Busy months ahead for EX-YU airports
A busy summer season is ahead for many airports across the former Yugoslav as airlines have already announced their plans for next year. Adria Airways has previously said it will launch flights from Ljubljana to Prague and Warsaw next summer season. The Slovenian carrier now plans to resume services to London Gatwick as well, starting May 17. The flights will operate on a seasonal summer basis until October 18 and will mark Adria’s return to Gatwick Airport after an absence of almost three years. Details can be viewed here. The carrier suspended flights to Gatwick in 2011 but operated seasonal services to Luton in 2012. The Slovenian national airline is planning a significant expansion next summer with the opening of its new bases in Verona and Klagenfurt and the launch of flights from Tirana to Frankfurt.
Sarajevo is set to see its first nonstop service to Moscow this winter. Moskovia Airlines has announced a surprise launch of flights to the Bosnian capital starting this Friday, November 1. Services will operate throughout the winter season once per week. The news comes several months after the airline operated a promotional flight between the Russian and Bosnian capitals. However, tickets cannot be purchase via the airline’s website. Moskovia is present in the region as it operates flights to Tivat. Meanwhile, B&H Airlines has received all necessary permits to launch its planned flights to Belgrade from December 2.
Spain’s Vueling Airlines yesterday announced the launch of seasonal summer flights from Barcelona to Belgrade. The new service, which will be inaugurated on June 20, will operate on a seasonal summer basis until September 15. It marks the first time the two cities will be connected since the collapse of Spanair. Tickets are already on sale with flight details available here. The new Vueling service will join the seven new destinations Air Serbia plans to launch next summer. In addition, TAP Air Portugal has expressed interest to launch flights from Lisbon to the Serbian capital next summer as well.
Croatia Airlines will inaugurate seasonal summer flights from Split to Athens from May 3. The flights will run until October 4 and operate once per week with more details here. It is the first new destination announced by the Croatian carrier for next summer. Croatia Airlines planed the launch of many new seasonal flights from secondary airports in the country this summer but was forced to shelve them due to cost cutting measures. If finances improve, next summer could see the airline resume some of its planned new services.
After its busiest year on record both Podgorica and Tivat are gearing up for new flights next summer. Following the successful launch of flights from Charleroi to Podgorica this year, Ryanair will launch services from Milan, Barcelona, London, Oslo and Stockholm to Tivat next summer season. Combined, Podgorica and Tivat are estimated to handle 1.5 million passengers by the end of the year with strong prospects for growth in 2014 as well.
Meanwhile, Skopje Airport welcomes Germania this winter which will launch flights from Berlin to the Macedonian capital from December 20. In addition, next summer will see Wizz Air launch flights from Skopje to Charleroi, Beauvais and Frankfurt Hahn as the low cost airline bases its second aircraft in the city. Flight details for the new Wizz Air flights can be found on the right hand side in the new route launches section, starting April 16.
Antonov An-225 Mriya will arrive in Zagreb on 8th November, early in the morning, to transport Končar generator to Philippines. An-225 is the biggest plane in the World and just one example of plane was build.
ReplyDeleteThank you purger.
DeleteIs ZAG first airport in exYU to host AN-225? Was that plane ever in LJU, BEG, SJJ, SKP?
DeleteI think ex-yu reported around a few months ago that it landed in SJJ
DeleteAlthough I would have loved to see it @ SJJ, that was "only" an AN-124 :)
DeleteDoes anyone know AN225's classification number?
DeleteBL1
Wow, An-225! Purger, any chance for some exclusive photos or even a video? That will be a spectacular visit, congrats ZAG.
DeleteFinally, good news for all of us, ex-Yugoslav travellers. Increased flights could also mean that the economic situation in our countries is slowly improving.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how well Moskovia will do in Sarajevo given that it's only a one weekly flight that starts... now. Nevertheless, I hope it does well and it will definitely make SJJ more interesting. I am also happy that B&H Airlines got all it needs from the authorities. At least they will increase their fleet utility some more.
By the way, would it make sense for JA to launch flights to SAW?
Belgrade airport will see a massive increase in flights due to Air Serbia's expansion (Beirut, Cairo, Sofia...) and it will also receive two A320s.
