The three national airlines from the former Yugoslavia will expand their destination networks in 2023 as the aviation sector continues its strong recovery.
Air Serbia will lead the way, with the airline announcing an aggressive expansion plan for this summer. A total of nineteen new routes have already been scheduled for launch this year, with several more to follow. Coupled with the new additions to its network introduced over the winter months, the airline will have over twenty new routes on offer during the 2023 summer season. “We are proud of the fact that, including charter destinations, we are approaching the number of nearly 100 cities in the upcoming summer season within our growing network. We are continuously capitalising on the growing market in which we operate and are adding new destinations throughout the year. Hand in hand with long haul development, Air Serbia continues expand our feeder network and, depending on market dynamics, we aim to introduce between twenty and thirty destinations in 2023”, the airline’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said. Flights between Belgrade and Budapest will be the airline’s most frequented new route, with up to seventeen weekly departures, while the service to Chicago will be one of the highlights of its summer season line-up.
Croatia Airlines is continuing to implement its post-Covid strategy in 2023, which will culminate with the delivery of its first Airbus A220 aircraft next year, which is set to transform the airline. The carrier plans to introduce four new routes during the upcoming summer. They include services from Split to Skopje and Oslo, from Dubrovnik to Prague, and from Brač to Munich. The airline has so far scheduled flights from Brač to the Bavarian capital, with the rest expected to be put on sale during this month. “We’ve been continually working on increasing the quality of our service and expanding our flight network. At one of the world’s biggest and most famous tourism fairs, we presented our summer 2023 timetable, with which we are looking to strongly contribute to Croatia’s position on the global tourism map. During the coming summer season, we’re planning to connect Croatia with 22 international destinations by operating flights on 47 international routes. Specifically, we are planning to operate 17.000 flights, and offer over 1.820.000 seats”, Croatia Airlines’ CEO, Jasmin Bajić, said.
Air Montenegro plans to add five new destinations to its network this coming summer season. It has already revealed two, from Tivat to Brno in the Czech Republic, and from Podgorica to Bratislava. Air Montenegro will also double its seasonal operations between Tivat and Prague from two to four per week. “We see potential in the Czech market from which there is strong demand by travellers. As of next year, we will be serving both Prague and Brno. At the moment, we are also seeing wide-scale interest from Slovak tourists, who will now have nonstop flights to Podgorica from Bratislava at their disposal”, Air Montenegro said. The carrier will also restore all destinations it operated over the 2022 summer season, with tickets for flights from Podgorica to Zurich and Copenhagen going on sale last week. “With the planned expansion of the national carrier’s fleet in 2023, we will launch more new routes and increase frequencies on existing ones”, Air Montenegro concluded.
| Destination | Launch date |
|---|---|
| Belgrade - Budapest | 13.03.2023 |
| Belgrade - Ankara | 28.03.2023 |
| Belgrade - Catania | 14.04.2023 |
| Belgrade - Izmir | 15.04.2023 |
| Belgrade - Heraklion | 28.04.2023 |
| Belgrade - Hamburg | 15.05.2023 |
| Belgrade - Chicago | 17.05.2023 |
| Belgrade - Gothenburg | 18.05.2023 |
| Belgrade - Cologne | 18.05.2023 |
| Belgrade - Naples | 19.05.2023 |
| Belgrade - Florence | 20.05.2023 |
| Belgrade - Marseille | 20.05.2023 |
| Brač - Munich | 27.05.2023 |
| Belgrade - Krakow | 04.06.2023 |
| Belgrade - Chania | 04.06.2023 |
| Belgrade - Rhodes | 05.06.2023 |
| Belgrade - Ohrid | 05.06.2023 |
| Belgrade - Varna | 05.06.2023 |
| Belgrade - Corfu | 09.06.2023 |
| Belgrade - Palermo | 14.06.2023 |
| Tivat - Brno | 16.06.2023 |
| Podgorica - Bratislava | 17.06.2023 |
.gif)
I think AirSerbia is waiting with POW route and Slovenian subsidies - same with LJU frequency increases
ReplyDeleteI really hope so. It would be fantastic for Portoroz
DeleteWhen can we expect the rest of the JU‘s new routes?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is during the week after Christmas.
