Today marks the start of the 2020 northern hemisphere summer season, which runs until October 25. Markets across the former Yugoslavia have entered the season with closed airports and grounded airlines as a result of the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. Europe’s airlines are expected to lose 68 billion euros in passenger revenues over the course of 2020 because of travel bans combating the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned. IATA has said it expects demand for passenger flights to fall by 38%, causing global revenues to fall by 226 billion euros in 2020, almost halving the industry’s revenues compared with 2019. Those estimates are based on three-month shutdowns across much of the world, with the lack of cashflow threatening the survival of airlines globally. Rafael Schvartzman, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Europe, said on Thursday that many airlines did not have enough cash to sustain them through more than two months of shutdowns.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina will close all of its airports for commercial traffic as of tomorrow. No timeframe has been given as to when they may be reopened.
Croatia
Zagreb Airport will become the only capital city airport in the former Yugoslavia with commercial flights as of tomorrow. Croatia Airlines is continuing to maintain a limited network to several European hubs. However, the Croatian government has warned that the airport may be closed to help combat Covid-19. Croatia Airlines has postponed the launch of its two new seasonal routes, from Zagreb to Sofia and Podgorica, from May 1 and May 3 to June 2 and June 3, respectively.
Kosovo
Kosovo has closed Pristina Airport for commercial flights. No timeframe has been given as to when the airport may be reopened.
Macedonia
Macedonia has closed Skopje and Ohrid airports for commercial flights. No timeframe has been given as to when the they may be reopened. Wizz Air has tickets for some route on sale out of its base in Skopje from mid-April, however, as EX-YU Aviation News learns, the airline plans to resume operations from the Macedonian capital at the start of May, subject to government approval. The budget carrier has been operating repatriation flights to Skopje from Malta, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Cologne, Berlin and Memmingen over the past few days.
Montenegro
Montenegro has closed Podgorica and Tivat airports for commercial flights. Montenegro Airlines has also been grounded ever since, with exception to repatriation flights which have included services to Rome, Budapest, Barcelona, Belgrade, London and Vienna. No timeframe has been given as to when the airports may be reopened, although the Montenegrin carrier has set April 16 as a tentative date for the resumption of operations, with flights from Podgorica to Belgrade and Paris and from Tivat to Belgrade and Moscow.
Serbia
Serbia has closed its airports for commercial flights. Air Serbia has also been grounded ever since, with exception to repatriation flights which have included services to Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Moscow, Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, Thessaloniki, Larnaca, Malta, London, Doha and Los Angeles. No timeframe has been given as to when the country’s main airport in Belgrade may be reopened, although the Serbian carrier has set April 13 as a tentative date for the resumption of operations. Both Niš and Kraljevo airports will be closed until May 12, based on the latest Notice to Airmen issued by the country's air regulator.
Slovenia
Slovenia has closed Ljubljana Airport for commercial flights from the European Union until midnight March 30. Flights from countries outside of the block have been suspended until further notice.
Who would have thought just a month ago. Really sad.
ReplyDeleteI actually think YM might not make it. At this point the summer season will be a bust and the government will have to take of the whole tourism industry. Can they afford to spend another €50 million on a small carrier such as YM? With LCCs penetrating the market and JU upping its presence there, at this point, there is no longer a point in keeping them in service.
ReplyDeleteThe PM said the other day that these situations show why the country needs a national airline. They will be bfive
DeleteThat same government said they don't need respirators from Serbia because the situation is stable. Literally two hours later he said the situation is critical and getting out of control. I wouldn't trust what the government says. I think MNE is heading towards an economic meltdown if the summer season fails. I doubt YM will be their priority.
DeleteSo true, it's one thing what politicians here say and what they do.
DeleteAs for the LCCs flocking to Montenegro ?or Croayia), that won't happen anytime soon. Those will be most hit, as governments will focus on saving flag carriers. Vueling, easyJet, Ryanair, Norwegian...I say 1 or 2 won't survive past 2020., while the rest will bd digging themselves out for more than 2 seasons.
DeletePeople get real, Montegro is not a rich country, far from it actually. Governments have historically struggled with finances. If YM keeps on losing money they simply won't have enough to support them. For the first time I'm actually skeptical regarding the airline's future.
DeleteI hope they reopen LJU for traffic in two days. At leaat for EU flights.
ReplyDeleteWould be wonderful to have Lufthansa back. I am sure JU will resume a few weekly flights as there is enough local demand to fly the ATR at least 5, 6 times a week.
DeleteThey will not. https://www.gov.si/novice/2020-03-28-vlada-sprejela-predlog-zakona-o-interventnih-ukrepih-za-omilitev-posledic-epidemije-nalezljive-bolezni-sars-cov-2-covid-19-za-drzavljane-in-gospodarstvo/
DeleteDon't see how JU will resume flights to Ljubljana on MAR 30 seeing as
DeleteA) it's grounded
B) if LJU airport is reopened it will only be for EU flights
"Slovenia has closed Ljubljana Airport for commercial flights from the European Union until midnight March 30. Flights from countries outside of the block have been suspended until further notice."
