Saudi Arabia sees potential in the introduction of flights from both Belgrade and Zagreb to the Kingdom through its Air Connectivity Program. Established in 2021, the Saudi Air Connectivity Program (ACP) enables airlines to connect with aviation partners and authorities in the country, providing market entry, route sustainability and co-marketing support. The program has so far proven successful with British Airways, LOT Polish Airlines, ITA Airways, Eurowings, Transavia, Cathay Pacific and a number of other Chinese carriers introducing flights to Saudi Arabia over the past few months.
Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News at the CAPA Airlines Leaders Summit in Belgrade, Majid Khan, CEO of the Saudi Air Connectivity Program, said, “We look at markets like Belgrade and Zagreb and we would love to have them connected to Saudi Arabia. If you ask me personally which two markets in the Balkans I feel are relevant and where there is potential, these are definitely Belgrade and Zagreb with Air Serbia and Croatia Airlines”. He added, “In these markets, people are explorers. Yes, you have been to Spain and Italy a few times, but you want to explore new destinations and we see the same across this part of Europe”. Regionally, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania boast flights to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi carriers, which can also benefit from the ACP, have shown interest in serving both Serbia and Croatia in the past. Low cost carrier Flynas applied for slots to launch seasonal operations between Riyadh and Belgrade in the summer of 2022, between May and late September, however, the route never materialised. Saudi Arabia is one of Belgrade’s largest unserved markets in the Middle East, with Riyadh having the most indirect passengers between the two countries, followed by Dammam and Jeddah. Flynas also expressed interest in introducing operations between Riyadh and Dubrovnik during the summer of 2024 following talks with the Croatian airport, however, it ultimately did not follow through. Dammam sees the most indirect traffic with Croatia, followed by Riyadh and Jeddah.
The ACP was established in 2021 with the primary goal of supporting air travel partners as they initiate or expand their presence in the Kingdom. The program aims to position Saudi Arabia as a global leader in air connectivity by developing new and existing routes. Following an extremely successful 2024, Virgin Atlantic will become the newest beneficiary of the ACP next year. The Kingdom had initially set a target to welcome 100 million tourists by 2030. That figure was already surpassed in 2023, with the new goal now to reach 150 million tourists, indicating the large potential for air travel as the country begins to open up to the world.
I'm surprised there are no flights to the Croatian coast.
ReplyDeleteSaudis are not so interested in the sea and swimming on beaches. They prefer forests and greenery along the rivers, which they don't have in their country
DeleteInteresting
DeleteWell then Serbia and Bosnia would be ideal for that.
DeleteThere are already flights to Bosnia and there is certainly forests, greenery, rivers and lakes in Criatia.
DeleteDubrovnik would be a perfect match for these flights.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteYes, why?
DeleteExactly why? DBV struggled until FR came
DeleteIt's a popular city for tourists where you can incorporate sightseeing and swimming, as well as a visit to Montenegro too. I don't understand what your problem is.
DeleteIf only you knew Saudis.. They are for green which they lack at home. They have plenty of sun and sand at home. Hence, Zagreb is better choice and this will be a hit. Sorry but this time Zag wins over SPU or DBV.
Delete^ Well, Saudis are also attracted to luxury and trendy places. They already are regular guests in Dubrovnik, Korcula, Hvar, Brac...etc. either with their own, or rented out yachts. Generally speaking, they really seem to love island hopping along the Adriatic coastline.
DeleteNot saying they wouldn't visit Zagreb or other parts of Croatia, but they definitely like the coast too. That's already been proven.
JU could start flights, considering they are paid for, if they actually had planes. But since they don't, not gonna happen soon.
ReplyDeleteHave there ever been scheduled flights between Serbia and Saudi Arabia?
DeleteNo. They only established diplomatic relations some 10 years ago.
DeleteSerbia opened an embassy in Saudi Arabia just a few years ago.
DeleteJU could have started flights to Riyadh and Jeddah.
DeleteI didn't even know we had an embassy in Saudi Arabia.
DeleteSince 2015
DeleteI can only imagine how well ITA is doing considering they constantly have dumping prices on their flights to Saudi Arabia. And they started both Riyadh and Jeddah!
ReplyDeleteThey don't care. Most costs are covered.
DeleteCroatia Airlines could start the flights with their A220s.
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia should have started flights to both RUH and JED and feed its network not just to Croatia but all over Europe and North America.
Delete@09:29
DeleteTrue dat!
Eventually more ex-Yu cities will get flights to Saudi as Saudi Arabia opens up for tourism. For now all these routes in Europe they are opening up are purely for Saudis to travel.
ReplyDeletemaybe in 20 years. They fly to US or Asia or parts of High fashion Europe, France, Italy, etc.
DeleteInterestingly Montenegrins don't need a visa to visit Saudi Arabia since they started their drive to open up the the world. But Serbs, Macedonians and Bosnians do.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Croatian, Slovenian citizens?
DeleteYes, it's visa-free for them too.
DeleteAll EU countries plus Norway, UK, Switzerland, Montenegro and Ukraine can enter Saudi Arabia visa free
DeleteNice although wondering how Montenegro got on that visa free list :D
DeleteBecause they give them visa on arrival. That's why they were put on the visa free list.
DeleteSo if I understand correctly the only European countries not getting visa free entry to Saudi Arabia are Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Moldova?
