Swiss International Air Lines will launch flights between Zurich and Niš in south-eastern Serbia from April 2, 2017. The company will be the only full fare airline serving the city, joining Wizz Air and Ryanair which currently operate low cost flights to Constantine the Great Airport. Services from Zurich to Niš will operate twice per week, each Friday and Sunday. Initially, flights will run with a mix of the carrier's brand new 125-seat Bombardier CS100 aircraft and the 168-seat Airbus A320 jet. However, from May 27 all flights will be operated by the A320. Swiss noted that the new service to Niš will further strengthen its presence in the Balkans. The airline faces no direct competition on the route, although Wizz Air maintains operations from Niš to Basel, which is some ninety kilometres north-west of Zurich.
Swiss downsized its operations to the former Yugoslavia this year by suspending flights from Zurich to Ljubljana, Zagreb and Sarajevo, as well as its services from Geneva to Skopje. Switzerland has for years been considered one of the most profitable markets from Niš. Both Jat Airways and Montenegro Airlines operated services from Constantine the Great Airport to Zurich between 2004 and 2006. Montenegro Airlines attempted to resume the route on several occasions but was knocked back by Swiss authorities, which refused to issue fifth freedom rights to the carrier. More recently, Darwin Airline, now known as Etihad Regional, operated services from both Zurich and Geneva to Niš but its pricey tickets failed to attract passengers. A considerable number of Serbian immigrants in Switzerland hail from Serbia’s south-east.
Niš Airport estimates handling some 100.000 passengers this year and for the figure to grow to 300.000 by the end of 2017. The airport, which had no commercial flights just over a year ago, is now served by both Wizz Air and Ryanair after lowering its fees to just three euros for handling, landing and passenger services. "All those who were concerned that there wouldn't be enough travellers were mistaken, because the airport is used not only by locals, but also by people from other parts of Serbia, as well as Bulgaria, Macedonia and Kosovo", the airport's General Manager, Vladica Djurdjanović, said recently. During the January – October period, Constantine the Great Airport welcomed a record 81.723 passengers compared to the 36.258 travellers handled during the whole of 2015.
Flight details for the new Zurich - Niš service can be found here.
Congratulations Nis. Well done. Unexpected that they managed to get Swiss.
ReplyDeleteI hope it just doesn't turn out like Edelweiss' Banja Luka flights where they sold tickets for a week and then suspended sales.
ReplyDeleteQuite an achievement for Nis especially because its being operated by Swiss itself and not their subsidiaries. I think it will impact Wizz performance to Basel and probably Swiss' numbers from Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteNis-Memmingen too.
DeleteIt will impact but not too much, since rail fares on SBB are really expensive from my experience. I also know lots of people who chose bus over train+plane because it gets expensive and mentality of those people is they sobu wanna spend too much money.
DeleteFriedrichshafen is not too far either...
DeleteThat said it's interesting how Wizz Air is consolidating its position in southern Germany from Belgrade. They will fly to Baden Baden, Friedrichshafen, Memmingen and Nuremberg.
Add to this Air Serbia's daily flights to STR and LH's double daily to MUC.
This route could now attract a lot of transfer passengers.
ReplyDeleteDon't think they are going after those passengers judging by the timing and operating days.
DeleteAnd the price of transfer flights... they are insane
DeleteThe prices might not be final ones. Just yesterday they were selling Nis-Zurich for €2.000.
DeleteI guess they should be finalized today.
I hope so... I checked Lyon-Nis. Connecting times were ok but the price was somehing like 2500€ lol
DeleteHaha so less than what they wanted for ORD-ZRH-INI for. :D
DeleteI am sure this will be fixed in the next few days.
I checked a few connections...from some reason, the prices were mostly for business class...I guess the system isn't fully updated
DeleteI think this is something Tuzla should have done. Nis has done really well to diversity its offer and not depend on one airline.
ReplyDeleteNice surprise!
ReplyDeleteBtw, JP is apparantely trying to sell its brandname and rent it again.....
So when exactly do you think they will sell their underwear? ;)
DeleteNot sure if they wear any ;)
DeleteAhaha ;-)
DeleteJust curious, how come its pays off for Swiss to fly from INI, but not from some other cities in Ex-Yu? How much did INI pay Swiss to come?
