Montenegro, Slovenia and Macedonia are attempting to attract Qatar Airways to launch flights to their respective markets, despite the Gulf carrier currently facing a shortage of narrow-body aircraft. The constraint has led the airline to scale back operations across the former Yugoslav region, with services to Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina reduced over the past two years, the latter now being served on a seasonal basis only.
Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić held talks with Qatar’s Minister of Finance, Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, in Davos last week, during which the two sides discussed the possibility of Qatar Airways launching flights to the country. “Particular emphasis was placed on the importance of establishing a direct air service between Montenegro and Qatar, specifically linking Podgorica or Tivat with Doha. Attention was also drawn to the potential for a Qatar-based route to serve the wider Arabian Peninsula, given the country’s role as a major regional hub”, the Montenegrin government said in a statement. The Qatar Investment Authority plans to build a luxury tourism resort in Tivat. In the past, similar investments from Qatar’s Gulf neighbour, the United Arab Emirates, have resulted in the introduction of Flydubai flights to the coastal town.
Late last year, the President of Slovenia, Nataša Pirc Musar, held high-level talks in Doha. She noted, “Slovenia is keen to establish a direct air connection with Qatar operated by Qatar Airways. Such a route would significantly boost tourism, facilitate business travel and strengthen economic cooperation between our two countries. Building on this improved connectivity and to advance cooperation in areas of common interest, we are also keen to explore the possibility of developing Maribor Airport”. Slovenia has been attempting to secure Qatar Airways flights for several years. Prior to the pandemic, the airline had expressed interest in serving Ljubljana.
The Macedonian Minister for Transport, Aleksandar Nikoloski, said last year that Qatar Airways plans to resume services to Skopje, having last served the city in March 2020. The Minister noted the airline plans to introduce “at least one new route” to Skopje, suggesting the service may include a stopover in another city or position Skopje as a transit point to a different European destination. In the past, Qatar Airways operated several routes in the region with similar stopover arrangements.
In contrast to nearby rivals such as Etihad Airways and Emirates, Qatar Airways has adopted a more conservative approach to launching new routes since the pandemic. The carrier has been grappling with aircraft shortages stemming from its 2021 dispute with Airbus, which forced it to lease capacity from airlines including Oman Air and Cathay Pacific. Although the airline recently took delivery of narrow-body aircraft such as the Boeing 737 MAX 8 and the Airbus A321neo, it has since disposed of the MAX fleet and leased out four of its six A321neos. These aircraft operate in an all-economy configuration, having originally been destined for AirAsia and are deployed solely on short flights within the Gulf.
Prior to the pandemic, Qatar Airways served Zagreb twice daily with A320 aircraft, Belgrade up to ten times per week with A321s, Sarajevo and Skopje four times weekly with A320s, and had planned to launch services to Dubrovnik in the summer of 2020. Despite reducing frequencies to Zagreb and Belgrade to seven and five weekly flights respectively this coming summer, the airline continues to post very high load factors on both routes.
All politicians negotiating routes
ReplyDeleteAnd the Macedonian one announced how flights would launch in 2025. Then he announced Flydubai. None of it materialized.
DeleteWell unpopular opinion but it makes sense. QR is getting new narrowbodies this year. So now is the time to secure new routes.
DeleteI highly doubt Pirc Musar, Spajic and Nikoloski know anything about Qatar Airways fleet status and upcoming deliveries.
Delete^ true that :D
DeleteMusar used to be cabin crew. Maybe she follows these things :D
DeleteYeah I'm sure...
DeleteThey usually announce new routes at ITB Berlin. So let's see if they announce anything next month
ReplyDeleteEveryone wants Qatar Airways but nobody asks whether Qatar actually needs these markets right now. With aircraft shortages, they’ll prioritise yield
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what they are doing. These will just stay politician dreams.
DeleteSums it up 100%.
DeleteYes, everyone wants Qatar airways flights, and if/when they materialize they complain about expensive tickets and compare prices to Ryanair and Wizz
DeleteNone of these will materialize anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteYou might be surprised.
DeleteI really hope so.
