Qatar Airways plans to maintain limited operations to the former Yugoslavia this coming winter season, with the carrier to perform flights only to Belgrade and Zagreb. As EX-YU Aviation News learns, the airline also plans to resume flights to Skopje although this is unlikely to occur before the summer of 2022. Qatar Airways will operate daily operations between Doha and Belgrade this winter, which is on par with its pre-pandemic frequencies, as well as three weekly flights to Zagreb, increasing to four weekly from December 19. This is still significantly down from the double daily rotations maintained to the Croatian capital prior to the pandemic. At this point, there is no indication if the airline will restore its flights to Sarajevo.
Qatar Airways’ Belgrade service has performed well for the carrier this summer, buoyed by a significant number of transfer passengers from India, who are using the Serbian capital as a quarantine pitstop. They have effectively replaced transfer traffic to and from China, which made up a significant portion of the airline’s passenger structure on the Belgrade flights prior to the pandemic. Qatar Airways launched its service between Doha and Belgrade in late 2012 and despite strong competition from other Gulf rivals vying mainly for transfer passengers, it has seen the fastest passenger growth on the Serbian market over the past few years.
Qatar Airways' top Belgrade pre-pandemic feeder routes
Qatar Airways’ Zagreb operations have been severely impacted by the closure of its traditional feed markets, including Australia and Asia. Inbound and outbound travel from Australia, which is to be eased for citizens and residents from certain Australian states next month, is not expected to be fully restored and operational until mid-2022, while the majority of markets in Asia are still closed for outbound travel or are limited to so-called travel bubbles. Qatar Airways became Zagreb’s second busiest transfer airline in 2019 behind only Lufthansa but has since lost ground.
Qatar Airways' top Zagreb pre-pandemic feeder routes
The Qatari carrier discontinued flights to Skopje at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last March, however, there are plans for the service to be restored in the coming period. The airline’s Skopje operations rely heavily on feed from the Australian market, which will start to slowly reopen for fully vaccinated Australian citizens and residents next month. Plans are yet to be made public for the reopening of Australia to foreign non-essential travel.
Qatar Airways' top Skopje pre-pandemic feeder routes
Is there any chance they are going to send widebodies to ex-Yu any time soon?
ReplyDeleteIf they had cargo I assume they would starting sending Dreamliner.
DeleteI think both BEG and ZAG will eventually be upgraded to Dreamliners.
DeleteBeg deffinetly but zagreb. They will first increase frequency and than upgrade an aircraft on route.
DeleteBelgrade was extremely close to get Dreamliner for September and October operations. Hopefully in the near future we will either see wide body or more frequencies to/from BEG.
DeleteLet's see how they do against FZ in Belgrade this winter which will be flying double daily.
ReplyDeleteI think they carry different types of passengers. FZ is mostly point to point nowadays, QR is all transfer.
DeleteIt's a great sign they kept the same frequencies during Covid.
DeleteLet's not forget that Wizzair increased from December Belgrade - Abu Dhabi to 4 weekly with A321.
DeleteI can guarantee you that Wizz Air is not their competition.
DeleteQR will benefit from a lack of Etihad.
DeleteIn BEG they now have an interline with JU.
DeleteIs there any chance of a codeshare? Now with Etihad leaving the market i would prefer Air Serbia to work more closely with Qatar.
DeleteSame. I don't see JU getting any more advantages from EY. They should work more closely with QR as their gulf partner.
Delete"Let's not forget that Wizzair increased from December Belgrade - Abu Dhabi to 4 weekly with A321."
DeleteTwo days ago they cancelled the tickets for those of us who booked early and benefitted from the launch fares. Never booking with those crooks again.
wow they cancelled tickets just so they could charge more. Crazy.
DeleteI don't understand their decision not to return to Sarajevo as early as this summer. Gulf airlines did very well and with QR resuming so many routes in the Gulf one would think its a non brainer.
ReplyDeleteThe yields are probably not there.
DeleteAs if QR cares about yields.
DeleteA few days ago my friend was flying them VIE-DOH. Said thre were 20 passengers in economy
DeleteI heard similar stories of them deploying 788 and A330 on routes with loads of 50-60 pax... PRG, WAW, LED... probably to do with cargo and network rotations and also likely to maintain market image I guess...
DeleteProbably but it would make more sense to fly the 787 to BEG for example where they are constantly sending their one and only A321 which is full. Come to BEG during the time of their checkin. It's as if you are in downtown Delhi.
DeleteI think its business class demand which defines the decision whether to send a widebody or not. After that its cargo.
DeleteYou are probably right
DeleteWhen the market recovers I expect they will start sending widebody planes to Zagreb. In 2018 they started widebody ops to Budapest which they also erved double daily.
DeleteFor BEG pax it would also be much better to first go down the path of ZAG: have 2x daily connection on A320 instead of 1x A330 or 788.
