Turkish Airlines will commence flights from Izmir to Belgrade this winter season. The carrier plans to introduce services from Turkey's third largest city starting February 16 of next year. Flights will run two times per week. Tickets are expected to go on sale by the end of the year. The development comes as a result of a recent agreement between aviation stakeholders from Serbia and Turkey concerning new routes, frequencies and capacities. The new services will become Turkish Airlines’ third from the Serbian capital, complementing Istanbul and Ankara, with the latter operated by its regional brand AnadoluJet.
Air Serbia is expected to codeshare on the new services. In addition to the new route, Turkish Airlines will increase frequencies between Ankara and Belgrade, from two to four per week starting December 2. Services from Izmir face no direct competition and will be maintained on Thursdays and Sundays. It will mark the first time Izmir and Belgrade have been linked with a scheduled nonstop air service.
Air Serbia is also set to unveil new routes in Turkey in the coming months as part of its cooperation agreement with Turkish Airlines. The Serbian carrier recently scheduled additional flights to Istanbul’s main airport for this winter, which it will serve seventeen times per week. It will increase frequencies between the two cities to 21 weekly from next summer season. Although Turkish Airlines has been attempting to strike an agreement over the launch of scheduled flights from Antalya to Belgrade, it is believed no agreement has been reached so far. Antalya is operated over the summer through charter flights which run up to nine times per day during the peak holiday travel period.
.gif)
wow
ReplyDeletewow unexpected from SAW.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time TK used to have SAW-Sarajevo flights. Back when their focus was on Sarajevo.
DeleteYes but TK left all the flights from SAW to Anadolujet. It fully concentrates IST now.
DeleteThat's true. It also stopped concentrating on Sarajevo in the region.
DeleteI wonder if the new routes JU will add is also Izmir. I don't see anything else. Antalya seems off the table.
ReplyDeleteI think Izmir is also likely 2 per week so there will be 4 in weekly flights in total.
DeleteThey could launch Bodrum or Dalaman.
DeleteJU could literally launch anything in Turkey and it would work because now their network out of Belgrade is decent enough. It also helps that Serbian and Turkish diaspora is located in same places.
DeleteIt is interesting to see that most of the people expected JU to open flights to ADB, but we see here TK. Maybe it was condition placed by TK for not starting BEG-AYT flights.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it is always good to get new flights and new destinations. I am really currious to see which new destination will be opened by JU in Turkey.
Huge growth for Turkish in Belgrade in such a short time.
ReplyDeleteThanks to becoming close to JU.
DeleteI'm not surprised. I'm looking at the system foor tomorrow, from Istanbul to Belgrade. Total of 7 seats left all together across all flights.
ReplyDelete*for
DeleteI wonder how this huge demand would have been served had JU and TK not started cooperating.
DeleteIt is the demand that forced them to work together.
DeleteI don't understand...TK doesn't have a hub in Izmir, doesn't operate any flights from Izmir except for its hub in IST.
ReplyDeleteTK and Lufthansa's JV Sunexpress does all the job from Izmir, also TK's lowcost brand Anadolujet too. Now can we expect it's Sunexpress but not TK?
Turkish flies from Izmir to Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart. Anadolujet flies to Tabriz and Tehran.
DeletePoor Pegasus
ReplyDeletePegasus has applied for additional flights from early next year but is unlikely to get approval from the directorate. We will see.
DeleteThey really should get their daily flights - otherwise it really looks bad on the directorate .
DeleteAlso TK shouldnt treat a compatriot airline that badly ..
At least Pegasus started sending A321neos on all their flights to BEG now. So capacity is significantly up.
DeleteExcellent news for Belgrade Airport. More and more passengers.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteImpressive to see what Turkish has built in Belgrade in the last very few years. Will they be the very number one carrier in Belgrade after these new routes?
