Busy winter season ahead for Belgrade
Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport is preparing for what is likely to be one of its busiest winter seasons on record. Many airlines serving Serbia’s busiest airport have announced frequency increases this winter while the launch of Air Serbia will see a major boost in flight operations over the coming months. This Thursday, the national carrier of Belarus, Belavia, will launch flights from Minsk to Belgrade via Budapest. The equipment for the two weekly service has been upgraded from the initial Bombardier CRJ200 to the Embraer E175. The carrier has received fifth freedom rights between Budapest and Belgrade.
This winter, Turkish Airlines plans to introduce a third daily flight to the Serbian capital on selected days, boosting frequencies to seventeen flights per week. Alitalia will also boost operation with a total of ten weekly flights planned for the winter while Russia’s Aeroflot will maintain its summer schedule and operate two daily flights between Moscow and Belgrade. Qatar Airways will add another weekly flight via Ankara, totalling four services per week. In addition, in mid December, Swiss International Airlines will inaugurate flights from Geneva to Belgrade. LOT Polish Airlines has decided to turn its seasonal summer service to the Serbian capital into yearlong flights and will continue its operations from Warsaw to Belgrade this winter. Unlike last winter, Belgrade will also be served by this year’s new arrivals - Etihad Airways, Pegasus Airlines and easyJet while Wizz Air will be operating several new routes it launched over the summer. By June 2014, Air Serbia plans to offer 73.000 seats and 670 weekly departures from Belgrade, starting its expansion this winter by launching new services and significantly boosting its frequencies on existing destinations.
In the first eight months of the year Belgrade Airport has handled 2.380.911 passengers, an increase of 3.4% compared to the same period last year. In August alone the airport welcomed 441.088 passengers, up 7.2%, and marked August 2 as its busiest day in history. During the month, Jat maintained a 44% share of all passengers using the airport, followed by Wizz Air at 12.9% and Montenegro Airlines at 7%. Compared to last August, Tunis Air saw the greatest passenger increase rate on its flights from Tunis and Enfidha to Belgrade.
This winter is going to be so amazing for BEG. Looking forward to it.
ReplyDelete"Air Serbia plans to offer 73.000 seats and 670 weekly departures from Belgrade"
ReplyDeleteSimply not true. Air Serbia plans to offer 670 weekly departures, meaning that only half of it are from Belgrade. Do the math yourself: (10+4 planes) * (4 daily departures) * (7 days/week) = max. 392 departures from Belgrade.
You completely missed the first part of the sentence. God knows what they have planned by June 2014
Deletethis will be a very hot winter in BEG
ReplyDeleteAnd a scorching summer as well.
DeleteEasyjet will also add one frequency this winter, from three to four weekly.
ReplyDeleteEveryone keeps talking about how busy Beg is and they forget about Nis and Morava. There really is nothing to celebrate when you have to other airports ,one with one flight a day and the other just siting and collecting dust.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry but I disagree with you. If Nis management was any smarter and if they wanted to lower their fares they could have easily attracted Wizz Air or Ryanair.
DeletePeople from the countryside need to stop crying why people in the capital are not doing anything for them. Get up and do some work yourselves.
The amount of money Nis gave to Montenegro is enough to start an airline of their own.
DeleteStrange that they would give bucketloads to Montenegro but not be willing to offer any subsidies (surely less than they are giving to MNE) to other airlines.
I assume that if airSerbia would get subsidies (the same way it is getting from Banja Luka) that it would fly to any airport. But there isn't any economic reason to fly from Niš, except someones "expert" opinion based on "My cousins live in Paris ergo there are plenty of people from South Serbia living in Paris"..
DeleteIf there was a serious demand, some airline would jump in definitely.
I've said this before, but I'll say it again.
DeleteI can't believe, with the right product and the right marketing and the right price (with an even better promo price), that Air Serbia couldn't make a go out of 3x daily BEG-INI.
there are over 45 buses a day in each direction going between Belgrade and Nis, and the tickets aren't cheap and there are always lots of passengers.
With a good product - including a minivan picking you up right from the airplane to drive you into the city, that they could make a go of o&d traffic as well as attracting transfers
Totally agree with you, Doot. I'm one of those that always has to take the bus. And I would love to fly, not only for transfer.
Delete+1
DeleteIsn't this interesting.... Check this page
Deletehttp://www.travelmath.com/fly-or-drive/from/INI/to/BEG
What are the other city pairs 200 km apart that warrant an air link three times a day? Are there any?I just cant think of any at the moment.
Deletethere are over 45 buses a day in each direction going between Belgrade and Nis, and the tickets aren't cheap and there are always lots of passengers.
Delete---
1. Those buses are probably having some stops between Nish and Belgrade as well?
2. The baggage allowance on domestic flights is 12kg, which less than a typicall bag a student or any traveler on the route Nish Belgrade is having?
3. For many people it is far more convinient to take a bus from the Downtown Nish to downtown Belgrade, isntead to pay for a transport to the airport, to arrive at Surcin, some 20km away from Belgrade city centre, and to come 45 minutes prior to departure, to the all security checking...?
