NEWS FLASH
Air Serbia will downgrade its flights between Belgrade and Porto from year-round to extended seasonal operations. The service will conclude on November 14 and resume for the winter holiday period, between December 22 and January 9. Operations will then be restored again on March 6 and run throughout the coming summer. Last winter, the carrier maintained two weekly flights between the two cities throughout the winter. The Serbian carrier will continue serving Portugal through its three weekly rotations to Lisbon this winter.
Reasonable and expected to be honest
ReplyDeleteAre you saying their initial schedule was unreasonable?
DeleteNo, downgrading a route is never reasonable or logical especially when it's a market like Porto
Delete"especially when it's a market like Porto" lol
DeleteYes JU employees should have gone out on the streets with guns and forced people to buy tickets to Porto in winter.
DeleteSorry were you trying to be funny?
DeleteJU sales and marketing department should be punished for not doing a better job.
Their fares to Portugal are a way more expensive then LH with stop in MUC or FRA. Porto, as an leasure destination, should offer a way cheaper tickets.
DeleteI visited Porto last year, and chose to fly via MUC as the round trip ticket was only 150€, and JU direct flight was 400€. And to mention, the tickets were bought 1-2 months in advance
I like Portugal and Porto, but unlike Lisbon, Porto's winter weather is awful. There is not that much demand for Porto during the winter months, so this is probably a good decision.
Delete@11.22
DeleteI guess Austrian Airlines too, since with a significantly larger network, they fly seasonally too. I hope the management 'PUNISHED' their sales and marketing department.
Everybody who expects direct flight to be cheaper than connecting one has no clue about aviation.
DeleteAnon 11.35
DeleteOnly difference here is that Austrian Airlines faces direct competition from Ryanair which operates VIE-OPO 5 times per week in winter. This is quite an operation so it only makes sense that Austrian Airlines, with its higher costs, can't compete once demand shrinks after summer.
On the other hand, Air Serbia has secured a winter monopoly to Portugal. They should have no problems filling 2 weekly on the E90/95. There must be enough O&D and transfer passengers.
That comment is correct for some types of connection and flight between certain city pairs, especially at larger distances such as this. Where that statement hold up is when demand is high between destinations. Connecting fares between London and say Rome are rarely cheaper than direct ones given the degree of competition. As routings get longer the degree to which connecting becomes competitive or attractive increases.
DeletePorto - Belgrade is a relatively long route and therefore the options to connect are numerous which will always make it a hard sell for JU.
Glad people agree that JU's scheduling department made a mistake in assesing demand for OPO in the winter.
DeleteIt's not so much the scheduling department, it's the whole commercial department which failed to stimulate demand. There are ways airlines can create demand if there isn't enough of it.
DeleteThat's what airlines such as EK, QR, FI... did.
Seems like Air Serbia struggles in markets with minimal (or at least modest) O&D demand.
I must admit I`d like the "punish" comment deleted by the admin.
DeleteJesus.
That’s what they should have done with Lyon
ReplyDeleteTrue dat.
Delete2 pw on leisure routes isn't too bad, but to cities such as LYS combined with decent competition 2 pw isn't enough. Loads seemed decent but yields we're probably not great. I'm hoping LYS will make a come.back.
DeleteWhy is everyone crying about a 2 months flight reduction on Porto. It is a summer spot and miserable wet destination in the winter time. JU is smart to reduce flying when needed then wasting money.
DeletePeople are not crying, they are discussing the actual topic. Personally I think JU is not smart, this is the third destination they (temporarily) terminated this winter: ESB, OPO and LYS.
DeleteMerely terminating destinations when they are not performing well is not the way forward. Air Serbia needs a new concept to stimulate demand in underperforming markets. A new commercial strategy is desperately needed. A loyalty program would help them a lot as it would build loyalty beyond their home market, Serbia.
Only LYS is terminated. You have to learn difference between temporary suspension and termination. ESB didn't operate last winter either.
DeleteDon't rain on their party.
DeleteCan't you see that they got their 5 minutes to show all frustrations because one destination in Portugal turned out be seasonal?
Of course when 5 destinations (BRI, GVA, TBS, FLR, and SPU) comparing to last winter are added they are nowhere to be seen.
Air Serbia was praised when they launched those routes. So no, you are not right, we were seen since we were congratulating them at that point.
DeleteHowever, you need to chill out with this obsession to defend JU no matter what. It's an absolute fact that they are struggling in many aspects and ignoring them won't solve their problems. Today's topic is not a positive one so I don't see why we should focus on BRI, GVA, FLR or SPU. What do they have to do with this seasonal reduction?
On the other hand, their termination of LYS and additional downgrade of ESB are linked to today's topic. They highlight JU's issues with markets where there is limited to no point to point traffic. That's a fact. An airline that hopes to expand its hub and to attract transfers needs to find ways to stimulate demand and to create it if there isn't enough of it.
For God's sake today's topic is JU and on of the destinations that became seasonal.
DeleteIn order to get a full picture about their moves it is of big importance to bring the information about the positive things they did.
Only on that way the right image can be seen and not only the one you want to present.
Ok, please then present us with your pre-approved guidelines on what we have to write in order to get the right image and not the one we want to supposedly present.
DeleteFor those who do not want to see whole picture there is simply no help.
DeleteI expected they would increase LIS to four weekly after Wizz failed on the route, maybe from next summer.
ReplyDeleteAlmost impossible to get slots at LIS at this point.
DeleteAnother 23,00 LIS departure shouldn't be too much trouble to get slots for.