ReplyDeleteWhy couldn't Adria fix its schedule to Gatwick a little bit so as to enable connections via Ljubljana? Like this it seems they can only rely on the O&D... unless that's what they are after.
ReplyDeleteMostly relying on English tourists traveling to Slovenia (at least two UK agencies will be selling packages with flights and hotels included) and probably Slovenians traveling to UK. So, O&D mostly...
DeleteSupposedly there was demand for Gatwick flights from UK agencies, this way they have covered 3 airports w/ flights to LJU (Luton-Wizzair, Stansted-Easyjet and Gatwick-Adria) and w/ Gatwick more options for people from South England (Surrey, Sussex, Kent,...).
Thanks for the clarification! Still, I think it's a shame they couldn't move it an hour or so early so that at least they can get some more passengers connecting via its hub. :/ Somehow it feels like a missed opportunity.
DeleteOT: does anybody know something about today EY8000 from DUS to BEG? could it be A6-SAA or A6-SAB?
ReplyDeleteWhat about the flight from Bratislava to Kiev via BEG, what was that about?
DeleteWhere did you see that one? It's not listed on beg.aero
DeleteIt is listed! Taking BC Partizan to Euroleague match in Ukraine.
DeleteWhy they don't use Air Serbia?
DeleteI was referring to the EY8000 flights, that's the one that is not listed.
DeleteBecause it is still Etihad aircraft.
DeleteAirbus A319 -132 1140 A6-SAA Etihad Airways Air Serbia cs, delivery 30oct13 DUS-BEG ex N473TA
http://www.skyliner-aviation.de/regdb.main?LC=nav4
"The Slovenian national airline is planning a significant expansion next summer... "
ReplyDeleteWould love to see the evidence for this bit of news - what with both the so-called airline and its government backing virtually bankrupt.
Is it the EU investigation into Adria's subventions just a fool's day joke?
DeleteAny news?
Adm why you don't change the page header?
ReplyDeleteAre you mourning?
Don't be annoying. The header is fine.
DeleteIts a matter of taste.
DeleteI find it very interesting because its a work of art.
It fits perfectly into the dark months.
Adria will not open base in Klagenfurt...
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get this info?
Deletei would be very happy when i see daily flights BEG-ZAG :) and yearround flights BEG-DBV, BEG-SPU, BEG-RJK and BEG-ZAD
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines will fly from Split to Belgrade 3 times per week (1---56-) from May 3rd and Air Serbia 4 times per week (1-3-5-7) from March 30, 2014. I think 7 times per week in season is nice frequency. Problem is Pula. Air Serbia don't plan to operate flights between Belgrade and Pula next summer. Yesterday they deleted Pula from list of destinations in Croatia.
DeleteI wonder why is Pula being skipped for the 2014 summer season. If I remember correctly Pula was their first destination in Croatia since the breakup of Yugoslavia.
DeleteWhat kind of passengers do they attract to Split and Dubrovnik that don't to Pula? Could it also be that they don't have enough aircraft to launch all three cities?
Not enough aircraft to launch all three cities - partially true, but also last summer sometimes Pula was operating by B737, therefor load factor was much lower than to SPU and DBV and also financial performance wasn't so good as on other routes. It is possible that Etihad team was just looking at numbers and made wrong decision. Btw, Dubrovnik has many transfer pax, this year from Abu Dhabi, last year from Skopje. LF from 90 to 100% on almost every flight, even last one this season. Dubrovnik is golden destination for every company without exception.
DeleteThanks. Well, who knows, maybe OU uses the opportunity and launches the route with its own metal. I am still surprised they did not fly DBV-BEG during the 2013 summer season.
DeleteIt is possible that the Pula was okay, but that in the new route structure, ATRs are better used elsewhere in the system.
DeleteOT : Also today at morning flight from Istambul to Skopje with turkish was with other bigest bird Airbus A330-300, yesterday night with A321.......... Turkish Airlines expansion in SKP ......
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flightradar24.com/2013-10-30/06:40/12x/THY8BL
DeleteThis Webpage is awesome!
