Bilbao City Council has said it is seeking to secure flights to Belgrade and Zagreb as part of plans to improve the city’s connectivity with Central and Eastern Europe. The council will hold tourism workshops in both capitals during the first half of October, with the aim of attracting potential services. Other target markets include Bucharest, Sofia, Gdansk, Poznan and Wroclaw. The council noted that the new flights would “strengthen Bilbao’s position as an international tourist destination”. Bilbao, the largest city in northern Spain, is a base for Vueling and has recently secured several new Wizz Air services.
Air Serbia currently maintains flights to six destinations in Spain from Belgrade, with a further two - Tenerife and Seville - to be added in September. Wizz Air operates three routes from Belgrade to Spain. The Serbian flag carrier handled 114.704 passengers on its Spanish services during the first half of the year. It has also previously been courted by authorities in Granada, in southern Spain, over the potential introduction of flights. Air Serbia has said it is interested in launching seasonal summer operations to Ibiza but has been unable to secure its preferred slots at the airport.
Zagreb is linked to eight destinations in Spain, with six routes operated by Ryanair, two by Croatia Airlines and one by Iberia. The Croatian flag carrier handled 27.535 passengers on its Madrid and Barcelona services during the first half of the year. Croatia Airlines has been expanding its presence in Spain, launching flights to Madrid last year and upgrading the two Spanish routes from seasonal to mostly year-round operations. Madrid, however, will be suspended from mid-January until mid-March. Vueling, which has a base in Bilbao, launched seasonal flights between the Spanish city and Split earlier this summer.
Bilbao would be fantastic for both!
ReplyDeleteI could see Air Serbia launching Bilbao in the future.
ReplyDeleteBilbao would be an excellent addition to Air Serbia’s network. It offers something different from the usual Spanish leisure destinations and could also attract passengers from across northern Spain.
DeleteBilbao is one of the most obvious remaining gaps in the network.
DeleteIn terms of looking at the map? Or actually workable route?
DeleteDoes Ryanair fly from BIO?
ReplyDeleteNo
DeleteSurprising
DeleteFR have a reasonable presence in Santander which is 1hour 10mins away.
Delete^ ah thank you for the info. That explains it
DeleteVueling seems the most logical airline for both routes because it already has a Bilbao base. Two weekly seasonal flights to Belgrade and Zagreb would be a sensible starting point.
ReplyDeleteWould love to see Vueling flying this routes. My first flight ever was with Vueling from Zagreb to Barcelona. Nice memories :-)
DeleteWould love to see Vueling flying this routes. My first flight ever was with Vueling from Zagreb to Barcelona. Nice memories :-)
DeleteVueling would be a nice addition. However, from Bilbao their most easterly route is Split, so it would breaking new ground that is perhaps out of character for their operation. Seems like a JU or even Wizzair route to me.
DeleteBilbao is one of the most interesting cities in Spain and the wider Basque Country has enormous tourism potential. Hopefully these workshops lead to actual flights rather than remaining just an idea.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIts not just tourist potential. Its is already massively popular with tourists. The whole northern coast of Spain is a gem both in terms of landscape and food.
DeleteIf anyone is interested in trains it has one of Europe's most wonderful train rides from Bilbao to Ferrol on the narrow-gauge. Highly recommended and the kind of project that in a better world, the EXYU region would greatly benefit from learning from.
What I find most interesting about Bilbao is that United flies there!
ReplyDeleteWhy? Bilbao metro area is well over a million not to mention Santander (Stunning - i highly recommend a visit) San Sebastian, Logrono, Vitoria and Pamplona nearby. Its a really quite densely populated part of the country.
DeleteWhy? United also flies to Santiago de Comopostella, Funchal, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife, Bari, Ponta Delgada and Split.
DeleteThe Basque region has a GDP of 91Billion which makes it an economy almost the size of Serbia. by with three times fewer people. Its actually the second richest region of Spain with a per capita of 41k euros.
Delete@anon 16:55 Low eduacation and knowledge is typical for those Balkan experts for everything and anything. Most of them dont have a driving licence. Only GDP PPP is valid and real one, nominal GDP is for stats and for budget predictions etc.
DeleteIt's pretty impressive how much United has spread its wings on these leisure routes in Europe
DeleteNo mention of BIO-SPU service?
ReplyDeleteIt says in the last sentence. I think it first said Zadar, probably a typo
DeleteVery modern terminal
ReplyDeleteWell Criatia Airlines has enough capacity to launch a new route. Why not?