DeleteSeems strange to me.
EU+ wins again!
DeleteIf you have a valid US visa you can enter Saudi Arabia with Serbian passport. You get a visa on arrival but it does cost 120 euros
DeleteCorrect with note, you have to activate your US visa first before entering Kingdom, which means, at least once you should have been in states before Kingdom.
Deletenot true…i am Austrian and I do need a visa for KSA…its just electronic but it is a visa
DeleteAt the moment unless you have a US visa with at least one entry into US you can't enter Saudi Arabia with Serbian passport unless you reside there or have been invited by some company for business.
DeleteWe already ready this about BEG some time ago and nothing happened.
ReplyDeleteSaudi Arabia is a big market. Population of 37 million
ReplyDeleteAnd wealthy too.
DeleteTrue
DeleteIn my opinion, if JU was to start operating flights (with feeders, so let's say at around midday) they could cover a few cities in KSA, Bahrain etc.
ReplyDeleteJU can barely sustain its existing schedule with its current fleet.
DeleteJU has quite a bit of extra capacity in all fleet types.
Delete^^^
DeleteWhat JU is mostly missing is flight crews to fully utilize its aircraft capacity.
Just my2cents
Good to see there is some progress here. Hope we will see flights soon.
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDelete🤔
DeleteWould be nice to see Riyadh Air in the region soon :D
ReplyDeleteThey are not operational yet. Apparently they have big issues finding aviation professionals of all types to hire.
DeleteBut they plan to launch mid-next year
DeleteGood luck with that!
DeleteFrom what I'm hearing they are offering huge salaries. I'm sure they will launch next year.
DeleteHave they got any aircraft?
DeleteI think they have at least one which they've shown, they're expecting 39 787s over the next decade or so
Deleteits FlyDeal
ReplyDeleteWhat is?
Deletewho will start flights in the region
DeleteSaudis seem to want either JU or OU.
DeleteMy cousin who works in Riyadh used to constantly use Etihad connection to get to BEG. Since they stopped flying he has migrated to Qatar and says almost the entire community there flies with either TK or Qatar to Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteWould be great to have flights to Saudi Arabia. There is a growing Serbian community in Saudi, particularly working in the oil and aviation sectors. Also Energoprojekt has several ongoing projects in Saudi. I think these flights would also attract Saudi Arabian tourists to visit Serbia..
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIdk about Riyadh, but heard that Jeddah is quite a beautiful coastal city.
ReplyDeleteThere are some stunning areas in Saudi Arabia and it has very diverse geography. Crystal clear waters on the Red Sea with hot climate to snow in the mountains in the north.
DeleteWhy don't ex-Yu airlines consider flying to more Gulf states?
ReplyDeleteBecause they are unimaginative, they don't know how to develop any new market and don't know how to use opportunities.
Delete+1
DeleteSeems like they just discovered balkans. First Maribor now Zagreb and Beograd.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the Maribor flights it seems like the slots will actually be used for flights to Ljubljana. They just listed Maribor for administrative reasons.
DeleteWow that would be great and makes a lot more sense.
DeleteSaudi Arabia is a huge market. Surely there is potential for these flights.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAirports in ex-Yu have to do something to attract these airlines. ex-Yu is mostly completely unknown in Saudi Arabia.
DeleteEx-yu is mostly unknown anywhere outside of Eutope. More promotion needs to be done.
DeleteAbolishing visas for Saudi citizens will get you immediate flights from there.
ReplyDeleteThere is probably a reason why there are visas enforced.
DeleteEU is actually looking into abolishing visas for Saudis.
DeleteThat is smart decision. Saudi citizens won't be coming to the EU as illegal migrants.
Delete+1
DeleteDubrovnik could work for Flynas
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure. Flydubai has a very limited number of flights to DBV and they have much more demand.
DeleteA market Air Serbia should consider
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI doubt there would be sufficient demand at this point.
DeleteThey don't have sufficient crew to operate anything new.
DeleteTrue
Delete27 million international tourists, out of which half comes for religious reasons but ok.
ReplyDeleteIt is not 27 million tourists, it's over 100 million
Delete"The Kingdom had initially set a target to welcome 100 million tourists by 2030. That figure was already surpassed in 2023, with the new goal now to reach 150 million tourists"
I would be interested to know how many of these tourists visit SA for non religious tourism.
DeleteSaudi Arabia is already a major tourist destination, which attracts way more travellers than Croatia or Greece. But it is not people who go to sea holidays or city break.
DeleteIt is not tourism, it is pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.
Delete@Anon 12:24
DeleteAnd how many of these tourists are not Muslims?
Regardless, their numbers are growing strongly and it certainly isn't suddenly because there is such a jump in pilgrims.
DeleteI would love to see Saudia actually launch flights.
ReplyDeleteNo chance
DeleteIt is more likely it will be some Saudi LCC.
DeleteFlynas was interested in BEG and DBV in the past.
DeleteBravo for both!
ReplyDeleteIt would be bravo if they got flights.
DeleteApsolutno nema nikakve potrebe da lete za Zagreb!!!
ReplyDeleteNi za Beograd!
DeleteThat's a huge number of airlines they managed to attract in just a year.
ReplyDeleteJu should hire students from the hospitality faculty for practical training. They can incorporate it into their curriculum and get these students for free. Have one or two eo per flight assisting.
ReplyDelete