Six airlines plan to maintain regular wide-body operations from the former Yugoslav markets this summer season, with several more set to deploy twin-aisle jets on a one-off basis. The number of flights operated by wide-bodies to the former Yugoslav markets is still below 2019 levels. During the 2024 summer season, which began on March 31 and runs until October 26 (as it did in 2019), a total of 1.109 wide-body operations have currently been scheduled (both directions included). Total capacity offered by airlines operating wide-bodies to the former Yugoslav markets will decline 21% on five years ago. Much of the drop is being generated on the Croatian market, which unlike five years ago is no longer served by American Airlines, Air Canada Rouge, Emirates and Korean Air, however, this year sees the arrival of T’Way Air from Seoul with its Airbus A330-300 aircraft.
Scheduled wide-body operations for former Yugoslav markets, summer 2024
This summer, there will be the most scheduled wide-body capacity from Belgrade. Air Serbia will operate a total of 530 flights to and from its hub using its two A330-200 jets, one of which has the capacity to seat 268 passengers and the other 257. In addition, Hainan Airlines will be using its A330-300 jets on its 120 flights between Beijing and Belgrade. The airline operates the aircraft type in two different configurations due to two different business class products, with the larger version with 292 seats scheduled on all its Belgrade services. Overall, wide-body flights and capacity have increased 154% and 113% respectively out of Belgrade compared to the pre-pandemic 2019.
In Zagreb, next month sees two airlines operate wide-body services. These include Air Transat from Toronto and T’Way Air from Seoul. The South Korean carrier will deploy the 335-seat A330-300 jet on its route to the Croatian capital on a total of 142 flights, while Air Transat will utilise the 320-seat A330-200 on its Toronto - Zagreb service. In total, the two will offer 280 wide-body flights to and from Croatia this summer, with 95.090 seats on offer, which is down 66% and 65% respectively on the number of wide-body flights and capacity in 2019.
Dubrovnik is the only other city to have scheduled wide-body services in the former Yugoslavia this summer, operated by United and TUI Airways. United Airlines will maintain a total of 142 flights between Newark and the coastal city with its 231-seat Boeing 767-400, an upgrade on the 203-seat B767-300 used in previous years, while TUI will deploy the 325-seat Boeing 787-8 on 48 of its London Gatwick services and on another 50 of its Manchester flights. Compared to 2019, the number of scheduled wide-body flights to and from Dubrovnik has decreased 4%, while capacity is down 4.9%.
Several one-off wide-body flights are currently scheduled which is likely to grow in the coming period. Qatar Airways plans to deploy its 254-seat B787-8 between Doha and Belgrade on May 2 and May 10, while Edelweiss Air will utilise its 312-seat A340-300 between Zurich and Pristina on May 6, 13 and 21.
Most of the decline is because of lack of Emirates B777 on ZAG route.
ReplyDeleteMiss Emirates in Zagreb :(
DeleteSame. Was this the only airline flying to ex-Yu with first class cabin product?
DeleteYes it was. And likely the only one that ever will.
DeletePRN has to have the biggest one :)
DeleteAnon 12:45
DeleteIt was not. There was also Korean until they removed first class service all across A330 fleet.
Zagreb really had an impressive number of wide body operators before the pandemic, even though they were all seasonal. Hope more of them will return.
ReplyDeleteWell, they returned, just to the coast.
DeleteWhere the demand is.
Yes, that is the whole point. So why are you repeating it?
DeleteHe did not repeat it, he pointed out that they returned to the coast where there is demand which doesn't seem to be the case with ZAG.
DeleteGrowth in ZAG is mostly driven by Ryanair, Europe's largest ultra lowcost carrier.
09:38 must suffer from some serious optical trouble.
DeleteI'm surprised that Air Canada didn't come back to Zagreb. They returned almost all European destinations.
ReplyDeleteAir Canada Rouge didn't return to any European market because they no longer operate any wide body aircraft.
DeleteI think they should have kept one 767 for ZAG as demand is obviously there.
DeleteObviously...not.
DeleteWhen will Zagreb FINALLY get flights to US? Conditions are good for the US flights, especially with the US visas being abolished.
ReplyDeleteTime for Croatia Airlines to lease a widebody and start it themselves.