DeleteDoes anyone know which aircraft type Air Montenegro will be getting to expand its fleet? Will it be the A320 like last year?
ReplyDeleteThey are in between CEOs so who knows
DeleteThey are still far from having Air Montenegro's network size.
DeleteTrue. Last summer they flew to Cairo and Yerevan.
DeleteAir Montenegro first and foremost needs to create conditions to be able to interline, codeshare and sell transfer flights. Not being able to do that is a huge handicap.
DeleteWhat is the issue? I mean why can't they do that already?
DeleteThe inability to sell their own connecting flights can only be an issue of having a poor distribution system. I don't know which distribution system they use.
DeleteI fear Air Montenegro will end up like Fly Bosnia.
DeleteIt won't because Montenegro depends on tourism and they know how important it is to have a national airline
DeleteWhy has Croatia Airlines still not put tickets on sale for new routes? It has been 2 months since they announced them. Even Brač-Munich can't be bought on their site although it's available on airline ticket selling websites.
ReplyDeleteIt's too early™
DeleteI was hopeful they were waiting to announce more new routes but it seems this is it.
Delete@9.11 no that's it for this year unfortunately.
DeleteDanas je pustena u prodaju na stranicama Croatia Airlines
DeleteI wonder which of Air Serbia's new routes is selling best at this early stage?
ReplyDeleteCatania and Ankara.
DeleteInteresting. Thank you
DeleteConsidering how busy IST route is. I'm not surprised about Ankara.
DeleteAnkara is crazy popular with tour operators bringing tourists here.
DeleteI was surprised to see in one of the articles here some 2 years ago how high indirect traffic is between Belgrade and Catania. Never would have thought.
DeleteI was watching RTS on the 31st of December and on the news they were listing the most popular foreign destinations where Serbs were travelling for New Year's eve based on data from travel agencies and Krakow was on top! I hope this route works well for JU.
DeleteHow do people go there?
DeleteBy bus actually. But for those that fly most use LOT to Warsaw and then transfer.
DeleteMostly field trips by bus, the popular and affordable "ekskurzije" of two or three days.
DeleteBut they still around 150'ish euros so it's gonna be hard for AS to enter that market.
But on the other hand I see no problem for them to create their own market.
I'd be very surprised if those flights are not a major success. Both Belgrade and Krakow are year-round destinations and together with transfer passengers, they'll have no issues filling up those ATRs!
DeleteI must admit I am surprised about popularity of Kraków among Serbian tourists. Thought they woukd travel more to neighbouring countries rather to relatively distant Kraków.
DeleteBut it is not so distant. The only problem is that there's no motorway on the shortest route, across Slovakia.
DeleteSerbs don't really travel to neighboring countries with the exception of Hungary since Budapest is crazy popular.
DeleteA lot of traffic to TIV/TGD is VFR.
Serbs are now obsessed with Spain and Italy and I can't blame them.
There are 10s of thousands of Serbs in Montenegro and Croatia every summer. Bosnia is always popualr. So I don't know where you can say Serbs do not ravel to neighboring countries.
DeleteMost Serbians actually travel to Greece and Montenegro, regardless of what other destinations are popular at the moment. Traditionally, Turkey is always on the list as well, with Egypt being there in recent years. However, Albania is also becoming one of the top destinations for Serbian tourists taking away visitors from Greece and Montenegro mostly. Serbians generally don't travel by plane that much since purchasing power is still very low, especially with inflation hitting. Generally most people flying for their vacation are from either Belgrade or Novi Sad, not because they are close to the airport, but because most people that can afford plane tickets and Spanish and Italian cities are actually from there.
DeleteGood to see all of them developing.
ReplyDeleteWhy won't Croatia Airlines consider new routes from Zagreb?
