Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport has issued Air Serbia with an order to reduce its capacity on each flight departing the Dutch city for Belgrade by 28% this July. The measure came into force this Thursday and will run until August 1, although the airline has already warned the policy will be extended into August as the airport faces an unprecedent shortage of staff and is unable to properly handle departing flights. As previously reported, the order has angered Air Serbia, which maintains nine weekly services between Belgrade and Amsterdam with its A320-family aircraft. It has threatened to take legal action against the airport operator.
Amsterdam is one Air Serbia’s more popular destinations which sees a notable number of transfer passengers. Its inbound service sees solid feed from the United States and Canada, with travel from the two countries to Serbia peaking during this month. As a result of the new measures imposed by Schiphol Airport, Air Serbia no longer has any free seats available on flights from Amsterdam until the end of the week, with no free capacity available on July 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 21 either. Few seats remain available on July 11 and 13 with one-way tickets priced at over 600 euros. “When it comes to another airline, which relatively recently, after a thirty-year hiatus, established twice daily flights between Belgrade and Amsterdam, it will have an advantage, bearing in mind that it is Schiphol Airport’s hub carrier and therefore has various options available to adapt to the reduction in the number of seats to its needs. We believe that this seriously violates the principles of competitiveness of the two airlines that fly on this route”, Air Serbia said, referring to KLM.
Air Serbia noted the restrictions are causing it “great financial and reputational damage” due to the number of booked passengers who can’t be re-accommodated. "The situation is further complicated by the fact that other airlines are facing similar capacity restrictions, so it is difficult to redirect overbooked passengers to flights of other airlines from Amsterdam", it said. Affected travellers are being offered to change their travel dates without extra fees, depart from Brussels or Dusseldorf instead, or choose a refund. Air Baltic has also publicly confirmed it has been forced to cut the number of available seats on its flights departing Amsterdam. Schiphol has been among the airports hardest hit in Europe by shortages of security staff and other workers as travel demand rapidly rebounds. Last month it capped summer passenger numbers almost 20% below usual levels to avoid the chaos of last-minute delays and cancellations, leading to KLM and easyJet cancelling hundreds of flights.
Sue them, and move all operations to Eindhoven
ReplyDeleteThat would be like shooting yourself in the leg.
DeleteUnfortunately EIN is also at full capacity, there aren't many slots available there either. Dutch aviation is turning into a first class mess. Then again, you can't have a strong anti-business green movement and be one of Europe's main hubs.
DeleteWith the recent announcement regarding farming, it's obvious which way The Netherlands is heading.
Thinking about moving my company out of Netherlands after recent months, the clusterfuc.. That's currently happening there is insane.
DeleteOf course, police even shot protesters. It's all getting out of control at this point.
DeleteIf we take brief look at history, there's high level of possibility that Dutch are right for heading that direction. We'll see.
DeleteThere is a neat picture where it shows" climate change will destroy us" in next 10 years... For each year since 1955
DeleteI'm not denying its real, but in countries like Netherlands its used as a way of control
Of course it has gone too far in the NL, now they are blaming cows for CO2 emissions.
DeleteSure, Netherlands is symbol of anti-freedom :D
Delete@10.37 Dutch used nature very well for its benefit and they keep doing agriculture very smart, it is like one century ahead of us. I think they know better.
Delete@ 10:38
DeleteAt the moment, yes.
Half of world is not even allowed to protest (or even raise voice at social media at least) so no one serious take Netherlands as anti-freedom symbol.
DeleteAnon 10.41
DeleteYes and most French philosophers championed the idea of freedom and equality which was the abused by the revoltionaries which launched a reign of terror. Just because NL had a decent green movement in the past doesn't mean it wasn't highjacked by a fringe group of extremists.
It doesn't but I'm willing to give them benefit of doubt.
DeleteDo you even know why they are protesting? Are you aware that the government wants to more or less ban farming in order to reduce green house emissions? This in a country where the vast majority of the population depends on this industry.
DeleteI get it, they don't want to ban farming, they want to transform farming and keep competitive advantage through innovation, not costs, that's legitimate strategy. Let them do it so all others can see if that works or not.
DeleteThey transformed see to soil and "stole" the land from the see, I guess that was even riskier adventure.
DeleteIf you can't see that Netherlands, France UK and Sweden are slowly collapsing you are blind or are politically ok with it.
DeleteAnd we all know what they have in common... Left politics run by people with no real experience
I see this issue completelly opossite: they're leading something we'll want to live in and we'll (like usual) be late at the party. Whoever is right, it's not the reason to confront. At the end of day, it's not our society, why would their collapse upset you, unless you think we'll have refugees from Sweden?
