Busy summer ahead for EX-YU airlines
The national carriers of the former Yugoslavia plan to add up to ten new destinations to their route networks this summer, the biggest single expansion in years. As previously reported, Adria Airways will be returning to pre-crisis markets with the resumption of services from Ljubljana to Prague and Warsaw. The airline has also applied and received permits for flights to Kiev but is yet to schedule the service and put tickets on sale. Unlike a few years ago, Adria will be unopposed on its flights to Prague. Previously, it faced competition from ČSA Czech Airlines and later CCA Airlines before the service was dropped all together. On its flights to Warsaw, the airline will have a monopoly, though Adria can no longer rely greatly on transit passengers from the EX-YU region. The airline’s worst performing scheduled routes in 2013 were in fact Sarajevo and Belgrade. As the carrier looks to branch out its operations, Adria will also be launching flights from Tirana to Star Alliance stronghold Frankfurt. The Slovenian carrier will also, until July, introduce a one weekly charter flight from Split to Borlange in central Sweden.
Air Serbia will be spreading its wings this summer by launching six new routes. The airline is returning to former JAT Yugoslav Airlines markets as it adopts a similar strategy to the former Yugoslav carrier by heavily relying on transit passengers. From Belgrade, Air Serbia will have a monopoly on flights to Beirut, Kiev, Sofia and Varna. On services to Warsaw the Serbian carrier will compete against LOT Polish Airlines which was quick to respond to the threat. LOT immediately turned its seasonal Belgrade flights to a yearlong service and will boost frequencies to daily flights this coming summer. As a result, the Serbian carrier upgraded its operational aircraft on the route from an ATR72 to an Airbus A319. On flights to Budapest, Air Serbia will be challenged by Belarus’ Belavia which enjoys fifth freedom rights.
Montenegro Airlines will be inaugurating flights to Dusseldorf this summer season, with services to operate on a seasonal basis twice per week. B&H Airlines is still in the process of forming its 2014 summer season network. In December of 2013, the airline said it was looking to expand regionally with flights to Skopje. The Bosnian carrier has operated the route on and off for the past several years. Despite continuing rumours suggesting the airline will be resuming flights to Amsterdam, B&H is yet to apply for slots at the airport.
Following last year's service reductions, Croatia Airlines will this summer introduce flights from Split to Athens. The airline is being challenged on several fronts. The carrier will lose its monopoly on its service from Zagreb to Amsterdam as KLM Cityhopper launches its own flights on the route. Similarly, it will no longer be the only carrier operating flights from Zagreb to Rome, though its competition, Etihad Regional, will offer a direct flight compared to Croatia Airlines’ one stop service either via Dubrovnik or Split. In cooperation with Trade Air, the Croatian carrier will expand its domestic network with the routing Osijek - Zagreb -Rijeka - Split - Dubrovnik - Rijeka - Zagreb. Croatia Airlines will also launch new charter flights from Split to Bodo in Norway this summer.
I think that we should mention that OU will launch operations between Split and Athens and Dubrovnik and Amsterdam (only once per week), also Osijek-Zagreb-Rijeka-Split-Dubrovnik (these are very illogical flights considering that they want to replace OSI-SPU and OSI-DBV with these flights, although OSI-SPU and OSI-DBV had good load factor)
ReplyDeleteOU will not fly OSI-DBV this summer.
DeleteOSI-ZAG is PSO (6x per week)
RJK-SPU-DBV-RJK is PSO (1x per week)
and ZAG-RJK-ZAG is ferry flight. So, it is not idea to make OSI-ZAG-RJK-SPU-DBV flights.
(PSO = flights with no risk because Republic of Croatia is paying for those flights)
Not completely true, you can book zag-rjk flight on OU web site. Flights will be operated every Friday morning from April 4.
DeleteAlso OU boost flights from Dubrovnik to Paris and Zurich.