DeleteZAG is already the largest Star Alliance hub not to have US bound flights. Time to get those services.
DeleteIt won’t happen
DeleteThe story of ZAG getting US flights is at least 15 years old.
DeleteAs soon as BEG gets fifth US destination.
DeleteAegean is bigger and more successful, yet also doesn't have a USA service nor do they plan one
DeleteBecause of that foreign carriers have flooded Greece with wide body flights and this year there is huge long haul expansion. Air China, Juneyao Air, United, American, Air Transat, Air Canada, Emirates (to US), Asiana, Norse Atlantic, Korean Air, Scoot. Just because Aegean is successful with their short haul flights doesn't mean that every decision they made is correct and that they haven't missed some opportunities.
DeleteYes but ZAG is richer than Athens so locals can afford to travel more. Also ZAG is becoming an important business hub.
Delete^ I guess that explains Ryanair expansion in Zagreb and arrival of T'Way Air.
DeleteLOL!
DeleteAnon 09:56 you forgot Delta airlines , Qatar and many flights in summer with wide bodies to ATH from EL AL , Swiss and sometimes from MEA !
DeleteZAG is richer than Athens? This is getting ridiculous.
DeleteAnon10:27 There’s also Asiana Airlines, Ethiopian etc
DeleteZagreb GDP is approx 20,000$ usd while Athens is more than double at 40,000$ usd according to the latest data. Your comment is ridiculous. Is it so hard to google
Deletethis first before posting dumb crap as such?
There is no reason to compare ATH , BEG and ZAG . ATH is expected to have 32 to 33 million passengers in 2024 . So it is completely in another level .
DeleteATH already has 6 million passengers and summer hasn’t arrived yet. How is ATH comparable to any ExYu airport?
DeleteGuy @9:56 watches only HTV and does not travel much....which is fine, one just needs minimum education and internet connection or cell phone.
Delete"@Anonymous12:43
DeleteZagreb GDP is approx 20,000$ usd while Athens is more than double at 40,000$ usd according to the latest data. Your comment is ridiculous. Is it so hard to google
this first before posting dumb crap as such?"
I am not entering discussion of who is richer, but to post false info and than assume others won't counter it, I know you're trolling, but imf and eustats have data on every country in the EU and you can google what is what.
BTW Zagreb's GDP per head is €24,4 billion, or €22000 per head, but PPP €47000, data for 2023. 1€ = 1.1$~
EU stats = https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Purchasing_power_parities_and_GDP_per_capita_-_flash_estimate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens
DeleteZagreb - €22400
Athens - €20600
Not that is matters.
It is Worldwide problem with the aircrafts, pilots, etc. Price of services should not be excluded. There are numerous factors, which define where some of the companies go. Shitcago already losing United and AA flights because of airport fees. Companies choose where the money is. Every cent counts. It is not just tourists, or diaspora, it is the time of the smasll money in large numbers.
DeleteBut, when Delta decide to go somewhere, you know there is a money to be picked up. And, they are trimming the schedule, day by day. I travel with them a lot (Diamond medallion for 2 years in a row) and I see what they do. This year, as I travel with them, their load factor on all flights I've been to is 100%. Every single flight. If they don't have 100%, they swap the plane... Should they lock out 2 planes and 4 teams just to have 1 daily flight to Zagreb with 30% load factor, or use those planes on the route from Atlanta to Richmond (1,5 hour flight) or Raleigh NC, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, where they have 100% LF and flights every 45 minutes both directions?
When Delta comes to Balkan on daily, you will know you are something. Until then, Ryan Air is the king.
When it comes to Athens, don't forget that they successfully killed (through bribes) any and all attempts to activate a second commercial airport in the area. It makes zero sense to have only two commercially functional airports in continental Greece (ATH and SKG). Even Crete has two (HER and CHQ).
DeleteAbout 15 years ago there were serious plans to transform a military airport into an LCC airport. Naturally ATH opposed it and the whole story ended there. The market is mature enough for it to handle a second airport in the area. Until then ATH will enjoy its monopoly and overcharge airlines.