DeleteThanks
Photos from A330 at SKP at this page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.690322844313180.1073741838.189273277751475&type=1
DeleteAdria's first priority should be, airline's privatization,new routes will come with new owner.... my 2 cent .....
ReplyDeleteIts because of all the Macedonian extra tourists that visit Turkeys southern neighbour...
ReplyDeleteWhat neigbours are you talking about? Syria? Iraq? What else is south of Turkey lol?
DeleteYes lots of Macedonians and Albanians work on contract in Iraq. Since its a high risk country they get leave every 2 weeks and travel back to Mac
DeleteThanks for explaining. I didn't know that. Makes sense now. It is also interesting how TK is pretty much the only well established airline that serves Mogadishu. They really are all over the place. Have to check if they fly to Kabul as well :)
Deletenothing to do with Iraq, its people returning from HAJJ .
DeleteOh well its Iraq...
DeleteEspecially Erbil !
Erbil is now capital of the Northern Kurdish zone of Iraq and a real boomtown.
Shopping malls,shopping centres and modern hotels.
You would be surprised how it is looking there.
So is the world...Ten years ago it was a dumphole and now its a modern city with standards as good as elsewhere in the rest of the world.
It is getting extremely tiring to read constant bickering and off topics which lead to arguments. From now on such comments will be deleted. If you cannot acr like an adult then this is not the place for you. I am also considering allowing only registered users to comment.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have noticed some positive trend lately. I know this bickering can be annoying but at least there is not that much nationalistic arguing and fighting like in the past. Looks like people slowly but surely are coming to a realization that most of us are here because we love aviation and want to see our Ex YU airports and airlines succeed.
Delete+1
DeleteYou forgot BEG-GVA route, starting on January, 24th, by easyJet !?
DeleteIt's by Swiss, two weekly.
DeleteSorry, Swiss+easyJet
DeleteI don't understand why my comment was deleted:
Deletewas it not true that Air Serbia this morning had 237 minutes delay on all 11 flights (22 minute per flight) or you thing that we don't have to write about problems in Air Serbia, so that everything has to look pinky?
That was not the practice with Adria, Montenegro, B&H Airlines and Croatia where criticism was welcome.
Swiss begin on december and easyjet on januray
DeleteAh that's great news indeed! Interesting how easyJet is further expanding in Serbia. Additional frequency to Milan and now flights GVA! Amazing. So GVA will be operated five times per week this winter.
DeleteCould easyJet's launch of GVA-BEG flights impact in any way W6's flight from Basel?
AnonymousOctober 30, 2013 at 2:30 PM
DeleteYou don't count the flights that were late by up to 15 minutes.
@ Nemjee
DeleteNo it wont impact, I think. The distance between Basel and Geneva and Zurich and Geneva is almost the same, and I think that Serbs from Geneva have already used Zurich flights quite more often than Basel ones cause they are more frequent, and Serbs arent really familiar with the low cost system. For example they still go from Sweden to Serbia with buses and spend 40 hours traveling. And they are also big scrooges (zaista teske cicije su), they dont want to spend money on flights. Plus, train tickets in Switzerland are really expensive, so it would actually increase the number of Serbs from Geneva and Lyon who would travel by plane. And really, the distance between Geneva and Lyon is less than the distance to Basel or Zurich. So no worries, in my humble opinion. ;)
The only real competition would be Swiss vs easyJet, if you ask me.
Great. Thanks for the explanation. I suppose that the market is big enough for everyone. I am just surprised it took the Switzerland-Belgrade market this long to mature and expand. :)
Delete'The only real competition would be Swiss vs easyJet, if you ask me."
DeleteBy that I meant Swiss and easyJet on Geneva route. But I see you understood.
Yeah, well that's our mentality maybe. I hope ppl from Lyon (distance from Geneva is 150 km) and other french-speaking parts of CH as well as from Bern(e) will use this.
Cheers
There is no good train connection between Lyon and Geneva. No TGV's only TER's so not less than 3 or 4 hours... by car the highway cost 15 € in one way so I think it's much more easier to go in basel and take a plane here or connection in vienna munich or zurich..
