EX-YU carriers to boost operations in lead-up to summer


Air Serbia and Croatia Airlines are set to increase frequencies across their respective networks as one of the year’s slowest months in the industry draws to a close and the 2022 summer season approaches on March 27. Air Serbia will restore four routes it temporarily suspended during February, including Thessaloniki on March 4, Sofia on March 7 and Brussels on March 8. Services to Banja Luka Airport, which was temporarily closed for runway reconstruction, will resume on March 4. As entry restrictions across Europe are eased, the carrier will increase its frequencies from Belgrade to Zurich from eleven weekly rotations to double daily flights, with additional departures to be added from next week to Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, London Heathrow, Paris and Rome. The airline will also increase its frequencies to Ljubljana from six to eight weekly.

Croatia Airlines plans to grow its operations over the coming weeks, primarily to Lufthansa Group hubs. The carrier will be adding the most flights on its Zagreb - Munich route, where frequencies will be increased from the existing nine weekly rotations to a double daily service. Croatia Airlines is currently the sole operator on the route, with Lufthansa planning to restore operations between the two cities on May 2 for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. The Croatian carrier will also boost departures between Zagreb and Vienna from its existing three weekly services to between four and six weekly flights. An additional rotation will also be added to Zurich for a total of thirteen weekly, while Brussels will be increased by two weekly services for a total of ten, although this will be limited only to one week in early March.

Air Montenegro currently plans to maintain the same number of scheduled flights over the coming weeks in the lead-up to the summer season, with the carrier to maintain double daily operations from Podgorica to Belgrade, three weekly to Ljubljana and two weekly to Frankfurt. In addition, the carrier will run daily services from Tivat to the Serbian capital, as well as two weekly rotations to Istanbul. Air Montenegro has announced plans to boost existing frequencies from late March onwards, as well as introduce five new routes, including three in April and one each in May and June.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    "Croatia Airlines plans to grow its operations over the coming weeks, primarily to Lufthansa Group hubs"

    What a surprise...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      Well Lufthansa hubs form 35% of their destination network from Zagreb at the moment - FRA, MUC, ZRH, VIE and BRU.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:20

      That has been their strategy for decades.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:54

      The difference in capacity and frequencies OU has to Frankfurt compared to all other destinations is crazy.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:55

      As expected, LH group hubs most frequent.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:57

      And how many flights to LH group airlines have to ZAG? I have a feeling they are doing the same as they did with Adria.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:14

      This week Lufthansa has just five flights from Frankfurt to Zagreb.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:06

      I'm wondering how profitable the LH Hub flights by Croatia Airlines are.

      Delete
    8. They are not profitable. They make losses. But it is not important as long as LH gets their feed

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:04

    Good to see JU resuming those three routes although they moved Brussels and Sofia by a week. I think they originally planned to resume them during the first few days in March.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      Yes, BRU was supposed to restart on 1st March and Sofia on 3rd

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/02/air-serbia-temporarily-suspends-three.html

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:04

    A friend of mine arrived on LX yesterday to BEG at 14.00 and their A220-300 was full to the last seat. I guess both them and JU must be doing so much better now.

    Good for JU for increasing flights especially to LJU. Eight weekly is really good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      Lifting all Covid restrictions must have made a big difference. I remember reading a statement here from Marek a year ago how Switzerland is the most reactive market to any restriction changes.

      Delete
    2. Nemjee09:10

      Hopefully LCA experiences the same effect from March 1st when restrictions are removed. Yesterday's BEG-LCA had just 56 passengers.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:13

      What are the current Cyprus entry restrictions?

      Delete
    4. Nemjee09:20

      They require a PCR test (72 hours before arrival) or antigen (24 hours). Once you arrive you wait for at least an hour at the arrivals hall for them to test you at your own expense (PCR test) and then you have to isolate until the result arrives. Those who do not have a booster shot have to do an antigen test after three days of isolation.

      Mind you this is for vaccinated passengers. Unvaccinated are banned at the moment. From today starts some sort of a transitory phase and on March 1st all restrictions for vaccinated passengers are being lifted while some for the unvaccinated remain depending where you are coming from.

      March is when tourists start arriving so they can't waste another year. Air Serbia had a lot of transfers on this route, especially to Paris. It's good to see that they are bringing back the Friday night flight from mid-March.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:28

      Ah I see, that's quite a lot of rules and restrictions. Especially having to test AGAIN after a couple of days.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:33

      Cyprus will probably lift all restrictions by start of peak summer.

