Flydubai will commence flights between its hub and Tivat this summer, with the Montenegrin coastal city becoming its fourth destination in the former Yugoslavia. Services will operate twice per week, each Monday and Friday, starting June 23. Flights will initially run on a seasonal summer basis, until September 25, however, the hybrid carrier will consider extending the route throughout the winter depending on its performance. The announcement comes several months after Flydubai operated a one-off charter between Dubai and Tivat carrying the airline's management, tour operators, journalists and businesspeople. Flights will be maintained with a 174-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft in a two-class configuration, featuring twelve seats in business class and 174 in economy. The airline says the new route is in direct response to customer feedback and demand for more leisure destinations in Flydubai's network.
The new service will mark the first time Montenegro has boasted commercial flights to the Gulf. Porto Montenegro, a luxury yacht marina and adjacent waterfront development owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai, is located close to Tivat Airport and is expected to attract holidaymakers from the United Arab Emirates. Montenegro abolished visa restrictions for UAE nationals in 2015. “We are confident that the demand for these new summer flights will be strong in both business and economy class. The interest in affordable, popular and off-the-beaten-track holiday destinations continues to grow especially from the GCC [Gulf Coopeartion Council] markets and these routes offer alternative options for those seeking a beach holiday or city breaks”, Jeyhun Efendi, Flydubai's Commercial Senior Vice President, said.
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| Flydubai business class cabin |
Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News last month, Mr Efendi noted, "The former Yugoslavia is an important market for Flydubai. We have been flying there since 2011 when we began our flights to Belgrade. In 2012 we launched flights to Skopje and in December 2014 we began flights to Sarajevo. Demand for these routes remains strong as passengers are able to travel to Dubai and beyond through our efficient aviation hub, offering links to 264 points around the world. The routes have also provided those from the Middle East, Gulf and beyond our network with easier access to discover this part of the world". Further flight details for the new Dubai - Tivat service can be found here.
Great news for DBV.
ReplyDeleteI agree - the UAEs will head north to DBV and beyond. Very good airline too
DeleteI am surprised they haven't gone for DBV yet.
DeleteThey won't consider Dubrovnik because they won't want to hurt Emirates to Zagreb. Same reason they won't start Ljubljana either.
DeleteTivat is close to Dubrovnik. I'm sure they will organise some tours from Porto Montenegro to Dubrovnik.
DeleteYeah, they are really going to protect their ZAG flights. DBV is not even on their radar. Just compare the fares between ICN and DBV:
DeleteTK: $774
EK: $2.259
Good news for MNE !
ReplyDeleteAnd nice C-Class btw
Yes, seems like there is definitely a market for them. I am also surprised how well TK is doing in Podgorica.
Deletewow
ReplyDeleteThe Arabs have discovered the Balkans.
ReplyDeleteTrue
DeleteAir Arabia: Tuzla
Etihad: Belgrade
Emirates: Zagreb
Fly dubai: Belgrade, Sarajevo, Skopje, Tivat
Qatar Airways: Belgrade, Zagreb, Skopje, Sarajevo
Quite good.
Only Pristina and Ljubljana missing now.
DeletePersonally I think it's a major overkill with this Tivat flights.
DeleteGreat news for Tivat. They will probably handle over 1 million passengers this year.
ReplyDeleteWell it's not a great start. Their numbers were down 20% in January.
DeleteYes I noticed that. Do you know why?
DeleteDue to weather conditions, a lot of flights were redirected to pgd or dbv
Delete"The airport's numbers were partially affected as a result of poor weather conditions, which forced its closure on several occasions."
Deletehttp://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/02/tivat-airport-numbers-decline-in-january.html
Despite January I think there will be significant growth during the summer so hopefully 1 million is in reach. They just missed out on it last year.
DeleteNever in a million years would I have thought Tivat would have flights to Dubai. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHaha me neither. Times have certainly changed :)
DeleteIt's unfortunate that the flight times don't offer great transfer options to Australia or far east.
