airBaltic and Qatar Airways are set to reduce the most flights and capacity in the former Yugoslav markets over the upcoming summer season. While further adjustments remain possible with just over a month until the season begins, these three airlines have collectively removed 666 flights and 97.056 seats from EX-YU markets compared to the same period in 2024.
Latvian flag carrier airBaltic has discontinued its seasonal summer flights from Riga to Belgrade, Pristina, and Skopje, as well as from Vilnius and Tallinn to Dubrovnik. The decision is due to delays and extended engine maintenance by supplier Pratt & Whitney, along with financial challenges, which recently led to Lufthansa acquiring a 10% stake in the airline. As a result, airBaltic has removed 58,672 seats from the former Yugoslav markets and will operate 416 fewer flights this summer. Despite these reductions, the airline will continue to serve five routes in the region, down from ten last year.
Qatar Airways will decrease frequencies on its flights to Zagreb, Belgrade and Sarajevo next summer. The carrier is reducing its operations between Doha and the Croatian capital from ten weekly to daily throughout the summer. The airline will maintain daily operations between Doha and Belgrade for most of the summer, matching 2024 levels, however, it will reduce flights to five weekly in May and October. Serbia recently introduced visas for Qatari citizens amid pressure from the EU to do so. The Qatari flag carrier will resume seasonal flights between Doha and Sarajevo on June 1. From August, the airline will reduce operations from seven weekly last summer to five weekly. Furthermore, its flight program to Sarajevo will conclude on September 14, while last year saw the airline’s last service on September 29. In total, Qatar Airways is removing 38.384 seats across these three markets and will operate 250 fewer flights this summer.
Really surprised about Qatar.
ReplyDeleteYou would think that would increase flights to better compete against China Southern in Belgrade and T'Way in Zagreb.
DeleteFleet shortage. They have excellent loads at both BEG and ZAG. The numbers were reported here last year and they were impressive
DeleteDecreasing flights for just two months as s the case in BEG is a pretty good indication it is fleet related.
DeleteI think that decrease in ZAG is bigger than in BEG.
DeleteQR is cutting all over Europe.
DeleteQatar's citizens now need visa for serbia, that is new thing.
DeleteP2P demand between Doha and Belgrade is minimal.
DeleteWill Air Baltic bring some of those routes back next year?
ReplyDeleteDoubt it, especially if flights to/from Ukraine start next year.
DeleteIf Air Baltic is struggling financially, this might not be the end of their cuts.
DeleteI don't see it happening but I hope so.
DeleteI'm guessing Qatar is making these cuts in order to prepare the service to Skopje, based on the minister words :)
ReplyDeleteSure 😃
DeleteLol :)
DeleteInteresting. Would not have guessed these three
ReplyDeleteWould have expected BA on the list.
DeleteThey discontinued BEG but it was just 3 per week. If you look at passenger numbers on this route published by UK CAA, there was barely any impact of BA leaving on numbers between BEG and LHR (a least in November last year), which is crazy. It means they were flying empty!
DeleteAnd it means they did very bad job in Belgrade.
DeleteYes, it seems so. But with no promotion, low frequency reducing connectivity options, JU which slashed prices on the route and Wizz which increased frequencies to Luton, it's no surprise.
DeleteI would say that it is a surprise that BA allowed themselves not to have promotion and to start BEG with so low frequency. What did they expect? That someone will beg to fly with them only because they are BA? Right.
DeleteJU reacted on their low prices and pushed them out as BA flew 3 weekly to LHR and JU in summer 9 weekly, or 3 times more.
They should have learnt from KLM how to successfully start BEG - go big or go home.
They decided to go home. Shame.
Their BEG flights were handled by their Bulgarian team which didn't want the flights to work in the first place. I know it sounds crazy but it's true.
DeleteWhat do you mean by that?
DeleteThey didn't care about the route and saw it as a nusiance.
DeleteIt means that there was Bulgarian ЗАВЕРА behind BEG failure, obviously.
DeleteIt's not "zavera", they were just not interested in doing their job. Would have been the same if they were assigned any other market in the region.
DeleteWell, your comment says they were poor at doing their job, which is not quite the same as 'not wanting flights to work' - which would be ЗАВЕРА.
DeleteWouldn't be the first time. In 2009 a well known European airline asked its representatives covering various regions to delver reports on underperforming routes to cut due to financial crunch. A certain regional manager for the Balkans decided to sacrifice a route that was performing better than another because he was living in that other city and had a partner there. And it's not BA.
DeleteI am not saying it did not happen, but I am sure you understand it is very hard to believe :)
DeleteUnless it was some kind of STR Žika company, I have never come across a company that makes such decisions based on qualitative rather than quantitative information.
Not to say mention that routes are managed by route management departments, not by regional managers.
