The tender to select an airline to carry out scheduled air services to up to twelve destinations declared to be of public interest from Niš Constantine the Great Airport closed at midday today, after which the bid opening procedure took place at 12.30 CEST. The final decision on awarding the contract will be made by the ordering party within the next 25 days. More than one party is believed to have been interested in taking part in the tender, based on the number and type of follow-up questions submitted to the Serbian Ministry for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure relating to the procedure. However, the outcome of the bid opening process, which was not public, is yet to be publicised.
The best bidder will be required to base an aircraft in Niš with the capacity to seat at least 125 passengers. The operating carrier must also have another aircraft stationed in Serbia. Under the tender conditions, a group of carriers may submit a joint bid. The eleven year-round and one seasonal service will be subsidised to the tune of five million euros per year from July 1, 2019 until June 30, 2025. The destinations in question are: Baden Baden, Bologna, Budapest, Frankfurt Hahn, Friedrichshafen, Gothenburg, Hannover, Ljubljana, Nuremberg, Rome, Salzburg and Tivat. All routes will be maintained twice per week both in the summer and winter months, with exception to Tivat, which will be operated three times per week between May and October.
Commenting on the twelve routes, the airport recently said, "We expect that these destinations will complement our route network and significantly increase traffic at Constantine the Great Airport. These cities are well linked with others on the continent and beyond". It added, "Last year we handled some 350.000 passengers. This year and in the years to come, this figure will grow considerably. In 2020 we expect to welcome half a million travellers. We will have to expand the terminal building next year, but we are ready to welcome new flights". Niš Airport recorded its seventh consecutive month of declining passenger numbers in April by handling 29.480 travellers, representing a decrease of 2.6% on 2018. Overall, during the first four months, the airport welcomed 115.161 passengers, down 9%.
Any hints who may have applied?
ReplyDeleteBased on the terms only Air Serbia and Wizz Air can win.
DeleteIf a consortium of airlines was formed then it could be more.
DeleteMost likely it is JP.
DeleteJU and JP XD
DeleteOnly if they made some joint bid with Air Serbia, otherwise they don;t meet the criteria.
DeleteI hope JP doesn't get it, no need for Serbian tax money to go to them. This should be given to JU.
DeleteThe only thing more crazier than trowing more money on JU is to give it to JP. But nothing is to be excluded.
DeleteI heard from an inside source that W6 has not shown interest as they lack airplanes. We'll see in three hours.
ReplyDelete5 million per year for five years is huge!
ReplyDeleteI think itsi five for the whole period.
DeleteNope it says five per year in the tender documents.
Deletenoup its 15 millions until 2023 it says
DeleteAnd people were saying how 5 million for whole 3 years for Skopje/Ohrid subsidies was excessive...
DeleteSame should be done for other steuggstru airports like OSI or OMO.
ReplyDeleteSZG will do great as a lot of people from eastern Serbia and Браничево emigrated to Austria and Bavaria.
ReplyDeleteBudapest route makes no sense.
ReplyDeleteWould have made more sense for them to include Nis-Belgrade.
DeleteAgree
DeleteI am a Hungarian living in BUD and I'm pretty sure, I will fly to NIS if W6 or a LCC wins the route. IMO, BUD is chosen mainly because of the low-cost carrier's huge network there. Other reason could be that the serbian government wants support with BUD the application of W6. As long as W6 has a huge base in BUD, this route would help them to optimize the schedule.
DeleteAnd not just the LCC's have a big network from Budapest, but LOT is also building up it's BUD hub (2x daily LCY, 2x daily OTP, 2x daily BRU, 4x weekly JFK, 2 weekly ORD, officially not yet announded: 2x daily SOF, 2x daily PRG + long haul to Seoul + other US cities (maybe Miami or LA)). In addition, it's just question of time when LOT starts it's BEG (2x daily) service.
DeleteQuite interesting to see LO become the new Malév. MA was one of the most powerful airlines in Eastern Europe.
Delete2 daily BEG or INI service to BUD will work out excellent.
I hope all the Yugo capitals are connected to the Magyar capital, ensuring more coverage to the Balkans, the world and ORD + Seoul to compete with ZAG-ICN.