ReplyDeleteThe flight is aimed only for Arabs going to Porto Montenegro.
DeleteEK is certainly promoting their new flights from Australia to Zagreb. Making front page newspaper adverts. Go EK Go ZAG
DeleteLast Anon, he wasn't speaking about EK's overall marketing strategy but the one in MNE.
DeleteAs far as ZAG goes, even EK doesn't know what to do with the market. They said it themselves that they don't have a strategy yet.
Which newspaper?
DeleteAnon 9:57, and you seriously think EK doesn't have strategy for Croatia yet? Hahahahahaha, sure
DeleteAhahhaha yes, and choose ZAG out of fun.
DeleteI guess you missed yesterday's article.
Delete' "The route was announced and went on sale less than one month ago, so at this stage it is far too early to make comment on bookings and trends. We are still working on our strategy for the market, but have noticed already a keen interest from travellers from the Far East"'
DeleteSo they are still working on their strategy meaning they don't have one at this point.
small correction, I was writing too fast...and they chose ZAG out of fun.
DeleteAnonymus 10:18, in your opinion, why did they opened ZAG? They miss a strategy, so why did they chose it?
DeleteIn my opinion there are two reasons:
Delete1. QR was doing too well and they wanted to trash their loads/yields. Their network is so large that they can afford to lose money here.
2. They are probably not paying anything in ZAG, who knows... maybe they are even getting some money to fly there.
As pointed out yesterday, there were 300.000 passengers travelling between ZAG and Australasia. That's really not much. EK surely didn't come here because it thinks ZAG is a pot of gold. OTP, SOF or SKG would have made far more sense.
Anon 10:28, you can copy/paste your post once you hear about the next carrier/route coming to ZAG (not New York). Soon...
DeleteNew York is different and it has more potential than a B773 to DXB, especially since it wasn't uncommon for FZ to have 20 to 50 passengers in winter.
DeleteAnonymus 10:35, stop trolling, please.
DeleteJesus Christ, all of you aviation experts need to put cork in it. Because EK is known for opening routes just to shut them down afterwards with one "Ooops!" statement.
DeleteYour envy has no limits.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deletepeople - get real - and stop trashing ZAG. Zagreb is a tourist destination, not Vienna, not Prague. But it sure as hell is #1 in ExYu in terms of tourist visits. And those tourists come from all over the world, mostly Asia (40% of tourists come from non-E.U. markets).
DeleteZagreb's economy is also #1 in Ex Yu, and it's a capital of a country with 14 million foreign tourists, with prospects to grow to 20 mil by 2020/21...growth rates of croatian tourism were double the average growth rate of european tourism for many many years. Croatia is dope, people love it, it's popular, and Zagreb is the capital. Get over the jelousy. EK didn't come out of fun.
Heck, EK purposefully had all of the suckers here believe that Serbia and Slovenia was their #1 market - w.r.o.n.g. :)
Stay tunned in for more good news regarding ZAG.
Are you saying EK's area manager lied that Slovenia and Serbia are its best selling markets in ex-Yu in order to dupe readers on this blog? lol
DeleteIf so, why they choose Zagreb instead of Belgrade or Ljubljana.
DeleteAnd stop this bullshit that someone is paying Emirates to fly to ZAG. They have same motivation prices as Monarch and other startup, and Zagreb tourist board did not put any money for Emirates in their plan. By our law if they did not put it in plan and publish they can not use funds from other purpose on that.
Try to adjust your language as I have not sworn at you. If you are unable to have a civilised conversation or discussion then don't get into one.
DeleteThey saw the potential of the Croatian market as they probably realised they could capture a great share of the Slovenian market as well (as was the case with Fly dubai) and I don't underplay the huge potential of the Croatian coast. Their offline sales might be biggest in Slovenia and Serbia but they could have recognised that when they launch flights their Croatian sales will grow much more than it would in Serbia or Slovenia had they launched Belgrade or Ljubljana. Also they probably looked at the longer term perspective where tourism will continue to grow.