ReplyDeleteSay hello to Ryanair.
DeleteI know Ryan is the excuse but why didn't they try to compete? This way their market share in ZAG will just keep shrinking.
DeleteBecause it’s early.
DeleteThis is why I seriously doubt the A220s will lead to any transformation at the airline. Just like the Dash 8s didn't lead to any transformation. It will be the same strategy with newer planes.
DeleteCroatia Airlines was created to be the flag carrier of Croatia its people could be proud of, to have extensive network of services to include long-haul, dense european network and domestic network with serious connections between all croatian regions. They were planning to become "Croatian Swissair" (at that time Swissair was the best quality airline in the World) and to cater for passengers from Croatia itself, diaspora and tourists, both European and from distant markets. Then, Uhljebs, aparatchiks and criminals took over, people who cared about company and aimed for its growth and development left voluntarily, or were forced to leave, and today the only purpose of Croatia Airlines is to be Uhljeb sanctuary, and money laundry machine for few selected individuals closely tied to highest political structures. As long as they have unlimited acces to our money and as long as they have politically appointed incompetent management, Croatia Airlines will not consider new routes from Zagreb, or change its humiliated servant and pathetic feeder role, or stop practicing corruption and crime
DeleteWell OU is definitely going the way of Swissair, they are heading closer and closer to bankruptcy. Lol
DeleteI'm afraid you didn't understand my post @An.09.45. Speaking of Swissair 30 years ago, I was referring to SR product quality only, which OU initially set to become their standard. For the financial performance, OU will never go bankrupt as SR did, because Croatia is not a market economy, it's partitocracy, where based on relations with politics, you have unlimited access to public funds, no matter of your results, financial and overall
DeleteWhy doesen't Croatia Airlines try to restart discontinued flights from Zagreb like Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Barcelona, Lisbon, Milan?
DeleteTAP started Lisbon. Finnair started Helsinki-Zagreb but didn't stick around.
DeleteRegarding Helsinki and other, I think OU has the advantage due to its domestic network. They offer connecting flights to the coast.
DeleteOU is staging a silent protest against ZAG. They don't like the way things started heading when FR came. I even heard (of course it's a rumor) that after some stern words from Croatia Airlines and the government, ZAG management told FR to slow down a bit. Anyway as you see Croatia Airlines isn't restoring Zagreb-Oslo but they are launching Split-Oslo. They have an excellent relationship with Split Airport. Remember the recent advertisement deal they signed with them?
DeleteOnce again POZDRAV , I really hope OU go bankrupt so you will find some peace .
DeleteAnd once again to you, I don't post here because I want OU to go bankrupt, but because I want it to grow and develop, without crime and corruption. It doesn't even take to much brain work just to read what I am writing. But obviously you know better. And obviously you are the one who needs to find peace if you are so much hurt by me telling sad truth about the condition in which OU is today and all of its wasted chances and opportunities.
Delete@10,23
DeleteOU could get pretty much the same discounts as FR if they actually opened new routes. Quite a few of the FR routes should of (and could of) been launched by OU, if they wanted to (ie SOF, SKG, MAN, TGD to name a couple). OU seem to be far more focused on complaining rather than being more competitive, despite the numerous opportunities that were presented to them. Travel and tourism in Croatia has grown substantially the past decade, while OU's market share in Croatia is hitting record lows.
I think OU passed the point of no return. Bad finances, ageing fleet and FR are slowly killing them.
DeleteEven worse. They are here to stay. As zabokrecina. And as shame and insult to the country and its citizens
DeleteSad that we are down to just 3 flag carriers.
ReplyDeleteTbh even that is too many.
DeleteYes. Good thing we got rid of our national airline. Now the market has taken care of itself in Ljubljana
Delete^I really hope you are being sarcastic.