      Delete
    7. Nemjee14:13

      As of today you no longer have to do the test before your trip so that's something at least. But yes I expect demand to drastically increase starting from March 1st. People want to travel so hopefully these silly restrictions are suspended really soon.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:08

    Is it just me or does Air Montenegro have very low fleet utilization for two aircraft?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      Most of the time they are operating just 1 aircraft this winter.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:17

      True. They have even had both planes out of service several times this winter and had to wet lease Trade Air or Air Serbia planes.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:21

      That's crazy for such a small airline.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:24

      Also they are actively trying to block Turkish Airlines from launching IST-TIV this summer.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:26

      That's why they have flooded frequencies for next summer to daily. To try and push them out.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:33

      And if they are successful I wouldn't be surprised that they then reduce frequencies to sustainable levels.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:15

    JU frequencies are still quite low on most routes across the board.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      There are still a lot of entry restrictions for Serbian citizens across the board.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:31

      ^ Most countries in Europe are waiting for big momma Germany to ease and lift restrictions. When that happens they will all faithfully follow.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:16

    I'm still worried by how JU will carry out its Italian expansion. I don't see Italy easing any entry requirements for Serbian citizens any time soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      Many it's primarily aimed for transfers?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:31

      Some of the routes are but not all and they won't be successful based on transfers alone.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:18

    Good to see Air Serbia growing LJU. Wonder how much they will operate during the summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      What were the frequencies last summer?

      Delete
    2. Nemjee09:23

      Hopefully LJU comes very close to 14 weekly so that they can be competitive for transfers.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:30

      @9.21

      It was 9 weekly. So they have now almost matched last summer's frequencies which is great considering it's February. Slovenia will also probably lift all entry requirements sooner or later.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:37

      Interesting that they are doing so well in LJU.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:38

      Plus don't forget there are 2 weekly INI-LJU flights too.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:21

      From today on there are no more restrictions for entering Slovenia.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:07

      ^ that's great news

      Delete
    8. Anonymous14:16

      Not even vaccination status?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous16:02

      noup - no restrictions. not even for bars, clubs, shops etc. only for hospitals and similar

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:33

    To be honest this is poor from OU considering they are being pressed on all sides by Ryanair. Should be doing much more.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:12

      They have had no response whatsoever to FR since day one. What makes you think they would wake up now when Ryanair has three planes in Zagreb?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:52

      They did try flights from Osijek which failed and they tried flights to Pristina in cooperation with My Wings which also failed.

      Delete
    3. If you schedule PRN flights which cannot connect on other flights to western Europe in ZAG, and if you schedule OSI flights which cannot connect on your "partner's" flights in MUC, of course both will fail

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:34

    Good to see some growth

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:34

    Why is February so poor for airlines everywhere in the world?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:35

      Because it is the time of the year people travel the least. Especially because many travel in December/January for holidays and weather is still poor in most of Europe and North America during this time.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:15

      November is also usually a poor performer.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:39

    Let's hope this is the end of frequency decreases and that we can finally get some stability in the timetables.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      It will be stable until September at least :D

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:41

    It is already the end of February and Croatia Airlines hasn't announced the resumption of a single pre-Covid route, and they suspended many. Not to mention that no new routes have been announced. Meanwhile JU is adding 12 new routes, Air Montenegro adding five. Is there any indication OU will start some new routes or at least resume previous ones?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:46

      The financial situation at Croatia Airlines is quite poor at the moment so don't expect miracles.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:46

      i know what you mean, but Air Montenegro cannot be compared with OU of introducing new routes.... Air Monte Negro ;-) is a Newcomer, it has to introduce a few routes

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:47

      It's hardly great at Air Serbia and Air Montenegro either but at least they are growing.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:53

      They can rely on state help.

      Delete
    5. Yes, and poor OU got nothing from the state during 30 years. The difference is in OU they steal and waste money, in other two they use it for growth and development

      Delete
    6. @POZDRAV Im always expecting your mean comments about OU! 😂😂

      Delete
    7. My comments are not mean. My comments are just telling the truth. Sad and disappointing truth. If you consider telling truth being mean, I can just be sorry about it, nothing else

      Delete
    8. Anonymous06:24

      Well OU is resuming Barcelona so that's something at least.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:53

    Not bad all things considered.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:53

    Let's see if they all stick to these plans

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:55

      They will considering it is happening in the next week or two and virus cases across Europe are still falling for now.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:07

      Well in February JU planned many flights but then cancelled them one by one. So it's far from a sure thing.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:54

    Bravo Serbian and Croatian tax payers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At least Serbian taxpayers see some results, unlike Croatian

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:55

    Let's see how things turn out. I wish them all good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:56

    I think OU and JU are still being overcautious.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:57

    How many destinations will each have next month?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:00

      OU will have 12 international routes from Zagreb plus 4 domestic.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:03

      JU will have 35 international routes from Belgrade plus 1 domestic.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous10:04

    Zurich... Air Serbia's golden route

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:09

      It has been the best performer for over 20 years.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:10

      ZRH shows how huge the diaspora there is that it can sustain the flights purely based on them travelling.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:10

      BGE-TIV during summer is the busiest actually.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous06:25

      Well, someone has to be on top. Good thing with Zurich is that it has volume the whole year unlike Tivat which does really well for three months, not even, like 2.5 from mid-June to September.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous10:19

    I really hope both Air Serbia and Croatia Airlines will restore flights to Tel Aviv. Israel reopens for everyone (including non vaccinated people) from 1st of March .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:22