DeleteIt takes 2h - 2h 15' WHATEVER direction you take, whenever you travel. Check it on Swiss railways website (SBB). On GVE - Lyon direction you have TGV, not all the way though. But stil there are quite fast connections with one change with the trains that are never late. Never.
DeleteI believe you ve been in CH and saw how punctual they are. At least I was, and their punctuality is not a myth.
I've only been in CH by car or by plane so I dont know how are Swiss railways but I know that french are very often late
DeleteEaayjet too, from Jan 24 on Mondays and Fridays,! From Apr 1 route will be operated 3 times a week - Tue, Thr, Sat.
ReplyDeleteInteresting and competitive.
Yeah, here are the flight time.
DeleteU2 1437/1438
Tue 18.25-20.20 // 20.55-22.55
Thu 09.45-11.40 // 12.15-14.15
Sat 10.40-12.35 // 13.10-15.10
They're trying to piss off Swiss.
DeleteAmazing news, I will sound like a spoiled brat, but I have to complain: why are they flying during the same days as Swiss? And why do they both have these inconvenient flight times?
DeleteAs much as I "liked" running through VIE, FRA and MUC in the last couple of years, I expect to see myself and my friends using either these U2 and LX flights from GVA when we're flexible (W6 just cannot compete for passengers from west Switzerland anymore with current price policies) or just taking JU from ZRH which has almost perfect flight schedule.
Amazing news and let's hope U2 and LX shift to alternate days from GVA and sustain the service.
I don't understand why they couldn't just schedule the three flights at the same time. Argh... Will be interesting to see how both Swiss and easyJet compete out of Geneva. I think neither one will want to admit defeat.
Deletebroj nocenja do 9.mjeseca 2013.godine:
ReplyDeletezagreb 1077000 nocenja (turisticka zajednica gz)
beograd 895260 nocenja (turisticka organizacija beograda)
Air Serbia can improve significantly these numbers when they start flying to Zagreb.
DeleteZagreb as a tourist destination is growing very rapidly, 15% yoy growth so far, it is expected Zagreb will have 1.4 million nights this year and 1.55 million in 2014.
DeleteThings are looking up for Zagreb, hopefully in 2015 Zagreb passes its 1990 record of number of foreign visitors to Croatian capitol when 1.02 million foreign visitors visited Zagreb and generated 1.75 million nights.
By 2020, Zagreb hopes to attract 2 million foreign visitors and 3.7 million nights. 2025 3.0 million foreign and 250 000 domestic visitors and 6 million nights is target Zagreb is trying to achieve. Quite doable.
Vienna and Prague, nearest cities that Zagreb has to compete tend to attract around 3.5-4 million visitors and 8-10 million nights.
Still long way to go before Zagreb catches up to Vienna and Prague, but figures right now are quite encouraging.
http://www.eturbonews.com/7067/prague-has-7th-largest-foreign-tourist-number-europe
http://www.praguewelcome.cz/en/infocentre-b2b/info-service/prague-in-statistics/
http://www.eturbonews.com/27187/vienna-expects-flat-tourist-numbers-2012
Prague is nice but I find Vienna extremely boring.
DeleteZagreb matching Vienna in tourism? Are you on drugs?
DeleteLast anonymous, my thoughts exactly. Vienna is ten classes away from Zagreb when it comes to architecture and lifestyle. Then again, the same can be said about Prague as well.
DeletePersonally, I doubt Zagreb can ever come close to it. The city that comes the closest to them in the region in Bucharest and even they lack the elegance of Budapest or Vienna.
I am sorry but Zagreb is nothing special. It's a cute regional city. Vienna, Budapest and Prague are true metropolises.
Well Vienna is a cultural capital...
DeleteYou do not find often something like this in the rest of the world.
So comparing Zagreb with Vienna is like comparing Belgrade with Los Angeles.
Guys, no one is comparing Zagreb to any city, Zagreb is aiming for certain visitor numbers and considering the fact that Zagreb is becoming very popular city brake destination there's no reason for Zagreb to achieve really good numbers.,
DeleteZagreb has charms and beauty, sure its only half the size of Vienna and Prague, but each city has something to offer and Zagreb in conjuration with coastal cities can offer its niche.
