Geneva - Belgrade from December 19
Swiss International Air Lines will launch services from Geneva to Belgrade this winter season. The new route will commence on December 19, just prior to the diaspora travel rush for the Christmas and New Year holidays. It will operate twice per week, every Tuesday and Thursday, with an Airbus A320. The new service will primarily cater for the significant Serbian diaspora in Switzerland. The airline has seen a considerable number of passengers from the Serbian capital whose final destination is Geneva but are forced to transit through Zurich. Tickets for the new service are already on sale. Further flight details can be found here.
The Swiss national carrier already operates flights from Zurich to Belgrade. The airline is one of the busiest foreign carriers operating out of Serbia. In May, Swiss International carried 18.600 passengers between Zurich and Belgrade, with an average of 150 passengers per flight. The airline currently operates a twice daily service between the two cities. Geneva will become the third destination in Switzerland to be served from Belgrade, joining the existing Zurich and Basel service. Until the start of this year’s summer season, SkyWork Airlines maintained flights between Bern and Belgrade as well. The service was cancelled due to low interest.
Meanwhile, Russian based Ural Airlines, which applied for a license to launch a one weekly service between Sochi and Belgrade, has withdrawn its application. The airline originally planned to launch flights on June 27. It is unknown why the airline, which runs seasonal summer flights to both Pula and Tivat, withdrew its license request. Ural Airlines had a good chance of being issued a permit since Serbia and Russia recently revised their bilateral air agreement, allowing other airlines, rather than just the national carriers, to operate flights between the two countries.
Good news for me. I live in Lyon and I need no more to go in Paris or Basel
ReplyDeleteLyons,Grenoble and Besancon and even Limoges have a lot of Serbian citizen
Delete(also a lot of well integrated Roma) that regularly visit their homeland by car.
yes but by car it takes all the day
DeleteEven longer!
DeleteThose are exactly the people Swiss is aiming for.
Geneva is btw at the border to France...
huere geil !!
ReplyDeletevoll deftig man, voll deftig!! :-)
DeleteGood news. Hopefully the first of many.
ReplyDeleteAh I remember a few years back when there was only a daily flight with both Jat and Swiss. Horrible period.
ReplyDeleteThe fares used to be high and I could never understand how such a large market could be left so under-served.
Let's hope that once the economic situation in the country improves we can get SkyWork back. :)
skywork was too expensive.
DeleteHow expensive were they?
Deleteconsistently more than everyone else.
Deletesometimes they had a good option for one-ways compared to everyone else at the time, but that's it.
Berne is a great little airport. Loved the 30 mins check-in time. I just didn't understand their pricing. I think I flew them twice (both one-way) and it was always half-empty.
I think they could have filled their planes with a 15-20% drop in price.
I think it is not easy running a small Swiss regional airline because your costs can never be that low. At least not when compared to your competition and especially not when you are operating a fleet of Dorniers and Dash-8s.
DeleteI am sure the route will serve well. Its been some years since the line was last served. Geneva being the home to many international organisations, I am sure some business travelers could fill some seats too.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Jat fly the route some time back in 2004 or 2005? If I remember correctly it was a seasonal route.
DeleteJU flew back in the 80s ZRH-GVA-LJU but only a couple flts during Summer. They stopped soon since paxvfig ex GVA were low
DeleteNo, no. I remember some time around 2004 or 2005 they launched summer flights to Geneva. I remember reading about it in their inflight magazine.
DeleteBelgrade airport handled 350,453 passengers in June 2013, which represents a 7,5% growth.
ReplyDeleteLast year the airport handled 325,896 or roughly 25,000 passengers less.
It's great to see Belgrade numbers growing once more.
So far in 2013 Belgrade airport handled 1,507,043 passengers.
DeleteFinally!
ReplyDeleteNext summer they can increase to 4x a week.
they already incresed this route from april. it will be three flights per week. they added flight on saturday from 12th april.
DeleteIf the bookings are good they still can add additional flights.
DeleteOr Easyjet Switzerland could do it...
yea! easyjet beg-gva would also be great :)
DeleteAmazing news!!! Let's hope easyjet follows :)
DeleteAll of this is really good for Belgrade, let's hope the airport manages to surpass 3,500,000 passengers this year. I am sure if July and August do not disappoint us then it could very well happen.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else have the numbers for other airports in the region? Especially Zagreb and Dubrovnik.