      Good to see Israel reopening. Hope to see these flights back.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:46

      JU will return to Tel Aviv. Probably in June or July.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:31

      Is there some issue with JU in TLV? It's weird they are not resuming it earlier

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:35

      Well entry to the country is banned until 1st of March and demand certainly won't shoot up straight away considering they just announced they would lift this ban last night. It's a long flight by JU standards and they need to have good loads for it to be profitable so it makes sense to resume in peak summer. Also Israel has had some of the most kneejerk reactions during Covid like banning tourists over night, banning their own citizens from travelling, introducing lock downs withut prior notice etc.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:10

      Sure, but the season in TLV is not European season, it starts earlier. TLV is one of the oldest JU routes, right? They should resume it as of April, Israelis will start travelling way before peak European summer.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:21

      TLV is not one of JU's oldest routes. It was launched 6 months before Yugoslavia broke apart.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous19:01

      I may be ignorant but if it's older than me, it's one of the oldest

      Delete
    8. Yugoslavia and Israel renewed diplomatic relations after 24 years in October 1991 .

      Delete
    9. JATBEGMEL23:54

      @19,01

      TLV is waaay down the list.

      First international route was BEG-ZAG-VIE in October 1929. Second followed a few months later being BEG-SKP-SKG. Tens of other destinations opened in the 60 years by the time TLV was launched.

      Delete
    10. Problem was non existent diplomatic relations between SFRJ and Israel as Tito had awesome relations with Yasser Arafat, leader of PLO which was considered terrorist organization in Israel - PLO even had office in Belgrade. Palestine was not recognized by Israel - there are similarities with today situation with Serbia and Kosovo in a certain way...

      Delete
    11. Anonymous06:27

      Yugoslavia was the first country in Europe to recognize Palestinian independence. Palestine still has an embassy in Belgrade and Serbia gives scholarships to Palestinian students every year.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:25

    Croatia Airlines needs to upgrade Athens to year-round, now is their change before Ryanair or Aegean do it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:28

      They should also start nonstop flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:28

      From Zagreb I mean

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:55

      Agreed but they also need to maintain DBV flights as they are packed and very popular during summer season. A3 plans A320 operations this year and they also upgraded ATH-DBV to year-round

      Delete
    4. Please don't make me laugh with expecting OU to do anything anytime anywhere.

      Delete
    5. Come on @POZDRAV this is hilarious, anytime, anyplace, anywhere this obsession with OU!

      Delete
    6. The first hilarious thing is the FACT that after 30 years of existence, and hundreds of millions, maybe even billions of euros pumped in, coming from touristic giant country, with millions of tourists, and millions of emmigrants on all continents, they have fleet of 6 turboprops and 6 well aged narrowbodied planes, and fly to 14 international destinations, simultaneously making huge losses. With such results, the second hilarious thing is me being criticized for saying that OU did NOTHING anytime, anyplace, anywhere

      Delete
    7. OMG @POZDRAV! Calm down. I don't understand, were you fired from OU or you are an angry shareholder?!

      Delete
    8. Angry shareholder? Which parallel Universe do you live in? Are you for real speaking of Uhljeb Airlines from Hrvatistan as a normal company functioning in normal country with market economy? And I was not fired as well. I LEFT, on my own will and decision, long long time ago, when I realised what's going on, and decided I didn't want to be part of it. And maybe you are made from such material to stay calm watching what's happening in our homeland, where the same people are destroying not only OU but the entire country as well, for decades, but I cannot, so sorry

      Delete
  22. Anonymous10:29

    I can only imagine how big of a decrease this is compared to same month in 2019.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous10:46

    How many weekly flights will JU have on BEG-TIA line in February?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:08

      I mean March

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:10

      10 weekly flights are planned.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous12:05

    Honestly you would expect OU to be increasing Zurich much more now that there are no restrictions and especially since they have absolutely no competition on the route.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:32

      Croatian diaspora is not very big in Switzerland compared to other ex-Yu countries. Hence no Swiss flights either.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous12:31

    Well at least you can look forward to national airlines increasing flights. Not the case here in Skopje.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:34

      Yet Skopje had better recovery than BEG in January

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:42

      ^ like comparing apples and oranges.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous06:29

      Because SKP is similar to TIA, gasto central so numbers are more stable. On the other hand there is minimal business or tourism traffic so the airport isn't as affected. Gasterbajteri will return no matter what.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous15:03

    ^ i have no friend so i like apples and oranges.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous16:32

    I hope that JU will do charters to Malaga in summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:05

      Have they ever?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous03:50

      Oh dear, results are still way too poor. Aviation will eventually recover by 2024.
      Skopie has and will have good figures thanks to the huge Albanian diaspora.
      Even Kukes Airport is now open and will receive Wizzair flights. Most likely overtaking even ohrid.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous13:46

    ^ Bravo Air Serbia !

    ReplyDelete

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