So, if he had to deliver a report on underperforming routes, did he have to show actual data?
If so, how did he manage the airline to make a decision based on his personal interests rather than actual numbers?
airBaltic was a great option for connecting flights to Northern Europe. Hopefully, they sort out their issues by next year.
ReplyDeleteTheir flight times from Belgrade were horrible.
DeleteIn the middle of the night.
It was like that for transfers.
DeleteYes, not very convenient for P2P
DeleteairBaltic could have offered transfers from BEG only to other two Baltic countries and Finland where demand from Serbian capital is anyhow low.
DeleteI do not see that they could have offered something special taking in consideration network from Belgrade as well as the fact that Ukraine, Belarus and Russia are closed for them (of course Ukraine is closed for everyone).
Not surprised about Flyadeal pulling out. Without the visa exemption for Saudis, demand is going to drop. Let's see if they agree last minute exemption like last year.
ReplyDeleteWill be interesting to see if Flyadeal follows suit.
DeleteBosnia can’t afford to lose flights like this. Tourism is growing, and the government needs to do more to keep airlines interested in our market.
DeleteWithout the visa exemption, the demand just isn’t there.
DeleteThey have been working on the solution for a long time, eVisa will be announced at some point but it could be late for this summer
DeleteI'm hoping visa stays, if I as a Bosnian citizen need to pay a lot of money if I want to visit Saudia, they should as well.
DeleteAnd here I was hoping QR might introduce wide bodies to ex-Yu.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteActually, they could introduce a widebody in ex-YU, especially in ZAG, with the most seats. These reductions are a result of the narrowbody (A320) fleet shortage, so it would not be a surprise to see them sending a B787 with lower frequencies, especially in the high season.
DeleteThe EU pushing for visa restrictions will only hurt local tourism and businesses.
ReplyDeleteThey are doing same in Montenegro.
DeleteAnd Qatar reintroduced visas for Serbian citizens after we introduced visas for them.
DeleteThere are barely any P2P passengers on this route, so I don't think it's a major issue.
DeleteSerbian citizens had visa on arrival, not free visa entry, as to my knowledge...
DeleteTivat can say its Arabian visitors bye bye...
DeleteSeems like the EX-YU region is not a priority for airBaltic anymore. They’re focusing on their core markets, and unfortunately, we’re not part of that plan.
ReplyDeleteThey are focusing of survival
DeleteEvery airline is cutting costs and optimizing routes
ReplyDeleteWell at least Ljubljana is getting a seat capacity upgrade. Every AirBaltic Sunday flight starting from May onwards will be done with Carpatair A320
ReplyDeleteWhat's the seat increase?
Delete180 vs 145/149 so it's quite noticable
DeleteFlights were basically full for most of the peak season, so that's nice to hear
DeleteLooks like they can't compete with TK.
ReplyDeleteThey have a genuine fleet shortage.
DeleteThis just shows how fragile aviation in the Balkans is. A few small changes in visas or aircraft availability, and suddenly airlines are cutting flights left and right.
ReplyDeleteAirBaltic sold 10% of equity for 15million €....this is unbelivebely low for an airline, methinks Croatia Airlines if not even AirMontenegro would have similar pricetag. They are barely surviving
ReplyDeleteWould be interesting to see which airlines have the biggest decrease on each ex-Yu market.
ReplyDeleteSo, let me get this straight: airBaltic is struggling with engine maintenance, Flyadeal is struggling with visas, and Qatar Airways is struggling with... decisions?
ReplyDeleteStruggling with egoistic leadership who singlehandedly shot the airline in the foot
DeleteQatar is struggling with fleet shortage.
Delete@11.06 true. thankfully that CEO is gone but they have a lot of issues due to his actions. On the other hand, he dd build up their brand.
DeleteBT cutting half their EX-YU routes isn’t a good look
ReplyDeleteWhile it’s disappointing to see these reductions, airlines are constantly adjusting. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these routes/frequencies return next year.
ReplyDeleteI remember flyadeal planned flights to Dubrovnik and Tivat last year too but never started those flights.
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteIt’s clear that smaller markets like the Balkans are the first to get cut when airlines struggle.
ReplyDeleteAnd once upon a time QR used to fly year round to SJJ, double daily to ZAG, A321 to BEG.
ReplyDeleteAnd that was when they had much more competition, like Etihad in Belgrade, Emirates in Zagreb...
DeleteYes really odd.
DeleteThey retired all their A321s though.
Delete-145000 seats by just 3 airlines is huge.
ReplyDeleteYes but then you have Ryanair which added 600,000
DeleteTrue that
DeleteI am shocked that Qatari citizen nowadays need visa for the EU and that Bosnia and Serbia were blackmailed too.
ReplyDelete