Low cost carrier Eurowings will launch flights between Cologne and Belgrade, replacing its existing Dusseldorf service, which is being discontinued. The new seasonal route will commence on July 17 and operate twice per week, on Mondays and Fridays. Eurowings will face no direct competition on the route, with Cologne ranking among Belgrade’s busiest unserved destinations. The city pair was previously served by Eurowings’ predecessor Germanwings between September 2006 and January 2012. Wizz Air had planned to introduce flights between the two cities in 2020 but cancelled the service due to the coronavirus pandemic. More recently, Air Serbia launched operations between Belgrade and Cologne in May 2023, before discontinuing the route in January 2024.
Cologne will become Belgrade Airport’s fifteenth new route in 2026. Further flight details can be found here. However, the new service will act as a substitute for Eurowings’ flights between Dusseldorf and the Serbian capital, which have operated on a seasonal basis since 2022. On the route, the low cost carrier competed directly against Air Serbia, which maintains year-round operations. During the upcoming summer season, Air Serbia will run daily flights between the two cities, while Eurowings had planned up to three weekly rotations. With the addition of Cologne, Belgrade Airport will now boast flights to thirteen different cities in Germany, with Frankfurt leading the way with 34 weekly flights during the summer.
As previously reported, Eurowings has implemented significant cuts to its network in the former Yugoslavia for the upcoming summer season, making it the airline with the largest reduction in both flights and capacity. During the peak travel months of June, July and August, the carrier has removed more than 140 one-way flights from Germany to markets in the former Yugoslavia, or over 280 flights when return services are taken into account. As a result, close to 40.000 seats have been wiped out from the market.
I said it before and I will say it again - the most useless LCC in ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteEurowings is shrinking in the region and just reshuffling aircraft.
Deletemost useless LCC in Europe
DeleteTheir purpose is only to play games with pilot unions within LH.
DeleteTrue
Delete^ True dat!
DeleteComparing them with Transavia and Vueling who play the same role for their respective groups shows what a failure Eurowings has become.
@09:18
DeleteThey also got Discovery for that.
And most recently Lufthansa City Airlines.
DeleteIt's good to see another unserved destinations now covered.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Hopefully they will stick around. Now only Bremen or Leipzig are missing in German market.
DeleteCologne has always been a strange gap in Belgrade’s network, especially given the size of the diaspora. Twice weekly still feels conservative though.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of Eurowings retreating from the region.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Air Serbia tried Cologne and gave up after less than a year while Eurowings now thinks it will work.
ReplyDeleteIt probably works during those few months a year.
DeleteJU was flying with A319s. The E-195 is a much more suitable aircraft.
DeleteNo point in serving two cities in such close proximity.
DeleteWhich be the other one?
DeleteI’ll take Cologne over DUS any day, but only if they make it year round.
ReplyDeleteCologne might be “unserved”, but it’s also not DUsseldorf in terms of corporate demand.
DeleteSurprised that Wizz Air never came back to this route after Covid.
ReplyDeleteSo JU beat them on DUS route.
ReplyDeleteWasn't very difficult.
DeleteIt makes more sense to serve Cologne for them. Why compete against JU when Cologne is unserved. It seems a lot of people here are not aware how close Cologne and Dusseldorf are. It's 20 minutes by train!
DeleteSeasonal + twice weekly + no competition = high fares
ReplyDeleteSounds like a win for Eurowings.
DeleteNot really. You have to get bums on seats. And for 600 euros they are selling these flights for now, there won't be anyone interested, especially for a price sensitive route like this one.
DeleteWill they run it until the end of summer season?
DeleteYes
DeleteMissed opportunity for JU.
ReplyDeleteCologne not only is one of the busiest unserved routes from BEG along with MAN it is probably the moist beautiful German city. A very interesting place to visit that JU could serve with its E-jets for start and attract many visitors.
Missed opportunity? They flew less than 2 years ago and failed. You want them to keep burning money on a route that does not work? Seems like it. In any case, JU does serve Cologne, from Nis - YEAR ROUND.
DeleteIf JU can serve CGN from INI year round then they can definitely serve it from BEG too.
DeleteEspecially considering how many connecting traffic they could get for it from Greece, TIA, SKP.
They can serve it from INI because they get paid for it. From BEG they don't get paid. They tried it and didn't work. Wizz didn't go after it either. And this Eurowings 2 weekly will probably be discontinued after one season.