DeleteTheir strategy is usually 4 weekly upgrades to 7 weekly upgrades to 10 weekly upgrades to double daily, then widebody.
DeleteI remember the day when they used to fly Doha-Budapest-Zagreb and Doha-Ankara-Belgrade :D
DeleteDOH-SOF-BEG as well.
DeleteRegarding Sarajevo, the immediate post covid period is crucial for airlines. Those that come back first will be able to capitalise on it. Wait too long and you will loose the market. The latter is the case with QR.
DeleteFingers crossed they come back to Skopje.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I want them to start SKP again, I don't think they will till at least 2022 as the article stated. There are simply way more other options. TH and OS being one of them.
DeleteI still can't believe they went from double daily to 3 weekly in ZAG.
ReplyDeleteIt shows that they mostly carried tourists on this route I guess.
DeleteTheir feed destinations explain everything.
DeleteQR has been quite successful in competing against Emirates in Zagreb. Smarter strategy by deploying narrow bodies twice per day and catching all connections in their network, rather than sending a widebody in peak summer and then having a few weekly flights with low cost in winter. Eliminating EK will work well for them next summer when I expect they will be up to daily flights.
DeleteQR ZAG is as daily in GDS from next Jun. I would say as the latest, since if some relevant markets open sooner (like Australia), they will push it ahead. BEG is a bit of a gamble. As soon as India starts to travel directly to their destination, whole daily BEG case becomes questionable. For that reason QR ia relucktant I believe to go beyond daily. Is not local traffic that supports it, so very uncertain.
DeleteThey were operating more flights to BEG before the whole India story. ZAG was once per week, Belgrade 4.
DeleteAnd I wouldn't take GDS seriously they had ZAG at two daily this winter just 3 weeks ago.
DeleteSummer schedule has just been filed. Anyway, I am not comparing ZAG and BEG, just saying that hike to daily owes to current India flow. Which is great for the route, but unpredictable. So QR plays it as safe as possible
DeleteSaying it's all down to Indian travelers isn't really true.
DeleteInteresting to see the traffic flow and feed on these routes. Mostly expected.
ReplyDeleteWho is flying Belgrade-Denpasar???
DeleteTourists to Bali.
DeleteDenpasar makes sense because of Bali. More interesting are the transfers from India and Pakistan from or to SKP.
DeleteI noticed several tour operators selling BEG to Maldives and Zanzibar packages in November with QR.
DeleteI noticed that too. And they are surprisingly cheap. 10 day stays for 1200 euros with air fares and hotel accommodation. They must have got good fares from QR.
DeleteI hope they launch Ljubljana
ReplyDeleteI don't think so. Slovenia is too small market. Slovenian pax are bonus on flights to/from Zagreb. Why would they jeopardize that?
DeleteI think the most logical next destination in the region would be Tirana.
DeleteThe next route they planned to start in the region was DBV.
DeleteDubrovnik was supposed to have more frequencies than SJJ and SKP.
DeleteBut only during summer.
DeleteThere was some development before covid that Qatar was trying to include TIV in triangle flight DOH-TIV-ZAG and v/v.Reason: Qatar state investment in Blue Horizon (Tivat)
Delete^ Interesting
DeleteAnon 09:17 if you still don't know, Flydubai flies to LJU.
DeleteI think if they eventually launch Ljubljana they might covert Zagreb to one daily with widebody.
DeleteWould be tricky to fill 3 or 4 planes per week from LJU to DOH, especially since it would all have to be transfers. Little or very small number of Slovenes working in the Gulf region and not so much travel to Asia.
DeleteAnon 09:53 people have been saying same thing for Flydubai for DXB-LJU and they are doing fine.
DeleteBut it took them 9 years since talks started for flights to launch.
Deleteand don't forget that it's expo in Dubai. Lets see if they remain at LJU next year...I highly doubt it.
DeleteThere is more than enough demand for them to stay.
DeleteI agree, but to be honest there is much more demand on some other routes which are not covered from LJU. This clearly shows that demand is not the only parameter on which airlines decide either to operate or not..
DeleteWhat about Dubrovnik? They planned to launch it as a new seasonal route in 2020 but then corona came. Any chance they will restart those.
ReplyDeleteProbably depend if Asian and particularly south east Asian countries allow their citizens to travel.
DeleteI think the consideration to reopen SKP is connected to reopening AUS next month, it will be great to see the best airline back in SKP
ReplyDeleteYes, although Australia travel will still be limited for time being but I can tell you there is a lot of pent up demand for travel from the entire ex-Yu diaspora in Australia. They haven't been able to leave for 18 months.
DeleteIf I was locked up for almost 2 years I would also want to travel.
