Low cost carrier Eurowings will resume flights between Stuttgart and Belgrade in 2020. The airline will maintain three weekly services between the two cities starting June 2, each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, with an Airbus A319 aircraft. It will compete directly against Air Serbia on the route, which maintains six weekly rotations to Stuttgart. The Lufthansa subsidiary will return to the Serbian market following a year-long hiatus. Previously, it only served the two cities during the peak summer months of July and August, however, flights have now been scheduled until the end of the summer season in late October, with tickets for its entire 2020/2021 winter network yet to be put on sale.
Eurowings maintains extensive operations from Stuttgart to points in the former Yugoslavia, including year-round flights to Pristina, Sarajevo, Split and Zagreb, as well as seasonal services to Dubrovnik, Mostar, Osijek, Pula, Rijeka and Zadar. This summer, the airline introduced seasonal operations from both Stuttgart and Dusseldorf to Ohrid, however, these have so far been omitted from its schedule for next summer. Eurowings has been expanding across the region in recent years. In addition to entering the Macedonian market in 2019, it also launched a new service from Berlin to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital and established a base in Pristina with a handful of new routes.
Eurowings’ return to Belgrade marks the city’s second new route announced so far for the 2020 summer season. LOT Polish Airlines recently scheduled daily services between Budapest and the Serbian capital, which are due to commence on March 30. Meanwhile, Nikola Tesla Airport recorded its 39th month of consecutive growth by handling 734.898 passengers in July, representing an increase of 9.4%. It marks the first time the airport registered over 700.000 travellers in a single month. The number of commercial aircraft movements grew 10.5% to 6.855. The airport was Europe’s 84th busiest in July, positioning itself between Nantes and Milan Linate. During the January - July period, Belgrade Airport welcomed 3.347.879 passengers through its doors, up 6.8%, while aircraft movements improved 5.9% to 34.735.
| Month | PAX | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| JAN | 347.544 | ▲ 4.1 |
| FEB | 315.717 | ▲ 6.1 |
| MAR | 372.122 | ▲ 1.6 |
| APR | 467.469 | ▲ 4.4 |
| MAY | 507.633 | ▲ 5.9 |
| JUN | 602.466 | ▲ 11.7 |
| JUL | 734.898 | ▲ 9.4 |
Further flight details for the new Stuttgart - Belgrade service can be found here.
Good to see. But Air Serbia will have to up its game on this route with the extra competition.
ReplyDeleteJU has a better schedule on the route and offers much more flexibility being 6-weekly. So while prices will probably go down slightly during the peak travel period, I don't expect much to change overall. EW will probably pack up and leave in September anyway.
DeleteThey are not packing up and leaving. Tickets are on sale till the end of October and will probably be on sale for winter too. They are not selling any winter flights for next year yet.
Delete"They are not packing up and leaving."
DeleteHow can you say this for sure? Nobody knows yet, but it seems unlikely (that they will also fly in winter) when bringing back this route which was only flown for 2 months before in the most busiest part of the high season.
They have already extended it past the busiest part of the high season. They have already selling flights to September and October, which is until when all of their year-round flights are scheduled at the moment.
DeleteEW is a different airline now, they have relatively consolidated their operations. Back then they were in total chaos. They are going to primarily affect Wizz Air from Baden because fares from STR will drop making a trip to FKB less logical or necessary.
DeleteSo we will have 9 weekly flights to Stuttgart next year.
ReplyDeleteIf JU keeps it at 6 weekly.
DeleteAdd Baden Baden as well since it's the same market so 11 in total.
DeleteFKB is not loaded in the summer schedule from BEG so I guess they are cutting it. It's hard to compete against JU and EW.
DeleteGermany is really ell covered from BEG. There will be 5 airlines flying between Belgrade and Germany next year.
ReplyDeleteGastarbeiter traffic tends to lead to plenty of sir service with Germany.
DeleteI think Germany is also Air Serbia's biggest market no? With the new routes from Nis they now fly to 10 German cities.
DeleteNice. And very good results for BEG. After 2 or 3 years, BEG was again the busiest airport in ex-Yu in July. As far as I'm aware it was Split in the past.
ReplyDeleteNot enough German routes. Missing cities:
ReplyDeleteBremen, Leipzig, Kassel, Berlin-SXF, Dresden.
Either way, JU will not be happy at all.
Are the Serbs in these cities?
DeleteKassel? Seriously?
DeleteLübeck, Sylt Island, Rostock, Erfurt and Altenburg-Nobitz are also missing.
DeleteWhile you mock BEG it keeps on adding destinations, so... joke's on you.
DeleteYeah, great, yet another route to Germany... even to a city, to where there are already enough flights from BEG.