DeleteOf course I am, If anything the Adria example taught us how important flag carriers are. And it's not just about providing more destinations but also helping develop your local airport into a hub for connecting flights which lifts the entire sector in the country from hiring more airport staff, crew, technicians, catering. It's an entire chain. Without a flag carrier it suffers immensely
Deletepretty ambitious to wish for a hub in LJU. It may have previously benefited from the weakneses od the other airports in the region, but these times are long over, so even with a national carrier, I don't see how LJU could be a hub.
DeleteEven for the largest airport BEG it is questionable if it would be able to achieve this, let alone a small country like Slovenia. Your money is better invested elsewhere imo.
@10,10
DeleteIt's not too ambitious considering LJU was once a hub. You don't need hundreds of aircraft in the home carrier to be considered a hub.
Investing money in any project can be a waste if not invested correctly. And we know all too well how many failed projects we have all over the ex-YU region. We also have a lot of other government run enterprises filled with debt, scandals and corruption. We simply can't shut down all of them. Slovenia lost alot with the bankruptcy of JP, leaving its connectivity ranking alongside sanctioned Belarus and war torn Ukraine. I wouldn't call that a fantastic result either.
The market has taken care of itself in Ljubljana. The majority of routes are back and so are the realistic numbers of passengers. For a nation where most still think that flying is “a luxury” and something you do once, you can never have large numbers. When JP was around the airport barely hovered above a million, the same is now. Also, keep in mind that Adria used to transfer quite a lot of passengers from Ex-Yu to Western Europe. No need for that now with all the LCC connection across EX-YU. The subsidies offered to carriers at LJU are peanuts compared to what we had to GIVE as well to Adria during GOOD times. But some people forget that so quickly, right? Thank goodness they are gone.
Delete"When JP was around the airport barely hovered above a million" why are you lying?
Delete@13,35
DeleteIf flying is a luxury for Slovenians than I guess that all other airports in the ex-YU can close their doors.
When JP was flying, LJU had the following pax numbers:
2017: 1,68 million
2018: 1,8 million
2019: 1,7 million
The last time LJU hovered around 1 million pax was 2004. Last year's figures puts the airport at around 1993-1994 figures. The market certainly hasn't taken care of itself and there are quite a number of destinations missing from LJU.
Problem is that there isn't this influx of foreign carriers that were reportedly waiting for JP to go bust, while LJU has been set back by almost 30 years in figures and it's connectivity ranks it, as mentioned, alongside sanctioned Belarus and war torn Ukraine. Definitely not the benchmark to follow.
What you also failed to acknowledge is that every government run enterprise in the former Yugoslavia has its scandals, corruption and mismanagement. Some bigger, some smaller. You have for the past week 3 trains that have derailed in Serbia spilling toxic material, one on a recently renovated line. I don't see calls to shut down Serbia Rail and sell it off. And there are tonnes of these examples. JP did actually have a small window of profitability before it started acquiring brand new CRJ's and A319's. JP also had a number of opportunities to set up a neat little hub in LJU and really didn't do much with it. If Jat Airways, which was falling apart due to rampant corruption, was able to get itself together then I don't see how the same wasn't possible for JP.
Jat got its shit together because the Serbian government paid foreigners to do a job no Serbian was capable of at the time and spent millions of euros into achieving that. Slovenia obviously did not want to go that road. Zagreb airport is super close and well connected. LJU is connected to major hubs, Slovenians have the alternative and the government probably did not want to spend money on that. On the other hand Serbia had no connection alternatives and it did what had to be done.
DeleteI really hope Budapest works out for JU this time around.
ReplyDeleteMe too. I think they are hoping the new China and US flights will fill seats.
DeleteAt 17 flights a week, I think business travel will also play an important role here.
DeleteIncredible that JU is going with 17 flights per week right away. I figured they would go daily first and the see how it goes. Brave move with 17 weekly. Very curious to see how it will perform.
Delete@Charlie
DeleteI think anything under 14 pw would be more risky with a destination like BUD. Short distance but the drive + border makes flying a convenient option for business travellers and this is where the frequencies come in handy. Monday's and Friday's initially have 3 daily flights, later Wednesdays as well. Definitely this is targeting the business sector allowing same day travel. Plus there are a lot of transfer options available. ZAG was also relaunched at 14 pw, although ticket sales were launched 1 month in advance.