I was just responding to the silly comment that the airline's Area Manager would lie about sales so people of this blog would be duped. I can guarantee you that at the time he was asked this, which was October I think, he had no idea EK would launch Zagreb because that's how EK rolls. Trust me. They inform their staff a few days in advance. That is why he said yesterday that they are working out a strategy for Zagreb. It's an indication he had no idea (plus his office isn't in Zagreb it's in Vienna).
At no point was I downplaying Zagreb's or Croatia's potential. I'm sure the flights will do well.
Zagreb's economy #1 in exYu? You're a funny guy.
DeleteYes, Zagreb's economy is #1 - we are talking about the cities. Check the numbers.
DeleteWhere?
Deletea bit more on EK: just to better articulate my point (sorry if I was not more precise).
DeleteI did not mean that EK would purposefully lie to the readers of this blog, however EK's response on market origins have been misinterpreted by many readers here - almost to the point where it was speculated that FlyDubai will open up flights in Slovenia, and switch over from Croatia. It is however possible that more Slovens book Dubai flights, yet it is also probable that far more people on the inbound leg from Australia/Asia have been larger bookers for those flights, which is why decision would fall for ZAG in the end (+ better infrastructure always helps, which is something many readers from here mocked).
OT: The best solution for the coming flight EK to Zagreb could be Dubai-Zagreb-New York but Athens clears this chance :)
DeleteYes, whoever is coming to Zagreb is doing it just to lose money, sure. That being said, this could be good or bad route for EK, but I am sure they are not expecting any big returns instantly and that they have their reasoning why ZAG was given priority amoung other cities (ex YU other in the region). It is their investment, I sincerely doubt that they are a) idiots or b) deliberately aiming to lose money
DeleteWell let's wait and see how long they are willing to wait until they start breaking-even. Filling a B777 in November, December, January and February will be a huge challenge.
DeleteYou people tend to forget, speaking of EK, and MEB3, that that have fuel for free, or almost for free, for outbound flights, which drastically cuts their costs, and enables them flying on breakeven or even with profit, with much lower LF's compared to competitors. Writing from MUC, and it''s not rare that EK's A380 arrives or departs from or to DXB with 30 or 50 pasengers in winter, so why ZAG would be any different?
Delete@ anonymous 2,17pm
DeleteFuel everywhere in the Middle East is cheaper than in Europe. Foreign airlines also receive cheaper fuel in these markets.
Cheaper fuel is one thing, however you don't think that the ME3 havnt been hurt with the 20%+ drop in the Euro compared to local currencies tied to the US dollar?
As for MUC, todays load:
EK053 0/29/166 A380
EK049 6/48/197 A380
EK051 4/41/252 A380
EK054 0/28/322 A380
EK050 6/33/273 A380
EK052 4/48/430 A380 (overbooked in Y by 31)
This btw is the slow period where loads are lighter. EK would not send the A380 for 30 pax, and have canceled and combined flights when loads are light, like seen in other airlines...unless probably high cargo demand.
To all jealous people because of ZAG and EK - pls. stop using every post to show your frustration about ZAG and EK. Simply you have to live with that - EK comes to ZAG not to BEG, and you can do nothing about this. You really think EK decided to fly ZAG instead of BEG w/o any detail analysis and numbers? You don't work in business where terms revenue, cost & margin are key business indicators.
DeleteIf you do then you know what measure means in real life.
Stick to the topic, please.
@JATBEGMEL
DeleteListing today's EK MUC loads doesn't mean that those and such are loads of each and every EK MUC flight. I have absolutely no intention to fight with you over this, or anything else, but I am not liar and I was @MUC in person when EK A380 arrived from DXB with 50 pax. And according to other colleagues of mine from MUC it was not the exception, you like it or not. Good night!
Congrats, Tivat, great news!
ReplyDeleteMaybe they could fly to Tivat during the summer and then transfer to Podgorica over the winter.