DeleteSo? The fact EW feels comfortable enough launching STR means the market grew and matured. Also, you make it sound as if this is the only route BEG got which is so not true. Belgrade is booming right now and I have a feeling you are not happy about it.
DeleteSome folks on here get immediately offended when there are critical opinions.
DeleteTo make you happy, yes, I would indeed be much happier if BEG "booming" meant opening new and more direct links to new markets and destinations. Not so sure majority of people would need several daily flights or with two or more airlines to again the same destinations. Period.
You are right. The 9 new Air Serbia routes opened this year did not connect BEG with a single new market or destination.
DeleteA bit pricey for an LCC. Return ticket without luggage in June is 130 EUR.
ReplyDeleteOk I take that back. Air Serbia on exactly the same dates without luggage is 310 EUR!!!
DeleteWhat a rip off on JU.
DeleteNow that they have competition they will have to revise the prices. Just look what happened with Berlin once easy jet started flights.
Delete? There are public holidays. Should they giv the flights away for free?
DeleteWhat public holidays are there on the 23 of June?
DeleteWell now JU will be forced to sell tickets at competitive instead of monopolist prices or have their planes fly half empty.
DeleteCompetition is always in favor of the consumer.
Nobody forbade Eurowings or any other LCC to fly the route before.
DeleteIs it just me or are all new frequencies and routes in BEG being introduced in the dead evening period around 9PM?
ReplyDeleteEW is in a mess, they dont really have a strategy. Probably they found an aircraft and use it now to employ it. Good for BEG. But it wont solve EWs problems.
DeleteMy guess is that BEG is encouraging airlines to launch flights at that hour, they are probably giving discounts. Remember that SU also moved their flights from 18.45 to 20.20 and ASL also flew at night, around 21.40.
DeleteActually the period 19.30-22.00 is the only remaining period when the airport is relatively quiet. In the past we had the morning from 08.00 to 10.00 but not anymore.
DeleteGreat news for passengers but bad news for Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteJU should learn to better compete instead of relying on its monopoly position on certain routes and the direct and indirect support of the GoS.
DeleteJust my2cents
People said it was bad news for JU when easyJet launched Berlin flights yet here they are, both alive and kicking.
DeleteI think JU will kill them on this route.
ReplyDeleteDon't be so sure because EW's prices are half of Air Serbia's.
DeleteAnonymous at 09:14
DeleteCheck the prices for the same dates between the two airlines. JU is twice more expensive. Sometime even more than that!
You are telling me that you will choose to fly with them because they will give you Cacanski chips?
Dejan, chill out. JU is probably keeping such high fares to deter passengers from booking flights a year in advance. They don't know if there will be some schedule change or whatever. BEG-STR is around €200 which isn't much.
DeleteAnonymous at 09:46
DeleteWhat you are saying makes no sense. If the airline wants to make a schedule change it can do so and if ti makes it more than a month in advance it doesn't have to pay any compensation to the passenger.
But if they sell a ticket one year in advance they get to keep the customer's money and use them for a whole year. It is like getting a zero percent interest loan! Businesses love that!
If JU changes the day of the flight then it offers the passenger another option or a refund. So why should they risk a refund? Who wants to buy a ticket so long in advance should also pay more. Anyway I highly doubt anyone in Serbia buys them 12 months in advance.
DeleteWelcome back :)
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, unfortunately, seems those OHD flights won't be coming back.
DeleteJune growth was impressive. Could August have been close to 800,000?
ReplyDeleteNo way but 750.000 pax is certainly possible.
DeleteHardly, as July is normally stronger than August
DeleteIt's impressive how BEG is growing and I am sure it will keep the same pace into the winter.
DeleteJuly:
1. SKG: 802.268
2. BEG: 734.898
3. SOF: 663.738
I am sure with JU keeping many flights in winter, growth will be above 5%.
The charter season was through the roof this summer! Hopefully there are even more flights next year.
DeleteCharters are money drain out of Serbia, why would you hope for that? To boost airport statistics?
DeleteConnectivity is another story and brings business and wealth to the country.
Anon @11:00 Connecting traffic, especially the way JU is doing it is just subsidizing foreigners travels by the higher prices BEG O&D travelers pay.
DeleteI mean I am happy for offering Bulgarians, Albanians, Montenegrins, Greeks and Israelis cheap flying options to the rest of Europe and New York but lets not pretend that this is somehow beneficial for the national economy.
This mantra that JU is somehow subsidizing foreigners is getting really boring. Air Serbia cut loss-making and underperforming routes from BEG. JU is making money from current transfer business and that's a fact. If there was no JFK the airline would have been profitable.