DeleteYes, they are leading us into a world where we are not making our own food because it supposedly pollutes the environment. Instead, we are going to be making it elsewhere where pollution doesn't matter and that same food that was once made locally will be imported. In the end, we are not going to be polluting our air but in stead we are going to be polluting someone else's and that's perfectly ok. Like that we are not harming earth because it is making us feel good about ourselves.
DeleteAll is fair and fine if they want to move away from farming, or some other industry. But you do this through consensus and cooperation, not tyranny, which is what the NL gov is doing. But I see some people have no problem with that and that’s fine by me: you want to live in tyranny and let the gov dictate your way of life, then super. I don’t.
DeleteCO2 and cows don't make sense at all. they eat grass, then they fart, co2 leaves, grass takes co2 to grow. it's a co2 cycle with animals.
DeleteGet woke go broke
DeleteClimate panic exists since 40 years. Whenever elites use fear, censorship, split of society and propaganda, u know they have nothing good in mind. The Covid plandemic was best example for it. U had it all. Since I know that the US Billionaires founded Breakthrough Energy Investment company and that they were chosen by EU Commission as Nr. 1 partner for the 1 trillion EUR EU green deal and u see that Gates Foundation is heavily donating to media (over 300 mio USD last years), and science is like during plandemic censored, my believe for human made climate change is gone. Majority of western society nowadays has completely lost orientation. Typical sign of wealthyness and spoilness. Not for no reason, opposition against Covid was in Eastern Europe much stronger than in the West. Eastern European people are better educated, had to fight more in their lifes and have a healthy distrust against leaders, which of course is normal, if u look at their history the past 90, 100 or 110 years. Common sense definitely is still better spread around in the East, as in West education is being adjusted more and more to poor US level.
DeleteSo you do think we will have refugees from Sweden
DeleteHere is the solution: most if the pax are transfering to North America. Send them all to IST or JFK. That way KLM and its partners suffer the consequences.
DeleteBig shame on Schiphol
ReplyDeleteThat is bad news for JU.
ReplyDeleteThis is happening all over Europe, so nothing anti-Air Serbian. British Airways has had to cut flights at Heathrow and Gatwick. Even Croatia Airlines had to cancel some flights to London.
ReplyDeleteIt's not anti-JU but, at least in case of BEG, it's pro-KLM which isn't allowed by any free market principle. It can't be true that minor airline on the route brings major problem for AMS.
Deleteanon 9:17: every airline flying to AMS is requested to make cuts in the same %, but if a given airline flies more routes to/from AMS it may decide on which routes it wants to do the cuts.
DeleteMy issue with this decision is that it boils down to JU paying the price for AMS' bad planning. Slots are arranged months in advance, Dutch knew what their summer was going to look like and they should have known months ago whether they could cope or not. They could have informed airlines a long time ago before they filled their seats with passengers.
DeleteI honestly hope JU sues them big time for damages.
exactly. small airlines dont cause any trouble.
DeleteExactly! JU has one flight per day, two twice per week. Limit TK which sends multiple daily B773 or Delta that has 20 daily widebody flights.
Delete@9:23: that's exactly the problem. They should decide on quotas, i.e. BEG must go down 20%, and give the route airlines couple of days to come up with the plan. If they can't do it airport will cut flights proportionally to the number of departures. That's fair business.
DeleteProbelm is that they are asking airlines to make cuts in summer when flights are full and when there is very little room for maneuvering.
DeleteWell that's fail of many airports and it obviously can't be resolved this summer but it's how you manage the crisis that make difference. It's better to make cuts earlier rather than ten minutes before departure but it also has to be fair for all competitors.
DeleteJU was informed a week in advance that they had to make cuts. In aviation that is lats minute, especially when you factor in the period of the year we are in now.
DeleteAt LHR they were informed couple of hours before departure
Deleteanon 10:03: apparently AMS has given airlines some space for maneuver: some airlines decided to cancel specific flights rather than reduce number of pax on all their flights. I understand that this was also an option given to JU.
DeleteThe problem at AMS is not with the number of take-offs/landings, but number of pax at the terminal. There is no reason to force airlines to cut number of pax on flights selected in blind by AMS, while the same airline may have empty seats on other flights arriving/departing at the same time. What counts is terminal must be at specific hours 28% less congested than according to terminal initially slots given to airlines.
@nemjee
DeleteWhile you are correct regarding the slots in normal operations, air travel still sees alot of last minute bookings as a result of millions being burnt by airlines during the pandemic. JU themselves have mentioned that alot of their pax are booking within 2 weeks of their departure. These last minute reservations makes it extremely difficult to plan operations in advance.
The problem I see is too many workers were terminated, which are not easy to replace immediately. Last minute schedule changes has put pressure on remaining capacities, which has now turned into a massive disaster. Many who were terminated have moved onto new jobs and are not looking to go back, which means months of training new staff.
