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.
"Croatia Airlines plans to grow its operations over the coming weeks, primarily to Lufthansa Group hubs"
ReplyDeleteWhat a surprise...
Well Lufthansa hubs form 35% of their destination network from Zagreb at the moment - FRA, MUC, ZRH, VIE and BRU.
DeleteThat has been their strategy for decades.
DeleteThe difference in capacity and frequencies OU has to Frankfurt compared to all other destinations is crazy.
DeleteAs expected, LH group hubs most frequent.
DeleteAnd how many flights to LH group airlines have to ZAG? I have a feeling they are doing the same as they did with Adria.
DeleteThis week Lufthansa has just five flights from Frankfurt to Zagreb.
DeleteI'm wondering how profitable the LH Hub flights by Croatia Airlines are.
DeleteThey are not profitable. They make losses. But it is not important as long as LH gets their feed
DeleteGood 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.
ReplyDeleteYes, BRU was supposed to restart on 1st March and Sofia on 3rd
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/02/air-serbia-temporarily-suspends-three.html
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.
ReplyDeleteGood for JU for increasing flights especially to LJU. Eight weekly is really good.
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.
DeleteHopefully LCA experiences the same effect from March 1st when restrictions are removed. Yesterday's BEG-LCA had just 56 passengers.
DeleteWhat are the current Cyprus entry restrictions?
DeleteThey 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.
DeleteMind 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.
Ah I see, that's quite a lot of rules and restrictions. Especially having to test AGAIN after a couple of days.
DeleteCyprus will probably lift all restrictions by start of peak summer.
DeleteAs 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.
DeleteIs it just me or does Air Montenegro have very low fleet utilization for two aircraft?
ReplyDeleteMost of the time they are operating just 1 aircraft this winter.
DeleteTrue. They have even had both planes out of service several times this winter and had to wet lease Trade Air or Air Serbia planes.
DeleteThat's crazy for such a small airline.
DeleteAlso they are actively trying to block Turkish Airlines from launching IST-TIV this summer.
DeleteThat's why they have flooded frequencies for next summer to daily. To try and push them out.
DeleteAnd if they are successful I wouldn't be surprised that they then reduce frequencies to sustainable levels.
DeleteJU frequencies are still quite low on most routes across the board.
ReplyDeleteThere are still a lot of entry restrictions for Serbian citizens across the board.
Delete^ Most countries in Europe are waiting for big momma Germany to ease and lift restrictions. When that happens they will all faithfully follow.
DeleteI'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.
ReplyDeleteMany it's primarily aimed for transfers?
DeleteSome of the routes are but not all and they won't be successful based on transfers alone.
DeleteGood to see Air Serbia growing LJU. Wonder how much they will operate during the summer.
ReplyDeleteWhat were the frequencies last summer?
DeleteHopefully LJU comes very close to 14 weekly so that they can be competitive for transfers.
Delete@9.21
DeleteIt 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.
Interesting that they are doing so well in LJU.
DeletePlus don't forget there are 2 weekly INI-LJU flights too.
DeleteFrom today on there are no more restrictions for entering Slovenia.
Delete^ that's great news
DeleteNot even vaccination status?
Deletenoup - no restrictions. not even for bars, clubs, shops etc. only for hospitals and similar
DeleteTo be honest this is poor from OU considering they are being pressed on all sides by Ryanair. Should be doing much more.
ReplyDeleteThey 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?
DeleteThey did try flights from Osijek which failed and they tried flights to Pristina in cooperation with My Wings which also failed.
DeleteIf 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
DeleteGood to see some growth
ReplyDeleteWhy is February so poor for airlines everywhere in the world?
ReplyDeleteBecause 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.
DeleteNovember is also usually a poor performer.
DeleteLet's hope this is the end of frequency decreases and that we can finally get some stability in the timetables.
ReplyDeleteIt will be stable until September at least :D
DeleteIt 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?
ReplyDeleteThe financial situation at Croatia Airlines is quite poor at the moment so don't expect miracles.
Deletei 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
DeleteIt's hardly great at Air Serbia and Air Montenegro either but at least they are growing.
DeleteThey can rely on state help.
DeleteYes, 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@POZDRAV Im always expecting your mean comments about OU! 😂😂
DeleteMy 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
DeleteWell OU is resuming Barcelona so that's something at least.
DeleteNot bad all things considered.
ReplyDeleteLet's see if they all stick to these plans
ReplyDeleteThey will considering it is happening in the next week or two and virus cases across Europe are still falling for now.
DeleteWell in February JU planned many flights but then cancelled them one by one. So it's far from a sure thing.
DeleteBravo Serbian and Croatian tax payers!
ReplyDeleteAt least Serbian taxpayers see some results, unlike Croatian
DeleteLet's see how things turn out. I wish them all good luck.
ReplyDeleteI think OU and JU are still being overcautious.
ReplyDeleteHow many destinations will each have next month?
ReplyDeleteOU will have 12 international routes from Zagreb plus 4 domestic.
DeleteJU will have 35 international routes from Belgrade plus 1 domestic.
DeleteZurich... Air Serbia's golden route
ReplyDeleteIt has been the best performer for over 20 years.
DeleteZRH shows how huge the diaspora there is that it can sustain the flights purely based on them travelling.
DeleteBGE-TIV during summer is the busiest actually.
DeleteWell, 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.
DeleteI 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 .
ReplyDeleteGood to see Israel reopening. Hope to see these flights back.
DeleteJU will return to Tel Aviv. Probably in June or July.
DeleteIs there some issue with JU in TLV? It's weird they are not resuming it earlier
DeleteWell 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.
DeleteSure, 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.
DeleteTLV is not one of JU's oldest routes. It was launched 6 months before Yugoslavia broke apart.
DeleteI may be ignorant but if it's older than me, it's one of the oldest
DeleteYugoslavia and Israel renewed diplomatic relations after 24 years in October 1991 .
Delete@19,01
DeleteTLV 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.
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...
DeleteYugoslavia 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.
DeleteCroatia Airlines needs to upgrade Athens to year-round, now is their change before Ryanair or Aegean do it.
ReplyDeleteThey should also start nonstop flights.
DeleteFrom Zagreb I mean
DeleteAgreed 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
DeletePlease don't make me laugh with expecting OU to do anything anytime anywhere.
DeleteCome on @POZDRAV this is hilarious, anytime, anyplace, anywhere this obsession with OU!
DeleteThe 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
DeleteOMG @POZDRAV! Calm down. I don't understand, were you fired from OU or you are an angry shareholder?!
DeleteAngry 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
DeleteI can only imagine how big of a decrease this is compared to same month in 2019.
ReplyDeleteHow many weekly flights will JU have on BEG-TIA line in February?
ReplyDeleteI mean March
Delete10 weekly flights are planned.
DeleteHonestly 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.
ReplyDeleteCroatian diaspora is not very big in Switzerland compared to other ex-Yu countries. Hence no Swiss flights either.
DeleteWell at least you can look forward to national airlines increasing flights. Not the case here in Skopje.
ReplyDeleteYet Skopje had better recovery than BEG in January
Delete^ like comparing apples and oranges.
DeleteBecause 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^ i have no friend so i like apples and oranges.
ReplyDeleteI hope that JU will do charters to Malaga in summer.
ReplyDeleteHave they ever?
DeleteOh dear, results are still way too poor. Aviation will eventually recover by 2024.
DeleteSkopie 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.
^ Bravo Air Serbia !
ReplyDelete