Though I agree with what you are saying, the above remarks were mostly aimed at this disillusioned statement:
Delete'Still long way to go before Zagreb catches up to Vienna and Prague, but figures right now are quite encouraging. '
Maybe better worded would have been 'still a long way before Zagreb gets to where Vienna and Prague are now'. If Zagreb has growth than I'm sure both the other mentioned cities would too, so Zagreb will always have smaller numbers but respectable growth.
DeleteAlso, not many people here a willing to give Croatia any credit for what it has done for tourism in the region. Although this mainly occurred organically, Croatia has been the driving force for tourism in the region and many of the countries of the former Yugo are seeing the benefits of this too.
When you speak of the region I hope you are talking about ex-Yugoslavia, right?
DeleteYeah Ex Yu.
DeleteI am in Tbilisi, Georgia right now and can tell you that Zagreb looks pretty miserable compared to it, not even compared to some larger cities.
DeleteHas anyone noticed 3-daily non-stop flight from BEG to AUH in Dec and January: 11:10 (JU), 12:20 (EY) and 17:10 (JU). I am assuming this must be some kind of an error?
ReplyDelete@Sam, where did you find the third flight?
DeleteIf you try to buy it on Kayak, it displays 3 non-stop flights available.
DeleteYep, visible in Amadeus GDS as well.
DeleteThey are changing the schedule. I called their office today about the AUH flights and they confirmed what ex-yu wrote a few days ago. New schedule from 15 november
DeleteEasyjet from Belgrade to Geneva?
ReplyDeleteAny source?
Dude, it's on their website. Flights can be booked. Geez.
DeleteWhat is the other destination EasyJet announced from GVA?
DeleteI read somewhere that it will be La Rochelle in France, but I wonder why would they fly there? And also that one will be seasonal.
Deletehttp://www.aviokarta.net/vesti/2125-easyjet-direktno-od-zeneve-do-beograda-od-januara/
ReplyDeleteRT fare is 75€, no extra luggage. Nice.
DeleteSwiss (LX) had a price for around 70 EURs when they started with GVA campaign. However, I am not sure if that price included luggage as Swiss had some new and different concept for new GVA routes they've tried to test.
DeleteYou can still find LX flights on the GVA BEG route for 39CHF one way, without checked luggage. It seems like there is a low cost concept from secondary airports spreading around Lufthansa group: first all flights from german airports other than FRA, MUC and BER are transfered to GermanWings and now Swiss is doing away with checked luggage on some of its routed from GVA...
DeleteI am flying LCY-GVA with hand (8kg) luggage only in two weeks.
DeleteGVA seems to be the only one with that option and it is nice BEG is with that option.
Oh and I'll try 10kg or so and see if Swiss does Ryanair on me!
(I mean- srpska posla!)
As far as I know BER has also been handed over to Germanwings.
DeleteI think when it comes to GVA, both easyJet and Swiss had to adapt to competing with each other while still retaining some sort of basic core business identity. I for one am happy that easyJet is expanding in Belgrade. They are much better than Wizz Air and Ryanair put together!
Deffo!
DeleteI hope U2 comes from STN one nice day...
Really not the biggest fan of W6...
Well, easyJet did open a new base in Hamburg some time ago. Who knows, maybe they launch Belgrade flights from there. Back in the day when Jat flew there they had an ok loadfactor (around 66%) and that was before the visas were abolished. There are quite a lot of Serbs in north western Germany and currently they are forced to fly on Wizz Air from Dortmund.
DeleteI wonder what has hindered Wizzair from opening flights to Milan,Geneva and Barcelona?
DeleteWho knows. One thing is for sure at this point, they seem to have missed their chance. I suppose they did not have enough aircraft to expand everywhere so Belgrade was low on their priority list.
DeleteYeah,they were too busy with Tuzla and Skopje.
DeleteNot that i have anything against these destinations but its obvious that they were cooking at different kitchens the same time.
And then the dog steals the best pieces.
Well in this case the dog is the Easyjet.
great news!
Delete^ Thanks JU500!
ReplyDeleteStigla je i druga 319-ica AIR SERBIA...
ReplyDeleteStigla Milica! :)
DeleteA to je inače prva poručena 319ica.
Emir Kusturica će se zvati.