Yes you can book that flight, but it is ferry flight because they have to move plane from ZAG to RJK to make RJK-SPU-DBV-RJK leg, and that is during break on OSI-ZAG-OSI flight. As they have to move plane they will sell tickets. But it was never intention to make that flight, and for sure not OSI-ZAG-RJK-SPU-DBV option. Sure, it some will buy ticket…
DeleteYugoslav Airlines network in 1976 (from their timetable):
ReplyDeletehttp://i39.tinypic.com/2ykchoo.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/21kb4vr.jpg
Yugoslav Airlines network in Winter 1988/1989 (from their inflight magazine)
Deletehttp://img37.imageshack.us/img37/9355/jatintercontinentalserv.jpg
JAT and QANTAS timetable Belgrade - Australia in 1975
ReplyDeletehttp://i40.tinypic.com/fvfke9.jpg
JAT Timetable Winter 1976/1977: http://www.anywhen.com/2013/02/jat-yugoslav-airlines-timetable/
ReplyDeleteJAT Yugoslav Airlines timetable covers from the 1940s onward: http://www.airtimes.com/cgat/yu/jat/gal/jugal1a40.htm
U re God. Thanks for all the links
ReplyDeleteWorth watching, a short BBC documentary about Pan Am, the airline that really changed the way we fly today.
ReplyDeleteCome Fly With Me - The Story Of Pan Am (BBC Documentary)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPaCT0pMlQY
The best part about Air Serbia is the Etihad-imposed strict code of conduct for their staff.
ReplyDeleteThree strikes and you are out! The best part is that they do not tell you when you screwed up, they just tell you when you got to number three. It forces the employees to always try their best.
Then, women are allowed to wear only one ring, no necklaces, the scarf must always cover the neck, one layer of foundation allowed and they all must wear red lipstick. Their nails must be very neat and the hair must be always properly fixed.
Some might think these are too strict but I think it's what we need in Serbia. In Jat they were too lenient and at times the cabin crew looked like waiters in a roadside kafana.
Agree. Unfortunately we needed someone from outside to put us into place.
DeleteYou are monster, not human. Pure people. I am not going to fly the airline which is constantly holding its employees under psychotic stress. Awful. I know it will not make any impact, but I cannot give my money to such a jerks.
DeleteI think it's good what they are doing, they are not monsters at all! Serbs need to learn how to work again since we became lazy from years of communism. Best proof of that that even today there are 781.000 people working in the public sector compared to 450.000 in the private one. Anyone who was regularly flying with Jat Airways knows how bad things were by the end.
DeleteDon't forget that since Air Serbia is still owned by the government they are still listed as a government institution. That's why the pay is pathetic because they follow the pay scale of the ministry of transport. I am sure Air Serbia will become the best run government company thanks to these Arab monsters you are talking about.
Then again, there will always be some lazy people around, like those union workers who protested against Radulovic's reforms.
Well, I am the one of 450 000, my father and mother is two out of 781 000, we are all Serbs and hard-working. Please, do not make such a generalisation.
DeleteI was flying Jat, and no, I did not ever find important if stewardes has a red rouge or not. I do not expect to be served as a faraon for 150-250 € flight... I do prefere normal atmosphere between employes, and not slavbery-like, dehumanised atmosphere like in Arab carriers.
Ukratko: moj nacionalni ponos je povređen kada vidim svoje sugrađanke kako izigravaju potplaćene bangladešanske služavke.
I made some research using Amadeus. I was looking available seats on JU flights. First date is departing date and second is arrival date.
ReplyDeleteBelgrade (BEG) -Stuttgart (STR) 26.01. 1 28.01. 9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Berlin (BER) 27.01. 9+ 28.01. 9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Pariz (CDG) 27.01. 9+/7 28.01. 9+/9+
Belgrade (BEG) -London (LHR) 27.01. 7 28.01. 9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Prague (PRG) 27.01. 1 28.01. 6
Belgrade (BEG) -Zurich (ZUR) 27.01. 9+ 27.01. 9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Rome (SAW) 27.01. 9+ 27.01. 9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Milano (SAW) 27.01. 9+ 28.01. 9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Moscow (SVO) 27.01. 4/9+ 28.01. 9+/9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Athens (ATH) 27.01. 9+ 28.01. 9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Istanbul (SAW) 27.01. 9+ 28.01. 9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Amsterdam(AMS) 27.01. 9+ 28.01. 9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Dusseldorf(DUS) 27.01. 9+ 28.01. 9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Brussels(BRU) 27.01. 9+ 28.01. 9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Stockholm(BRU) 27.01. 3 28.01. 9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Copenhagen(BRU) 26.01. 9 27.01. 9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Thessaloniki(SKG) 26.01. 8 27.01. 3
Is this good or bad?