Dubrovnik airport
DeleteJune 2012. 206576
June 2013. 223809
+ 8,35 %
This June Dubrovnik airport saw around 54000 pax more than in June 2010. Great job!
Congratulations!
So how many passengers in total?
DeleteIt`s nice to hear so many good news from BEG. I predist next year will be historic for BEG
ReplyDeleteIt seems like new name well be Air Serbia.
http://www.b92.net/biz/vesti/srbija.php?yyyy=2013&mm=07&dd=02&nav_id=728455
YES! That would be just amazing! No more Yugoslav leftovers.
DeleteI hoped new name would have more regional caracter.
DeleteI was hoping for more regional name as well. If they use the Air Serbia name, I don't see what's the point of even taking over Jat. They could have established a brand new airline with no debt, new fleet and fresh start. I just don't find anything interesting or attractive in using national name for an airline. Besides that, the new pocket countries we have after the fall of Yugoslavia have no meaning on the international scene anyways. Anything carrying name of Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia has less or more still negative connotation in people's minds.
DeleteAir Serbia would be OK...
DeleteThe name is the least problem they have.
Dont judge a book by its cover!
@Sam
DeleteMaybe we should consider changing the name of the country, due to negative connotaion.
I don't give a toss what someone else thinks of my country, the most important thing is that I am happy with it and that I love it.
DeleteI want Jat to become Air Serbia because it is primarily a Serbian carrier. It's like saying that Ryanair should not have been called that because Ryan is traditionally an Irish name.
People ... embrace it !! It is the national carrier of Serbia and what better or more appropriate name than for our flag carrier to carry the nation's name on its aircraft ???? We don't need some nebulous bullshit like Balkan or Sth East Europe or whatever else .... Love it and others will love us too ... Get with the program ... For too long we have hidden behind the veil of something other than what we are ... Air Serbia or Serbian Airlines is what our national carrier needs to be known as ....
DeleteHello... Air Serbia sounds soooo cheap. It's a completely missed opportunity to rebrand to Aeroput. Who cares if it sounds like Aeroflot, I have always had a good experience when flying with them and the name has some originality, stands out from the crowd and doesn't sound cheap.
DeleteAir Serbia sounds beautiful especially if they brand something nice as the airline colors and logo, I don't know why I always picture something similar to the American Airlines new design which is beautiful, only with the Serbian flag.
DeleteAir Serbia will represent the country also hopefully in a beautiful way wherever it flies.
Aeroput just sounds cheap and old, not to mention worn out. At first I was like "Air Serbia, what?" but now I would love to see it happen.
To Anonymous at 9.37pm ... Dude, wake up .. Tito died when, in 1980 ?? Yugoslavia is long gone man .. just like the Dodo bird ... We live in Serbia, not a country called "aeroput" .. get it ??? the name is not cheap - how you package the whole thing, from customer service, to the integrity of operating schedules in tact and on time and everything else that determines whether or not you are cheap or not ... I'll tell you one thing .. JAT is cheap and broken .. if it was an animal in an animal shelter, they would've taken pity on it long agao and put it to sleep ... We are Serbs who live in Serbia and in the diaspora the world over ... Air Serbia speaks to all of us ... Aeroput ?? Dude, life is about looking forwards not backwards ...
DeleteIt was not Serbias idea to get rid of Yugoslavia...
DeleteSerbian people have to realize that they are the ones to make out the lights.
You are right, Serbia was stupid enough to sacrifice her own people so as to liberate some ungrateful people from their occupators.
DeleteI see Air Serbia might not be the most fortunate choice, given Serbia's low popularity outside its own borders.
DeleteYeah? Like where? In Croatia and the federation maybe. The rest don't really care and the bad stigma Serbia had is wearing off.
DeleteIf only. =(
Deleteya. uh. news flash.
DeleteThe world mostly thinks of Serbia as a murderous black-hole, if they even know where it is, that is.
The fact that you "don't care" is merely a symptom of how out of touch most Serbs are with reality.
Just because you are a Serbia-hating cunt doesn't mean the whole world is.
DeleteSerbia's reputation as a backward thinking mafia run country is slowly fading away.
Currently in Europe there are countries with a far worse reputation.
