Over the weekend, Air Serbia inaugurated flights to Brač, making the island destination its seventh in Croatia. The seasonal service will operate twice per week until late September and was scheduled only recently in response to shifting travel patterns resulting from the conflict in the Middle East. Upon arrival, the carrier's aircraft was welcomed with a traditional water cannon salute. “We believe that this new seasonal route will be of interest to passengers from Serbia and the region, but also those from our wider network who wish to continue their journey toward the Adriatic via Belgrade”, the carrier’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Boško Rupić, said.
With the addition of Brač, Air Serbia will operate up to 39 weekly flights between Belgrade and Croatia this summer, representing a post-war record. The airline will offer more than 3.600 seats per week in each direction between the two countries. During the busiest summer season for Air Serbia's predecessor, JAT Yugoslav Airlines, in 1987, the carrier maintained 161 weekly flights between Belgrade and Croatia, including seventy weekly services to Zagreb, thirty to Dubrovnik, 26 to Split, fifteen to Pula, eleven to Rijeka, five to Zadar and four weekly flights to Osijek.
My guess is Dubrovnik
ReplyDeleteZAD
DeleteHow yes no...
DeleteDubrovnik would do great with evening flights, complemeting with Tivat only daily in the winter
DeleteProbably smth like Zadar or Pula right?
ReplyDeleteI think it's more likely to be Dubrovnik
DeleteDBV
ReplyDeleteThis winter Dubrovnik, next winter Pula
DeleteDubrovnik, only thing that makes sense, especially to cover Herceg Novi and Trebinje region, especially with early closures at TIV
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteMy guess is Dubrovnik will be the next route to operate year-round. There seems to be enough city break and transfer traffic through Belgrade to sustain it even in winter.
ReplyDeleteEveryone wants to visit beautiful Dalmatia!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy visiting the coast more in spring and autumn than in summer.
DeleteWinter is even better.
Delete70 to Zagreb, that is 10 flights a day between BEG and ZAG. Wow
ReplyDeleteI guess it make sense to have high frequnecies between the two largest cities in a country of 20+ million people.
DeleteAnd there weren’t highways
DeleteOf course there was a highway between Belgrade and Zagreb - "Autocesta Bratstvo-Jedinstvo".
Delete@9.43 it is exactly the same highway used today.
DeleteIt was finished only during 80s
Delete^ no need to make things up. Belgrade-Zagreb hiwhway was completed in the mid 1960s.
DeleteAutoput at the time did not mean the exactly the same thing we consider autoput today. A final part of the Croatian section was finished in late 90s or early 20s when it became a complete "autoput"
Delete10:00 Get informed, not play smart. Highway was built for 25-30 years in sections. Fully finished only before the war
DeleteI don't act smart, I act informed. Up until the war, the section between Zagreb and Slavonski Brod we're finished, while in Serbia everything was done between Šid and Niš
DeleteWe did have Sava express train there as well
DeleteMy first guess is Dubrovnik because it can sustain most tourist traffic year-round. However Zadar would not be shocking but it's less likely because it's closer to split and less isolated, it has much softer demand. Probably 2 weekly to Dubrovnik on ATR. Hopefully this opens opportunities to more than just Serbian guests visiting.
ReplyDeleteZadar is only 3 weekly in summer, there is no chance to be operated in winter. In winter it will one of two routes that have 7 weekly flights in summer, either Dubrovnik or Pula.
DeleteNice welcome in Brac :)
ReplyDeleteis it true that there were more than 65 passengers on the first flight to Brac,
Deleteand that the most connections were from Amsterdam and Paris?
Yes
DeleteWow
DeleteIt's either Dubrovnik or Pula.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWould there be any point flying to Osijek nowafays? I notice it says there used to be 4 weekly flights BEG-OSI.
ReplyDeleteSurely not.
DeleteProbably there were some positioning flights that were commercialised.
DeleteIt's like the BEG ZAG flights that existed due to the practice in the 70 & 80 worldwide to have flights with stopovers.
Sure it would, to collect transfers. It expensive and time consuming (border) to travel nowadays via highway
DeleteWhy were there no flights to Brac during Yugo times?
ReplyDeleteThere was no airport at that time.
DeleteIt opened in 1993.
DeleteOh my bad. Did not realise that. Thank you. I mixed it up with Losinj. I remember Adria used to fly there during Yugoslav times.
DeleteI will be honest, I'm still kind of surprised Split worked out so well and it's going to three weekly next year.
ReplyDeleteAgree, shocking that it's one of the airlines top performers
DeleteAverage load was above 90% all through last winter. I thought who would go to Split in winter? But there seems to be a market for it.
DeleteThey deserve credit for identifying niche markets and adjusting capacity accordingly.
DeleteJU was also shocked
DeleteI mean there are a lot of families between two cities. For example my cousins live in Belgrad and their mother in Split. They for sure used this line more around 10 times this winter. Prices are usually decent around 120-160€ for round trip. To compare witu driving it comes to the same price if you are travelling alone
DeleteReally nice that Split is performing so well. Both cities are worth to visit. People in Dalmatia have time in winter for traveling and we shouldn't forget that Belgrade offers lots of connections. Also, visiting the coast in off season is charming. At least I and many people that I 'm surrounded with like to visit the coast in off season.