DeleteMaribor, Tivat and Ohrid are no brainers for QR
DeleteNot before Kraljevo and Užice as soon as it becomes operational
DeleteLjubljana probably makes the most sense commercially, but Slovenia has been “close” to getting QR for almost a decade now.
ReplyDeleteWhy would LJU make the most sense commercially?
DeleteStrong premium and corporate demand (small but high yield) and export-driven economy meaning more cargo. Ljubljana is also dominated by LH Group and Turkish, with very low oneworld presence. There is also catchment spill over from Southern Austria, Northern Croatia and parts of NE Italy
DeleteAw, I thought the argument this time would be that Slovenians are the richest and want to travel.
Deletepremium and corporate demand is covered pretty well with LH group and TK and FZ as premium pax can fly on Emirates as well.
Qatar Airways used to fly A320s all over the region. Now they can’t even sustain Sarajevo year round. That says everything.
ReplyDeletethe problem is fleet, not passengers.
DeleteThe problem is yield rather than passengers. If there is yield, QR will find aircraft.
DeleteOther routes are more high yielding. So I don't see why they would swap their limited fleet to please Balkan politicians.
DeleteOdd how they didn't manage to rebuild in the region after covid. Meanwhile, flydubai has done really well.
ReplyDeleteBefore COVID, Qatar Airways felt like a permanent fixture in the region.
DeleteIt is not odd at all.
DeleteThey chose to go to war with Airbus, then chose not to take the 50 737MAX they ordered from Boeing and instead ordered again from Airbus after having lost their production slots and went to the back of the line.
Qatar's troubles are all self inflicted. 🤷♂️
^ you are right. But the situation should get better this year as the A321neos start arriving (the actual ones they ordered)
DeleteSure but they need a lot of them to start expanding because first they need to replace the old A320ceos they currently have.
DeleteBefore Covid, QR used to be very cheap from BEG. Their fares to southeast Asia were borderline dumping fares. Now they are the most expensive option.
DeleteAt the time they were under Gulf blockade. I think they really reduced prices a lot during that period across their network to attract passengers.
DeleteWith the narrowbody situation of QR and especially with the situation in Iran I won't hold by breath such flights materialize this year.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThe narrowbody situation will be resolved this year. They are finally getting new neos this year. I think summer 2027 will be very different for QR, especially in terms of ZAG and BEG. I also believe SJJ will go year round and they will likely add one more route (most probably LJU).
DeleteDoes anyone know how many NEOs are getting this year and how many CEOs they have to replace?
DeleteThank you for any info.
This is the third CEO they have had in 27 years so... Airbus and Qatar Airways have not published a precise count of how many will be delivered this year.
DeleteMaribor Airport being mentioned in the same breath as Qatar Airways is… ambitious.
ReplyDeletehahaha
DeleteMaribor airport being mentioned at all is quite fun
DeleteWhen will they get more narrowbodies?
ReplyDeleteQatar Airways has a firm order for 50 Airbus A321neo family aircraft (40 A321neos + 10 A321LRs). These are intended to grow and modernize the airline’s single-aisle fleet and replace older A320-200s. Deliveries of these A321neos are scheduled to begin in 2026. The few A321neos in use are not part of this original batch.
DeleteThanks! That's good news then. So maybe something happens in terms of new routes.
DeleteMost likely next year.
DeleteIf the order for QR are A321 not sure they will expand further to the Balkans. Otherwise they would face the same situation as Croatia: bigger planes and no possiblity to fill them.
DeleteTheir average load in BEG in 2024 was 91% and that's for the entire year. I think in Zagreb it was 89%. They used to fly ZAG 2x daily and BEG daily with A321 before covid. I'm sure they would be able to fill them.
DeleteHigh load factors don’t always equal high profits. Especially on long thin routes with limited premium demand.
DeleteStill can't get my head around the fact that Flydubai has flights to Tivat.
ReplyDeleteIf they are building this project, maybe they get QR seasonal too.
DeleteSurely Dubrovnik will come first.
DeleteQR flights from BEG always have some connecting traffic from Montenegro through JU. Would be nice if they started flying to Montenegro but very much doubt it. For now at least.