If LO announce BEG-BUD then the JU BEG-ORD future project will be hurt.
That Budapest route makes no sense. It's even crazier Serbian government is going to subsidize it. Why no INI-BEG?
DeleteI'm very interested to see who applied and if there was more than one applicant.
ReplyDeleteImagine if Air Serbia didn't apply :D
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised because except for a few routes none of the other ones to secondary airports make sense.
DeleteThis time, SKP is really getting some serious competition. Most routes from INI will be quite similar to the ones served from SKP, especially the German and Swedish ones.
ReplyDeleteSZG and FCO are crucial for the region.
tacno, ne moze se bez SZG. oh wait ...
DeleteSalzburg Airport W. A. Mozart, is Austria's SECOND largest airport. It serves Salzburg, the fourth-largest Austrian city, and is a gateway to Austria's numerous ski areas.
DeleteStatistics 2018 - 1,844,362 passengers.
Don't underestimate SZG. It will also be very popular in winter for doing ski.
Southern Serbian touroperators can now start ski packages to Austria too. There is no other city in the area connected to SZG.
aw ok... operators can now start selling ski packages to Austria- since, previously it was merely impossible to somehow get there for the ones who wanted to... yes, everybody just waited for INI - SZG flight to commence...
DeleteINI catchment area is around 2,5-3 million, there is more than enough demand to organise and sell ski packages as being a unique product in the tourism market.
DeleteThere is currently no such option from BEG for example.
50-100€ dnevna karta for ski-lifts , viel Spass!
DeleteIs there really ski demand?
Delete50-100€ a day for a "ski karta" is absolutly not true. Actually tickets start at around 25€ and goes up to a maximum to 59€ if you want to go for a premium ski day on a glacier or at Kitzbühl.
DeleteSalzburg airport has a crazy attraction for a huge amount of airlines in winter. Just look at all the Airlines and Destinations which are served in winter. Approximatly what Split is in summer, Salzburg is winter. + Salzburg has its own quite large catchment area.
However I don't think that INI is the right destination. There is a huge diaspora in Salzburg but I think it would make more sense to connect it to Belgrade. If Air Serbia would be the operation carrier they to manage to get a nice feed to/from Salzburg to the entire Balkans.
Seems to me the majority of the routes will be operated by Wizz Air.
ReplyDeleteI expect that there will be split of these lines between Wizzair and AirSerbia.
ReplyDeleteInteresting developments for INI. Most destinations do indeed make sense.
ReplyDeleteThe most curious destination for me is LJU. Is that a possible hint that the airline could be Adria?
Additionally, 5 of the destinations (TIV, GOT, FDH, HHN and SZG) are not served from SOF, which is an advantage too. Lets see who the winner is today in the afternoon.
Well they won't announce the winner, just the bidding airlines. It says in the text winner will be announced within 25 days ;) but I think there will be only one bidder. We will see.
DeleteI believe there will be more than one
Delete"More than one party is believed to have been interested in taking part in the tender,..."
They may have been interested but they might not have actually put in a bid.
DeleteDo Serbs use SOF at all?
DeleteSZG is my favourite. Really interesting route, plus it is non-German
Trust me, they do. If you go to SOF, especially Terminal 1 which is the W6 + U2 terminal, you will see cars with Serbian registration plates and ones parked in the parking.
DeleteWhy not FR?
ReplyDeleteThey don't have a plane based in Serbia.
DeleteBut if they show willigness to do it?
DeleteKnowing FR I wouldn't be surprised if they base a plane in Belgrade just to get Nis subsidies. After all Belgrade makes the most sense for their base in all of ex-YU. It's worth it.
DeleteBelgrade is way to expensive for FR standards. But, who knows. Maybe it is a part of a bigger deal with Vinci. After all, the whole Nis thing is done to protect them.
DeleteFR operates out of expensive airports.
DeleteFR operates out of expensive airports in large and wealthy markets with very strong demand. BEG in nowhere near there yet.
DeleteLarge and wealthy markets...
DeleteSofia
Podgorica
Oradea
Cluj
Kosice
Lvov
Banja Luka
I don't understand with which aircraft Air Serbia will operate these flights if they applied.