ReplyDeleteI think that could actually work 2x per week to Tivat during the summer and 2x per week during the winter. It would hurt loads for Air Serbia and Turkish Airlines though.
DeleteWell there we go. Even Tivat got flights to Dubai before Ljubljana. I don't understand what the people at LJU airport are doing. We want flights to the Gulf region and not have to drive to another country to get there.
ReplyDeleteWith EK starting Zagreb, I think Ljubljana's best chance now would be to try and attract Air Arabia.
DeleteMaybe Oman Air will launch flights now to get into the exYu market :D
DeleteJoking aside, maybe Etihad is the most realistic option out of the MEB3 for LJU with the situation in ZAG. Or JP could launch flights to the gulf, I just don't know if any of the MEB3 would be interested in a codeshare.
LJU is quite a small market after all.
EY already serves LJU via its codeshare on JU's double daily flight. Lots of connecting passengers heading to Asia.
DeleteYes I know. I had in mind non stop to AUH (or one stop elsewhere). Much more attractive imo. My logic was that there is probably enough demand for LJU-BEG and BEG-AUG so that non stop LJU-AUH wouldn't impact either of those two.
DeleteYay! Tickets are on sale already :)
ReplyDeleteWhat are the fares like?
DeleteSo Fly dubai is starting seasonal flights now. They will also start seasonal flights to a city in Georgia and Azerbaijan. Maybe they will consider Dubrovnik now. I think it would work great for them.
ReplyDeleteSee discussion thread of the first comment.
DeleteI wonder who will pay the bill for these flights. Dubai-Tivat? Seriously?
ReplyDeleteThe airline will pay from the income of the flight. They did their homework. They are going to carry Arab holidaymakers.
DeleteIf you believe people who comment here it will probably be Serbian taxpayers. They seem to pay for everything.
DeleteWe are not paying for everything, only Air Serbia's expenses- as you can see in the national budget for 2017.
DeleteSerbian taxpayers paying JUs expenses???
DeleteWhy would they do that and for what long term strategy? That sounds commercially non viable
The Serbian government has set aside two sums for Air Serbia in 2017.
Delete1. to repay an installment of the loan it took out for the airline.
2. there is a part of the budget where subventions are set aside to be given to companies which are considered of national interest. On the list of companies there is also Air Serbia.
For goodness sake people I posted the comment at 10.07. I was just joking. Lighten up and chill.
DeleteYour comment was useless and not funny at all. Why do you play with fire if you are going to cry when you get burned?
DeleteGod forbid someone makes a joke on your account. Not crying that's for sure. Tschüss.
DeleteI fully support my Serbian tax money going towards the growth and development of a viable national carrier in Serbia (i.e. JU), to the point where a position of self sufficiency is achieved within the next 5 years.
DeleteI had big issues with my tax money going towards Jat Airways, which was a bottomless pit of corruption, mismanagement and cronyism, and lacking any growth prospects.
The only one who was crying was you Anon 10.54.
DeleteAnon 10.57
Yeah well to me it seems like the whole investment was nothing more than putting make up on a pig. Even crippled old Jat could have flown to the US with government aid. The whole point of ASL was for it to become self-suficient which doesn't seem to happen any time soon.
I am another Serbian taxpayer who does not mind putting a couple of coins every year into the development of the country's flag carrier. And I don't care which government is in charge - I like aviation and if I'd like the government to spend my tax payments on something then it would be aviation including the flag carrier.
DeleteHell I can even agree to take over your share Anon 11:15. How much of your tax payment does it make, 0.01%, 0.02%? No problem, I'll take it. Easy. You'll love it. Boom.
I mean it's a pity to see you so bitter and hateful every day because of the way the government uses your tax payment. So sad. You visit an aviation blog every goddamn day and you don't want any of your taxes to go into aviation? What kind of an aviation enthusiast are you? Are you an aviation enthusiast at all? Or just another political activist? I bet the latter.
Anon 12.45 and Anon 10.57 are one and the same person, it's obvious from the style of writing.