ReplyDelete*croatia
DeleteBecause Croatia Airlines would struggle to fill up the back row. Routes need passenger demand or sufficient marketing and connections to generate it. As a point to point route Zagreb to Bilbao is minimal and OU does not have the ability to promote such a route.
DeleteOU has much larger destinations to launch before even thinking of Bilbao
Delete'Other target markets include Bucharest, Sofia, Gdansk, Poznan and Wroclaw.'
ReplyDeleteFlights to Wroclaw start on December 2nd, so they got one down already.
This could also appeal to people visiting San Sebastián and other parts of the Basque Country. Bilbao Airport serves a much wider region than the city itself.
ReplyDeleteIndeed
DeleteThere appears to be genuine momentum behind new links between Spain and the former Yugoslavia.
ReplyDeleteWell that is economics. Spain offers good tourist potential both outbound and inbound.
DeleteI'm surprised Bucharest is not yet linked. This is a far more natural routing than either Belgrade or Zagreb and I'm sure its only a matter of time.
How so?
DeleteThere is a huge Romanian community.
DeleteHuge, but now declining Romanian population in Spain, is mostly concentrated in Madrid, Castellón, Valencia, Zaragoza and Barcelona.
DeleteIndeed. But still a natural link that i'm sure would come before BG or ZG.
DeleteTrue.
DeleteGood to have you back ex-Yu :)
ReplyDelete+1000000
DeleteWizz will open a new base at Santiago de Comopostella next year, could be another opportunity for Belgrade - Spain service.
ReplyDeletePerhaps. Although I'm sure how much demand Galicia has among Serbian holidaymakers. Wizzair would surely launch Bucharest and Budapest before Belgrade given workers and religious links. Its a stunning region of the country, but sufficient passenger demand to fill an A321 to Belgrade? I would be highly surprised. Given the catholic links its more like Zagreb would be a destination from there for Ryanair as I can't imagine many Serbs do the Camino.
DeleteFunny, you are overestimating religious links.If your assumptions were true, Mostar would have passengers in the same range as Jeddah.
DeleteBelgrade will from next month have 11 services to Spain, more than Zagreb. Tourists are nowadays, by and large, driven by secular interests.
Indeed religious tourism overblown. But i cannot see Belgrade Santiago being a flight anytime soon. Neither Zagreb.
DeleteWelcome back ex yu.
ReplyDeleteYou were missed.
It felt weird in the morning to not have article at 9:00AM CET together with cup of coffee. Glad to have you back :)
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteBilbao–Zagreb might be more attractive to Vueling because of Croatia’s strong inbound tourism market, while Belgrade could work better for Air Serbia due to its connecting network.
ReplyDeleteI cant see Bilbao Zagreb. To Belgrade with JU perhaps. But its more a leisure route for Serbs and niche tourist route for Spanish. Relatively long and thin route but would be very welcome indeed.
DeleteIf W6 would have some courage, we would have the route long ago. But it’s easier to wait JU to develop it and then jump in. Seen so many times already. I expect TFS by the end of the year
Delete?
DeleteCroatia Airlines should grab this at least for the summer season. Because of the BIO-ZAG connection, they could lose MUC-ZAG (which would be beneficial)
ReplyDeleteWhat?
DeleteTo reduce MUC–ZAG flights instead and add BIO instead of Munich.
DeleteWhy would they do that? The routes are very different.
DeleteWhy would they lose MUC-ZAG?
DeleteThey have more than enough planes that they can fly MUC-ZAG and BIO-ZAG. But like someone said, there are much more larger markets in Spain that can be added first rather than BIO.
Delete@19:24
DeleteI agree. In your opinion, would there be progress with Tel Aviv, Monaco, Manchester? In the summer, maybe also Norway, Finland, Lithuania, and Latvia?
@19:14, @19:22
Considering they have 33 pilots, there could be crew issues if too many routes are added.
@19:40
DeleteWith the greatest of respect, what on earth are you talking about?
Monaco? There is no airport in Monaco.
Delete@19.40 crew shortage may be a reason they are not expanding at the moment even with all the extra capacity.
Delete@19:43
DeleteMy mistake, I meant airports that aren't just for capital cities.
@19:44
I'm copying from the official announcement: 'The number of operational employees has increased by 33, including eight additional pilots and 12 cabin crew members. In the technical sector, the number of employees has increased by 13.'