DeleteAs for charters, there are many people from the region using those flights so they are not a drain on the local economy. Furthermore, JU is a Serbian company so they profit from those who are going abroad for holidays.
It's funny how we always read various anti-JU comments on here. It all started with EY and cheap agricultural land and from there we've gone in all sorts of directions. I guess now it's en vogue to argue that we are subsidizing foreigners to fly through Belgrade. Let's see how long that one sticks before we move onto other juicy arguments. :)
Nemjee,
DeleteBelgrade has so many new passengers and Air Serbia is opening so many new destinations. How can you expect this to be tolerated by the people who wish nothing but the worst to BEG and JU?
I agree but this is not the place for them to vent. Weather is still nice outside, they could go out for a walk in a park.
DeleteAt the end of the day what matters is that local passengers have more choice when flying, both on JU and foreign carriers. No need for conspiracy theories.
Nemjee, you seem to possess operational figures by segments, are you willing to share more information with the public here?
DeleteFor example, how much loss is being generated by the BEG-JFK route and how much profit is being generated on the others? If available, which route (or geographical are) is the most profitable?
Don't really know the specifics but at the moment JU isn't losing money on any short-haul routes. All that were in the red were cut during the consolidation process. I think JFK will turn a profit at some point in the future especially since the route is maturing and since short-haul flights are being added. Losses are being reduced each year meaning things are moving in the right direction.
DeleteDoubt anyone outside JU upper management knows exact profitability of routes and which one is the most profitable but I heard that in ex-YU the most profitable after MNE is LJU. SPU is 50% transfers, DBV and ZAG around 40%. A friend of mine who works at BEG told me that ZAG always has transfers to Cairo, not that many but usually between 5 and 15.
My personal opinion is that JU project was a major investment for Serbia but it's also one that will pay off long-term. Benefits of having JU are much larger than the downsides.
Like I already wrote for the JFK route, things might not be perfect right now but we can all see they are moving in the right direction. Serbia seems to be doing with JU what Poland did with LO or what Latvia did with BT. They also invested in their national carriers and look at where they are today.
As for state subsidies, I think blocking ex-Communist countries from subsidizing their industries is just a way for western companies to easily penetrate our markets. These companies never truly reformed so they are easy prey for these mega ones. Sure it was easy for Wizz Air to destroy Malev when they didn't carry the luggage MA did.
Nemjee, JU has been flying to JFK for four summers already. They maxed out at 6pw with a single aircraft while one-stop competitors increased capacity and lowered prices. It is not reasonable to expect major improvements from that route just by waiting 5 or 10 more years. Long haul needs more destinations to make it sustainable. Air Serbia can grow long haul like LOT or go back to short haul only.
DeleteLook at CSA and their ICN route. It seemed okay with Korean as an investor but now CSA service PRG-ICN has no long term future. Other tourist sources like China, North America and ME3 have been taken by foreign airlines at PRG and CSA has no option to expand long haul, unlike what happened with LOT at WAW. Same PRG scenario will happen at BEG over the next 5-10 years unless someone shakes things up at JU HQ.
Nemjee
DeleteHow do u come to the conclusion that every short haul route (so EVERY route except JFK) is profitable?? You said urself u don't have the numbers
Simply, it would have been cut if it had been produced loss
DeleteAnonymous at 16:29
DeleteSMFH!
Anon 16.27 he said he doesn't have exact numbers
DeleteGreat. Never understood why Eurowings was so passive in Serbia. I think they would have opportunities in Nis too.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSorry Air Serbia, no more ripping off people on this route.
ReplyDelete+1000
DeleteIf you want to see what ripping off looks like, look at Wizz Air's fares from Belgrade to Baden Baden.
DeleteAnd you have to pay extra for an IATA-sized cabin bag which is ridiculous and outrageous.
DeleteHow much do they charge?
DeleteWizzair, worst airline ever flown with!
DeleteWizz air, Austrian Airlines, Azerbaijan Airlines, United and Air Arabia - my top 5 worst
DeleteWhy OS?
DeleteGood to see. They are expanding from Stuttgart. Around the same time they also start Florence and Malta.
ReplyDeleteThey will also launch Stuttgart-Sofia next month.
DeleteThis is in response to Laudamotion launching a lot of new routes from Stuttgart this winter.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed that eventually Laudamotion will launch VIE-BEG too!
DeleteYes please! They really need to bust the Austrian/Air Serbia duopoly.
DeleteI remember when Niki started flights to BEG, Austrian's and Jat's tickets crashed on the route. In fact they agreed to keep the same ticket price and constantly undercut Niki until it was no longer viable for them (Niki) to fly. It was great for passengers while it lasted.
DeleteFrom what I remember Niki had a bad schedule, it was in the middle of the day. You can't beat OS and JU unless you match the timetable.