DeleteWhat the author is trying to say is that there are lots of empty seats left on the plane. 9+ would indicated that there are more than 9 available seats on a given flight. It can give an indication, but is a very shallow way of looking into things, as there are many things missing from it: the yields, possible overbooking, etc. etc.
DeleteWell, 9+ does not necessarily have to mean that the flights are empty, it just means that there were not more than 119/128 passengers on some flights.
DeleteBut some like Thessaloniki, Prague and Moscow still seem to be doing more than fine.
Fantastic research. It is nearly to conclude that SKG LF is more then 95% in this two days in the middle of the low season. I'm impressed with PRG where LF is almost 95% also.For LHR, STR and BRU first day is almost packed and CGD and SVO with little less.As AMS and ZUR are always good it is pretty impressive results. I think that SAW, BER and TLV are the weakest links, suspect in ATH for 2* daily, but we will see. It is end of january and business will be in april (new routes, Eastern etc). Now, LF is about 65% (sources form BEG) forecasting for annual average more then 75%. With seats offered AS surely goes to 2.2 mil. this year
DeleteNext week JU routes where there is now less than 9 remaining seats
DeleteBelgrade (BEG) -Pariz (CDG) 01.02. 9+/5 02.01. 9+/3
Belgrade (BEG) -Zurich (CDG) 01.02. 7/2 02.01. 8/2
Belgrade (BEG) -Moscow (SVO) 01.02. 3/9+ 02.01. 8/9+
Belgrade (BEG) -Rome (FCO) 01.02. 9+ 02.01. 8
Belgrade (BEG) -Prague (PRG) 01.02. 5 02.01. 2
Belgrade (BEG) -Ljubljana(LJU) 01.02. 9+ 02.01. 5
Interesting is also that AItalia has very little remaning seets on his Emrbrear175 and that they will even send A319 on Wednesday and Sunday.AirSerbia has only 2 remaining seets on Friday flight to Rome
Thank you very much for these numbers!
DeleteI hope Prague gets either more frequencies or the A319! I would actually prefer the latter as an Atr might be a bit uncomfortable for that two hour ride.
It's also interesting how much Alitalia's numbers fluctuate. If they were more stable they could have just scheduled their E190 to fly the route in stead of the 175.
I would also add that it's very interesting how some routes which have really good loads are also operated twice per day.
DeleteExample..
DeleteI can still book 7 tickets for BEG-PRG on 01.02. and more than 9 on 02.02.
So Amadeus is not right apparently? Or is this the accessible for everyone part? and not reservation system for airlines/touroperators/agents...
I know Jat Airways had a waiting list so maybe Air Serbia does too?
DeleteActually , on Amadeus on that route there is no info about remaining seets ,so I use some other site which also use same engine. On Amadeus there is litle note that there is only 2 seet remain at this price
DeleteIf you try to buy 6 ticket on AirSerbia site,there is no offer for that day . If you try to buy 5 there is
DeleteSo exYU, it is 26th January. You promise that you will publish Zagreb airport number of passengers and you did!
ReplyDeleteBut you promise that you will publish Air Serbia data and you did not. Unlike first week of January results which were published just 2 days after Orthodox charismas.
We all know that you have it because you wrote once "data are not bad at all". I presume that you wait with January data to publish in same time, as those January data are much better concerning Orthodox charismas which brings good number of passenger.
Well, your silence on that meter is showing everything, and I that means LF is even worst that November, so less than 50%.
charismas means Chrismas
DeleteI am not the public relations officer for Air Serbia so in all honesty I would never withhold data because it is bad or good (I publish load factors every single month so why on earth would I withhold that information just because it might be worse – I neither work for Air Serbia nor do I have some vested interest in it). It is much easier for me to post results then having to hunt for some other news. I am still waiting for that additional data so when I do get it will be published. Was it not for this blog you would have absolutely no data on passenger numbers at Air Serbia whatsoever so no need to form theories where there is no place for them.