ReplyDeleteMe neither.
DeleteAviolet?
DeleteBut Aviolet is going to be the busiest it has ever been this summer from BEG.
DeleteAviolet 737s will be flying non stop this Summer season. Hopefully they won't have any maintenance issues because the flights schedule is really tight.
DeleteAirSerbia has more than enough planes on disposal even for very busy summer charter peak. Hopefully they are just arranging their maintenance properly so to be able to use all in July/August.
DeleteLast summer JU had a lot of delays due to maintenance troubles and not enough available aircraft to cover them.
DeleteThis year with more destinations and a lot more Aviolet charters things will be pottentiapo worse.
Ljubljana and Budapest are a bit unexpected.
ReplyDeleteIt looks to me they have already negotiated all these routes with airlines.
ReplyDelete+1000
DeleteMassive development for Nis. Well done.
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand why BLQ
ReplyDelete7 out of 12 destinations chosen are LCC airports flown by W6. And also are destinations that won't compete with JU flights from BEG.
DeleteIt seems first they asked JU and W6 what would be acceptable to them and then launched the "tender" process for INI.
Anonymous at 09:53
Delete+1
Same thing must be done with OSI. Somebody should be taken to court for using the public funds year after year with absolutely no results!
ReplyDeleteDid OSI subsidise flights? The EW and W6 ones.
DeleteLauda could be the dark horse here..
ReplyDeleteaccording to our austrian kolegas Lauda is looking to open a base somewhere in East Europe, however its supposed to be an airport that has no FR or Lauda flights yet.. but who knows.. its the only airline somehow connected to SZG
that second based aircraft-rule remains a misery to me. who can afford that?
Lauda has trouble finding enough pilots to fly their schedule. Just like FR and Vueling they have overextended their flight schedules without enough crews to fly all these flights.
DeleteWas anyone from Niš and the greater region asked by the ministry which destinations they think would best serve them? Local government, champers of commerce, local hotels etc?
ReplyDeleteI think it was the local government that came up with the list of destinations.
DeleteThe list of destinations originated from Belgrade. Locals would prefer getting flights to major airports that offer much better onward connectivity.
DeleteI seriously doubt Baden Baden, Budapest, Friedrichshafen, Bologna, Gothenburg, Hanover, Nuremberg were chosen by Nis officials over MUC, FRA, Berlin, Paris, ZRH, ATH, IST, MXP.
DeleteJust my2cents
Salzburg too.
DeleteMost are destinations that do not compete with JU's flights from BEG. So the national airline project and BEG are protected from competition.
Salzburg is Austria's second airport. AT is home to a huge Serbian diaspora so having it makes sense.
DeleteI think INI can have a chance of connecting at least 2 more Austrian airports such as Graz and Linz.
Baden Baden, Budapest, Friedrichshafen, Gothenburg, Hannover, Nuremberg - Wizz Air
ReplyDeleteYep, looks like they have already came to agreement with the Hungarians before even launching the competition.
DeleteBEG grows
ReplyDeleteINI grows
What happens to UZC then? Which destinations are left ¿ IST? WAW?
well, INI doesn't grow.. at least not in the past 7 months, as the article says
DeleteDoes anybody have idea why Bologna was chosen?
ReplyDeleteLCC airport that ASL doesn't fly to. ;)
DeleteNo, it's primarily because in that area of Italy there is a big diaspora from southeastern Serbia. There used to be flights from Nis to Bologna in the past too.
DeleteBLQ is also one of Italy's wealthiest areas and full of gastos for sure.
DeleteAnd some time ago Nis financially supported flights to that area which were empty and stopped right after subvenstions stopped
DeleteBLQ is the LCC airport for Milan.
DeleteAnd it doesn't have flights to BEG. ;)
BLQ is the LCC airport for Milan? You are kidding, right?
DeleteBGY is LCC for Milan
Milan has 3 airports: MXP, BGY and LIN. Almost all are served with LCC.
DeleteINI-LIN would've worked nicely.
INI-LIN would be wonderful for JU from Belgrade. So much more convenient than Malpensa.
