Flydubai has updated its operations for April amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, with the carrier set to temporarily suspend services to Ljubljana and reduce frequencies to Belgrade, Zagreb and Sarajevo. The airline has cancelled all flights to Ljubljana for the remainder of March and throughout April, with services due to resume on May 1, although further adjustments for the upcoming summer season remain possible. Last April, the airline maintained four weekly flights to the Slovenian capital and had planned to increase this to five weekly services next month prior to the latest network revision.
The carrier will reduce flights to Belgrade to three weekly this April, down from the originally scheduled daily service. This represents a significant decrease compared to last year’s fourteen weekly rotations, as well as the seventeen weekly flights that had been planned prior to the outbreak of the conflict. In Zagreb, Flydubai will also reduce frequencies to three weekly, with the exception of the post-Easter week when four weekly services will be maintained. The airline had initially planned seven weekly flights for April, while last year it operated six weekly rotations. Sarajevo will likewise be affected, with the carrier set to operate two weekly flights next month, down from both the planned schedule and last year’s three weekly services.
On the other hand, Qatar Airways has extended the suspension of its services to Belgrade and Zagreb until mid-June, from the initially planned May 1 resumption date. However, EX-YU Aviation News has been told by the airline that a number of destinations have been shifted to a mid-June restart, and services may resume earlier than currently scheduled at short notice, as the carrier continues to review its network on a week-by-week basis. Unlike some of its Gulf neighbours, Qatar has not been subject to attacks for over a week and has resumed in-person work across both the public and private sectors, as well as in schools.
Sad but expected
ReplyDeleteIt will NEVER resume
DeleteYeah Vanga
DeleteLOL!
DeleteIf it does resume, it will be a long time before they are up and running at full capacity
DeleteConsidering the situation, it's commendable that they keep flying to the region at all.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAll of these carrers face large crisis or will face it soon, similar to covid time.
DeleteComlany I work for, 100k+ employees, noted until further notice most eastbound travels are postponed. Only mandatory ones, e.g. on site project work is still available. But through Lufti or klm/af. Even with turkish is being halted.
This is pure madness and hopefully, it ends soon.
The people that were immediately stranded by the war have reached their destinations and people that wanted to leave Dubai have left. There is no more demand.
ReplyDeleteNot surprising at all. The whole region is feeling the knock-on effects of the situation in the Middle East. Flydubai is just reacting to reality.
ReplyDeleteLjubljana losing service completely for April is quite a blow.
ReplyDeleteAre you volunteering going to Dubai to make safty checks?
DeleteSilly unnecessary comment 13:50.
DeleteBelgrade going down to just three weekly is a massive cut. From 17 planned to 3 is pretty drastic, shows how uncertain things still are.
ReplyDelete😂
DeleteMy guy tried to sneak BEG and smear it again 🤦♂️
DeleteLike only BEG has problem with ME3..
It's the same like last week on the news about Middle East cancellations where it was mentioned that Royal Jordanian was delaying the Belgrade launch by 25 days, someone was hysterically commenting multiple times how their new route to Thessaloniki was not being moved or cancelled and how that reflects bad on BEG. Of course, since then Thessaloniki has been cancelled.
DeleteSarajevo is down to just two weekly. That’s almost symbolic service at this point.
ReplyDeleteReally bad for LJU.
ReplyDeleteBad for LJU, good for Fraport. More passengers fly via LHG hubs.
DeleteOr in this case via Istanbul. TK dwarves most European legacy carriers.
DeleteLJU will be cancelled into May too most likely.
ReplyDeleteQatar Airways pushing things to mid-June doesn’t inspire much confidence either. Feels like they’re just buying time.
DeleteMore changes will come for the summer. This doesn’t look like it will stabilise quickly.
ReplyDeleteThey should have stopped all if their flights much sooner.
ReplyDeleteIt is extremely dangerous to operate while your home airport is being bombed.
+1
DeleteMeanwhile Middle East Airlines from Lebanon flying without disruption from Beirut despite missiles and bombs falling around the airport.
DeleteHah they have a lot of experience. I actually watched a report on Al Jazeera where the airport actually has a direct line to the Israeli army and they inform them when a flight is incoming or departing to avoid targeting the area.
DeleteΜΕΑ is the master at this.
DeleteAnd when things in BEY get too rough they move their fleet to Cyprus and wait it out.
The big question is how long this will last
ReplyDeleteA few years
DeleteFor short haul I use European legacy carriers and always fly in economy.
ReplyDeleteFor long-haul, once a year I fly in premium and always use either TK or the Gulf carriers. I really hope they will come out of this crisis unscattered.
I dread I would have to use the likes of BA or LH in premium with their crappy service and exorbitant prices.
Honestly, in that case better to use a Chinese carrier from anywhere around LJU. They are much better than LH. Haven't flown with BA in a long time.
DeleteOman Air can be an alternative too. They are flying normally and have a great product/service.
Delete@09:11 cry me a river...
Delete^You know, this is an aviation site. It's normal that people discuss such things
DeleteIndeed. But people are dying. Aviation we all hope will recover but i'm sure they can slum it via BA whilst this mad conflict grinds on
DeleteLet's hope they come back and it does not turn into another situation like EK in Zagreb which left and never looked back after Covid.
