Turkish Airlines will be increasing its operations across the former Yugoslavia this coming summer season with plans to serve all capital cities in the region with at least two daily flights, while services to select destinations will exceed pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, the airline is considering the addition of its ninth point in the former Yugoslavia next summer. The Turkish carrier is currently one of the largest in Europe, operating more flights than the likes of Lufthansa, Air France, KLM and British Airways. However, its operations are still down some 15% compared to the pre-pandemic era but the airline has been one of the quickest on the continent to restore destinations and frequencies.
Starting March 27, Turkish Airlines plans to serve both Belgrade and Sarajevo three times per day, each morning, afternoon and evening. As a result, the company will add an additional seven weekly rotations to the Serbian capital and restore its pre-pandemic frequencies to Sarajevo. In addition, its lower cost unit AnadoluJet will maintain two weekly flights from Ankara to Belgrade, three weekly services from Istanbul’s Sabiha Gocken Airport to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital, as well as up to one daily rotation from Antalya to Sarajevo, which will resume on May 4. At this point, AnadoluJet does not plan to resume its scheduled seasonal flights from Bodrum to Sarajevo, which were maintained last summer.
Turkish Airlines will run two daily flights from Istanbul to Pristina, Skopje, Zagreb and Ljubljana. In addition, AnadoluJet will restore three weekly rotations between Sabiha Gocken Airport and Pristina from April 1, while two weekly services from Bodrum will return on June 15. Meanwhile, the lower cost unit will restore flights from Antalya to Skopje at the start of the season, on March 28, and run ten weekly rotations between the two cities throughout the summer. On the other hand, flights from Bodrum to Skopje have not been scheduled, unlike last summer.
Turkish Airlines will run eleven weekly flights from its hub to Dubrovnik, while the carrier is also considering the introduction of four weekly services to Tivat, where it would compete directly against Air Montenegro, which maintains the route on a seasonal summer basis. For its part, the Turkish carrier said, “Turkish Airlines currently flies to every capital city in the region such as Belgrade, Sarajevo, Podgorica and Ljubljana. Before we decide on introducing a new route or increasing frequencies within our destination network, our team of experts conducts a number of studies focusing on various aspects and taking into account the performance of our existing destinations, which also plays a deciding role in our network expansion. In addition, it is important to take note of various changes on the market and have initiative".
wow at them operating 10 weekly Antalya-Skopje straight away! :O
ReplyDeleteThey will have a dominating position in many markets.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder. Their fares are reasonable and their service is excellent.
DeleteOn most European airlines you have to pay for luggage and some stale sandwich and drinks. In TK you have everything included in your ticket and fantastic catering in all classes. On top of that their fares are very competitive and usually cheaper than the competition. So no wonder.
DeleteTheir service on the ground is terrible and many of the passengers are not happy with them
DeleteIt is true that TK is going downhill for some time, especially on ground. You can have priority boarding at IST if only you are lucky, otherwise no ground staff dares to try to empty boarding lane for priority passengers. You should feel yourself also lucky, if your question in English is answered correctly by any ground staff.
DeleteI can confirm from my own experience that TK has great product in the air, but terrible service on the ground.
DeleteThey way they treat their passengers on the ground is horrible.
I'm surprised they went for the third daily flight to BEG considering Air Serbia operates a daily afternoon flight which they codeshare. Won't the market become a bit saturated?
ReplyDeleteObviously not. There is enough demand.
DeleteTurkish tourists are coming back in large numbers. Even Pegasus operated many flights in December and January with A321.
DeleteBEG-IST is such a success because it has feed on both ends and a lot of local demand.
Turkish tourists coming back? Lira has lost about 60% of it's value over the last year.
DeleteIn the first 11 months of 2021 there were 45.222 Turkish tourists that came to Serbia which is an increase of 190%. I expect there were over 50.000 of them when you add their December numbers.
DeleteGuess they are ready to compete against Flydubai in Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteIt all depends on what is the passenger structure on these flights. Although I know there are tour groups going with FZ to Zanzibar in January (unless they got cancelled in the meantime because of covid).
