Although the winter season is approaching fast, many foreign carriers will be increasing their flight offering to the EX-YU region. At the same time, other airlines are already announcing their plans for the 2011 summer season and Croatian airports take centre stage.The latest airline to add flights is British Airways, which will operate 4 weekly flights from London to Dubrovnik, up from 2 last year. The British carrier has been encouraged by a record tourist season in Croatia this summer. Furthermore, the airport is negotiating with Croatia Airlines to set up direct flights to Athens and Venice during the 2011 summer season. Split Airport also received good news after Norwegian Air Shuttle confirmed plans to inaugurate flights from Oslo and its new base in Helsinki from May 2011. The Finnish capital will have another service to Croatia during the summer as Blue1 will initiate flights to Pula in May.
Meanwhile, Priština also has a solid winter ahead of it. Slovenia’s Adria Airways will begin operations to Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Munich from December. Furthermore, Malév will add another daily flight to the airport from its base in Budapest. This winter the airline has been given the opportunity to launch night services to Priština, complementing the existing daytime flights, which will ensure better connections for travellers flying onwards to West and North Europe. The Albanian low cost airline, Belle Air, will commence flights from Priština to Dusseldorf from November while its planned Italian based offshoot, Belle Air Europe, should see flights from Priština to Ancona, Bergamo, Verona, Venice, Rome and Bari, although the carrier is still awaiting flight permits.
Traffic to/within the exYU is highly seasonal: the pax numbers just aren't there than say in June, July or August. Therefore it's sensible that the planning is taking place for next year!
ReplyDeleteATH is an interesting one: OU seemed to have success with the route from ZAG, if they were to increase the service to 4-weekly then 3-weekly via DBV could work as another alternative. Using the 320 seemed a bit of an overkill though and would result in a poor load factor!
As for OU to VCE: a brilliant idea! At just 350mi/550km its perfectly suited to the Q400 and would likely sustain a 3-weekly service during the summer months. Flights from ZAG wouldn't make sense, and are actually more required from MXP.
Unfortunately can't see OU flying and money making routes that are a sensible addition to there timetable. They can't even make DBV-LGW work
ReplyDeleteMy congrats to Croatia for attracting new airlines. Hopefully JAT will also enter the Croatian market soon. I think both Croatia and Serbia would benefit from this partnership a lot...especially since JAT will start operating flights to NYC and Chicago starting in May 2012 as confirmed by the Serbian Air and Travel Minister.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.isria.com/pages/16_October_2010_95.php
So Jat managed to conduct a feasibility study in 1 week.
ReplyDeleteIf we use history and Jat as a guide than based on how long it has taken for Jat to not upgrade there fleet I can bet that Belgrade Chicago by Jat will not happen in 2012.
Good job for pristina. Just can't wait to see bigger airplanes like 767, 777 A330 A340 that would be nice
ReplyDeleteI actually disagree with Q400. JAT has a bad history but by then it will surely be privatized. Any owner of JAT would definitely take care of the company and probably use resources more effectively than the government currently does.
ReplyDeleteGreat news for both Croatia and PRN. Croatia seems to be attracting all sorts of aircraft from all sorts of airlines. Shame 5G doesnt fly to our part of the world anymore.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous
OS have a few times recently sent their B777 to PRN, and a B767 was used on JFK-PRN flights the last time they operated. Unsure about the A330 and A340.
@ SerbianSausage
Not a reliable source and no where in the article says it is going ahead. It just says that the flights will be "possible" due to some new reforms from the Serbian side. And no where does it mention NYC and so far a study on ORD being a possible route is underway.
@ Q400
Who said they completed the study? And no where has it been mentioned that JAT will fly to N. America.
p.s: OFF TOPIC!
Now a days people like to travel by flight very much and flights are comfortable as well. Though the prices of flights are little bit high but then also people like to travel in flight. It is really good news that now we have more flights to croatia and pristina.
ReplyDelete@JATBEGMEL
ReplyDeleteWe have had LT A330 at PRN, serving DUS-PRN leg.
@ JATBEGMEL,
ReplyDeleteBased on the post over the last few days we had, a feasibility study will be done to see if such plans for Jat will be profitable then the post by serbian kobacica saying that flights will be started. So, I was just commenting on the speed of the decision that was or was not made.
@ JATBEGMEL
ReplyDeleteThis actually is on topic because as far as Croatian airports are of concern (fuck Pristina really, it is a joke of an airport and the worst-run airport in Serbia and even the Balkans) JAT will commence flights to coastal airports if they get long-haul operations going. Basically, if JAT goes to USA, then JAT goes to Croatia too. So it really has everything to do with this article because JAT Airways might be operating flights to Croatia in the near future.