ReplyDeleteThis boost is actually part of a more comprehensive global plan from TK: double their capacity in the next 10 years. Interesting very recent CNN interview to Turkish Airlines chair -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKH_6UclKwk.
I think Lufthansa plans to have 5 daily flights to Belgrade next summer. But in terms of capacity they will be close, or maybe TK will even be ahead.
DeleteLH plans 3x daily MUC i 2x daily FRA, but it does not present any increasing comparing to 2019.
DeleteI think TK will be third in Belgrade after JU and W6..
DeleteThey have already applied for slots for these new routes.
ReplyDeleteDepartures to SAW from BEG
MON- 12:35
WED - 12:30
FRI - 19:00
SUN - 19:35
Departures to ADB from BEG
THU/SUN - 19:45
The SAW flights will feed Air Serbia's 1pm wave of flights nicely.
DeleteLove it
ReplyDeleteAntalya - the untouchable golden cow
ReplyDeleteWith 9 daily flights during summer, it certainly does seem to be a cash cow for Air Serbia.
DeleteI wouldn't give it up either if I was them.
DeleteAYT is too important for JU during summer as these charters bring them a lot of money.
DeleteDon't forget Anadolujet was supposed to fly Antalya scheduled last year but the directorate did not let them.
DeleteTrue. They even started selling tickets before the directorate struck them down.
DeleteAnd they had a perfect timetable planned
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/p/anadolujet-antalya-belgrade.html
Good. With these extra Istanbul flights I really hope prices will come down. The route used to be cheap but now prices are out of control.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI'm assuming that Russian travelers are also driving up some of the demand.
ReplyDeletePossible.
DeleteYes because there is much more demand for flights from Russia to Serbia at the moment than there are flights. The only other option people are using are to transfer through Turkey.
DeleteTrue
DeleteRussian transfer passengers are huge.
DeleteAnother factor driving demand is the sheer number of Turkish construction workers currently working in Belgrade. There numbers are in the couple of thousand.
DeleteWhat are you talking about with regards to Russian transfers? There are over 30 direct daily flights between Russia and Turkey. Absolutely no need to transfer through Beg.
DeleteI'm talking about Russians transferring through Istanbul to reach Belgrade. If you actually bothered to read rather than spit your venom there would be no need for your comments.
DeleteI'm happy to see that they are performing well on Ankara route!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I must say it's unfortunate JU isn't flying this route as they could probably get transfers as well, unlike Anadolujet.
DeleteGreat news
ReplyDeleteAnyone know how many Turkish tourists in Serbia this year?
ReplyDeleteAs of 01.10.2022. the number is 91.793.
Deletehttps://www.stat.gov.rs/oblasti/ugostiteljstvo-i-turizam/turizam/
Thanks. Do you know what is the difference compared to last year or 2019?
DeleteArrivals from Turkey are up 159.9% on 2021.
DeleteAnd 5,6% on 2019.
DeleteThank you
DeleteWow, Turkish is really flexing its muscle in BEG. First they introduce Ankara flights, then third daily Belgrade and now they want two more routes and frequency growth.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to TK for being so proactive.
DeleteIndeed
DeleteWouldn't it make more sense to just schedule larger capacity plane from IST then launch SAW?
ReplyDeleteNo, they are targeting a different type of passenger from SAW. And with it being operated by Anadolujet, the costs are lower and the price of the ticket is lower.
DeleteIt's not just that, geography also plays a role. New IST is quite far from the city and for many SAW is way more convenient, especially for those living on the Asian side. Istanbul is a huge city.
DeleteGood thing is that SAW got a metro link while IST should get it soon.
Poor Pegasus, I hope they let them expand.
ReplyDeletePoor Pegasus :D Stuck between these two national airlines it can't do anything in BEG as no side will allow them to grow.
DeleteIzmir is a good option. it is Turkey's third largest city after Istanbul and Ankara.
ReplyDeleteactual
DeleteIST has been the busiest airport in Europe for 3 years. Looks like TK will expand even more.