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DeleteNot to mention that at least 20% of these passengers catch the bus outside the actual bus stop so as to pay less.
DeleteUntil Nis develops its economy it will not be able to sustain air links with any region of Europe.
was thinking about this a bit and tried to find a comparable model, where flights like these would actually work but to no avail.
DeleteCSA and Prague-Brno seem to be vaguely comparable... two most important cities within the same country, 265km distance, decent highway in between yet no air link.
Advanages in Czech Republic are numerous: Prague Airport sees approx 10 milion passengers a year and Brno region has population of nearly 800.000, Brno Airport sees approx 500.000 passengers a year.
All that compared to 3,5 milion passengers at Belgrade Airport and approx 500.000 people living in Niš, Pirot, Leskovac, Prokuplje, Niš Airport with 30.000 passengers a year.
Brno is an important business and industrial center in Czech Republic (IBM, AT&T, Honeywell, Siemens, Motorola) and Chech Rep. as a country is considerably wealthier than Serbia, let alone Southern Serbia… and still no flights between Prague and Brno.
If CSA didnt manage to make Prague-Brno work, what are the odds that JU could make BEG-INI work in this economic climate? Where do you see such prosperous potential in Niš and the neighboring region? I see none.
The only thing that matters is how many people travel daily between Belgrade and Nis and how many drive to Belgrade to fly elsewhere.
DeleteThe only question is would a portion of these travellers pay a premium to fly. If it included a ride to the city straight from the plane, I believe there would be a market.
ok. maybe 2x a day :)
12k luggage limit? says who? Make the right product for the people.
Plus, with more ATRs, you could do something like INI-BEG-BanjaLuka-VIE, to use the fleet and resources rationally
Prague-Bruno has a decent rail connection. Serbia does not.
you are not using logic. instead of that you are trying to put out of hat few "reasons" for a position build out of emotions.
DeletePrague and Brno are even a bad example. Brno is having three times as much inhabitants as Nish and is industrial centre of the country.
I just can't believe that they are ( Vucic,LJaic and whole government ) letting Morava airport with brand new terminal just become empty derelict building after so many false promises.
ReplyDeleteDoubt that Belgrade airport will see any growth in September. JAT results for first two weeks : passengers -5%, flights +15% (yoy). Amazing ?
ReplyDeleteI think it is unreasonable that Qatar doesn't have 5th freedom rights between Ankara and Belgrade. I don't think any airline will start those flights soon...and with 4 flights per week they could really attract good number of passengers. Although I don't know if they are interested in launching that route...
ReplyDeleteTurkey didn't want to give them the rights, not Serbia
DeleteI know but still... Maybe Turkish plans to start those flights in the near future(2015-16), and that is the reason why wont they give the freedom to Qatar.
DeleteThe only reason for Qatar flying to Belgrade is to become nonstop.
DeleteI think Turkish will start sending A330s to Belgrade soon LoL
ReplyDeleteI would skip Beyrut and Cairo for some other destinations in Middle East.
ReplyDeleteLebanon will become a battlezone of neighbouring Syria and Cairo will also see turmoil.
Dubai and Kuwait City would be good alternatives.Dubai sees O&D from Belgrade with Flydubai and Pegasus(economy)
and Turkish (Business and economy).
Abu Dhabi would attract transfers with codesharing on EY and Dubai would see the O&D with Air Serbia without codesharing on Emirates.
BA,KLM,Air France and LH all fly to Dubai without loosing pax to Emirates.
Kuwait is workplace of many Serbs.
I think you forgot Air Serbia is to fly daily to Abu Dhabi as well as daily Etihad flights, why would they create competition on their own route? Possibly in the near future there may be flights from Belgrade to Dubai with Air Serbia, I just don't see it in the near future, especially with Fly Dubai as well.
DeleteThey offer BEG-DXB via AUH with bus-connection between AUH-DXB. I don't see any changes in near future regarding DXB.
DeleteWhat competition? Etihad/Air Serbia is giving away all Dubai- bound passengers to the competitors.
DeleteWhen i fly to Dubai i will never fly EY/JU to Abu Dhabi when i have so many better options with 3-4 other airlines!
Its so much more clever to split operations:
All transfers go via the hub in Abu Dhabi and O&D for Dubai with Air Serbia.
There are some parts of Dubai which are litraly more close to Abu Dhabi airport than to Dubai airport. And there is a free of charge Etihad bus service from Abu Dhabi airport to Dubai. Dubai has been serviced within the Abu Dhabi connection.
DeleteAnd also regarding the Kuwait - I find all those counting on Serbian diaspora and workers just hilarious. Serbian emmigrantion is the worst imaginable business strategy for an airliner. Not just that they will allways choose to fly another company even if it´s $5 cheaper, but also, people are forgetting that JAT used to have the whole Yugoslav diaspora which is like 3-5 times bigger than the Serbia. SO what was a good business deal for Yugoslav Airlnes is not ultimativaly the best for Air Serbia. And there is also a well known effect of assimilation throughout of Serbia diaspora, far mor stronger that within the Croatian for instance.