DeleteIts more the other way around - Flydubai can try to compete with them but Turkish is way cheaper and with double daily easier to find good connection.
DeleteIt's obvious right now that BEG is one of their most important destinations in the Balkans. Not only do they offer 4 daily in cooperation with JU but Belgrade is also one of the rare southern and eastern European destinations that they serve from Ankara.
ReplyDeleteGood job BEG!
+100
DeleteHow does BEG compare to other nearby cities in the wider region?
DeleteI'm only aware for the ATH-IST, SAW - ATH route. For 2019 it was 890,000 passengers.
DeleteFrom what I remember BEG was third in the Balkans behind Athens and Bucharest. It was even ahead of Budapest. This was for 2019.
DeleteIt would be nice to see Anadolujet expand to ZAG and LJU too.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunate they won't be using any widebodies anywhere on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteDo they use them to SOF and OTP?
DeleteAlso, how many weekly flights do they operate to these two?
DeleteYes,they and they even send A350 to OTP,I think few times (but most widebody OTP flights are on A330).
DeleteBefore covid TK had a regular one daily flight to OTP on the widebody, it was on an A333. It was the morning departure from IST. TK mostly filled it with transfers to China as demand was quite strong. China and Romania established strong ties during Communist times as Bucharest tried to find new markets for their goods and China was, at that time, reaching out to the world. Even though Romania invested a lot in its industrialization, its products were of very low quality so the West refused to buy them. That's why they turned to Africa and China.
DeleteEven when RO was considering reinstating long-haul flights, China was always considered as an option along with the US.
It is time for them to offer a second destination in Bosnia. I remember they were considering Mostar at one point.
ReplyDeleteTo me this route to Mostar seems a bit more suited for Pegasus.
DeletePerhaps it would not be bad for Banja Luka airport administration to try to stimulate them to come on BNX. if three daily flights from Sarajevo believe that it could take three weekly from Banja Luka... A lot of people from Banja Luka traveling to Istanbul from Zagreb
DeleteNow that Air Serbia was chased away from BNX-Turkey, this is the perfect opportunity for Anadoloujet to consider either charter or scheduled flights. Obviously there is demand.
DeleteWhy no Bodrum from SKP and SJJ? :(
ReplyDeleteThere might be, just not scheduled flights but charters.
DeleteThey probably offered all seats to tour operators rather than leaving some to put on free sale.
DeleteThere is for Sarajevo
DeleteWere there ever 2 daily flights by TK to Ljubljana? Or is this the first time?
ReplyDeleteYes there were.
DeleteIn 2019 they added third daily flight to Ljubljana in the system and kept it there for several weeks (without allowing booking) before removing it.
DeleteThey are currently probably the number 1 transfer airline in many ex-Yu markets
ReplyDeleteThere were recent articles that they are no. 1 in Belgrade and Skopje.
DeleteI guess there will be also Skopje - Bodrum
ReplyDeleteTravel agencies started promoting Bodrum summer packages
Yes but probably as regular charters. Not scheduled with seats on sale.
DeleteIt amazes me how this airline is profitable at all. They seem to fly to every village in the world.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think they are profitable?
DeleteThey do have a massive diaspora and they have made IST into a huge transfer point. They were also smart to expand in Africa before the competition.
DeleteThey get millions of dollars in subsidies.
DeleteMake that billions.
DeleteThey are a political project by the Turkish government. It's not just about pumping billions and having a fancy and shiny fleet, it's about being a Turkish ambassador all over the globe.
DeleteFurthermore, follow their African expansion. As Turkey was opening embassies throughout the Black Continent, so was TK adding destinations. They are fully synchronized with the country's economic activity which is very smart.
Also, their transfer numbers only keep on rising. Each time a new passenger boards a TK flight and takes his seat, he watches promo videos about Turkey and various destinations that could/should be visited at some point.
Ankara might spend billions but it probably earns much more at the end of the day.
Their economy is pretty bad shape. At some point they will have to stop the expansion. It will be very painful process.
DeleteSo from next summer all ex-Yu cities in their network will be at least two daily right?
ReplyDeleteAll except DBV.