ReplyDeleteINI charges 3 EUR for all services.
DeleteSo they suspend Zagreb, Ljubljana, Sarajevo and Skopje but they introduce Nis.... ok...
ReplyDeleteKo bi reko čuda da se dese, pa Niš Swiss donese.
DeleteI like they comment that this will further strenghten their position in the region, after they left capital cities of 4 countries in region. Will be interesting to see if they can fill planes from INI if they cant from capitols
DeleteThey can serve SKP from INI, it's cheaper anyway.
DeleteZagreb, Ljubljana, Sarajevo and Skopje were not in a desperate position that would force them to offer 3 euro per pax to a legacy carrier.
DeleteThose airports simply could not be compared to INI as they are all capitals of their countries and have much bigger air traffic than INI.
DeleteLess jealousness is recommendable.
Stop trolling about SKP! LX flies through Edelweiss 4 times weekly. It doesn't matter if it's an Edelweiss or Swiss A320. You have the same connection options, service and etc.
DeleteNow I can see JU flights to Niš next year... At least, I hope... It could work with atr and low price (like BXN)... And I don't think that ASL will fly out of Niš any soon (except to BEG maybe)
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia must be having second thoughts about deciding not to fly from Nis.
DeleteSJJ ZAG coming back in SUTT
ReplyDeleteWhere is that written? They are not coming back
DeleteFlights are im timetable, for example OAG and u can book them on LX website too
DeleteSwiss confirmed they are changing Zagreb and Sarajevo to summer seasonal services.
Deleteswiss.com
Days 1,3,5,7 ZAG to ZRH and 3,5,7 SJJ to ZRH
DeleteZAG slot not so ideal as day 5,7 are early morning flts
SJJ good ones. 5,7 in the evening
This sucks because they will take considerable market for OU. These airlines should not be allowed to fly seasonally. They must stick around the whole year.
DeleteI know... on the other side if LX competes OU, the prices will be more competitive which might attracks passengers who currently drive car or with the bus
DeleteJudging JP latest news, we soon will have LX back in LJU too...
Congratulations Nis!
ReplyDeleteI'm really happy for Nis too but can they fill 320 seats each way every week?
ReplyDeleteWondering that too. Maybe they have the aircraft free at that time and the cost of the flight is just low so it pays off.
DeleteThey should have kept the CS100 on the route instead of A320.
DeleteSo INI get the Superjet 100 before BEG. And now the CS100 also
DeleteActually Swiss operates CS to BEG on Saturdays.
DeleteDind't know. My bad
DeleteBEG can fill larger aircraft so why should it get smaller a/c if there is no need?
DeleteWhat are the prices like?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Nis!
DeleteI truly wish LX could fill their planes to INI, but having experiencies with other ex YU capitals (except BEG) I am not 100% sure. It is true that 3 eur per passenger is attractive price for LX, but at the same time their prices need to be attractive as well in order this could work.
Last time when I checkeed the cheapest price ZRH-INI-ZRH with hand luggage only was around 190 EUR. Average price is cca 250 EUR.
Don't forget "...Darwin Airline, now known as Etihad Regional, operated services from both Zurich and Geneva to Niš but its pricey tickets failed to attract passengers"
If you can find a 110 EUR BEG - ZRH - BEG ticket with LX, you will be able to find a 90 eur ticket from INI. My guess...
DeleteAre you saying that INI is cheaper from ZRH than BEG?
DeletePustite te balkanske sheme znamo ovo vec dva dana nego sta cemo sa Teheranom. Oni su upravo popili blokadu nabavke americkih aviona. Da li treba lansirati liniju za tamo iz Beograda?
ReplyDeleteПопиће блокаду тек када Сенат исто то изгласа и када Трамп стави свој потпис на тај документ.
DeleteИмајући у виду да будући председник жели боље односе са Русијом и Кином све је могуће.
Што се тиче ЈУ летова, нема много логике док се не појача европска мрежа. Лет до Техерана би трајао између 03.30 и 04.00 тако да би било јако незгодно да се уклопи у валове.
Sto, a let do Astane se uklapa u njih? Ima li tamo putnika i para to je pitanje.