DeleteI travel to Bologna multiple times a year and there are always few people also transferring through Rome/Vienna/Munich/Frankfurt. However I am not sure whether there is a sufficient demand for flights between Serbia and Bologna. Maybe if Ryan/Wizz started flights to Belgrade more tourists could be attracted from both cities.
LCC airport for Milano is Bergamo. Bologna BLQ is more distant, it's the center of big and wealthy region sustaining own flights, it has healthy mix of low cost and legacy carriers, and actually has its own LCC airport in Forli, and definitely cannot be described as LCC airport of Milano, although probably some smaller number of Milanese LCC passengers use it sometimes
DeleteIt is actually LCC alternative to Florence… together with Pisa.
DeleteBLQ has more flights by legacy carriers than BEG actually.
Agree, BLQ is more like the LCC airport for Firenze :) (30 min by train).
DeleteItalija uopste nema smisla, nema toliko gastosa tamo posebno u Rimu 2 puta nedeljeno po 180 putnika pored redovnih dnevnih letova za BEG. Sa sve dotacijama. Ima za letenje u sezoni do Napulja za turiste koji idu na jug Italije, a to pokriva Aviolet.
ReplyDeleteAli ima puno Bugara ... Sofija je blizu.
Deletea kao Sofia nema aerodrom i Bologna (wizz)
DeleteU Emiliji Romanji nema vise od 5000 ljudi iz Srbije. Blgara ima duplo manje. Sve mozes da proveris za par minuta.
DeletePo zvaničnoj statistici u Emiliji Romanji živi 3.224 građana Srbije, od toga u Bolonji 1.186, u Pjaćenci 443, u Ferari 396 itd.
DeleteInače, u celoj Italiji živi 39.690 građana Srbije. Ovi podaci se odnose na srpske građane koji legalno žive u Italiji tj. imaju dozvolu boravka.
https://www.tuttitalia.it/emilia-romagna/statistiche/cittadini-stranieri/repubblica-di-serbia/
It's great that these flights will start in just two months.
ReplyDeleteMakes you wonder how unprofitable the flights will be, especially in the beginning with just a month to sell tickets.
DeleteAre those flights paid by the tax payers or are they securing funds from elsewhere ?
DeleteTax payers. We are not EU members so no Brussels subsidies for these type of service.
DeleteAnd now there is no complain from Southern Serbia the tax payers money has been wasted on unprofitable routes of "Air Belgrade" ?
DeleteSoutherners are quite sensitive when it comes to aviation. Remember the protests?
DeleteAt least now a southerner is willing to pay tax but have his region prosper and airport grow.
Good news for all south Serbian hotels and restaurants too.
Hundreds of millions of Euros have been spent over the last 5-10 years to subsidize JAT and ASL.
DeleteKnow the south is going to get 10-15 million over a 5 year period and some people think that it is the same thing.
SMFH
And Southernns did not use BEG and JAT?
DeleteSure
@anon11:38 We people from south think that this is ABSOLUTE WASTE OF MONEY, but thats government best way to put some money on unprofitable Air Belgrade! Instead they should build nice brand new terminal for 15 milion of euros!
DeleteIf you think so, why don't you then protest as you did at the time GoS took over the airport?
Delete12:20,
Deletefrom July 1, 2019 until June 30, 2025 there will be a significant number of Southerners not driving to BEG and instead use LYNI.
Slowly but surely: ZRH (not Edelvais), SZG, VIE, FCO (not champino) and soon CDG, SVO. Slowly slowly.
This expansion is bad news for Air Belgrade and ASL.
This is Belgrade (region) subsidizing the south's privilege to fly from INI. Don't forget that tax collected from the south is not enough to pay south Serbian bills meaning that money for these flights has to come from elsewhere, i.e. Beograd.
DeleteThis about this the next time you attack Belgrade.
+1000
DeleteNo my dear. Belgrade can't do it all by itself. All other regions are contributing.
DeleteThe South is also paying for the JU existence and New York business class product.
Now it's time for the South.
Exactly, the south is an economic and financial black hole. If we look at the level of development then only Nis (the city) falls in Category I.
DeleteCategory II: Vranje, Pirot.
Category III: Leskovac, Prokuplje.