So they are reporting 20 new members.
@19:57 I think what you are trying to say is that Croatia Airlines should think outside the box? To fly to places slightly off the beaten track? Like the Baltics, Norway etc? Most people agree with you for sure. The issue is that OU have been doing the basics very very badly. If they had a solid business model then places like Bilbao and Vilnius etc might be quite interesting a realistic. But they have not been able to do the basics (which is shuttling people to Germany to feed Lufthansa) in any way well.
DeleteAir Serbia have quite a different picture. They have manged the basics very well (solid regional feed and long standing and reliable services to all major cities in Europe). That means routes like Bilbao (Although a real 'exotic' one) actually fit a pattern of expanding into regions that ten years ago would have been unthinkable.
Essentially with aviation the basics need to be done well before the more exotic stuff.
@20:31
DeleteAs long as Austrian Airlines flies the A320 on the Vienna-Split route, there will definitely be some passengers.
Considering that we have 50+ flights on the Zagreb-Split/Dubrovnik route, I think the problem is people’s usage. We could schedule 30 flights, and the remaining 20 could be used for other airports for flights (here I mean at least one A220 to Zadar, Pula, and Rijeka).
In the last 5 years (if we don’t count 2023), the earnings before taxes and interest were 2 million. In 2023, it was 23 million. (The net profit was 2 million)
I could see JU adding this next year. There is not much else they can add in Spain apart from Ibiza.
ReplyDeleteThey can make sure Tenerife matures etc. There is plenty to do.
DeleteYes and they can increase frequencies across Spain.
DeleteWould Granada actually make any sense for them or no?
DeleteIts not that far from Malaga. I mean everything 'could' make sense given the right marketing. But you realise that although JU operate to a handsome number of destinations the frequencies are quite modest (in comparison to other airlines with a similar model). Just flying to every old place in Spain before making sure they are really tapping into the market for both tourism and transfers would be a risky move.
Delete@19:41 Hope you are aware that Serbia-Spain market grew by 50% in H1 this year compared to the 2025 H1. Placing a bet on a sensible new destination in Spain from Belgrade is not a huge risk.
DeleteIndeed. But the growth of existing routes is not a bad bet either if they want to maintain and strengthen a position that eventually will become very competative with other airlines.
DeleteI was surprised to see how many serbian transfer passengers were on a TK flight from IST to BIO 2 weeks ago. There was a group of at least 8 and some other individual travellers.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty interesting, especially that they backtracked. But I'm guessing the price was good.
DeleteI think they arrived on TK1082 with dep time from BEG at 9am and IST arr time at 11:50, because the IST-BIO flight dep time was at 13h.
DeleteAt 14h*
Delete"Zagreb...with six routes operated by Ryanair and two by Croatia Airlines."
ReplyDeleteZašto je iz popisa nestala Iberia?
U popisu je
DeleteWith Tenerife and Seville joining Air Serbia’s network, Bilbao may be one Spanish destination too many for now. It would be better if a Bilbao-based airline entered Belgrade instead.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't sound like they are considering any immediate launch. This is not for this year but at the earliest next year and beyond. They were approached by Granada and they were looking for Ibiza since last year. Interest is now shown from Bilbao side, and with Air Serbia expected fleet and destination expansion, I would not exclude Air Serbia from being a right choice for the service.
DeleteSurely we can expect few charters for Expo next year and if proved right, we can see scheduled flights
DeleteWhy would u expect that? Gosh this expo is gonna be fun to visit.
DeleteHopefully this is not another route that gets discussed for years without anything happening.
ReplyDeleteBilbao and San Sebastián are among the most attractive city-break destinations in Europe. I would definitely use this route if it operated at convenient times.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see if Bilbao is on TOP10 unserved routes from BEG. My bet is around 5-7 place
DeleteFor Croatia Airlines, Bilbao would probably be too ambitious while Madrid is being suspended for part of the winter. Vueling seems more likely.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. OU is useless.
DeleteThis would be a very welcome route for the diaspora living across northern Spain and southwestern France, not only for tourists.
ReplyDeleteWould the diaspora from southern France go to Bilbao to use this route?
DeleteWhat diaspora? From where, going to where? Some imaginative geography i feel.
DeleteYou guys are talking about a twice weekly or so potential route. Its cute but lets face it for travel between regions KLM/Lufhansa remain dominant with the degree of service that can be offered.
Delete