@Anonymous23:13
DeleteYes load factor is a serious issue for Zagreb, LF for 2023 was only 81.44
https://www.zagreb-airport.hr/poslovni/b2b-223/statistika/statistika-za-2023-godinu/815
For city of 1.1 million should be at least 100, but I guess post covid recovery might have something to do with load factor. In august of 2023, Airport handled 383 000 pax and had just over 2230 flights, giving us LF for the whole month of around 91.25, this should be an average for entire year ideally much higher, but first step should be over 90lf per flight, aiming for 100 per each flight on average. Could happen by 2027/8.
Load factor of 91 could be achieved in 2025, in 2024 I expect from all indication airport will handle between 4.2 and 4.3 million passengers. Assuming middle of the two, 4.25 million, and around 48500 flight operations, we are getting improved load factor of 87.6, meaning in 2025, we can expect load factor of around 91-93 if everything continues at current pace. It depends on how many new routes Ryan air initiates from Zagreb, it is clearly important player when it comes to generating new traffic at Zagreb airport.
Bravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteSKP could definitely support flights to New York. PRN too.
ReplyDeleteDid there used to be some TK widebodies from IST from time to time to SKP?
DeleteSKP and Pristina first need to get European main hub connections not only gasto cities and airports , then we can speak for US flights ;) thats too big apple to be eaten!! Btw SKP has good transfer to US , Istanbul,Zurich,Vienna,Warsaw,Belgrade,Frankfurt,Oslo , what really miss in the moment is Amsterdam,Munich,Paris CGD ...
DeleteWow not usual to see A340-300 in this region :)
ReplyDeleteI'm envious of Pristina, that bird is incredibly beautiful. What would I give to see it in LJU
DeleteWhat about Split? Any chance we might see some seasonal long hauls from there?
ReplyDeleteSplit Airport CEO said they are not interested in long hauls.
DeleteProbably because they have nowhere to park those planes. They would earn much more from narrowbody flights.
DeleteI believe in 2019 Transat schedule Split from Toronto but then cancelled after a few months of sales. Don't know why.
DeleteSplit missing Turkish and FlyDubai
DeleteI think FZ may be a real possibility next year.
DeleteRunway length is an issue at Split too
DeletePayload restrictions in summer was problem for long haul flights at SPU due to short runway
DeleteThank you for those numbers!
ReplyDeleteSad that there are just 3 cities with scheduled wide body flights. We are way behind the rest of Europe.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWell we are right in between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines hubs. They're going to make it very hard and they dont like competition. They benefited the most with the loss of JAT.
DeleteBEG 5
ReplyDeleteDBV 3
ZAG 2
PRN 1
The PRN flights are not regular
DeleteGood to see overall wide-body growth from BEG. I expect numbers will further grow this winter.
ReplyDeleteWith the arrival of third and fourth wide-bodies in JU fleet it will surely happen.
DeleteHainan requested to operate a third weekly but they were doing that since last summer and nothing became of it.
DeleteToo many A330s, give some different types of big birds :D
ReplyDeleteYou're right.
DeleteWell I'm happy to be booked on QR B787 BEG-DOH on 10 May. Hope they don't make some switch
ReplyDeleteYou should submit a report here. Would be interested to see how it was.
DeleteI remember a trip report on the QR A350 published here BEG-DOH.
DeleteI'm on May 2nd in BC (BEG to DXB via DOH), will make a report!
DeleteNice and enjoy :)
DeleteAnd BEG is the only one with year-round wide body ops, with both local and foreign airline.
ReplyDeleteTrue dat.
DeleteMr. Admin, you have unfinished sentence at the end of an article.
ReplyDeleteQatar Airways operated several A330 flights to Sarajevo in 2019 in the summer when it flew year round and now it only flies a few times per week during the summer. What happened?
ReplyDeleteI think it's because all the Gulf airlines started flying to Sarajevo during Covid since they were looking for alternative markets. QR was full with Gulf transfers to Sarajevo but now with airlines from Kuwait, Oman, Saudi, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan all flying to SJJ, there is no need to transfer.
DeleteBut in winter almost none of those fly. Odd they don't fly in winter.
DeleteThey fly in winter
DeleteLast QR flight of the season to Sarajevo is in September. They don't even fly for the entire summer. Just June-September. But they are increasing frequencies compared to last year.