For example, the government has spent 593.250.000 Dinars last year on regional development in Leskovac alone, 956.016.000 in Vranje, 1.637.623.000 in Pirot...
All other regions in the south fall into Category IV meaning that they are at least 60% below national average. Maybe this is what you should keep in mind the next time you attack Air Serbia for not expanding more at INI. The market is simply not there because the region is still below the national average when it comes to the economic development.
Like someone wrote above, who do you think is paying for all these 'free' goodies? It's certainly not the taxpayers in Aleksinac or Vladicin Han but rather those in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Subotica, Valjevo, Smederevo...
And even after all these facts they still complain...
DeleteProbably regional sport in that area
This is what you get when you focus all your air traffic in 1 airport and not caring for the rest of the country.
DeleteEven Hungary has given Debrecen a chance to acheive results and not depend on Budapest.
Sadly, the reality in Belgrade Airlines is different.
Is this not an attempt to spread out some of the fly'in money?
DeleteOr maybe it shows the incompetence of the south to develop its economy despite billions Dinars it gets from Belgrade? I mean other parts of Serbia developed more or less, the south isn't. Soooooooooo....
DeleteI'm not from the South but I understand the resentment they have for the Capital City because it flows so arrogantly from what you wrote.
DeleteThe South was seeking Autonomy but it was taken. Not enough of money was given:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT_fRul0DUU
Capitals help and don't invade.
Yes, Belgrade is so arrogant that it pours billions of Dinars into the south.
DeleteThere you go again.
DeleteI don't see the point of Salzburg with Vienna and Bratislava already being served from Nis.
ReplyDeleteVienna is at least 3h by car; Bratislava 4h
DeleteSZG would be a nice alternative for diaspora in southern Bavaria and Tyrol
And again "Airport Nis" (photo). Don't know if they get that the correct way to write it is Nis Airport.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI prefer Niš Airport, but I get your point.
DeleteMy guess is also that routes have already been negotiated with airlines and that they were picked in cooperation with airlines. I mean they just randomly chose Baden Baden/Karlsruhe. Please.
ReplyDeleteI still wonder why IST is not on the list of destinations especially as JU does not fly there
ReplyDeleteAny destination outside countries covered by Open Sky Agreement must be approved by authorities. For IST it must be approved by Turkish civil aviation directorate or how exactly is it called. All 12 destinations in this tender are in EU and Montenegro because of that reason.
DeleteBut there is no Open Sky Agremeent between Serbia and Montenegro.
DeleteI understand what you are saying, but they could have made a deal with Turkey. And Also I would expect that Moskva would be viable. (After a deal is made)
DeleteI think Pobeda to VKO is much more realistic than IST. Russians do not require a visa.
DeletePobeda already eyed INI in 2017:
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/09/pobeda-eyes-nis-service.html
It won't be a big surprise if they are announced winner.
Moscow was not a candidate city. But I do agree with you, makes sense, and would be good addition and used not only by people from southern Serbia.
DeleteF5, F5, F5
ReplyDeleteI am waiting for any NEWS?????
ReplyDeleteMaybe we will see that they'll expend time for sending documentation and bidding... Or even in the best way for us to cancel this subsidy.
ReplyDelete..and the bidders areeeee? Maybe they are embarased to announce?!
ReplyDeleteSeems to me like there's no bidder at all, they headed for wizz and if wizz did not bid, that's it.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, any update on the topic whatsoever?
ReplyDeleteWhen will the gov announce the bidders (if there is any)?
ReplyDeletePeople that live in Nis, don't want to drive 250km in order to fly....they don't want to cross border in order to fly...so all you belgrade do gooders sit back and enjoy....btw this bullshit with gov taking over airport then turning it into gov corporation is nothing but taking airport from Nis...we did super fine without belgrade,but then we started expending too fast...now we get this gov company full of debt hanging over airport....i c belgrade killing airport in long run.
ReplyDelete+1000
DeleteYeah and in the end Nis will vote for SNS so sit down adn don't complain.
Deleteso reality detached...
DeleteNis votes the way belgrade votes...our votes in Nis don't mean crap...all our money goes to belgrade anyways....if you havent had a privlage of gov instution telling you they have to send document in belgrade for OK then you all dont know what you are missing !
Delete