The three remaining national carriers in the former Yugoslavia - Air Serbia, Croatia Airlines, and Air Montenegro - handled a combined total of 2.9 million passengers during the first half of the year. The figure represents an increase of 8.7% on the same period in 2023. Air Serbia accounted for just over 65% of those travellers, followed by Croatia Airlines, with 28.2% of passengers. Compared to the pre-pandemic 2019, the Serbian flag carrier surpassed its passenger results, while its Croatian counterpart is at 84.8% of its pre-Covid figures. On the other hand, Air Montenegro is still some way off from reaching the passenger numbers achieved by the country’s former national airline, Montenegro Airlines, which declared bankruptcy in December 2020. It is currently at 72.6% of the former carrier’s figures.
Air Serbia handled over 1.880.802 passengers during H1 2024, marking its strongest half yearly results since rebranding in 2013. Although the airline has not published its average cabin load factor, based on available seat capacity during the six-month period, it is estimated to have hovered at 74%. During the first half of 2024, it provided the most international capacity to the German market, followed by Montenegro, Russia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Spain. The Serbian airline anticipates breaking JAT Yugoslav Airlines’ annual passenger record set in 1987, when it handled 4.531.000 travellers, this year. It handled its two-millionth passenger of 2024 on July 8.
During the first half of the year, Croatia Airlines handled 814.553 passengers onboard its aircraft, down 15.2% on the pre-pandemic 2019 but up 5.3% on last year, with an additional 41.253 customers carried. The airline handled 597.230 travellers on international flights, up 5.6% on 2023, a total of 201.717 travellers on domestic services, representing an improvement of 6.6%, while the remaining 15.606 passengers were welcomed on charter flights, down 14.9%. During the January - June period, it had the most international capacity available on services to the German market, followed by France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Denmark. The average cabin load factor in H1 2024 stood at 62.3%, down 1.5 points on last year.
Air Montenegro handled 191.000 passengers during the first half of the year, representing an increase of 4.5% on the same period in 2023. Of those, 171.000 travellers were carried on scheduled services, an increase of 16%, while the remaining 20.000 passengers were welcomed on charter flights, representing a decrease of 45%. The slide in passenger numbers on charters was blamed on the airline’s suspension of its leisure flights to Tel Aviv. Serbia was Air Montenegro's biggest market based on the amount of international capacity provided, followed by Turkey, Slovenia, Italy, and Switzerland.
Air Montenegro's numbers are very good considering Montenegro Airlines had double the fleet.
ReplyDeleteThey had more than double. They are not far off from YM's numbers to be honest.
DeleteIt's crazy that they even have this many passengers without any codeshare agreements, the possibility to buy connecting flights, or any agreements with any other airline.
Delete3 airlines, not even 3 million passengers....
ReplyDeleteAgree. When you combine it all together, it is a really poor figure for three airlines.
DeleteThis kind of articles are always healthy to read as a reality check of how small ex yu aviation market really is...
DeleteMade even worse by the fact that one airline has over 65% of those numbers, meaning the other two have peanuts.
DeleteTrue
DeleteYes, we know it's not as big as Germany. No need to repeat it every time.
Deletethe market is not small, its actually inefficient. All the western national airlines work very closely together and are structured better. That's the lesson to be taken away from this. This blog published that the JUG had 14.9 million passengers so far this year.
Deleteif JU + OU + 4O cooperated better, if they cooperated at all even, then their market share would increase, passenger loads and overall numbers.
I bet Wizz Air handled more passengers at their SKP base than OU did in whole Croatia during the H1.
DeleteGood to see all of them growing.
ReplyDeleteJust 3 left...
ReplyDeleteEven that's too many.
DeleteOnly aviation forum where people would like to se fewer airline in operation...
DeleteAny estimates on how many passengers each could handle by the end of the year?
ReplyDeleteWell JU expects over 4.53 million.
DeleteThey will be closer to 5 million.
DeleteIf they continue at this trajectory, they will be cloe to 5 million.