ReplyDeleteLHR is the busiest this year.
DeleteNo LHR is still behind IST
DeleteLast month OAG data:
DeleteLondon Heathrow 3,676,067
Istanbul Airport 3,470,696
Is this available capacity or actual passenger numbers?
DeleteAcutual numbers
DeleteYes, number of passengers not seats.
DeleteNice to hear. I believe routes to tourist destinations like Izmir are needed because charters are not enough
ReplyDeleteThere is a significant number of tourists from Turkey in Serbia. No wonder they want to launch more routes.
ReplyDeleteThe more flights the better.
ReplyDeleteCan Izmir really work in winter?
ReplyDeleteWhy not?
DeleteYes because the city itself is not small, it's also quite liberal and economically strong.
DeleteYes it can
DeleteExcellent. Bring it on.
ReplyDeleteThe Turkish Ambassador to Serbia has been very proactive in securing new flights between Serbia and Turkey. After all he assisted in negotiations that resulted in Anadolujet starting Ankara and Air Serbia flights from Nis and Kraljevo to Istanbul.
ReplyDeleteRecently Turkey said that they plan on increasing trade exchange with Serbia from current $2 billion to $5 billion.
ReplyDeleteThere will be more and more business traffic between the two countries which should improve yields even more.
I just hope Pegasus gets some extra slots as they are far more reasonable when it comes to pricing.
Pegasus is 4 times bigger than AirSerbia.
DeleteI'm sure they don't really mind Serbian market since they don't get any permission. They have incredible domestic coverage, probably more than TK.
They are a business and as such they are after markets where they can make a lot of money. Serbia is without a doubt one of them. That is why they keep on requesting more flights and have boosted capacity to A321neo.
DeleteI was expecting this. Looking forward to see what JU will start.
ReplyDeleteSerbian tour operators will love this!
ReplyDeleteNice. I want to visit Izmir. Will use these flights.
ReplyDeleteI hope that there is a chance that they send 787/330/350 more often then.
ReplyDeleteYes please!
DeleteFantastic
ReplyDeleteI kind of find it interesting. Turkish Airlines owned an airline in Bosnia, owns an airline in Albania, works closely with Turkish operator of Macedonian airport which also manages Zagreb Airport, works closely with Turkish operator of Pristina Airport and in the end they have the most flights to BEG out of all those cities. Was not expecting that development.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of regional operations, how many weekly flights does TK have to Bucharest and Sofia? Do they also fly 3 daily like in Belgrade?
DeleteYes
DeleteAnonymous17:15
DeleteNothing to do with Belgrade per se. It is accidental that Belgrade has an airport.
Why Istanbul got huge brand new Airport and become one of the busiest hubs in the world?
Its just cosmic cycles. At certain time certain cities grow and certain cities stagnate. Same with countries, people etc.
They have three daily flights to Bucharest from December. Currently it is 15 weekly. But the two daily flights are operated with A330.
DeleteAs for Sofia, it is three daily like BEG.
DeleteAlthough I should note they are the only operator between Istanbul and Sofia, whereas Air Serbia has 17 weekly flights to IST.
DeleteMany Turks visit Ukraine each year and due to current circumstances these people will likely look for a similarly priced alternatives, so BEG is in a pretty good position.
ReplyDeleteThe number of Serbian tourists to Turkey will keep growing because it is very cheap because of the collapse of the lira. I was in Istanbul last month and everything was notably cheaper than in Belgrade.
DeleteThis summer was cheaper to fly to London and then Dalaman then to fly from Belgrade to Istanbul and take another flight to Dalaman. On the way back, same. Several times per year I fly to Istanbul, but everywhere around Serbia, flights are more affordable than from Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteHope that TK will come to INI.... Also for cargo.
ReplyDeleteWas the article changed in the meantime? Yesterday it said TK is launching SAW, but today...SAW is gone?
ReplyDelete