Air Montenegro please launch Vienna!!
ReplyDeleteYou have Austrian.
DeleteExactly - look at the prices without competition!
DeleteHow much are the return fares?
DeleteWhat about Wizz air to Vienna ??
DeleteAir Montrnegro is launching Bratislava.
DeleteWhen people question why JU is expanding aggressively, the answer probably lies in last year (2022) and how much the expansion that year, which was also aggressive by European standards paid off.
ReplyDeleteI'm shocked that ZAG doesn't have any new route for this year!
ReplyDeleteIt is surprising. ZAG is the only ex-Yu capital without a single route this year. Unless FR announces some expansion, which is possible.
DeleteIt's odd. I also think Ryanair will expand with something like 10 new routes. At least I hope so.
DeleteI hope but it is already January and summer season starts in under 4 months.
DeleteWith Croatia entering Schengen (at airports) on March 26, there is going to be a nice boost for travel to Croatia. I would have though someone would have used the opportunity.
DeleteWhy would Schengen entry provide a boost to tourist numbers? It's not like anyone decides on their holiday destination based on whether they have to go through passport control or not.
DeleteSchengen will not affect the numbers. It changes little. I might be wrong but the coast doesn't have that many new routes announced for summer. More should have been announced by now.
DeleteLooking at gap between BEG and ZAG annual passengers, it grew every time amateur analysts predicted ZAG would get a boost from following events: Cro joining NATO, Cro joining EU, ZAG opening of a new airport terminal. Wanna bet gap is going to increase again in 2023 in favor of Belgrade now that Cro is joining Schengen/Euro zone?
DeleteI like how you call him...amateur analyst :)
Delete@16:55
DeleteDemantij!!!
I think Croatian could serve around two weekly services from Split or Dubrovnik to Ljubljana with their dash aircrafts in the summer season. I reckon that the flights wouldn't be so empty specially becouse of the number of Slovenian tourists that are travelling to there for vacation and 8 hours in a car is a though one.
ReplyDeleteI think their biggest mistake was not establishing themselves in Slovenia after Adria went bankrupt. Even last year there was an opportunity. One plane would have been enough. Or at least operate some W rotation flights with to/from Ljubljana.
DeleteWhere do I sign :D
DeleteWhile it makes sense, it is questionable if they could make money on these routes.
DeleteI mean if they are lounching the flights from Split to Skopje I cannot understand why they wouldn't do the same for Ljubljana...There is way more Slovenian tourists there in the summer so I find this really weird.
DeleteThat is the point of the launch of route to SKP. While it is much simpler/closer for Slovenians to go to the Adriatic in summer, it is far and complicated for Macedonians, and even the most enthusiastic ones would then just drive the 3 hours to Greece rather than waiting at several border crossings to get to their destination on the Croatian coast
DeleteAny idea on how many weekly flights the yet to be scheduled OU flights will have? SPU-SKP, SPU-OSL and DBV-PRG.
ReplyDeleteJudging from similar route's last year. Probably 2 weekly.
DeleteBrac-Munich is 1x weekly.
DeleteAt least it's good to see that Croatia Airlines is keeping all of the seasonal Split routes it launched last year.
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines could start Madrid and Berlin. I think both would be successful.
ReplyDeletePrague as well I guess
Delete^ they operated Prague up until Covid. Then they moved it to Split from last year.
DeleteJU is already making plans for winter 2023/24 and it will be in the long haul department :)
ReplyDeleteI HOPE it will be finally be Toronto.
DeleteIt is more likely we see third US destination rather than YYZ.
DeleteWhy?
DeleteBecause Toronto is highly seasonal and many cities in Europe dont have flights from YYZ during winter.
DeleteYYZ will happen. It's a matter of when it will be announced and not if. Marek mentioned YYZ just a few days ago in an interview. In the same interview it was mentioned that another 3 ATR's are joining the fleet.
