.JPG) |
| Swiss to launch new flights to Skopje and Sarajevo |
Swiss International Air Lines has announced the expansion of its Geneva base from the start of the 2015 summer season, which will see the carrier introduce flights to eight new destinations, among which are Skopje and Sarajevo. The development comes only weeks after Swiss scheduled new services from Zurich to Zagreb, Ljubljana and Sarajevo, signalling an aggressive expansion into the region. Furthermore, the airline’s subsidiary, Edelweiss, will operate new seasonal summer flights from Zurich to Podgorica and Banja Luka next year. Services from Geneva to Skopje will initially operate once per week from April 4, until increasing to two times per week from July 11. On the other hand, flights to Sarajevo will also operate once per week from April 4 until another weekly service is added on July 1.
Commenting on the new route launches, the CEO of Geneva Airport, Robert Deillon, says, “Swiss’ actions here are very good news for us. These new destinations include a prudent expansion of Geneva’s network in the Balkans, which are not particularly well served at present”. The new points will bring Swiss’ Geneva-based network to 39 destinations, compared to just twelve two years ago. As a result, Swiss has more than tripled its range of non-stop flights over the past two years from Western Switzerland and adjacent parts of France, boosting both local business and the tourism sectors. “These new routes are further confirmation of our consistent investment in Switzerland’s francophone region”, Lorenzo Stoll, Swiss’ Head for Western Switzerland, says.
Swiss International Air Lines will have a significant presence in the former Yugoslavia next summer season with services from both Zurich and Geneva to Belgrade and Sarajevo, as well as flights from Zurich to Zagreb and Ljubljana and services from Geneva to Skopje and Pristina. In addition, through its subsidiary Edelweiss, the airline will maintain flights from Zurich to Podgorica, Skopje, Pristina and Banja Luka. The major expansion is part of its “Next Generation Airline of Switzerland” strategy. The Swiss carrier faces no direct competition on its new routes to the capitals of Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tickets are already on sale and bookable through the airline’s website.
Comments
On a side note, YU-API is returning home after its C check.
I guess this indicates the wet-leased aircraft.
That's going to be as bad as OU's flight to Copenhagen or Brussels!
107,517 +20.9%
Year so far 1,034,002
YU-APG is still not flying. It's being serviced in Belgrade.
In the past you could easily argue Skopje was massively under-served but you cant anymore, at-least not to the same degree. Yes theres some room for growth (from new routes) but in my opinion they should be happy with double digit growth next year!
Some guys on skyscrapercity forum were mentioning how it's reasonable to go to Zagreb to catch Zagreb-Belgrade-Moscow flight and then just to skip Belgrade-Zagreb segment when getting back.
Indeed, it has sense. Zagreb - Moscow costs 130€ for now. You can drive with Gea tours minivan for 25 euros in one direction, they drop you in front of the Zagreb airport. So it's 155 euros and not more than that. If you decide to go there directly, it would cost you not less than 260 euros (280 for selected date).
My question is: what would happen with your baggage if you decide to just leave Belgrade airport on Belgrade-Zagreb segment? How easy can you retrieve it? Would the baggage continue its journey to Zagreb without you?
Small reminder, we are talking about BEG, and their way of doing business and customer service.
On the other hand if you decide not to have any baggage with yourself, and have hand luggage only, situation is far easier.
But to answer your question: yes, you may ask in check-in that your luggage is only checked in for BEG and not ZAG. Whether JU staff will accept your request is a different pair of shoes - especialy if layover is very short (60-80 mins). It may appear very clear what your intention is and most airlines do not appreciate such wittiness.
In addition, even if your luggage is checked in all the way to ZAG - and you fail to board the last segment of the flight (BEG-ZAG) the airport staff will unload it in accordance with safety procedures (unattended luggage). It will stay in BEG and you can show up and claim it as soon as the ZAG flight takes off.
But once again, there is absolutely no valid economic reason for such manoevering.
Also if you have friends and/or family in Zagreb and a friend who lives close to Shermetyevo, then in kind of makes sense.
Anyway, thanks for your response.
Your idea makes sense only when travelling with hand luggage.
INN-NS
NS|SAN
There will be often be friction between you and the person behind the check in desk. If your layover is less than 4h they will (generally) have the right to charge you extra for itinerary change.
Last time I did this was flying PHX-GVA via CLT and FRA in SEP. No dice in PHX, they would not let me check luggage to FRA, claiming "security concerns". As soon as I flashed a credit card they changed their mind. Layover was <4h. *G did not help.
OTOH, with IB I did this quite a few times, never any problems regardless of layover.
In any case, hone your negotiation skills.
The same for SKP and SJJ, however from SKP it will be anything north of Macedonia ie Romania, Hungary, Russia, Western Europe etc, where as from SJJ basically the entire JU network. I dont think LX opening more flights to the Balkans will affect JU all too much.
Some members on the forum forget JU is not a charity. Presenting an argument that air travel should be cheaper for its citizens is ridiculous and shows (forget basic business and aviation knowledge) the lack of common sense. Air travel is a luxury not a necessity, food, water and shelter is a must, a weekend getaway to Rome is not.
The idea on travelling to Zagreb to fly back to Belgrade to continue to Moscow as mentioned in the comments shows the level of stupidity of some users. As mentioned above, for similar if not the same prices can be achieved from BEG through competing carriers ie LH, OS, LX, LO, B2, TK. So their logic was to travel 4-5 hours to Zagreb, another 2 hours for check in formalities, security screening and boarding, 1 hour flight to BEG, transit time in BEG, before even flying to SVO, while for 170€ LX offers quicker travel time via ZRH to DME.
ZAG will of course see cheaper fares with JU because it is a new destination needing to build a client base and to attract people to fly a new carrier - Air Serbia. As time passes, so too will the fares come up, something we have seen in BEG within the first year of the JU rebranding and expansion.
It was not long ago they were bashing the airline for being too cheap, trashing yields and wanting to go suicidal, and now they're complaining that JU is too expensive and trying to compare full service carriers to low cost. Some users here i might add arent any better either.