You do realize that we are speaking about Kuwait here, not the easiest society to integrate into. Furthermore, Kuwait ranks as one of the top five connecting destinations for Turkish Airlines ex. Belgrade. I am sure that there is a market big enough to sustain at least a two weekly rotation.
DeleteNumbers, my friend, give us some numbers - not some myths about "our people", "jugovici" and so on ruling the globe.
DeleteThe statistics he is talking about was published on airliners.net by a guy who works in the aviation industry. Numbers for both Belgrade and Zagreb were published on this very blog as a comment. So the numbers, my friend, were already published.
DeleteI do not remember the numbers for Zagreb but 55% of all BEG passengers were transiting in IST and top five destinations were Beirut, Kuwait, Doha, Dubai and Baku.
?? We were talking about Kuwait, and number of Serbians living there.
DeleteNo new terminal in LJU
ReplyDeletekojih jebe....
no sign of progress in Slovenia, unfortunately. On the other hand understandable until/as long the new owner operator is unkn
OT: Macedonia to get another airline. Foreign investors are going to establish a legacy carrier registered in Macedonia. Ex-yu any news on this topic?
ReplyDeleteYeah I'm sure that'll happen, especially now when Wizz is there...
DeleteI think, perhaps, you don't know the meaning of the word "legacy"
DeleteDarko Marjanovic - Baki, you finally removed your failed picture?
DeleteYou insisting on fact that you found me on Facebook is just making you stupid stupid. You found my nickname on Facebook.. It is not a nuclear science. Oh and btw I'm adding a new one, but maybe I'll leave the old one just for you!
Deletehttp://www.planespotters.net/Production_List/Airbus/A319/2621,EI-EYA-BBAM.php
ReplyDeletesecond A319 for Air Serbia
A6- / YU- Air Serbia entered paintshop at DUB 16sep13 ex EI-EYA
ReplyDeletewhere did you get that?
Deleteforget it, found it :-)
DeleteI couldn't find it :-) Daj ovamo!
DeleteEvo ti
Deletehttp://www.skyliner-aviation.de/regdb.main
Na farbanju u Dablinu od juce, 2005. godina proizvodnje
DeleteHvala ti, Dusane. Jesi video ovo?
DeleteA6-SAA Air Serbia
with dual reg at GYR prior delivery late oct13 ex N473TA
Tek krajem oktobra se ocekuje isporuka.
To je onaj prvi, Volarisov....dolazi 21.10.
DeleteSad ga opremaju kao Etihdove avione, sedista sa IFF
DeleteSta mislis, jel ce Etihad stvarno dati svoja dva A319? Ja ne verujem u to. Ocekujem da ce 5 biti od Volaris, TACA International i TACA Peru, evo jedan od BBAM i jos dva od drugih kompanija.
DeleteEtihad nece dati svoje avione jer leti sa njima za BEG a i oni su takodje iznajmljeni.Najverovatnije TACA i mozda jedan iz Meksika.
DeleteNeće sigurno dati svoje avione.. proverio sam sa njima. Ali ne mislim da će još dugo leteti do BEG-a... Popunjenost je oko 35% koliko ja znam.
DeleteЈа сам чуо баш супротно, то јест да им се летови добро продају. Имали су добар маркетинг за вереме преговора о куповини Јата тако да им је то олакшало живот.
DeleteKako mislis "da nece jos dugo leteti do BEG-a"? Zar nece sacekati da linija proradi?
DeleteJel su ti jos nesto rekli? :-)
Na zvanicnoj facebook-stranici Air Serbije pise da ce prva dva aviona stici od Etihada. Koji fail!
Da li će to Air Serbia avioni imati A6 registarske oznake? Biće registrovani u UAE?
DeletePopunjenost u avgustu je bila 74% sto je fantasticno imajuci u vidu da lete svega 2 meseca.
DeleteI da dodam ona stranica Air Srbije na Fejsu sto ima 7000 lajkova nije zvanicna stranica. To postavlja neko ko se predstavlja kao da je zvanicna ali zvanicna je ona koju je Etihad skoro linkovao.
DeleteEtihad statistics for BEg-AUH route till today : 63.5% LF, seat capacity 106.
DeleteJa mislim na stranicu koja ima preko 9000 lajkova i gde se objavljuju konkursi za kabinsko osoblje. Na toj stranici pise ispod jedne slike da prva dva aviona dolaze od Etihada..
Delete@ AnonymousSeptember 16, 2013 at 10:50 PM
Deleteneće. samo će biti privremeno registrovani dok ne dođu u Srbiju. treba da im se dodele slova, ne znam tačno proceduru.
Nikola, hvala.
DeleteIzgleda da sam pogrešno obavešten... Drago mi je da Etihad ima toliku popunjenost, pogotovo kada su dnevni letovi u pitanju.
DeleteDa li neko ima link od zvanične stranice?
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ReplyDeleteEX-YU, please tell me, did BEG reached 2 million pax ?
ReplyDeleteHave you even read the text?
DeleteIn the first eight months of the year Belgrade Airport has handled 2.380.911 passengers, an increase of 3.4% compared to the same period last year.