DeleteProbably JU will respond by launching those flights. They could push EW out once and for all.
DeleteJU now probably has enough E-jets to fly a route like CGN. Back then they used Airbuses which probably was too much capacity.
DeleteYou guys do realise that Dusseldorf is 40km from Cologne?
Delete^ Cologne metro has 3.5 million residents!
DeleteEven Dortmund is 1h away by train...
DeleteDortmund has 5 million inhabitants.
Delete280 return flights removed is massive
ReplyDeleteAnother summer, another round of Eurowings cuts. Nothing new here.
DeleteBelgrade–Germany demand is strong enough for more than this. Eurowings just doesn’t want to commit.
ReplyDeleteI wish JU would give it another try with the Embraers.
DeleteThey can. But there is more money to be made on other routes than a VFR only route to Cologne. The new Santorini route will earn them more money than Cologne ever could.
DeleteBut why would they serve Cologne when there is Dusseldorf? Dusseldorf-Cologne is 20 minutes by rail and 40 minutes by bus. Makes absolutely no sense for Air Serbia to serve both cities from Belgrade.
DeleteSo is Dortmund or Bologna and Florence with much less diaspora. Ruhr is probably most dense populated diaspora area in Europe
Delete@Anonymous 10:04
DeleteCologne metro area has 3.5 million residents!
Just checked random dates in July, 600 EUR round trip with carry on only. Who would fly at this price?
ReplyDeleteThey just loaded the flights. Probably have not put the lower fares in yet.
DeleteAt the same time JU INI-CGN just below 160 EUR r/t economy light.
DeleteWow new route number 15 for BEG. Nice!
ReplyDeleteImpressive. And good to see its split between JU and other carriers.
DeleteMore to come :)
DeleteEtihad is coming.
DeleteANALiticar is nervous. Very nervous. He predicted that no chance for 10 million pax at BEG this year, but he will fail again as usuall.
DeleteIf you think BEG will increase its pax numbers by 12-13% I would like some of the drink you are having!
DeleteEspecially with this 2pw (which is a replacement for 2pw). We all want 10 million but let's keep it real.
DeleteBEG gained 6% with W6 half year decline and JU almost stagnating. So why is 12% impossible with W6 huge expansion, new JU planes, routes and frequencies and also new companies expected? Cut zama theories and accept reality
DeleteIt is so cute to think that BEG will have over 12% increase in passengers this year!
DeleteEurowings keeps underestimating Belgrade–Germany traffic
ReplyDeleteBy opening a new route?
DeleteBy operating seasonal routes.
DeleteJust FYI for some people, Cologne-Dusseldorf is closer than the centre of Belgrade to Mladenovac (another part of Belgrade).
ReplyDeleteExactly!
DeleteCologne alone has a population of 3.5 million. Dusseldorf has 2.3
DeleteThe Ruhr valley has a population of over 11 million.
Thank you Wikipedia for letting us know
DeleteThis is excellent news. It gives passengers another city to choose from. DUS is already well served by JU. And even if you really want to travel to DUS with Eurowings you can still use these flights to Cologne as both cities are close.
ReplyDeletePeak seasonal route between Cologne and Belgrade, it's just crazy they don't have more profitable route to fly in July and August. Tells a lot about this business.
ReplyDeleteI assume they can make some good money from this. And as a new route I think they can get incentives
DeleteBEG is most likely one of Cologne's busiest unserved routes in Europe as well. That was probably the rationale.
DeleteAnd I am wondering which are top 10 unserved short and long haul routes from BEG?
DeleteMaybe admin have an exclusive info?
DeleteMAN for sure.
DeleteNice
ReplyDeleteWonder if this will have an impact on Aor Serbia's INI-CGN performance.
ReplyDeletelaughing when I see these useless comments badtalking Eurowings. Eurowings is, apart of Swiss, the only airline in the LH group which makes any profit. So what are you talking about? And please do not compare Eurowings with some really "cheap" LCC in Europe!
ReplyDeleteStill doesnt make ir useful for the region mate.
DeleteI'm sure in LH's HQ they are very concerned about how useful EW is for our region...
DeleteAs a ground staff, i always hated to do EW. Such a pain in the ass. Last year, DUS flight always departed late
ReplyDeleteWhy?
Delete