ReplyDeleteThey will come back, the demand is there. The only other option is turkish.
DeleteI really do hope so
DeleteSelf proclaimed ANALyst is still crying for them, although they left 7 years ago
DeleteDo you feel happy when you're so rude?
Delete@09:23 weird and rude response. Strange
DeleteI mean, I'm not surprised. Who is going to Dubai now?
ReplyDeleteThis is a good opportunity now for JU to start flying the route and establish itself before FlyDubai restarts in full swing.
ReplyDeleteYou are suggesting that in the middle of a war JU starts flying to Dubai when demand is virtually at 0? Are you for real? In any case, foreign airlines are currently banned from flying to the UAE.
DeleteI meant to say as soon as the war stops and before FD starts it's full schedule.
DeleteThe war won't stop for years to come.
DeleteIf this lasts, Sarajevo is toast. It has a huge volume of Gulf flights in the summer, much bigger than other ex-Yu airports. I mean even Dubai is something like 3-4 daily.
ReplyDeleteA good chance for start of flights to Skopje, they have extra airplanes now, no more complaints!
ReplyDeletelol
DeleteIt’s now or far more reasonable never
Delete@09.18 i scrolled down the comments only looking for your comment and boy (bully) you were quick at 9.18.
Delete^ what are you talking about? I thought you were joking and laughed. If you were not joking well you will be dissapointed
Delete0918 joke right?
DeleteUAE will bounce back sooner rather than later and frequencies will return by the end of the year.
ReplyDeleteMore probably demand will never be the same. A lot of people left ME and will never come back, as well as the transfers will never use ME3 again. Some unrepairable damage has been done
DeleteI heard same stories during covid for the rest of the world. How aviation will never be the same, demand will never be the same, it will take 10 years to get the 2019 passenger volumes. And none of it happened.
DeleteI don't think Covid is the same as war. You can still travel to other places where there is no danger of US solider being targeted next to your room in hotel.
DeleteCovid did change travel forever. Business travel has not recovered and it's been five years since Covid. It definitely won't recover for another five years.
DeleteLeisure travel has grown massively. Again, Covid changed that (forever)
So your point is wrong
It’s not wrong. My fellow Balkans really don’t know how to debate.
DeleteWell after covid aviation is not same dear 09:28, isnt it?
DeleteYou dobt have those 300-500eur tickets to japan or 700-900eur to sydney anymore. Yet, tickets to states are same or close. You can still fly to MIA or JFK for 400 to 500 EUR.
Who is even flying now on these carriers? Except from diplomats and maybe a very few UAE and Qatari nationals flying home or for whatever reason. Press in Europe says, flights are filled with 5-10 people on board.
ReplyDeleteLike during the first weeks of Covid, where they flew for 2 months with max 10 people on board to Switzerland.
Diplomats??? Diplomats are the FIRST to not fly and be somewhere safe. Along with their families. Have we really not learned anything from history?
DeleteThe difference in frequencies compared to last year is quite stark
ReplyDeleteThey are in a middle of a war. What could one expect.
DeleteGood to see some level of operations maintained, but clearly this is far from normal scheduling.
ReplyDeleteWell not for LJU.
DeleteMight push TK to start their third daily.
DeleteHonestly, I'm surprised more airlines have not used the opportunity to take advantage of the situation (in Europe in general not just in LJU or ex-Yu). I guess no one knows still if it will be short or long term.
DeleteWell, the war in Middle East goes hand in hand with doubling of fuel prices worldwide. This is not really the time to start new routes, especially if the airline is not loaded with cash.
DeleteI think there is a good chance that QR might come back earlier. They have started linking certain routes. For example Singapore will be operated next month via Kuala Lumpur. So I would not be surprised if we see Doha-Bucharest-Belgrade or Doha-Belgrade-Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteFZ fares have gone expensive. Belgrade-Dubai return in economy is now almost 800 euros compared to around 380 prior to war.
ReplyDeleteOne would think they would reduce fares...
DeleteTheir logic is probably that only someone who absolutely has to will fly and they would pay any price.
DeleteFuel prices have gone up drastically. Insurance costs to operate into the region have gone up drastically.
DeleteLufthansa Group has now suspended most Middle East flights until the end of October.
ReplyDelete- October 24 Suspension:
DeleteFlights to several major cities; including Abu Dhabi, Amman, Beirut, Dammam, Riyadh, Erbil, Muscat, and Tehran; are now suspended until October 24, 2026.
- May 31 Suspension:
Services to Dubai and Tel Aviv are currently halted through May 31, 2026.
That's bad
DeleteSaid last month that LJU is likely to be suspended. Next up will be Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteHow do you know?
DeleteLooking at the photo, I did not realize that the MAX does not have covers for landing gear when it is retracted.
ReplyDeleteShould be kept in mind that rerouting due to airspace closure is significantly increasing flight times for Flydubai. For example the other day Zagreb-Dubai lasted 7 hours 30 minutes! So it makes these flights even more expensive.
ReplyDelete