DeleteDoes that mean Air Serbia will now have direct competition on all its German routes from BEG?
ReplyDeleteNo, they still have Dusseldorf and Hamburg without competition.
Delete
ReplyDeleteEurowings treba da pushtat linia skopje dusseldorf ili stuttgart
Looks as if it will be year round.
ReplyDeleteIf Pristina, Sarajevo, Split and Zagreb can work year round for them from Stuttgart, I don't see why BEG couldn't either.
DeleteYes but they don't have competition on this route from those cities.
DeleteTheir schedule isn't that bad, much better than easyJet's from Berlin to Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteI think we are witnessing a new pattern developing here. Airlines with higher cost (easyJet, Eurowings, Transavia) expanding in Belgrade while those with lower one are adding flights left and right from Nish.
This is a smart and realistic way forward.
Yes it's good to see. I also don't think their schedule is bad at all.
DeleteEW might be an LCC, but via STR and CGN they transport mostly transfer passangers as these two are their main hubs. In sharp contrast to the ULCCs Wizz, Easy, Ryanair where you cannot even book a connecting flight, EW relies on transfers there.
DeleteHowever, their schedule is not good for transfers at all, as around mid night as far as i know you dont have a lot of flights to connect to in STR.
Therefore, this schedule is interesting to say the least, seems from BEG they will primarily aim at P2P pax.
Excellent. The more competition the better.
ReplyDeleteSome companies don't have competition at BEG. Like Vinci for example. If you want construction you just have to wait for them.
DeleteYour comment makes no sense.
DeleteIn August BEG had 758.000 pax, nearly 10% yoy growth.
ReplyDeleteGreat development.
ReplyDeleteHope we see more new routes/airlines coming next year.
ReplyDeleteSo far there are positive signs for next year. I have also heard Air Serbia is considering a few new short haul routes but not sure if its true or not.
DeleteI heard the same. Long haul is out to make room for more short haul expansion.
DeleteJU will need more aircraft in order to expand. Next year it will probably be the last of the JFK "prestigious" adventure since the YU-ARA lease ends at the beginning of 2021.
DeleteSo hopefully logic will prevail this time and the airline will focus on routes up to four hours distance from BEG that can be profitable instead of trying to build a house by starting from the roof.
This year the leases for many A319s ended. Did they suspend any route?
DeleteAnonymous at 11:07
DeleteSo you are saying they will extend the lease of YU-ARA?
That would indeed be bad news for JU.
This article is about Eurowings. You had the entire day yesterday to spit on JU and its route to New York. Get over it.
DeleteAnon 11.12
Delete+1
easyJet launched Basel and Berlin.
ReplyDeleteEurowings is returning to Belgrade from Stuttgart.
Lufthansa added a seasonal third daily from Munich.
Air Serbia had a massive expansion.
LOT is adding 11th flight next year from the start of the summer season.
Transavia boosted flights to Belgrade.
ASL launched summer seasonal flights from CDG to BEG.
Vueling extended the summer season from beginning to end.
...and what is Wizz Air doing? Nothing.
AF added 7 weekly flights CDG-BEG
DeleteLOT opens BUD-BEG
Aegean increased frequencies to BEG
Great news for BEG!
ReplyDeleteSerbian capital managed to increase many frequencies during next winter season, but at the same time airliners already started adding new flights for 2020 summer season.
Average growth for first 7 months of 2019 was 6.17% and I believe it is the biggest among ex-Yu / Balkan capitals.
Vinci is doing a great job and I hope it will continue on that way.
August was very strong so average growth rate should be above 7%
DeleteIndeed.
DeleteIt just makes the whole picture nicer.
Even the registration of the plane on the photo contains BG :-)
ReplyDeleteThis year BEG is even in July bigger than SPU
ReplyDeleteI think that July 2018 was actually the only month when any other airport in ex-Yu had more passengers than BEG
DeleteI'm not a 100% sure but I think it was in July 2017 too.
DeleteOh, will be interesting if JU reduces flights to STR as last year the loadfactor STR-BEG was in most months below 60%. With the EW flights I don't think it get better. Either reduce on smaller aircraft or reduce flights.
ReplyDeleteOr they can rely on more transfers thanks to their growing network?
DeleteDon't think that many use BEG as a transfer when flying from Stuttgart. In Stuttgart and Frankfurt there are plenty direct flights you can use instead of transfer in BEG.
DeleteSame can be said about Beirut, Athens, Rome, Barcelona ...
DeleteThey used to fly to STR with ATR72 during Jat times
DeleteProbably on some routes a regional jet would be better like a CRJ900 or E170/175/190 with 75-100 seats.
Delete