@ Serbian Sausage
ReplyDeleteDude, back off from the bad language. You can make your point without the using such words.
Since when is it a must for JAT to return to Croatian airports? And where has it been mentioned that JAT will even go to US? Just because a study is going on doesnt mean it will realise. JAT will first need to sort out its debts with respective Croatian airports first before realising any flights. 2 summers of charters to Pula doesnt mean everything is ok.
@ Q400
You just didnt read the articles properly and focused on a comment made by someone who should lay off pot for a while lol.
@ PRN Spotter
eeee shm fort. what happened with the JFK flights this year? and Skanderbeg Air? tung.
@ JATBEGMEL
ReplyDeleteIt isn't a must for JAT to go to Croatia, but if they do (and most likely will) start flights to USA, then flights to Croatian airports brings in Croats, and anyone in the USA who wishes to visit Croatia. Let's be honest, Belgrade is one of the biggest party capitols in Europe, but Croatia has got the coast...so why not put the two together. You will see this will happen. As far as the source is concerned...American, Serbian, Bulgarian, and Russian media have all reported the same thing nonetheless so it is really going on. As far as the debts go, there is plenty of speculation on that point, so my guess is that it will be resolved in court. Or the Croats will be smart and allow flights to Belgrade to commence and "agree to disagree"
@ SerbianSausage
ReplyDeleteWhy would Croatian bound pax backtrack, flying to BEG then onwards to ZAG when they have much better connections via Germany with LH and OU? I mean there are 4 daily flights from ZAG to FRA, 3 to MUC...IF JAT ever went transatlantic, connections should be focused on OTP, SOF, SKP, SJJ, TGD, not on ZAG or LJU. On top of that, why would a Croat fly a Serb airline? We all know how much Croats love Serbs everytime they yell Ubi Srbina at every sporting match we play together.
And do show me ANY news info that CONFIRMS that JAT will fly transatlantic. So far it has said maybe and possibility.
@ JATBEGMEL
ReplyDeleteAs far as the sources are concerned, there is NO definite news source that says JAT will travel to USA. But I think that the recent cash inflow from the US into Serbia and the visit of Clinton, combined with the new rating JAT is expected to receive, will indicate that JAT and Serbia is "American-friendly" and the USA will allow flights to resume between Belgrade and Chicago/NYC.
As for Croats, I believe that when it comes to economy, everyone chooses what's best for them regardless of what political influences there are. And I have not personally been to Croatia, but I have friends and family who frequently travel there with Serbian car registrations. There is no hate or vandalism or threats that are imposed on them...just the occasional 86-year-old who strolls by yelling some shit and then finishes his rakija. What happens on a sports field stays on the sports field. It only makes sports rivalries between the two intense and fun to watch. You don't see people gathering in the streets of Zagreb, Split or whatever to shout anti-Serb things. I believe that Croats and Serbs have some disputes in history, but that we can coincide together. I personally have nothing against Croats, and one of my closest friends is Croatian. That being said, I think other people have similar views: what happened, happened, now lets look toward the future. And I'm sure Croats wouldn't choose a ticket through Germany or London that costs a huge amount over a JAT flight that's cheap with manageable service. That's all economy there, no politics.
@ Serbian Sausage
ReplyDeleteyes, Serbian registered cars are not what so ever vandalised, they magically smash themselves and for a strange reason, only in Croatia lol. And Croatians just adore Serbs :) like seen here :)
http://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/6962/Kolega-zbog-srpske-naredio-skidanje-svih-zastava.html
and lets not start with "ne razumijem šta tražite" when you ask for hleb or menjačnica.
And for the record, JAT's fares are not always cheap and its only when there is abit of competition do we see fares come down. Before Niki came to BEG, a return BEG-VIE airfare was around 22.000 din., looking at next week it is between 11.000 and 17.000 din. with taxes, while with Niki is around 15.000 din. As well, many people are with frequentflyer programs, and OU has the miles and more program, just like LH, LX, OS, something JAT isnt a part of.
@JATBEGMEL
ReplyDeleteHahaha good points. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it is much less than it was before and nearly non-existent. I think many have realized that what's done is done and there's no going back so just look forward. So yes, there are people like the Split mayor, or Stjepan Mesic who are just bad people but those are the extreme minority.
And JAT must have cheap flights because they will have more competition on those routes than regional routes. If they can't combine the service with the ticket cost, then it will fail and people will simply continue traveling with Lufthansa, Alitalia, Virgin Atlantic, etc. So JAT really doesn't have a choice in the matter :)