Delete@Anonymous 11:57 many cities in Europe dont have flights from YYZ during winter.
DeleteLOL gotta love those "experts" trying to justify NOT starting Toronto summer seasonal service, when that is the ONLY viable direct BEG-YYZ option.
In fact Chicago and Miami also have miserable to nonexistent connectivity during winter to southern half of Europe, with exception of "Latin Connection" to Portugal/Spain. No connection at all from ORD to Greece and Italy during winter! Only winter connection from MIA is AA to Rome, not even ITA flies there in the winter. Vienna also doesn't have winter link to MIA but "experts" think Air Serbia has a chance???
As for YYZ being more expensive than JFK, here are fees for DL return flight JKF-YYZ and back in late Jan. Return price 215USD, out of which $130 for airline, $85 fees, breakdown:
DeleteUS Transportation Tax (US) $9.75
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $4.50
United States Passenger Civil Aviation Security Service Fee (AY) $5.60
United States Flight Segment Tax Domestic (ZP) $4.80
United States Immigration User Fee (XY) $7.00
United States Customs User Fee (YC) $6.52
United States APHIS Passenger Fee Passengers (XA) $3.83
Flight Segment US Tax Domestic Canada 225 Mile Buffer Zone (ZP) $4.80
Canadian Air Travelers Security Charge (CA) $9.40
Canada Airport Improvement Fee AIF (SQ) $25.80
Canada Harmonized Sales Tax Hst On SQ Fee (RC) $3.35
US Taxes/Fees total: $46.8 USD
Canada Taxes/Fees total: $38.55 USD
Those are taxes and do not include parking fees, landing fees, ground handling fees. It is a well known fact that Toronto is one of the most expensive airports in the world. You can find it online too.
DeleteIf so expensive, how come Toronto Pearson is served by so many LCC/Leisure/Charter airlines: Condor, Air Transat, Canada Jetlines, Flair, Swoop, Rouge, Sunwing, Rouge, Eurowings Discover, OWG, Lynx Air etc?
DeleteThis whole YYZ is expensive and seasonl is becoming annoying guys. There is and will be demand for it, more so of course in the summer and maybe one weekly in rhe witner. Or you can do just like AC or Transat does.. Fly summer only and have the aircraft do other routes off season.
Delete+1
DeleteGood on them
ReplyDeleteThe disperity between the three is evident.
ReplyDeleteIs Air Serbia this summer operating all the routes it launched last year?
ReplyDeleteTrieste, Kazan, St.Petersburg and Tianjin have not been put on sale for the summer yet. While Kazan and St.Petersburg are awaiting necessary permits, and Tianjin is waiting to see how Covid in China will develop, Trieste is unlikely to be flown again, especially if they start flights to POW.
DeleteTianjin will operate in summer. Like for Russian destinations it is awaiting a permit.
DeleteI have a feeling they'll be switching to Beijing. China is finally opening up.
DeleteI bet new routes for air Serbia will be to Vilnius, and to the Caucasian cities of Baku, Tbilisi and Yerevan.
ReplyDeleteHow will JU squeeze in all the rotations with those new routes and increased frequencies? Even with fleet expansion this looks overly optimistic ...
ReplyDeleteThe distance of the rotations allows for 4 destinations per aircraft per day. Going with an average of 3 rotations gives us:
Delete3 x 7 = 21 rotations per aircraft, per week.
3 ATR's were confirmed to be entering the fleet = an increase of at least 63 flights per week.
2 dry lease narrow bodies and 2 wet lease narrow bodies = at least 84 flights per week. The number of narrow body entries hasn't been confirmed just as yet but I assume more than 4 will join the fleet.
Total: 147 flights per week average, and if pushing the limits 196 flights per week.
Another round of recruitment is underway for pilots on all aircraft, as well as cabin crew. New batches of cabin crew will shortly start training which were from the last recruitment process last month. I wouldn't be surprised to see another recruitment drive for crew in March.