DeleteThe fact that parties such as DJB are growing in popularity only goes to show that you are becoming a minority. Less and less people are willing to fund loss making business ventures.
@ anonymous 11,15am
DeleteCrippled old Jat couldn't even get their entire fleet in the air let alone start US flights. Lets not forget the delay in paying crew wages, issues with providing crew hotels, providing catering for flights, maintenance... Don't forget, JAT sold tickets twice for TATL flights that never materialized. Crippled old Jat sold out its DXB slots welcoming FZ to the market. DXB was one of their most profitable routes btw.
Do you want to say that Serbia has not gotten back а single euro into its economy from Air Serbia?
But crippled old Jat did not have option that country will take all their debts + 150 million EUR in just 3 years subventions (or 100 investment and 50 subvention).
DeleteAnon 1:29,
DeleteHave some minimum decency and do not use this blog to promote political parties. If you have nothing to say about aviation you should not be here. Please spare us your political activism, people visit this blog for AVIATION, not daily politics.
Well, Air Serbia is a political project so it only makes sense to bring politics into this discussion.
DeleteJATBEGMEL
And what cost us less? Jat or Air Serbia?
@ anonymous 4,32pm
DeleteJat did have that option, which is how we got Air Serbia. It just took a new government to do it. The previous government had no plan for the airline, with talk to close it and sell it, announcing even airlines who went on to reject claims theyre interested in purchasing Jat (ie Air Asia).
@ anonymous 5,12pm
I say Air Serbia.
- Jat cost us from the budget just as Air Serbia is now.
- Jat did not regularly pay its workers, or for service rendered by other entities ie Jat Tehnika, Jat Ketering. Air Serbia so far has not had issues regarding this.
- Jat had serious issues keeping its fleet in the air, eventually towards the end having more than half its fleet grounded. Air Serbia, although has some reliability issues with a couple aircraft, all aircraft are in regular service.
- Jat had a habit of being over ambitious with its schedules, leading to hundreds of last minute cancellations due to a lack of aircraft.
- Jat had a horrible reputation and a destroyed brand reputation. Rebranded as Air Serbia, it is quite respectable and is growing.
- Jat produced losses with nothing much to justify it. Air Serbia in its first year brought over 1 million new pax, and hundreds of thousands of transit pax, who at worst will spend money on 1 cup of coffee. This is at a time when Serbia in general is not a known tourist destination.
- Jat in its final years dropped a majority of its catering. Air Serbia purchases from local suppliers, helping domestic businesses.
- Air Serbia has stopped the Jat practice of triangular flights (ie BEG-AMS-BRU-BEG). With schedules organized in waves, Air Serbia offers increased frequencies to markets that current O&D couldn't possibly support (ie ZAG, LJU, SOF, TIA, PRG, AMS etc). This makes it convenient for business travelers to commute and do business in Belgrade.
- Air Serbia has made BEG into a decent transit hub for cargo as well. BEG cargo figures continue to climb in double digit figures. I hope you have seen the article on this forum regarding JFK where these flights have attracted cargo not only from the region, but from Italy as an example.
However, I don't think Air Serbia is perfect and I do think it has a lot of room still for improvement. One example where I critised JU was that they should of announced 2 p/w PEK when it reduced JFK, keeping its 1 A330 in the air for maximum usage. As they intended, with a couple months of delay, a second A330 joins the fleet bringing JFK back to 5 p/w and adding another long haul route. Personal opinion that is up for debate.
Air Serbia costs same amount of money to Republic of Serbia as Jat was? Congratulation.
DeleteAnd Air Serbia is reason of so huge cargo, not those huge amount of long-haul cargo plane loaded with weapons? Congratulation again.
@AnonymousFebruary 16, 2017 at 5:12 PM
DeleteAnd WHICH airline ISN'T/WASN'T a political project at the time of its inception??!
@ anonymous 11,16pm
DeleteCompare what Jat was losing on a yearly basis to how much is given to Air Serbia through subsidies, Air Serbia has more than double the fleet and pax numbers, not to mention more employed Serbian workers etc. Again, refer to my comment above and state your argument as to why you disagree!