I think he is referring to JU resuming flights in two or three weeks when things in Serbia start to normalize. Not tomorrow.
DeleteIn two or three weeks? Good luck.
DeleteTwo, three weeks because they government can't last much longer than that. Also the situation in Serbia is relatively stable, I think we are the only country in Europe to have enough supplies for medical workers. Also, we only have around 45 people on respirators so far which isn't too bad.
DeleteI agree, in 2-3 weeks when thing get better in Serbia, JU will resume flights from BEG to INI. Unfortunately the rest of the world will be locked down for a much longer period.
Delete^^ Read the article
Delete"Both Niš and Kraljevo airports will be closed until May 12, based on the latest Notice to Airmen issued by the country's air regulator."
So where will JU fly to then?
DeleteAMS, BRU, GERMONEY and hopefully Montenegro by then as well.
Delete@Anon 14.29: are you serious? aer you following the news? germans are in a lock down for at least until 20. April that will most probably be extended for a longer period? So who do you think will be flying then?
DeleteBecause there is a market, of course.
DeleteThere definitely are people who need to fly in/out of Serbia. I am one of them. There is a market.
DeleteExactly, that's what I am talking about. People behave as if we are in state of war right now. I guess it shows how powerful media marketing is.
DeleteSerbian government keeps on repeating to stay patient for another two, three weeks. I guess that's when some flights will be allowed to take off and land. I guess Amsterdam and Germany might be resumed as other airports remain closed.
ReplyDeleteThe Coronavirus situation in Holland is horrible. Number of infections and deaths for a country of its population is huge. Better to wait before restarting flights to AMS.
DeleteAnd Germany now sees a huge increase in the number of new infections.
Yes but those are more or less the only markets they can fly to without restrictions. Also I am sure JU has enough local passengers to make this work. Remember how JFK was full until the very end?
DeleteToday is the day that Croatia airlines supposed to get on dry lease an airbus a319, does anybody know if they got it or they canceled the deal? Thanks a lot in advance for the help.
ReplyDeleteThey haven't cancelled. They will get it.
DeleteFrom what I saw the last time I was in the office the plane was supposed to come this afternoon.
DeletePlane has arrived.
DeleteIs there some link where we could see where the plane arrived from?
DeleteThis morning
ReplyDeleteZAG-AMS 13 passengers
ZAG-FRA 6 passengers
And some think OU should still fly.
Ouch! Maybe return flights have better loads? 6 to FRA is a disaster, why even operate the route?
DeleteWell most of the repatriation flights have not better loads etither. Air serbia operated a flight to LAX with 60 Pax on board.
DeleteWell that repatriation flight was paid by US government.
DeleteOU flies scheduled flights with 6 passengers...
There were 84 Americans flying to LAX and the flight returned with six million gloves.
DeleteThere is no need to say "some". We know very well who still believes OU should fly to "strategic" destinations.
DeleteAnon @ 13:08 the flight was not paid by the Americans. Their ambassador thanked Air Serbia for their generosity ...so if he did that, it means that they didn't pay for that flight.
DeleteBa operated the ZAG flight yesterday with 15 Pax.
DeleteIt's not so much how many passengers you have on board, it's also about how many no shows you have. If you have a large number of no shows then its profitable for the airline to operate the flight. That way they don't need to pay compensation as the flight was actually operated, and they have fewer operating costs as passengers that were supposed to show up didn't.
DeleteAnd what if many actually postponed their travel to a later date? Those are making OU lose money.
DeleteWhat are the chances that Zagreb might take top spot for at least a month? Maybe not March but April if airports stay closed??
ReplyDeleteI guess it's relatively possible though it depends on how many passengers OU is acually carrying on those flights. If they have 6 to 13 then it might tie with BEG for March. Let's see what happens in April.
DeleteAre you for real? Who cares!
DeleteAgree with anon 12.32. In special times you can see how irrelevant counting passengers at airports is. After the crisis things won´t be the same again anyway. The world will change...
DeleteObviously I care. Would be funny to see Zagreb take top spot for a month with a (*) next to the month just like Liverpool FC will have an asterisk will next to their 2019/20 premier league win. :)
DeleteAnonymous 12:32
DeleteThe world is always changing.
I think there is no true aviation fan that doesn't care about passenger numbers, that's one of the most important aspects of this business.
DeleteGet real. We are far from flight resumption. There is not even a peak of epidemic in ex-YU countries. Universities in Slovenia will stay closed until the end of May, there is already a contingency plan for online work until the end of September. Meeting, congresses and other public events that should happen in the EU in April, May and June are cancelled or postponed. Optimistic scenario is May, e.g. Finnair will start Ljubljana flights on 1 July.
ReplyDeleteYes but AY relies on tourists from Asia, they are not a good example, not at all. I'm sure LH, JU ans LX will return much earlier than others will.
Delete