DeleteWould it be possible and profitable for a small airline to have Kraljevo -Belgrade and Nis -Belgrade flights several times a day using small 19 seat prop planes (Beech 1900, Let 410, DHC6 etc)? With 2-4 flights a day connecting passengers would have short wait times at BEG and there would be some O&D if pricing is right. Does BEG airport support domestic operations or is it all international? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteNo, it would make no economics sense.
DeleteNiš je veliki grad i sigurno ima medjunarodnih putnika. Koliko ih je ,to je već drugo pitanje. Da postoji dovoljno direktnih putnika sigurno bi neko vec otvorio liniju takvu liniju. Ti putnici danas putuju:
Delete- do BEG a onda letovima AS do krajne destinacije
- do BEG ili SOF pa dalje preko Austrian,Lufthanse ,Wizz itd.
- putovali bi avionom,ali kad vec krenu autom/autobusom jednostavno nastave do krajne destinacije
- ne bi putovali avionom,da li zbog cene ili zbog komfora.
Kakva je raspodela ovih putnika medju ovim grupama je pitanje. AirSerbia već ima putnike iz prve grupe,imali bi samo dodatni trošak za let od Niša do Beograda. Taj trošak bi verovatno morao putnik da plati kroz ukupnu cenu. Sa druge strane dobili bi dodatne putnike iz druge i treće grupe na svojim letovima. Da otvore liniju do Beča/Frankfurta kojom bi punili njihov hub to sigurno neće da rade.
Moguće je da će neka od drugih avio kompanija da otvore letove do svojih hub-ova. Do sada su imali lagodnu situaciju u BEG,ali sada kada se AirSerbia oporavlja ovo bi mogao da bude jedan od načina za napad. Time bi oteli putnike sa juga.
Ono što mene čudi jeste pasivnost rukovodstva niškog aerodroma. Samo čekaju da neko iz države nekim dekretom narede AirSerbia da pokrene direktne linije iz Niša. Umesto da pokrenu neke incijative,sami pokušaju da poboljšaju situaciju. Npr. mogli bi da ukinu aerodramske takse i troškove otpremanja aviona za one avio linije koje pokrenu letove u narednih npr 6 meseci. Ti ljude i ovako plačaju.Ovako bi indirektno subvencionasi prevoznike. To smanjenje troškova omogučilo bi npr AS da nadoknadi deo troška. Sa druge strane sa povecanim brojem putnika na samom aerodromu kroz naknadu zakupa za prodavnice i restorana mogli bi dodatno da zarade . Kako bi se broj putnika postepeno povečavao tako bi se sigurno uvodile i p2p destinacije. Mislim da je sad mnogo važnije da imaju vezu do nekog hub-a preko koga se može kroz jedno presedanje doći do večine destinacija. Posle bi došle i direktni letovi do nekih gradova .
Normalno ,lakše je sedeti ,optuživati nekog drugog za svoju sudbinu i ne raditi ništa i čekati.
A bit off-topic but on this day back in 1972 a bomb exploded onboard JAT's DC-9 from Copenhagen to Belgrade. 26 souls perished with the only survivor being a stewardess named Vesna Vulovic. She survived only because she was tied to her seat in the back of the aircraft.
ReplyDeleteShe was awarded the Guinness Record title for surviving the highest fall without a parachute (10,000 meters) by Paul McCartney at a ceremony in 1985
The aircraft was most likely accidentally shot down over what was then Czechoslovakia.
DeleteDuring the period of this incident a large military exercise was being conducted by Czechoslovakia which included the launching of high altitude surface to air missiles.
Another possible scenario is that slight 367 after experiencing some technical difficulty was forced to conduct an emergency decent and diversion which took its flight path over or near a soviet nuclear missile sight. Migs were sent to intercept and the aircraft was shot down.
Air traffic control tapes and the black box data was never made public.
Blamed on a Croatian "Ustasa" group and this only days after the accident, no terrorist group ever claimed responsibility despite the publicity the accident would have given their cause especially with the story of the survivor.