DeleteI would love to see Transat in Belgrade seasonally, since JU seems to have no intention of flying there.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder why they do not fly to BEG seasonally.
DeleteBecause Vinci doesn't push for it. I would like to hear have they aproached Canadian carriers at all. Or they also, like the guys from INI, wait to recieve an email from an airline...
DeleteLast year a lot of flights from MAN were operated by the -9 instead of the -8.
ReplyDelete* to DBV obviously
Delete0940, no, to the "region". Hihi!
Delete^ unfortunate for the downgrade though.
DeleteIt is sad that if it was not Air Serbia BEG would have only 2 flights per week from Hainan as a long haul operation .
ReplyDeleteAnd you know another airline wouldn't step in to meet demand if Air Serbia were not flying. At the end of the day, those 2 flights per week are year round.
DeleteBy that logic you can say that without Air Serbia and Hainan there would be no long-haul flights.
DeleteMind you, airports such as BUD, ZAG or OTP do not even have flights to the US while PRG only has them in summer. In eastern Europe only WAW and BEG currently have year-round flights to the United States of America.
Hypotheses can be sad, but the reality is very happy for Serbian Aviation which has the strongest flag carrier by far in our ex-YU region.
DeleteHaving the strongest flag carrier in ex-Yu is not hard to achieve. I still hope Serbia and Air Serbia will find a way to play in some better league finally although I doubt.
DeleteIf it's not hard to achieve, why are the rest straddling so badly behind? JU's leagues are getting better and better. This year they should cross the 5 million passenger mark, and that's a whole new ballgame. Either way, they are moving lightning-fast in the right direction. Which is not something one can say for either of the other 2.
DeleteBecause they are bad, that's no mistery. With better OU&ZAG it would be more interesting game, and challenging for JU. Luckily, they don't have to care about it so you can enjoy the status of the strongest flag carrier in ex-Yu, by far. I just hope JU doesn't get satisfied with such low standards.
DeleteWould OU and ZAG really challenge them? I don't see it the same way JP and LJU did not challenge them. Mind you, Adria was very aggressive with transfer passengers.
DeleteIf running a successful airline in eastern Europe was that easy then airlines such as CSA, Malev, Balkan... would have made it without a problem (the same way JU did) while carriers such as Tarom wouldn't be struggling to such an extent. You also have many failed attempts such as Air Lituanica, SkyEurope, Blueair etc. which tried to make it but eventually failed.
That is why Air Serbia's success is such a nice story because they made it against all odds.
But JU started with a new business model at the time JP went down so it's hard to compare it. Back then JU wasn't chasing transfer pax, how many % of them JU had in 2017, 2018? Belgrade is obviously better sized and positioned to be regional hub, but that's not given.
DeleteWith the soon to lanuch A321 XLR you can imagine companies like Air Canada using aircraft like this to markets in Ex-yu moving forward. On a positive it should mean more long haul flights to the region.
ReplyDeleteThey can't make it from Canada to ex-YU.
Delete^ Yes they can with XLR.
DeleteMaybe on paper but I think it can't make it once you factor in winds, non-direct flight paths etc.
DeleteAlso don't forget that only Toronto makes sense which is some 9 hours from BEG.
Interesting article. Nice to see BEG grow so much. Pity about Zagreb but I do hope some of those airlines from 2019 to return
ReplyDeleteZAG said they expect their long haul network to recover by 2025 so I have hope it will.
ReplyDeleteOf course they did. Lol
DeleteAny chance for American to return to Dubrovnik. I know that before the pandemic they were even considering a second destination, from Chicago.
ReplyDeleteDubrovnik is now focused on LCC instead of long haul, so the chances are slim.
Delete9 routes with wide bodies is not so bad considering how small and unimportant our region is.
ReplyDeleteThe issue is it goes down to 4 in winter from just one airport.
DeleteI'm sure TK will deploy A330 to Ljubljana here and there during the summer.
ReplyDeleteIts a shame Aeroflot is banned becouse before they banned them, they already had 2 daily A321 flights and they were starting to deploy A330 on some flights aswell.
Deleteyup LJU will allegedly have 2 flights per week with A330 in peak summer
DeleteWe could see fz 787-9 maybe in years to come, at least BEG.
ReplyDelete