DeleteI think Q4 will see strong growth with CAN and PVG launching. Hopefully we see some other route too.
DeleteThe good thing is that JU is keeping good growth in June and July despite the fact that all of its new routes were launched by then last year and despite them not adding many new flights on last year. It means planes are fuller.
DeleteThey still haven't scheduled PVG. Hope they launch it this year.
DeleteThey will. Soon.
DeleteOU really has to lift its game. 15% under 2019. Come on.
ReplyDeleteI think we finally might see some more meaningful growth for them next year as more A220s arrive.
DeleteBut how? Aren't the A220s replacing the existing fleet, meaning aircraft will leave and they will have the same amount of planes. It is not until 2026 that they start expanding the fleet on what they had.
DeleteWell this year they they introduced 4 new routes, which I don't think is bad at all. I'm sure we will see some new routes this winter too.
DeleteI hope they keep at least ZAG-ARN over winter. Although TIA would also be good.
DeleteFor OU a220-300 will be magic bullet. But remember AirBaltic had Q400's and old 737 classics before a220's. And now they are planning to go public, huge change for small airline that was in corner of a EU.
DeleteThe most important of all are their financial results.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteExactly. And only one airline (OU) has released them so far.
DeleteIt’s not who releases them first but who makes a profit. And the only airline that’s not in the red is JU.
DeleteJust different accounting methodology.
DeleteHaha, yes, you are right. AirSerbia is cheating their books, their passenger numbers, they don't even exist in fact, it's just imagination of some people.
DeleteGet serious, man!
@9.53
DeleteNo Air Serbia uses IFRS accounting methodology. The exact same methodology used by your Croatia Airlines and all other companies in Europe. Btw, was it not Croatia Airlines that presented a profit last year after it sold 5 planes? Was it not Croatia Airlines which has deferred for the third time repayment of state loans to the government (now moved to 2025). meanwhile was it not Air Serbia that last year used its profit to repay the state for its covid loan?
Well, Air Serbia is lucky that they can get away with their pricing policy. They charged me 37.000 RSD for a return ticket to Sofia with no luggage. lol
DeleteOur company is sending at least 20 people to a congress in Barcelona this September and only 2 are going on JU. For example, the latest two tickets we bought were with LH for €475. Air Serbia wanted €1.800 for the same dates. No wonder Lufthansa keeps on boosting capacity to BEG.
I understand that they are having capacity issues but they should have found a way to meet this growing demand. They should have leased some more wet-leases for at least the busy summer months. Demand is there so why hand it over to your competition?
Wizz Air is already reacting by boosting frequencies from September. If JU doesn't react then their marketshare will dip below 50%.
Nemjee, the ticket is expensive because the planes are full. You go and enjoy your Lufthansa connecting flight to save money though.
DeleteYeah I don't think anyone in their right mind would pay them €1.800 to fly to BCN, you included.
DeleteAnd why are planes full? Is it just because of booming demand or does it have to do with them failing to adequately respond to market dynamics? Who ordered for their network to be downsized and who refused to get additional planes (wet leases) over the summer to cope with extra demand? So these fares are a result of JU's inability to respond to market dynamics. That is why their market share is still around 50% when it should be higher in a market such as BEG.
Don't forget that BCN was downsized from 12 to 9 weekly frequencies. Others, including Wizz Air, are starting to adapt.
For example, these days W6 boosted LCA once again (6 weekly from September) by adding an afternoon departure (18.40) on Sundays. On the way back the flight leaves at 23.00 giving tourists and locals a whole day in Cyprus. This flight will be a total success. Until now you had to fly either in the morning with them or with JU at 13.45.
This summer Wizz also added a Friday morning departure so they are definitely going after JU on this market. They are starting to pick a fight with them in many existing markets. Air Serbia needs to be able to adequately respond. They need additional planes otherwise they will just sit on the sidelines and watch others take away passengers from them.
As for LH's MUC-BEG flight, in the last seven days they sent the A321 three times, A319 once and A320 three times. The A321 is also planned on the 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 17th etc.
