NEWS FLASH
Norwegian Air Shuttle's evening flights from Belgrade to Oslo have begun making unscheduled stops at Krakow Airport. Since July 4, all inbound evening services on the route have included a stopover in the Polish city. Although the airline has not provided an official explanation, the detour could be related to refuelling, amid ongoing concerns surrounding Belgrade Airport’s fuel supplier, NIS, which is majority-owned by Russia's Gazprom and is under threat of US-imposed sanctions. Although a workaround has been implemented allowing refuelling operations at Belgrade to continue uninterrupted, the arrangement has reportedly caused unease among some carriers. EX-YU Aviation News reached out to Norwegian for comment. The airline declined to address the Krakow stopovers directly, stating only, “We will not start making stops in Krakow for flights to/from Belgrade”. This summer, Norwegian is maintaining four weekly flights on the Oslo - Belgrade route. It competes with Air Serbia, which operates six weekly rotations between the two capitals. In 2024, 102.338 passengers flew between the two cities with the two carriers.
Odd
ReplyDeletePočetak kraja ove linije. Izgleda će i njih JU oterati.
ReplyDeleteNikoga JU ne tera ni da dodje ni da podje.
DeleteWhy can't a 2nd fuel supplier be available at the airport to provide airlines that can not deal with a Russian company?
ReplyDeleteI just don't understand why this problem has been dragging for so long, isn't' anyone doing anything about it?
DeleteTime to say goodbye to the Russians, otherwise we will be stuck forever.
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DeleteUnfortunately Russians won't say goodbye to NIS so we are stuck for now.
Huh? Stuck forever where exactly? No one else has a problem besides this airline which doesn't even operate daily flights to BEG.
DeleteIf the Americans don't have a problem with JU's JFK flights then why should they with DY's OSL-BEG?
Anyway, now that AF-KL is becoming a majority owner of SK, would be great to see them add OSL-BEG. They could easily push DY out of the market.
Like you know many airlines are not flying to / do not want to introduce BEG or stopped thinking abt flying to BEG due to this refuelling issue!
Delete" Like you know many airlines"
DeleteCan you tell us which?
I don’t know anyone. But know many of them who already fly and refuel at BEG without a problem.
DeleteSo dramatic.
ReplyDeleteNo great loss here if they go. It's a little petty for them to play politics.
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DeleteThis is beyond embarrassing, BEG needs to get rid of NIS ASAP
ReplyDeleteFirst of all the article states "the detour could be related". It says there is no confirmation.
DeleteSecond of all, I like how you think that is easy to just get rid of it. NIS is the only company certified to refuel aircraft in all of Serbia. This certification is not something you get overnight and no other company can just step in as a replacement. NIS is the only company with a jet fuel lab at Belgrade Airport and it is the only one with fuel depots and refuelling equipment at BEG. In fact, it is the only fuel company in Serbia with all that infrastrucure. So no, BEG can't get "rid of" NIS.
In that case the government is the one that needs to be embarrassed because of their incredible incompetence. They need to resolve this, force NIS to sell this part to a non-sanctioned owner or find some other solution instead of burying their heads in the sand.
DeleteNever loved Russians but this is embarrassment for Norwegian. If KLM, Lufthansa Group, Easyjet and all others see no issue, why is only Norwegian having a problem? And what kind od statement is “We will not start making stops in Krakow for flights to/from Belgrade”. Well, you already did. Can you explain yourself, DY?
DeleteIt's embarrassing for the norwegians.
DeleteOut of curiosity: are other European airlines actually refueling at BEG? I guess most of them can make two segments (a segment from their home airport to BEG and a segment back from BEG to their home airport) without refuelling at BEG. So do they refuel at BEG or do they refuel before departure to BEG and after arrival from BEG at their home airport? I guess Norwegian can't do the latter because of distance which is bigger than for most airlines.
ReplyDeleteIs the US waiver of sanctions applicable only for Air Serbia?
Many airlines refuel at BEG at the moment. Among the foreign ones there is Wizz Air, KLM, Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Flydubai, China Southern, Hainan Airlines, Sun dOr. The waiver has nothing to do with airlines. It is about NIS. Waiver is issued to NIS and they can continue with normal operations. The waiver has been extended since February every 30 days. However NIS is already on the list of companies which are due to be sanctioned. As such many companies no longer want to associate with them. Airlines included.
DeleteWhy would they carry extra weight if they can refuel at BEG? That would be just more cost for nothing.
DeleteI think that the 737's can easily tanker fuel for both sectors in OSL if the refueling is actually the problem but this is really a big blow for Norwegian given that other companies see regular operations.
ReplyDeleteredicule...
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