG (0500).
    Those routes will be immediate success for sure as most of pax would be transfers.
    All three airports lack western carriers and JU network is more than decent to offer them smooth morning connections.
    But, as with everything in JU, they lack aircrafts!!!
    All of them!!!
    ATRs, 100-seaters, A319s, A330s...lack of everything!!!
    With more planes they should lauch at least Lisbon, Malaga, Manchester, Cologne and reintroduce Amman and Helsinki.
    Or even Bergen/Stavanger/Tromso...
    Or Dublin....
    Or Tenerife/Las Palmas winter seasonal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:17

      TBS: Turkish, Ukraine International, LOT, Lufthansa, Air France

      EVN: Ukraine International, LOT, Austrian, Lufthansa, Air France, Brussels

      ...

      Indeed they lack western carriers.... You don't even care to check before posting.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:17

      TK, PS and LO are certainly not 'Western carriers'.

      Neither is Air Serbia, for the matter.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:39

      Yes, both airports have few western carriers, but how many of those carriers offer fast transfers to Larnaca, Podgorica, Zagreb, Tivat, Skopje, Tirana, Vienna, Rome and Ljubljana with 50 minutes connection and without weird triangle (go west to go back east) routing???
      None!!!
      Thats the point! You fly Yerevan-Belgrade and with 50-60 minutes connection in our tiny tiney airport you catch next flight and taadaaa you are in Podgorica/Tivat/Larnaca/even JFK.
      Thats the point.
      Look at Rostov and Krasnodar! No advertising money, but both routes work exceptionally well!
      Yes, JU cannot compete with Lufthansa or LOT or Air France, but in some niche cases it IS actually doing better job!
      So yes, my comment still stands, that all three Caucasian towns make a lot of sence.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous19:31

    When you consider that Ryanair in Zagreb opens twice weekly flights to every place with traffic of 2000 pax annualy, you can imagine what potential there is just from Belgrade.
    I would like to see the other destinations which are not on the list!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:26

      Yes, EX YU aviation- please show the additional destinations!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:42

      ^ One of them is definitely Palermo.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous20:32

    Interesting :
    Lisbon, Porto, Manchester, Malaga and Catania are all Easyjet bases ..

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Anonymous22:06

      Yes, this is quite normal. Those are important cities that enjoy serious traffic figures. CTA has suddenly opened recently and became year-round as well. Jet2 are expanding there next year.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous00:29

    Don't know if people know that in summer 2019 Air Serbia applied for 3 weekly slots to Manchester. They never followed through though.

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    1. Anonymous01:31

      Manchester will fit good in their network .
      Next summer JU will have to expand their fleet by two or three planes .
      Madrid and Barcelona should get increadsed to 3 weekly .

      Delete
  28. Anonymous03:10

    Air Serbia announced flights to Florence before Covid. Toronto has about 10 times more passengers than Florence to Belgrade and back but Air Serbia doesn't want to fly there. Ten times more!

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    Replies
    1. Nemjee08:06

      Yes and costs of launching Toronto are probably a thousand times higher. You do realize that they would have to get another A330 for Canada while FLR could be operated with existing aircraft?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:42

      You do realize that wet lease A330 is just 250.000 USD/month? And that with good ticket sales and cargo they can break even after 8 rotations per month? And that introduction of additional TATL will increase their loads on european flights?
      So now, all questions come to one - why no introduction of Toronto/Chicago yet???

      Delete
  29. Anonymous04:31

    How many plane do they have that can fly to Florence, and how many to Toronto?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous05:01

      They wouldn't have started New York with that kind of thinking.

      It's not how many planes, it's how many balls do you have to start it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous05:27

      Well how many balls do you need?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous06:20

      I got what I need but I am not managing Air Serbia. They would need to grow a pair. That would end ball conniptions and would see Air Serbia tails in ORD, YYZ and China.

      Delete
    4. Nemjee08:08

      Huge difference between their flights to New York and Toronto is that JFK was pushed by the Serbian government and it had to be done.
      The government doesn't care if JU flies to Toronto so now it is up to Air Serbia to make it happen. That's where the problem is. Hopefully the government insists on China flights so that they happen just like JFK did.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:50

      Facts indicate completely opposite. Air Serbia management acts if they don't care if JU flies to Toronto. Governments did a lot of work to update bilaterals, previous management did the groundwork for establishing the service, Toronto airport was reported as aware and willing but it's the current Air Serbia management that keeps dragging their feet.

      Delete
    6. I think ultimately Air Serbia management needs approval from Serbian government before launching this route, probably for any intercontinental route. After all, it's the government that finances Air Serbia, and for YYZ and/or ORD they will need another A330 which of course means additional financing.
      Mind you I think both of these cities would work year round; 4x weekly in summer and 2x weekly in winter, to start with. Later they could increase frequencies.

      Delete

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