Air Serbia needs to find a way to grow once again and this includes making sure it has enough planes, pilots, crew and HQ staff to support future growth.
Does anyone have data how many passengers were handled by TAROM and Bulgaria Air in Q1? It would be interesting to compare ex-Yu airlines with similar sized carriers nearby.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how many passengers TAROM had but they got 95 million euros in state aid!
DeleteTAROM is a complete shambles. They just had a pilot and cabin crew strike last month. Many flights cancelled,
DeleteBulgaria Air isn't much better.
DeleteSo no numbers from either?
DeleteAegean Airlines handled 7.3 million passengers in the first half of the year.
Delete^ Impressive
DeleteTarom is a mess . The only good thing for them is that their slots in LHR are rumored to be sold to Virgin Atlantic or Delta airlines for 25.500.000 euros .
DeleteSuch a shame. They actually remind me a lot of Jat Airways in 2010-2013.
DeleteTAROM does not seem to have capitalized at all from the collapse of Blue Air.
DeleteThis. TAROM is looking like it'll collapse any day now. Bulgaria Air is more comparable to Air Montenegro - it's small, but it does its job. It has LHR slots, it has CDG slots, and flies to most major European metropoles, but loses out in traffic to Ryanair and Wizz
DeleteAlso according to its 2023 report, it's profitable, albeit by a small margin
Deletecabin load factors of 62% and 74%.. and it's not that they have high yields on their tickets or that everybody is flying in premium cabin.
ReplyDeleteBeats me how they can work like that
The load factors are terrible.
DeleteNo, they are not. OU's is low, but not terrible. OU has Ryan to compete with, the largest European carrier whose cost are much lesser than OU's. JU doesn't have that strong a competitor. All in all, this is reality at this point.
DeleteJU does not have a strong competitor? You realize it has Wizz Air based at its airport, which has more routes and more aircraft from Belgrade than Ryanair has from Zagreb? Unlike Ryanair in Zagreb, Wizz Air also competes on many routes DIRECTLY against Air Serbia, which means they fly to the exact same airport as Air Serbia. Some people here are completely detached from reality . And yes, OU's load factor is in fact terrible. If you were an actual Croatian patriot or wished Croatia Airlines well, you would not be celebrating that result and making up ludicrous excuses for them.
Delete^ don't bother. it's the same line of thinking the famous Croatian aviation 'expert' has. Little aviation knowledge and devoid of reality, peppered with nationalism.
DeleteSo JU has Wizz Air base, Norwegian, easyjet all competing with it at its main airport and OU has Ryanair with fewer aircraft and routes in Zagreb than Wizz in Belgrade but somehow "JU doesn't have that strong a competitor". Nuts. The only difference is that JU has had to compete with Wizz for over a decade, while Croatia Airlines has had to compete against Ryanair in Zagreb for 2 years. Another difference is that Air Serbia can actually compete against Wizz Air, while Croatia Airlines' response to Ryanair was to discontinue several routes so it wouldn't have to compete and move its flights to Split.
Delete@10:28
DeleteSorry but OU's results are terrible. 62% CLF cannot in any way be anything other than terrible, especially when you factor in that the airline cannot produce positive financial figures without selling assets.
+1
DeleteSorry, but does Wizz have 30 destinations out of Belgrade comparing to Ryan from Zagreb? I don't think so.
DeleteRyanair has 20 year round destinations from Zagreb. Wizz Air has 21 year round destinations from Belgrade. Ryanair competes directly against Croatia Airlines from Zagreb on 1 route. Wizz Air competes directly against Air Serbia on 9 routes.
DeleteThere is no info for JU of charter flights, like it states for other airlines.
ReplyDeleteThey don't release those numbers. It is included in the total.
DeleteJU have previously released rough numbers for charter flights.
DeleteIn first 6 months of the year, there aren't that many charters. They start growing from June.
DeleteIt is really sad that all mentioned companies are still alive only due to illegal support of their governments.