At least in Europe, the only countries where you will find people who have that opinion is in a few countries where people were educated through BBC and CNN.
If you head all across eastern and southern Europe no one will have a negative opinion of Serbia.
Furthermore, I still don't understand what you are doing in Belgrade if you hate it so much. I guess you lack true balls to pack up and leave. Woos.
Mostly I'm in for making angry little twerps like you all twisted up :)
Delete"You still don't understand"? LOL at you giving a fuck trying to :) :)
Look, if you want/need to think that Serbia's reputation is great, so be it. I won't stand in your way. But, being in denial of a problem isn't going to make it go away. The inherent complacency of that thinking goes to the top, and that will drag your country down.
Not my problem, so it doesn't really affect me emotionally one way or another, but it does continue to amuse me how some people get the panties in a twist from someone just saying it like it is :)
BTW, what makes you so sure I'm in Belgrade?
Doot, as a Serb, I would actually agree on your opinion on perception of Serbia, that is, if one even heard of the country's existence. However, if EY wants Air Serbia, sure why not.
DeleteI guess people thought exactly the same about UAE, Qatar and Turkey, before they started flying EK, EY, QR, TK, or went to Dubai or Mediterranean coast for a holiday. Words like desert and islam come to mind. So, "Air Serbia" won't attract pax, but those who do chose to fly it and transit in BEG, might actually change their perception, and then tell their families and colleagues about it.
Now, the question is if EY actually wants to invest in this as well and obviously suffer due to bad image country has - not sure to what extent would that go, to be honest. I would guess not that much, but maybe I'm wrong. Again, as a Serb, I don't mind that at all if it's okay with them. Number one goal is to make the airline profitable, and preferably bigger, and that's it.
I'm really just tossing comments from the peanut gallery :)
DeleteEY aren't dummies and this deal, I believe, is a watershed moment in aviation for Serbia. This flight to Geneva, that this article is about, wouldn't have happened without it.
I agree with you - May this new airline be profitable, bigger and rationally run. May the result be greater (and cheaper) travel options for people travelling to/from Serbia.
@ two anonymouses ago...
DeleteI just took a bus from Bosnia to Serbia. Every single foreigner on the bus had the same story - All their relatives and friends thought they shouldn't go to serbia because war and killing.
Even better for growing Belgrade results.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aviokarta.net/vesti/1909-uspesan-jun-za-beogradski-aerodrom-nikola-tesla/
Old news, it was already announced this morning and the first to announce it was Tango Six, not aviokarta.
Deleteits published by all media because it is official statement by airport. i read it at tanjug
DeleteI meant that someone on here reported it this morning, look up.
DeleteUnless you are trying to promote aviokarta.
yes!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI was hoping that Jat would launch this route with its new fleet.
Looks like Swiss beat them to it.
Hope the prices are reasonable.
A return flight is €178.
DeleteI saw today a RT BEG-GVA with LX for 61 EUR for late January 2014, some promo tickets obviously...
DeleteNot exactly. A completely new fare class, "Geneva Y Light", an LCC-type fare, OW and RT tickets are available at same prices, plus no baggage allowance with "Light" tickets. There is also "Geneva Y Flex" (cca 170 CHF RT), which includes one piece of checked baggage and free changes, plus a refund @ 75 EUR penalty.
DeleteAlso, *G, FTL, SEN, HON will still have their extra allowance when flying on "Light" tickets, so they will indeed have free checked baggage.
The closer the take over date of Jat by Etihad comes, I expect more airlines to open new routes to Belgrade proactively in order to be ready for the competition. We can expect routes to BCN, PRG, HAM, SOF and so one very soon......
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is a preemptive response to Etihad
DeleteIn NZZ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung)
ReplyDeletethey write that flights to Belgrade will start in autumn (!)
and that Swiss wants to sell also one-way tickets to better compete with low-cost airlines.
YES! x2!!
DeleteI hope this aircraft on the picture, HB-JLT doesnt get on the BEG route when there are lightning strikes. Last time both sharklets where burned because bad bonding from manufacturer. The sharklets you cant just remove and fly without, as on the B737. Very shitty construction.
ReplyDeleteGreat news! Yesterday evening I flew BEG-ZRH and the load factor on the A320 was under 50% so I had 3 seats for myself :-)
ReplyDelete