Officially a bomb on board did bring down flight 367 but there is very little evidence to support this.
And the flight was Zagreb not Belgrade bound.
DeleteLet's rewrite history... that explosion never happened because there was no flight in first place...
DeleteThe plane was destroyed from inside out, and split into two parts, and yes, the bomb was placed by Croatian Ustashis.
The DC-9 was en route to Belgrade, via Zagreb, from Stockholm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAT_Flight_367
Well, there are many different theories and reasons why the plane crashed. I am sticking with the official one as all others are mere conspiracy theories. There is no end when you get into that domain.
DeleteTechnically the flight was heading to Belgrade but via Zagreb.
Here is a Wikipedia link for those who want more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAT_Flight_367
Easy jet Dubrovnik - Gatwick 9x weekly (two flights on Wed and Sat)
ReplyDeleteBritish Airways Dubrovnik - Gatwick 8x weekly (two flights on Thu)
OT: There were 153 pax on yesterday's W6 flight BSL-SKP. This means 85% LF. I've talked to the cabin crew and they told me for the last month they were operating with 100% LF on this route.
ReplyDeleteHow often do they fly it?
Delete3x weekly now and 5x from April.
DeleteWith the current situation in Ukraine it is also very likely that there will be no new flights either to Belhrade or Ljubljana from Kyiv.
ReplyDeleteThe economic situation already was miserable before the protests and still goes from bad to worse.
A scenario of a rapid devaluating Ukrainian currency could force the foreign airlines to stop ticket sales.
Something similar we experience in Venezuela.
If a bailout of Ukraine fails we will see there a state bankruptcy.
You idiot, what do you know about Ukraine. All we needed are people like you spreading out their brains while they haven't got a single clue about the country. As to the current situation, we're gonna deal with it just as we dealt with many times in history and are gonna get rid of those fascist bandits funded by the West who are trying to overthrow the legitimate government cause they refused to become another EU colony unlike the Balkan states. People are already taking things into their own hands if the government fails to react timely, what we could witness in today's braking down of gatherings in Nikolaev, Zaporozhie, Dnepropetrovsk and Harkov yesterday. Kiev must be next. Besides, if you call the situation of Ukrainian economy "miserable", then i don't know how would you call the one of the ex-Yu countries. No matter the numbers, besides the gas Ukraine is completely self-sufficient and has a huge shadow economy that doesn't reach the CIA-factbook numbers, Ukraine is not at all poor as you imagine. As a friend of mine from this blog just said, Emirates launching flights to Kiev goes further to prove your theory. Last but not least, you mentionned Venezuela that goes even a step further to demonstrate your ignorance. Venezuala has a unique situation with foreign exchange that isn't comparable to any other country in the world, even less Ukraine, but i'm not gonna go all the lenght to explain that to you.
DeleteAerologic you live in a dreamworld.
DeleteMaybe you take too much pills from your leader Janukovich-Putin.
Thats why you see the Ukraine prospering.
But the country is run down and only a pro-european government can save you from bankruptcy.
But of course you only will get admission to theis money under the conditions of the civilized west.
Then why is that the EU proposed Ukraine 600 million for signing the deal while Russia proposed 15 billions as a bailout together with joint industrial projects? Or you are that stupid that you can't see which of the two numbers (600 and 15) is bigger? Ukraine was near bankruptcy because of a gas deal signed by the previous pro-EU government, by the lady who is sitting in jail. I do wonder however who is living in a dream world, maybe a guy who never visited Ukraine in his life and knows everything from Western internet portal, comparing Ukraine to Venezuela? Yes, that seems to be a dream.
DeleteThe civilized West you're talking about is funding neo-nazi parties to orchestrate pogroms in Kiev and around the country. Yes that does seems very civilized and those are certainly not the conditions we're gonna to accept and behavior we're gonna to adopt as a norm of civilization. On the other hand, i wonder how the Western money didn't help Greece, Italy and others from getting bankrupt or levitating around the edge of bankruptcy (same goes for your dear Croatia).