DeleteAny airline growing in the region is good news. Hope they keep increasing frequencies and destinations.
ReplyDeleteThis is the advantage of the new IST for TK. It has more than enough room for new destinations, unlike the old Atatürk.
ReplyDeleteThey're also flying to more destinations and more frequently to any destination in US pre covid.
Once the new IST is entirely completed, looks like it will be the biggest airport in the world.
Seeing all these announcements for the upcoming summer season, Skopje is not gaining a lot of ground with new flights. No good connection to the middle east, Qatar is nowhere to restore they ops and also the promised route with Abu Dhabi is still not materialized.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore even in Europe, I thought easyJet will increase their services but they are canceling their flights all together. The flights to Bodrum are not being restored either.
Wizz related, huge loss will be the Barcelona route and their network is still not stabilized with cancelations happening very often.
Last, no real new routes are being announced for the upcoming season, compared to what I see with the other airports in the region...
Interesting analysis. I agree but I believe sooner or later Wizz will expand again. I still don't understand the lack of Middle East airline, especially Flydubai which surely could have P2P passengers.
DeleteSKP fans on here are very aggressive and irrational at times. They have been complaining how SKP doesn't have flights to GVA and how its some sort of Stelios hatered towards North Macedonia. Then they said the same for Moscow and how the market is there and why is it being ignored bla bla
DeleteEventually SKP got both destinations and both ended up being suspended. At some point SKP will reach its maximum unless someone comes and starts offering transfers.
In 2019 TK planned to fly Skopje 17 weekly but then changed their plans and kept at at 14 weekly. Don't know why.
DeletePegasus is actually increasing capacity to Skopje
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/11/pegasus-to-boost-skopje-capacity.html
Moscow is still running two times a week only in february suspendend and SKP has still more passengers fore than SJJ,Tuzla and Banja Luka combined despite Bosnia have 2 times bigger population and Bosnia having a much larger diaspora.(Ofc more chance that more Bosnians go with car to Bosnia than Macedonians do) . Its not that we can do something about that Australia is closed. What I remember Qatar airways used to have 4 weekly flights and Dubai 3. SKP needs a flight to FRA or AMS and that will be enough for better connections. And if you compare Serbia to Macedonia with passengers per capita its exactly the same.
DeleteSerbia is more than twice the size of North Macedonia but in 2019 Serbia without PRN had 3 times the passengers.
DeleteWhat happened to Onur Air in Skopje? They used to fly for some time. Now no more.
DeleteThings are changing quickly in aviation: SKP had more than double pax than SJJ (we are talking about 1.2 million (!) pax in difference) now that difference is what, 300.000 - 400.000 pax?! PRN and SKP were neck and neck for years, now PRN has double numbers in comparison to SKP. So not a single airport should take its growth for granted, that is my point.
Delete@An.10.46
DeleteCannot guarantee, but I think Onur Air discountinued all the services, almost a year ago, as a consequence of covid scam. Few planes still parked in AYT in their livery, one without engines, but I am not sure they exist any more as a company
PRN has stong diaspora and probably less Albanian diaspora is flying SKP and chose more for PRN. SJJ started their growth 3 years ago were they had small amount of flights why they can invest now in new flight. SKP has reached a certain level with all those wizzair flights that further growht has been difficult but maybe in the futher there will be opporunities for new flights.
DeleteAnon 10:16 those are some terrible math skills. Serbia is more than 3 times larger than Macedonia (almost 7 m. vs. almost 2 m.) which corresponds to the passenger numbers in BEG being roughly 3 times those of SKP in 2019 (~6.1 m. vs. 2.3 m.) On top of that, one needs to consider that about half of BEG passengers are transfers, so they are counted twice, therefore the real ratio was probably 4.5 m. in BEG vs. 2.3 m. in SKP. So for a country three times the size and with a large national airline, BEG only had twice the passengers of SKP.
DeleteSo if you are removing transfer passengers from BEG then you should take off Kosovo passengers from SKP which are what, 50%?
DeleteAlso transfers are around 30% at BEG.