ReplyDeleteYes, and no one else in Europe gets financial support and hidden subsidies. Give me a break.
DeleteProvide proof of illegal support for all those companies.
DeleteWhat was JU's increase compared with last year?
ReplyDelete+10,6%
DeleteVery good growth after last year's record.
DeleteSolid, especially considering the issues they had with Marathon.
DeleteThe Marathon issue was overblown by certain analysts and experts. I remember reading on this very site in the news that ending the Marathon agreement won't actually have a huge impact on their capacity levels and it obviously didn't.
DeleteAnd when I say overblown, I mean in an operational way, not in a safety one.
DeleteVery clever. That's only 4 planes less from February and it should be 6 by June. Only 2 BulgarianAir are substituted so far and 2 more expecting soon, but after the peak of season. If that is overblown, you have no idea about aviation.
DeleteIt didn't have an impact on their capacity because capacity is compared year on year. The Marathon Embraers only entered into service mid last summer and they just had 3 most summer 2023. That is covered by the Bulgarian E190s and 3 additional ATRs.
DeleteThe situation was overblown because we kept reading by certain self proclaimed experts that Air Serbia would have a decrease in passengers and reduced capacity compared to last year. Neither of it is actually true and both have grown compared to last year each single month.
Deletegood numbers overall
ReplyDeleteSeriously?
DeleteYes
DeleteWe need new national airlines from Slovenia, Bosnia and Macedonia.
ReplyDeleteWhy one each? Let's go wild and have 2 national carriers in each country!
DeleteNo thanks
DeleteSpeaking of, can anyone remember how many passengers Adria was handling on an annual basis?
Delete2017 - 1,209,692
Delete2016 - 1,103,530
2015 - 1,239,920
2014 - 1,111,762
2013 - 1,026,839
Thank you
DeleteThought they had more passengers tbh
DeleteI'm trying to book a last minute ticket from Skopje to Belgrade on Air Serbia and I can't find anything! Almost all flights in next two weeks are sold out! They must be doing something right.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to hear. And they are flying double daily.
DeleteI didn't mean good to hear that you can't book a ticket :D but that the planes are full.
DeleteI just checked and you are right. Flights from Skopje to Belgrade are sold out. Interestingly, not in the other direction.
DeleteIf I remember correctly, SKP was supposed to receive the E95 on some days. Seems like delays are affecting them on this route. Many regional routes are either sold out or are about to be. Hopefully JU upgrades many regional routes before next summer season.
DeleteThat said, I'd love to see a 07.00 departure to SKP. It could offer a lot of interesting connections from BEG. Also, in the past JU did send the A319 to SKP during the summer months.
There are flights on sale from BEG to SKP tomorrow night already. And they're not even that expensive, just 78 euros.
DeleteMontenegro was a nice surprise in the H1. Clearly better than last year.
ReplyDeleteAir Montenegro had a good Q2. In Q1 passenger numbers were actually down on last year.
DeleteUnfortunately Air Montenegro is a bit of a shambles at the moment. Their CEO was fires and their Executive Director left.
Delete* fired
DeleteWhere was this pic taken? Looks like BEG but odd to see OU there.
ReplyDeletein fact everyone worries about profitability but I think the best thing to do is to create a national Balkan campaign (like SAS Airlnes in Scandinavia and Jat Yugoslav at the time) like that everyone is happy and no more problem with national carrier or other. Indeed I have been passionate about ex-Yugolavian aviation for a very long time and I would love for Bosnia to have its own carrier based at SJJ unfortunately I doubt if this day will really happen arrive
ReplyDeleteIt would be the smartest, but knowing the politics of the region, it won't happen.
DeleteBravo for Air Serbia, Croatia Airlines and Air Montenegro!
ReplyDeleteAny idea what Air Montenegro's load factor is.
ReplyDeleteI miss having more flag carrier in ex-Yu. It was more fun when Adria and B&H Airlines were around.
ReplyDelete