DeleteАко бих морао да бирам између Техерана и Астане изабрао бих Техеран. ;)
Deletewow. Hopefully they start work on expadning the terminal soon. A few more flights next summer and the airport will be packed.
ReplyDeleteThey should built a new one. Like the terminal in Morava airport. That's enough
DeleteWho wold have thought just 2 years ago when there were no flights from INI
ReplyDeleteExtremely smart decision by the airport not to get tied down to just one LCC.
ReplyDeleteNot being a hater or sounding pessimistic but previous experiences with LX proved they are unable to sustain a route launched in the Balkans for a longer period.
ReplyDeleteBesides, according to the Swiss website, the route is going to be seasonal. So, lets see.
Was thinking the same. We will see.
DeleteAlmost Sept. 17 and there are rumours they will even expand these flights :)
DeleteOT
ReplyDeleteBank of China will open its offices in Belgrade that will cover all of ex-YU, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania.
This is great news as it will stimulate potentially high yielding passengers to/from BEG.
Thats awesome news. Bravo Beograd ;)
DeleteGreat news southeast Serbia in general.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe they suspend Skopje and start Nis. But good work for them.
ReplyDelete+1000
DeleteSo, if INI is the new Serbian star then we can forget about Kraljevo and Vršac airports. Kraljevo joins Brandenburg in the list of ghostly airports :(
ReplyDeleteWhat will be reaction from ASL? will they initiate flights from INI? and BEG-INI? Seems ASL underestimated the potential of INI.
ReplyDeletePokidase se zbog dva leta nedeljno.
Delete+1 m8! ASL should react fast and ditch some routes to INI. There can be transfer and business, domestic traffic. Poland, Czech R., Romania, Bulgaria all have domestic traffic and so should Srbija. I certainly think ini has future and potential!
DeleteAn. 4.25
DeleteDa su zaista Er Srbija a ne Er Biiiuuugrad trebali bi se polomiti i za 1 a ne 2 nedeljno. Da ne pricamo o tome da nisu 2 nedeljno nego 2 dnevno, i vise, kada dodamo Viz I Rajan
There was a tacit agreement that INI stays low cost and BEG doesn't complain. Now INI will draw the wrath of BEG and Vučić.
DeleteASL must fly to INI soon or they will begin to loose the south Serbian market.
DeleteBEG-INI-BLX-TGD-BEG
DeleteCTN ZAG-DBV, petak 18.11. u 14:45 A319
ReplyDeleteoko 85% u economskoj
5 od 12 u business
??
DeleteŚta nije jasno? Inace, nije loša popunjenost, pogoto o s obzirom na doba godine.
DeleteAmongst all ex-YU airports, I think Nis has the best potential. Nis can develop, build new hotels, have more foreign tourists (now Chinese with future visa free travel), can construct a new terminal and can attract more LCC not only Swiss to the airport. Easyjet, YM like before, LH to MUC daily, OS to VIE, ist - tk or pc, and why not Vuling 1 flight weekly to El Prat or GRO. It can rplace beg if there is a fog
ReplyDeleteHahahaha, yeah, right!
DeleteSo you forgot to mention Air Serbia !??
DeleteI don't understand this decision...but it must make some sense to them. It is good to be first and they are the first big carrier, just seems bizarre in light of suspending flights to four capital cities.
ReplyDeleteImace ogroman O&D saobracaj za INI zato ce imati verovatno odlican uspeh u INI.
ReplyDeleteINN-NS
BEG-INI-BLX-TGD-BEG
ReplyDelete"Fernando Pinto announced today that TP will launch 11 new routes in 2017, of which 7 will be in Europe, 3 in Africa, and 1 in N.America.
ReplyDeleteThe only hint he provides for these new routes destinations was that some of the new European destinations will be cities that were previously served. "
ZAG and BEG maybe?
Balkans are always ditched. I think they will concentrate on France and UK, where there are many Portuguese living. BEG was a failure for TP :(
DeleteWould say OTP or SOF. Many Romanians and Bulgarians are living in Portugal.
DeleteDoubt it, FB already fly to LIS during the summer. OTP is served by both W6 and Blue Air.
Delete