Although BEG has seen a surge of cargo flights, you cannot ignore the fact that Air Serbia has had growing cargo numbers from day 1 and continue to grow in double digits. Do note that the cargo flights you mention are irregular charters. Saying Air Serbia hasnt had effect on cargo figures in BEG is the same as saying grass is blue!
Anon 03.42
DeleteMany were but eventually they got a professional management which made the airline self-sustaining. This is not the case with Air Serbia, especially not under current management.
JATBEGMEL
DeleteJat's losses were between €9 and €25 million. They only increased by the end when it was obvious the airline was going to collapse so they started stealing as much as they could.
Air Serbia's subsidies from the national budget exceed both of this numbers as you can see from the national budget posted online.
So Jat losses 15 million EUR, and Air Serba cost 40 million per year. Really Jat was disaster.
Delete@ anonymous 8,31am
DeleteJat's loses was much higher than that, which at its end had accumulated over 155 million euros of debt and more revealed when errors were found in financial reports after the take over.
Do also take into consideration the fact that Jat contributed far less to the Serbian economy. How did Jat contribute to our economy and how is Air Serbia doing so now?
Also take into consideration the fact that since Air Serbia started we have more destinations on offer, with more frequencies thanks to the additional boost of transfer pax due to improved schedules with structured arrival and departure banks. This has in turn opened Belgrade to easier business and commerce allowing greater flexibility in travel.
Also, unlike with Jat, the Serbian travelling public has an improved travel experience with an improved inflight magazine (Elevate), free onboard entertainment (Elevate Play), wifi, dedicated business lounge, improved onboard service and product etc.
Jat after years of stating it will bring in the ERJ, CRJ, A319, B73G, B738, B767 settled with 2 crappy B733's from Bulgaria and a maintenance loving ATR because it was unable to keep its fleet flying to meet the schedules they created.
Do I think Air Serbia is profitable, no. Do I think Air Serbia is the next best thing since sliced bread, no. Do I think things can be done differently, of course.
Remember, Serbia is very behind to other nations in Europe, especially in air travel thanks to sanctions and war, continued with mismanagement and corruption. Breaking a plate takes a second, cleaning the mess takes minutes.
Fantastic news for Tivat. Would not have expected Fly Dubai to come but more than glad that they are. Could this work during the winter as well?
ReplyDeleteAs I said above I think it would work better if it went to Podgorica during the winter.
DeleteWhat I find interesting is that the Montenegrin government made a deal with FZ for these flights. Wouldn't it be more logical to go with Etihad considering their links with MGX?
ReplyDeleteWell, probably Etihad was not interested in the deal.
DeleteThey should have launched Podgorica instead of Tivat. That way they could attract passengers from entire Montenegro as well as Albania. People who travel to Porto Montenegro certanly will not fly with low cost flydubai...
ReplyDeleteThen how will they fly? The most convenient option would be for them to fly AUH-BEG-TIV but I don't see many doing this especially now when FZ offers a business class product.
DeleteThose 5-10 people per year who come to Tivat have their own private jets. And I doubt there are any tourists from UAE in Montenegro.
DeleteAre you saying that FZ did the same as EK in ZAG?
DeleteOT
ReplyDeleteTurkish Airlines will keep ZAG as 10 weekly this coming winter season. Good news for EK and QR I guess.
Airlines copy their winter timetable for next year until they actually make a decision on their operations. It is way too early. TK reduced ZAG winter operation from 14 to 10 in August last year.
DeleteIt was confirmed to travel agents on Monday that they will be keeping the same number of frequencies as last winter.
DeleteOT: Qatar Cargo 747 on Monday in ZAG!
ReplyDeleteSTA/STD?
DeleteQR doesn't have any 747F in their fleet.
DeleteQTR leases 744F
DeleteAre there any new infos about EK and BEG?
ReplyDeleteNot any time soon
Delete