@10,03
Absolutely. It should definitely go by route to give a more even playing field. KLM also operates their flights at similar times to JU.
AMS has been quite inflexible with JU, forcing them to use their slots when travel demand simply was not there to justify the flights. Now they want them to cut back. Prior to the pandemic, I believe JU was looking for additional slots into AMS, which were not granted.
Is it really bad planning though? Considering how NL is being run I wouldn’t put it past Rutte doing this. You know, to cut emissions which are going to kill us all yesterday. Just like the ozone hole in the 90s, which is now gone, it seems.
DeleteThis is so arbitrary I believe Air Serbia would have the case on court but AMS is important market for JU so they shouldn't go that way, at least not alone. Serbian CAD can help AMS by limiting KLM operations to one daily for some time...
ReplyDeleteThe aviation treaty with the EU precludes aviation authorities of any country from doing it.
DeleteScrew AMS! Use extra capacity to add more flights to IST! Flights are full, full, full on all three carriers.
ReplyDeleteKLM needs to come under same restrictions ASAP - available seat number should be the same between two airlines.
ReplyDeleteThey have to cut 7000 passenger seats a day departing from ams.... thats a lot and obviously not an advantage. the 2 x daily a 380 flights of EK fromAMS to DXB are still operating but also with restrictions , as does TK. just have a close look at www.aeroroutes.com and see what is being cancelled. On a side note WIZZ air just cancels all operations out of several destinations around you; probably they dont get any money anymore to run flights between Tuzla and Vaxjo and the likes.
DeleteHow is this ok?!
ReplyDeleteWell with this surplus of aircraft at least this month they can do something with those daily delays and not be the Balkan king of delays !
ReplyDeleteMy friend, there is no need to be mean.
DeleteWhere do you see a surplus of aircraft?
DeleteDelays are mostly not JU's fault, it's the Western European destinations they serve that is creating massive problems for their OTP in BEG. Check out FR24 and look at the turn around times at these airports. Read the news and you will see that airports don't have adequate staff to handle the flights coming in. That isn't JU's fault. You've also presented it as if JU is the only airline in Europe experiencing delays.
On a side note, nice to see the A320 flying to PMI this morning. Hopefully next summer we get even more flights.
ReplyDeleteWith their current new Dutch government, I am not surprised at all. Sadly, NL may become the next Sweden in restricting aviation which is absurd given that Schipol is one of the busiest airports in the planet.
ReplyDeletehttps://traveltomorrow.com/the-netherlands-to-reduce-capacity-at-amsterdam-airport-schiphol-over-noise-pollution/#:~:text=The%20Dutch%20government%20is%20planning,exceed%20enforcement%20measures%20regarding%20noise.
Noise pollution mind you....
Well done to JU for finally being more open with their passengers. Not only did they present the problem, but are presenting their solution ahead. It helps their passengers to be more understanding and to better help them. I hope these forms of communications become a regular thing with them.
ReplyDeleteAgree, I had lot of issues with their communication till recently. And it's of great value now to put money where there mouth is and prioritize customer care during these times.
DeleteDoes that mean traffic figures will be affected for BEG in August ¿?
ReplyDeleteVery simple mathematics: AMS reduces JU by 28%
ReplyDeleteSerbia does the same with KL in BEG. Thats the only language people understand nowadays
Well, why would the French do it at BEG and lose money?
DeleteIt's not the decision of the French, but of the Serbian CAD.
DeleteUnder ECAA agreement, to which Serbia is a party, national aviation authorities may not introduce such limitations. In the Netherlands it was done by the airport.
DeleteGovernment of Serbia owns Belgrade Airport.
DeleteBut the concessionaire is in charge of slot allocation.
DeleteDid you read the Concession documents?
DeleteMeh. Instead of comment: revenge is a dish best served cold.
ReplyDeleteNeka najave A320 pa smanje kapacitet za 28% a onda pišalju A319.
ReplyDeleteNije losa ideja, samo fali jos 9% od onih 28% :))
DeleteAli salu na stranu, stvarno je odepio svet, znaci cirkus na globalnom nivou.
On a different subject, I just did online checking on Air Serbia flight to Zurich tomorrow morning with connection to Vancouver, Canada, and I was able to check in on both flights, no issues. Big improvement over a year ago.
ReplyDeleteWow, digital leaders
DeleteOnline checkin for Air Serbia has been available for years. Does your cynical comment refer to the airline handling second leg of the journey?
Delete... how many years to come for it to be available in LJU?
DeleteThere are airports like AMS, MUC and FRA who are too busy, and there are airports like LJU, MBX and POW who are still blocked on the 18th of March 2020. Very sad for Slovenia 🤧😪!
ReplyDeletewell if LJU gets unblocked please somehow be so in a way that understaffed problems don't get worse thank you very very much.
Delete