You obviously don't know what transfer passengers are if you write such a nonsensical sentence. So let me explain it to you like to a 5 year old: A passenger from Bosnia driving to BEG to catch a flight to JFK is not a transfer passenger. A passenger from Moscow landing in BEG and than catching another flight from BEG to Podgorica (for example) is a transfer passenger. This means the same person is counted twice at the airport, once as arriving and once as departing passenger. The nationality of the person makes zero difference.
DeleteOk, even if transfers are 30%, the size comparison above between SKP and BEG still stands (2.3 m. vs. 5 m.).
@ Pozdrav iz Rijeke
DeleteThanks. I'm actually a bit shocked. I had no idea they went bust.
Sadly, SKP has some notorious routes in the past. There is room for improvement following the latest GVA route.
DeleteAnon 15.23
DeleteIn stead of comparing passenger numbers with BEG, maybe you should focus on SKP achieving airline diversity BEG has. We all remember what happened when SKP tried to diversify its offer and how Wizz Air reacted.
Speaking of Turkey and SKP. Just made some brief checks and realised how expensive it is to use Pegasus transfers from SKP! Antalya 300€ RT, Dubai 400€ and not very convenient connections to its network. The rest of the destinations are completely unknown. Exceptions maybe Yerevan and Tbilisi. Pegasus also deteriorated a lot and has many negative reviews.
DeleteI really hope they will consider transatlantic flights from an ex-Yu country soon.
ReplyDeleteAny chance for any ex-Yu city to be permanently upgraded to an A330, at least during the summer?
ReplyDeleteAt the moment, no. BEG had a regular A330 service once per week last summer but it makes no sense anymore with 4 daily flights between IST and BEG.
DeleteThey use such a wide array of equipment to ex-Yu destinations. Unfortunately not wide body.
DeleteWhat aircraft do they mostly use on ex-Yu routes?
DeleteOften the A321 but more and more seeing 737MAX.
DeleteDoes anyone know How is their C class on 737MAX? Proper C class (Like on A321) or european C class (like on A320).
DeleteProper business class but new product like on A321neo.
DeleteHere you can see it
https://youtu.be/qvx0TAtI8Ug
I don't think BEG will see it unless cargo demand booms. Then again, TK has a one weekly cargo flight to Belgrade onboard the A310.
DeleteIf BEG-IST sees any increases then it will be on JU adding a 00.30 departure.
That said, it would be nice if Pegasus got the rights for some additional flights to Belgrade. Daily flights in summer should be allowed.
What about Tuzla? Any plans for them to fly there?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't seem like it.
DeleteTK in Belgrade really has a fantastic timetable.
ReplyDeleteSarajevo too.
DeleteI don't understand why Turkish or some other airlines doesn't add Sarajevo-Ankara.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Very odd. I'm certain there would be demand.
DeleteThey should consider Ohrid as well at least once per day, I'm sure they'll get enough passengers.
DeleteVery strange they never consider to fly in SPU. Im pretty sure there is potential for more than seasonal flights there.
ReplyDeleteThey have considered it. I remember reading here how they planned to add SPU and were in discussions with the airport. But then Covid happened.
DeleteWell this always was their area of interest.
ReplyDeleteArticle is wrong..at least with Ljubljana. There will be 10 weekly frequencies, not 14. I guess if Ljubljana is wrong, some other destinations might be wrong.
ReplyDeleteHow can it be wrong when there are two daily flights available on the Turkish Airlines website to Ljubljana? You can buy tickets for both daily flights.
DeleteIt is 2 daily from 27 March. Flights are in GDS too.
DeletePeople like to spread fake news.
DeleteWell, I can tell you for sure, that there will be 10 weekly to LJU this summer. Flights are in since forever, but this only mean that they haven't been changed. Wait until end of this week, than come here again.
DeleteTo be honestly I also believe that there would be some changes to these schedules. It would be weird to see LJU and ZAG to have the same frequency in summer season, while currently first one is operated 5 weekly and the latter 12 weekly.
DeleteIt's a pandemic. Everything is subject to change all the time.
Deletethey are already selling Ljubljana as double daily. And its not unusual for TK to fly to Ljubljana twice a day.