DeleteThat's good news, both for JU and coastal airport in Croatia, whichever it may be since reducing seasonality is importnat.
ReplyDeleteCroatia and Serbia are becoming increasingly connected by air again. Almost 40 weekly flights is not bad at all.
ReplyDeleteAnd Croatia Airlines nowhere to be seen or heard.
DeleteHonestly I think they've missed out. It's too late now
DeleteThey were flying Split and Dubrovnik in the beginning. I recall that my first flight was with dash Belgrade -Split
Delete09.30
DeleteIt's not too late. It's too early 🙂
Most traffic originates from Serbia, so would be harder to Croatia to set a sales team in BEG especially with the current mood and declaration from some serbian officials.
DeleteThrre is really no need to make excuses. They have had the chance to launch flights for 20 years already.
DeleteCA can easily connect INI and SPU in summer. INI is super cheap, and can cover a big area, with some deals with touristic organizations I don't see how they can fail.
DeleteIt is fantastic that JU is bringing tourists to Croatia!
ReplyDeleteReducing seasonality is important.
Thank you neighbors!
+1
DeleteBrac is a seasonal destination from Belgrade.
DeleteDubrovnik has strong inbound demand year-round, especially from overseas visitors connecting via Belgrade, so that would be the logical choice.
ReplyDeleteThese developments show that there is significant untapped demand between Serbia and the Croatian coast despite strong competition from road travel.
ReplyDeleteRoad travel to both Split and Dubrovnik from Serbia is challenging unlike Rijeka and Istra. That's why SPU has so good winter LF and I guess Dubrovnik is next to get winter flights.
DeleteNot really challenging to drive to Split.
Delete@anon 13:12
DeleteNot as challenging as Dubrovnik yet JU has +90% load at winter. DBV could also serve Trebinje and surrounding Hercegovina area. Until Trebinje airport becomes operational :-).
More flights are always welcome
ReplyDeleteTurning seasonal routes into year-round services is a sign of network maturity.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to know how many passengers on these routes are connecting versus travelling point-to-point.
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia has done a good job of rebuilding links across the former Yugoslavia over the past decade.
ReplyDeleteThey serve seven destinations in Croatia, which would have been difficult to imagine just a few years ago.
DeleteWhere is Bravo Hrvatska guy? I guess it's not Bravo when Air Serbia is involved 🤣🤣🤣
ReplyDelete😂😂😂
Delete+100
DeleteAnd what about a "Bravo Hrvatska" for being so attractive.
DeleteTourists spend millions in Croatia, thanks JU for bringing all these tourists.
Idemo dalje...
ReplyDeleteThis ATR type is perfect fit for JU for serving this airports.
ReplyDeleteDBV or PUY
ReplyDeleteExactly, PUY is my first bet!
DeleteBravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteIs there any chance for Croatia Airlines to jump in on any of these routes?
ReplyDeleteWhat is there to jump in on? All Croatian airports (minus Osijek) now have flights to BEG. Also, a lot of those passengers to Croatia are transfers from JU network.
DeleteANALitičar kaže da ima malo transfera i da nema smisla leteti preko BEG.
Delete11.38
DeleteThey can't manage. They are too busy serving Minken and Vrankvurt
Bravo mr Vucic, sending so many planes every week in this dangerous country for his dear citizens.
ReplyDeleteThis is provocation.
DeleteNo. It is a joke, making fun on Serbia's decision to put Croatia on the list of dangerous countries. Hiuuge diferrence between evil provocation and harmless joke. Unless your mindset prohibits jokes and criticism of state institutions
DeleteCrazy scenario:
ReplyDeleteWizz is closing the base in BEG, setting it up in OSI instead to cover BEG catchment area and JU, being agile, jumping in by introducing BEG-OSI year-round.
Crazy enough?
Yes, very crazy.
DeleteInstead of Osijek they could simply expand their Timisoara base, way easier and same distance from BEG.
DeleteActually not same distance, Timisoara is two times closer.
DeleteThey are doing the direct opposite of that. They are cutting routes at their Timisoara base. So it's not going to happen.
DeleteYou're a Timosoara fan?
DeleteAdmin - the new font when writing comments is simply too sharp,it gives me pain to eyes,could you return to the previous one? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI think that information about 70 flights per week between Zagreb and Belgrade is questionable. There might have been that much aircraft movements but a fair share of it had been intenrational flights originating in Belgrade with stop in Zagreb (such as Belgrade - Zagreb - Paris or Belgrade - Zagreb - New York) and on such flights tickets were usually not sold for Zagreb - Belgrade segment unlike some other JAT services like for example Belgrade - Split - Rome where was possible to purchase tickets betwen Split and Belgrade as well.
ReplyDeleteSo the number of flights which were bookable for travel between Zagreb and Belgrade had been smaller than 70.