Deletehttp://exyuaviation.blogspot.com/p/air-serbias-second-a319-arrives.html
DeleteHow long before it enters regular service?
DeleteAs written in the article, airplane will have a test flight, then will enter comercial service.
DeleteAccoarding to data from beg.aero, the only flight that will be on A319 tomorrow will be LHR, but I guess it will be flown by YU-APC.
How long did -APC need? I guess it will be two, three days.
DeleteWith YU-APC it was a big rush to get it into a service, on first days it operated only flights to Abu Dhabi, due to some regulations that haven't been done, but now it can fly wherever. I guess second one will get in comercial service faster than first one.
DeleteSo what about Mostar-Stuttgart by B&H Airlines? Wishful thinking?
ReplyDeleteIt's still in the "future possibility" phase so I didn't write anything about it
DeleteI don't understand the change on AirSerbia route to Amsterdam, especially as they had a code-share with KLM. There is no morning flight to AMS anymore, which is very unappealing for transfer passengers to the US. Now we have to either go thru CDG or stay overnight in Amsterdam. Bah.
ReplyDeleteThe morning flight will be introduced when more aircraft are delivered. Amsterdam will be operated daily and in summer it will become an A320 route.
DeleteWow,Air Serbias flight to Amsterdam today is delayed for one and a half hour!
ReplyDeleteMaybe Easyjet should also consider Amsterdam?!
I have the feeling they would have a big success on that route...
Yeah but most of their delays today have been reduced to a 15-20 minute delay which is not that bad. I am sure that in two days from now they will sort out this problem.
Deletejat was a bad child, when eveing having a 10min delay. and now you only have words of justification for the delays of air serbia. how sick is that.. Concidering that the airlines are meanwhile offreing transit flights with 30minutes transfer time, a 20 minutes delay is bad.
DeleteOkay but they will really have to improve their timing.
ReplyDeleteImagine bad weather...
Air Serbia really has luck that it has a monopoly on many routes.
Imagine they would compete with Swiss or Easyjet in Geneva!
If i had the choice to fly either with a very good business class or a cramped economy seat,i would without hesitation choose the later.
Nothing compensates for that much loss of time.
YU-APC to TGD and A6-SAA from DUS - https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B5BQ5KlupgSRcVcwMjUwVDFwOXM&usp=sharing
ReplyDeleteThanks! I cant wait for a picture of the two of them parked next to each other at BEG. :)
DeleteSwiss vs Easyjet :
ReplyDeleteLX Airbus A320 3x weekly,
64 seats in business,72 in economy,
all together 136 per day.
U2 Airbus A319/320 3x weekly,
156/180 seats per day in economy only.
Swiss offers international connections also to North America.
Easyjet actually will compete only with Swiss economy which is relatively small in seat number.
A good mix of two different airlines.
I think they would good co-exist side by side.
Wow why on earth does Swiss need 64 seats in economy class out of Geneva to Belgrade?!
Deletewell both U2 and DH also offer connections throughout Europe, as a multiflight option. for example, BEG-GVA-LGW is 143€ return with night in GVA both directions. even better connections are via MXP. BEG-MXP-LGW 117€, all trips are the same day
DeleteWtf. 64 seats in business?!? Give me a break!
ReplyDeleteWell, Swiss does have business class heavy aircraft but I doubt they will use them to Belgrade. Plus, if I am not mistaken their business class section is manageable by shifting the curtain. So 64 can easily become 4 if necessary.
DeleteAccording to Wikipedia all of Swiss Airbus 320 have 64 seats in business class.
ReplyDeleteWhen they shift their classes could this result in paying economy but flying in business seats?
Would be cool!
Or do they have something like premium economy?
Swiss has same seats throughout the aircraft. Only difference between business and economy class is a dividing curtain + in business middle seat always remains empty.
DeleteI see that YU-APC will be flying to Larnaca and Heathrow tomorrow again. Does it mean it has become the default aircraft on both routes?
ReplyDeleteNo. There will still be a mixtrue od 737 and A319.
DeleteBEG-LIS!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteDear TAP, please commence flights!!!!
Lisbon and Belgrade must have a direct connection!!!!