DeleteLet's hope it stays in tact. In today's world, two months from now is a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteThey are using AnadoluJet more and more in ex-Yu. Hope we get some new destinations with that too.
ReplyDeleteIt is still unfortunate they had to give up on plans Antalya-Belgrade which theywere supposed to launch last summer. I wonder if the CAD would let them fly these now considering the new bilateral and more flights between Turkey and Serbia?
DeleteDoubt Air Serbia will give up a cash cow like Antalya. They flew 6-7 daily flights there last summer!
DeleteVreme je da JU uvede noćni let za IST.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why people are not shouting "TK is receiving subsidies from government, shut them down immediately". It seems that this is happening only when one of ex-yu airlines is on topic. Shame for us Balkans...
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI feel called out, so I reply : There are three reasons for what you ask. First, this is not Turkish aviation blog, but ex-yu aviation blog, so people comment on ex-yu airline companies, not Turkish airline companies. Second, if the results of our airlines were like the results of TK, we would have probably not be that loud. And third, why should we, as tax payers in ex-yu countries be interested what is done with the money of turkish tax payers, but we are interested is our money wisely used or not
DeleteHe was talking about double standards and he is right.
DeleteNot a single ex-yu carrier by its size can be compared to TK so that's a reason why the results can't be also compared. But what is TK doing in his own country JU is doing in Serbia - opening new markets, concentrating on transfer passengers, making difference.
TK is flying to all countries of ex-yu so therefore they are more than a good topic (especially after having so many flights to ex-yu) we should here dicuss about and from the same reason they should not be excluded from the talks about the way how they are financially supported by their Government.
I disagree. TK in this article is not topic which belongs to ex-yu aviation. The topic which belongs to ex-yu aviation is connectivity of ex-yu airports, numbers on ex-yu airports and income of ex-yu airports, which all are to be increased because TK is increasing its flights across ex-yu. If one needs to comment on THY profitability, losses, subventions and state aid, that one should do it on some turkish forum, not here. Oh, yes, and just btw. THY was smaller and much worse airline than ex JAT in 1980's on top of its success. Maybe it's better asking ourselves why TK is dominant on our market, and it was opposite not that long ago, despite the fact that both TK and ex-yu airlines are heavily state subsidized
DeletePozdrav, yes TK is heavily subsidised by the government. Which ex-Yu airline do you think is more subsidised, JU or OU?
DeleteOU, no doubt. It's going on for 30 years, JU much less. Plus JU made much better results over much shorter period. And I usually don't comment on JU subsidies but on OU subsidies. But I do understand people from Serbia who don't want JU to be financed with their money, the same I don't want OU to be financed with my money
DeleteIf they start TIV, Air Montenegro will be toast on this route
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't Croatia Airlines start Istanbul in the afternoon? Like Air Serbia does. Both OU and TK are Star Alliance, they can codeshare.
ReplyDeleteThis is Croatia Airlines you are talking about. What do you expect?
DeleteThey used to fly the route a couple of years ago.
DeleteIt's very difficult to compete against Turkish because they attract a lot of transfer passengers and also because Turks who are going on city break holidays prefer and almost exclusively fly with Turkish carriers.
DeleteIstanbul is huge city, with the population of half ex-yu, huge market, big economic stronghold, and tourist mecca with millions of visitors from all over the World, especially Europe. And if OU ever cared about their markets, network and results, there was definitely space to stay in IST. But it's much easier to withdraw, do nothing, and cry for more subsidies
DeleteDon't expect anything from OU. Look at Aegean, another Star Alliance partner which sells ZAG via BEG with JU in stead of cooperating with OU via VIE or another airport.
DeleteWhy does TK not fly to secondary airports such as INI, OHD, OMO, MBX?
ReplyDeleteINI just got flights with JU and I suppose they will have a code-share with TK so that market is already covered.
DeleteIf they don’t fly to Prishtina then they can’t state that they fly to each regional capital in EX YU
ReplyDeleteWho said they don't?
DeleteHow will the crashing lira affect Turkish Airlines ?
ReplyDeleteSome say travelling to Turkey will become even cheaper and that flying will increase ..