DeleteI hope that next year there will be soo much demand to SKP, from the diaspora here in AUS that they will send an 788 or even a 359! That would be very exciting!
DeleteQatar Airways seems to be on a roll. They just announced a bunch of new routes to Egypt and they are bringing A380s out of retirement in November!
ReplyDeleteThey are not making profit on these routes at all... these are low yield markets and they are selling for peanuts.. QR is only alive because of huge money injection every year
DeleteThe A380s are only coming back because 13 of their A350s are grounded.
DeleteNo, A380s are for sure not coming because of grounded A350. They have plenty of 787s and A330s to replace them.
DeleteThere's a recent Reuters article on the internet:
Delete"Qatar Airways will resume flights with Airbus (AIR.PA) A380s earlier than planned to make up for capacity lost in the regulator grounding of some of its A350s, according to a report published on Wednesday."
I still think that is bullshit. Many of routes still does not have more than half capacity from 2019. Just imagine how many planes are available from Asian routes (PVG, PEK, TPE, HND, NRT, BKK, SIN, KUL, CGK, DPS, HKT, ICN + whole Australia + India). And they ground many A330, in the mean time got new B787-9. Even in Europe, almost every widebody routes are below 2019 capacity. So in that case, A380 is not A350 replacement and it would be expensive and not logic replacement at all.
DeleteQatar has retired a large chunk of their A330 fleet during the pandemic. Sure, A380 might not make sense, but it's the aircraft they already have, and it's still cheaper than leasing another aircraft for only a year or two.
DeleteWith world cup being hosted in qatar at the end of next year, numbers will continue to go up and they will probably restart SKP and SJJ. Good luck to QR on their ex-Yu routes.
ReplyDeleteQR is the only one world airline in Belgrade, Skopje and Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteOnly one in BEG. They no longer fly SKP and SJJ. At least for now.
DeleteWhat were QR's frequencies to SJJ and SKP before corona?
DeleteSKP was 3 per week
DeleteAnd SJJ 4 pw
DeleteSKP was actually 4 Monday Wednesday Friday Sunday
DeleteThat's the Corona frequency in some cities now.
DeleteWhat were their feeder routes for Sarajevo?
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in that too, considering it could not have been the Gulf because of the blockade.
DeleteShanghai, Jakarta, Sydney, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur
DeleteBest airline
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey should use the opportunity of Emirates leaving Zagreb and Flydubai's sloppy return.
ReplyDeleteWhat can they do exactly? There is just no demand.
DeleteStrange they never launched TIA
ReplyDeleteThe previous management was extremely passive and inactive. If it wasn't for Covid, QR would probably already be operating here. Regardless, nowadays TIA is connected to the Gulf more than ever before.
DeleteGood luck to them. Hope we see some demand recovery this winter.
ReplyDeletewow seems they were the number 1 airline for Chinese transfers.
ReplyDeletefrom BEG I mean
DeleteIt was Etihad until Covid but QR was taking over. Same like they completely took over Australian transfers from EY.
DeleteBetter fares and better service. As well as more destinations in both.
DeleteHopefully EY comes co SKP eventually!
ReplyDeleteIt's more likely Wizz will begin Abu Dhabi.
DeleteKarachi :)
ReplyDelete?
DeleteDon't believe anything they say - this is an absolute joke of an airline, with a little man with a Napoleonic complex as their CEO. The guy who said "The A380 produces too many emissions, so we've withdrawn them to save the planet" and the other day he goes and says "It's our flagship airplane we will use it again".
ReplyDeleteThe man who forces himself upon his female crew and treats them like his concubines isn't exactly the kind of man you should trust when it comes to announcements.
I travelled on 30 sep on qatar airways with a group of about 38 doctors, paramedic and support staff to karbala and back. This was my 7tg consecutive trip in as many years to karbala and back on this airline. Due to change in flight schedule after emd was paid to the airline, my group stay at doha was increased to 20 hours. Qatar Airways offered us a 30 Dirham voucher for one meal only in 20 hours and even we had to buy water. Those who happened to have had experience of buying food in food court of doha airport know very well how meagre this amount is where a small water bottle is of $2. We went to transfer desk supervisor Muhammed Jhegam to get atleast one more meal but he flatly and arrogantly refused to help us. Infact some water bottles were being given at the customer desk in front of gate c13. But when members of our group started to approach the desk, the gentleman at that desk warned our group members to not to approach him any more. My understanding is that As per IATA rules we should have been accommodated in hotel. We all were fully vaccinated, pcr negative and associated with medical profession in one form or the other. It is mind boggling how much moral bankrupt qatar airways management has become and to observe their inhuman behaviour against all courtesies and traditional Arab hospitality.
ReplyDeleteSo beware folks Qatar airways is not what it use to be and make a conscious decision before believing in what they say in ads and their campaign because my experience is that they have become arrogant and inhospitable.