DeleteIt doesn't matter who is giving more money. 10 million from Russians or Chinese is better than 50 million from the hands of Merkel. Russian and Chinese people like us, yet most EU citizens can't even find Belgrade on map.
DeleteWell, in this case Russia did not only offer a credit 30 times the sum of what the EU offered but also joint deals in construction, military and other industrial areas. For me that's a no-brainer. EU wanted a surrender and opening of Ukrainian market, cheap but highly educated workforce etc.
DeleteDont talk rubbish.The Serbian people want the EU more then anything else...
DeleteThats why the government is strictly pro-european.
The people vote only for european parties.
Serbia,Croatia and all the ex-republics can not live without the money from the Eu.
Your Arabian or Russian friends can take their dirty money and go elsewhere.
Yeah, Russians with their "dirty money."
DeleteUnfortunately, you don't know who your friends are. Have the Russians or Arabs ever invaded Serbia? The Russians are the only ones who support Serbia. The EU countries, some who bombed Serbia, and do not accept the territorial sovereignty only care about what Serbia has to offer, they want to take advantage of a skilled, yet cheap labor force.
If we turn our backs on Russia, than we have lost our only ally in the UN Security Council.
It is not only about money. With Russia, Serbia is a partner. But with EU, Serbia is selling itself for money.
Most of people in Serbia are brain-dead, demotivated and desoriented, caring about nothing else than daily survival. Everyone hates the govt. and is sick of the EU but nevertheless living through the imposed Western 'culture' and values, within the abyss of erased Serbian history and identity. Unlike maybe Ukraine and some others, Serbia wasn't given a choice and with the help of eternal internal divisions and overwhelming military force, Serbia is an occupied country for more than 13 years already.
DeleteTwo facts:
Delete- Serbia is one of the most Eurosceptic countries in Europe, alongside Latvia. According to the latest polling less than 50% of Serbs are in favour of the membership, I believe that the actual number is around 40%.
- The Serbian government is pro-EU because we are broke. At the same time I would like to remind you that we are not strictly pro-EU as if we were the Zemun-Borca bridge would not have been built by the Chinese, NIS would not be owned by the Russians and the Chinese would not be given the concession to build the highway. Naturally, there is also Air Serbia which was saved by a non-EU carrier. The voting pattern of Serbia at the UN also shows us being way pro-Russia/China while we also boycotted that Nobel Prize ceremony some years ago when that Chinese dissident won it.
So saying that Serbs want the EU above anything else and that our government is pro-EU because of it is plain...well... stupid.
^ Air Arabia should switch their flights to Belgrade!
ReplyDeleteThree times a week with Flydubai is too little frequency for such an important destination.
NO, i dont want to take a bus from Abu Dhabi...
If there is demand and there are yields, someone will step in, don't worry. flydubai would be the first one to increase # of weekly flights if this were the case.
DeleteWell, they will fly four times per week in summer so that's not that bad... Also, don't forget that flydubai's B737-800 is configured in a single class layout with 189 seats while Air Serbia's A319 has only 120 in economy. So naturally it's easier for JU to add more flights to the UAE.
DeleteI am not sure that they will keep the 4x weekly flights the whole summer, I think it's mostly 3x weekly.
DeleteFurthermore, they've also added a C-class product onboard, so it's no longer 189.
Well, it's 174 which is still a lot, even JU's A320s will have 156 seats in their economy class.
DeleteThis is why we fought the Crimean War against Photius Heresy
ReplyDeleteso they could never Bystra Paris again! That is why Cuomo
Environmentles are exterminating Tchaikovsky swans for being
too agressive. Putin’s tax, gay and oil policies are almost
as bad as Sarah Palin’s. Putin should have violated constituional
term limits just like Bloomberg. Does Yanukovich think he is Morsi?
CNOOC should have been allowed to buy Unocal just like Exxon and
Chevron tried to buy Yukos. We have no problems with pussy riots
in St Patricks as long as they abuse children Alexander's hangover
has finally worn off. Charlemagne and Jagiello beware mermaids
turning Danube into limestone with paraplastic phytotherm tufa
stromatolite while Alexandria librarians infest Vatican archives
with periplastic trichomonas termopsidis!