ReplyDeleteThey have them from other destinations too. Usually they call over the PA for these passengers to head to the boarding gate to pick up their boarding passes and often there are around 15 passengers. Sometimes more.
DeleteCan someone explain what was the rationale of getting 8 A321neos destined for Air Asia and then leasing them to others??
ReplyDeleteOr getting MAXs destined for S7 Airlines and then leasing them to Indigo?
DeleteThey leased the A321neos to Indigo as well.
DeleteThe recent sacking of the CEO might have had something to do with it.
DeleteToday's QR still pays for the mistakes Akbar Al Baker made when he thought he was way more important to the global aviation industry than he actually was.
DeleteDon't know what's the fascination with QR. Not only they are cutting but their in-flight service went totally down from what it used to be. Flew ZAG-DOH-DAR in economy about 2 weeks ago: both 320 and 787- seat pitch average, seats not too comfortable, chicken or pasta meal selection with no started, no cheese and crackers, bun sqeezed and flat as from the cow's jaw, just one additional drink service, cabin crew average, if not even worse. I flew it before, several times, to BKK, KTM, JED; DOH to ARN and BER, and it was way better. Always liked more Emirates, and my last experience confirmed it
ReplyDeletestarter
DeleteBecause QR has shown some interest in the region. EK not.
DeleteTheir premium product is still outstanding.
DeleteAgree with both 09.23 and 09.29. Still, think people overestimate QR, generally
DeleteGulf carriers are celebrated for their premium cabin not for the economy class.
DeleteBtw, I second this for Emirates as well.
Flew with Swiss to Dubai back in November, return flight with emirates both in economy.
Was very suprised that Swiss experience: catering, cabin, crew, (except IFE) was much better than Emirates.
Flew Swiss last year ORD to ZRH (than Edelweiss to Split and Trade Air to RJK). Agree Swiss is very good, but in my opinion it's not better than Emirates-seat pitch, food selection, cabin crew, everything. Not trying to argue, you prefer Swiss and it's ok, but EK for me used to be and is number one, both economy and business (flew both)
DeleteIt's pity that FlyDubai didn't launch Skopje until now, they have enough planes, and they launched many new flights, some of them to places like Iasi in Romania, the Baltics and many others.
ReplyDeleteIs the demand that low from Skopje, based on the status quo situation in Macedonia? Everywhere around there are flights to Dubai, I'm not really sure why Skopje can't sustain 3-4 flights per week to Dubai, what are your thoughts?
Qatar return is a long shot, I hope it will materialize, but until they will start getting extra planes, I doubt that they will return. I flew with them in the past from Skopje and their planes were like 60-70% load in economy and very low in business class, sometimes no one.
Has UAE finally abolished visas from Macedonians?
DeleteNot yet.
DeleteI honestly don't get why not already. Maybe FZ is waiting for the visas to be removed.
DeleteAs of April 2025 North Macedonians can travel visa free to the UEA. For Kosovan passports the waver began in Feb '24, Bosnian and Albanian in '23 Serbian in '19 and Croatian '14.
DeleteThat's good news
DeleteUpdate to my comment at 09:38 looks like they announced it but havent actually done it. How bizarre
DeleteProbably has to be ratified by both sides and that takes extremely long on the UAE side. I know they announced visa free for Serbian citizens in 2014 but it took almost 5 years for it to take effect.
DeleteI had friends visiting Dubai couple weeks ago, they didn't need visa, to conclude visa is no longer needed for Macedonian citizens
DeleteThe UEA official website still says North Macedonians do however.
DeleteAnd Emirates website states they do not. So clearly 09:53 is correct.
Deletewhat does "UEA official website" even mean?
Deleteeverybody with the smallest clue about visas checks Timatic and it clearly says: no visas needed for 90days stays
It is a question of time for Ljubljana. If not this year then QR will start flying to LJU in 2027
ReplyDeleteHighly doubt it for this year. But fingers crossed for 2027.
DeleteUntil Qatar sorts out its narrow-body fleet, all of this is just diplomatic wish listing.
ReplyDeleteIt will be sorted out within months.
DeleteLet's hope something comes out of these talks
ReplyDelete