DeleteI think 1PW to Canary Islands would do miracles and plane would be full
ReplyDeleteAny destination could work. Las Palmas, Tenerife (North or South), Fuerteventura or Lanzarote.
My personal preference would be Fuerteventura or Lanzarote
+1
DeleteSpain become so popular and affordable for a vacation in Serbia. We finally figured out that other countries also have coasts, not only Greece, Cyprus and Turkey. Air connectivity helped a lot, namely JU and W6.
Spain is with decent prices, compared ti Belgrade even cheap.
DeleteThe Canarias in winter have a perfect weather, may be downside for a standard Serbia are the beaches....
They have great pools, Gran Canaria would be my vote if JU wants to try moving into the Canary island market.
DeleteWent to two different destinations in Spain for summer vacation two times. Never again. Unreasonably expensive, full of tourists, dirty. Don't understand why anyone wants to go there, really. Unless they're into doing drugs and getting drunk, of course.
DeleteI have been to Cyprus three times and would go back any time. To each their own, I guess.
Indeed. Given the vast size of Spain and its wonderful landscapes and food i might suggest you give it a try in its lets known quarters such as the Atlantic coast - Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria are beyond stunning with pristine beaches and good value. There are indeed some parts of Spain that are over-crowded, but if you do you research well you'll find vast areas that are not. I've been to Cyrpus and its very lovely - but given the nature of tourism there its possible that it too (in areas) can also be described as "expensive, full of tourists, dirty and full of drugs". The Canary Islands would be a nice niche route for JU to a group of islands that offer lots of variety and the luxury of winter sun.
DeleteSomeone wrote here that there were going to be more cuts in winter and now we see LYS, OPO...
ReplyDeleteIs this network densification Marek mentioned?
Significantly fewer cuts than last winter.
DeleteThe thing with launching 2-3 weekly flights to cool European cities for the Belgrade upper middle class weekend breaks is - eventually enough people have been and the city is not cool any more. That segment of the population is not huge. And that's all fine, they can milk it until it's profitable then move on. But I am afraid that this is distracting AirSerbia from much bigger potential wins - for example increasing frequencies on main markets (Paris, Amsterdam, DE/CH/A, Moscow, Larnaca), launching more (Middle-) Eastern destinations, boosting transfers while offering more options for P2P passengers, rolling out a loyalty programme (this has been ridiculously slow, if they're even working on it), etc. Hope they prove me wrong when the summer 26 schedule is published. But I feel like we'll get more of the same. They'll increase Paris and Moscow by 1 weekly, and add Ibiza or Bilbao or some place like that for the 'influencers'.
ReplyDeleteAgree....
DeleteOnce you've been twice in LIS or OPO it's not anymore posh.
Connecting pax on these destinations is not huge, the flight time is long so not easy to achieve in winter a break even.
May be a good business or premium economy with appropriate frequent flyer could help the LF and the yield.
Absolutely agree with you. This is what I have been saying for a while now. We read yesterday how well LCA is performing but this summer JU only added one extra weekly flight. It means this growth has mostly come from Wizz Air which has rapidly expanded their operations to LCA.
DeleteI don't understand why they insist on launching new destinations without first meeting demand on existing ones. It's obvious BEG-LCA on JU can handle 20/21 weekly flights yet JU is stuck at 14. Meanwhile, Wizz Air grew to 8 weekly A321 exclusively relying on point to point traffic.
+1000
DeleteI notice a lot of comments about 2-3 weekly flights. Almost all airlines in Europe launch new routes with 2 to 3 weekly frequencies. Just look on the right hand side. I find it odd how everyone seems to require Air Serbia to launch routes with more frequencies but have no issue that airlines like easyjet fly 2 weekly flights to Belgrade and keep it like that for years.
DeleteLaunching new routes at 2-3 pw isn't the problem. It's when those 2-3 pw frequencies stay like that for years without further boost. With JU it isn't a couple of routes so no big deal, it's a decent portion of their network, not to mention many more that are underserved (CDG, MAD, LCA, AER).
DeleteRegarding easyJet, there was alot of criticism on their stagnation at BEG.
Exactly, easyJet got more criticism than praise when they announced CDG-BEG. Almost everyone wondered if they will fail because of it.
DeleteAir Serbia on the other hand needs a lot of frequencies in order to be competitive especially in the transfer market. And no, there are airlines out there that don't launch new routes with 2, 3 flights. The other day I gave the example of LOT who launched LYS with 6 weekly if I remember correctly.
^ got criticism? Open the news about it. All praise. And even there you were seething about JU.
DeleteI don't think you know the meaning of 'seething' but good for you for trying to use big, fancy words.
DeleteAnd no, it wasn't all praise so please stop making things up. There were numerous comments doubting the route's success due to a modest number of weekly flights.
FYI: Porto is the wettest major city with a Mediterranean climate.
ReplyDeleteIs it not Oporto in English, btw?
ReplyDeleteTechnically but no one calls it like that in English and all airlines write Porto.
DeleteWell, not a good news, its never good when airlines is cutting some touristy rpute, that means it was not well promoted by the se airline...
ReplyDeleteKinda wrong move, regarding termination of W6 LIS-BEG route and impossibility of increasing LIS frequencies. Really strange...
ReplyDeleteThey are cutting because of pilot shortage.
DeleteTechnically, this is a three-month cancellation. It’s good that the destination stays - I’ve been to Porto twice, and it’s still a great and affordable weekend getaway. All four flights were full.
ReplyDelete