Germany’s Lufthansa will not be resuming any of its destinations in the former Yugoslavia before June 15 at the earliest. The carrier, which has outlined the reintroduction of numerous flights for the month of June, has not included any of its points in the region, which include Belgrade, Dubrovnik, Ljubljana, Rijeka, Tivat, Sarajevo, Split, Zadar and Zagreb. The airline said it could add more routes from the middle of next month, when the European Union’s borders are expected to reopen, both internally and externally. Nearby, Lufthansa will be serving Budapest, Bucharest and Sofia from early June, either from Frankfurt or Munich.
Lufthansa has said it will be closely coordinating its schedule with other members of the Lufthansa Group. Swiss International Air Lines has outlined its June schedule, which will include flights between Zurich and Belgrade that will restart from June 5 and run four times per week, each Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Services to its other destinations in the former Yugoslavia - Ljubljana and Pristina (from Geneva) - have not been included in next month's line-up. Low cost carrier Eurowings is still finalising its June flight program but has said it will be focusing on Mediterranean destinations, including Croatia. The airline currently maintains services from Cologne to Zagreb.
Other members of the Lufthansa Group are yet to conclude their June timetables. Austrian Airlines has decided to extend the suspension of regular flight operations for a further week, from May 31 to June 7 due to low demand. “A resumption of service in June is being considered”, the carrier said. Brussels Airlines plans to resume commercial operations with a reduced network offer from June 15. In the former Yugoslavia, the carrier serves Ljubljana, as well as Zagreb over the summer, while its other seasonal operations to coastal Croatia, Macedonia and Montenegro are unlikely to restart this year. “The year 2020 will be a disaster”, its CEO, Dieter Vranckx, said this week. The carrier noted it will cut “marginally profitable and unprofitable routes” and reduce the number of aircraft in its fleet to 38 from 54.
Well expected.No demand.
ReplyDeleteShows how important this region is to them I guess
ReplyDeleteSorry this is bullshit to say the least.
Delete^ Why? Not a single route in the ex-Yu region. I doubt they will start them from 15th of June either.
DeleteI flew FRA-HAM last week. We were 4 passengers on board. Does this explain it?
DeleteNo, this goes to show how low-yilding the region is for them, nothing more, nothing less. You start with your most successful routes and then continue with the less successful ones. And lets face it, there is no business demand to places like Zadar.
DeleteWell business demand wont´t come back for years if at all. That is why the airlines will focus on destinations that people long for after all this time. With borders being effectively closed there is NO demand whatsoever. LH tries and will soon see that there is not sufficient demand for all those routes.
Delete@anon 9.24 is completely correct. The ex-yugo market is low yielding. That's the main issue.
DeleteWell OU already flies ZAG-FRA and JU included FRA among the first destinations it plans on launching. So why would LH create unnecessary competition?
DeleteIt seems LH will start to fly FRA-LJU on 15 Jun with one mid-day flight. All the other flights (overnight FRA and mid-day MUC) have been removed. I got new ticket for LUX that was via MUC on 16 Jun, now it is LJU-FRA-MUC-LUX.
DeleteSuch a shame, that means that there won't be any morning departures before 09.00 when JU leaves for BEG. That's crazy, imagine that. What utter catastrophe in LJU.
DeleteHopefully they will start from middle of June.
ReplyDeleteAt least good to see Swiss coming back.
ReplyDeleteYes but only 4 per week... when you compare to 3 daily...
DeleteEvery start is difficult, the most important is to start flying!
DeleteBrussels Airlines will probably discontinue all ex-Yu flights permanently.
ReplyDeleteI think they will keep Ljubljana.
DeleteBrussels probably won´t be around in a few months time.
DeleteDepends if Lufthansa saves them.
DeleteThey are firing 25% of their staff and removing planes from their fleet. Expect major cuts.
DeleteCancelled SN destinations: ACE, BLL, BRS, CHQ, CLY, PMO, CTA, FNC, FSC, HAJ, HRG, SNI, KGS, KRK, LED, LEI, RAK, RHO, SVO, SVQ, VLC, ZAD, ZAG and ZTH for the short/medium-haul, CKY and OUA for the long-haul.
DeleteOuch so they are cancelling ZAG in the end? This is brilliant news for OU though, they are back at their Q400 monopoly on this route.
DeleteAny news on KL and ZAG? I doubt KL will wait a long time after OU as they will take all of their customers.
DeleteIf I remember correctly they turned ZAG into a summer seasonal destination some years ago. Interesting that they are keeping LJU though, maybe Fraport gave them a good deal?
DeleteThese "cancelled destinations" haven't been confirmed yet. But it makes seonse that LJU stays. They have no competition.
DeletePlus OU is Star Alliance so they can still feed their network in BRU. Now it's time for OU to respond and to exclusively operate A320 on this route to avoid people flying from LJU on W6/SN.
DeleteThe only confirmed routes which have been cancelled until April 2021 are Hanover (Germany), Valencia and Sevilla (Spain), Billund (Denmark), Santorini (Greece), Bristol (UK), Marrakesh (Morocco) and Moscow (Russia),
DeleteWith massive cuts in their fleet expect more suspensions. I heard YUL and IAD will also be gone with the removal of A332s from the fleet. :(
Delete:(
ReplyDeleteThat's a shame
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting what frequencies they have once they resume flights.
ReplyDeleteCertainly not the same ones they had up until now.
DeleteI have a feeling Austrian Airlines will come to near collapse. Wizz Air is already resuming flights from Vienna and they actually announced a whole range of new destinations while OS remains parked waiting for government aid. By the time they return their competition will be taking over the market from them. Good for JU for introducing Vienna this early.
ReplyDeleteWould be funny if Lauda or Wizz Air introduce VIE-BEG.
What is interesting is that W6 recently announced VIE-BOJ and will be year-round with VAR. OS has been serving VAR for decades and already is attacked by both W6 and Lauda. My guess is that W6 will use their previous "expand eastwards from VIE strategy" and recover their previously served destinations.
DeleteBut, I think OS will actually turn profitable when it gets rid of those smaller planes and deploy their A320s.
https://www.ifn.news/posts/austrian-airlines-to-phase-out-all-airbus-a319-some-boeing-767/
My guess is that they will either consider 777 similar to LX or even 787. Those 767s are true relics and fuel guzzlers.
It's one thing to get A320s and another to fill them with passengers. OS' main problem are its costs, they should come a bit down now with 13% cut in salaries. However I don't think they can go head to head with LCCs and win unless they get a lot of transfer passengers to help them out.
DeleteOS has a large chunk of transfer passengers from (South)east Europe and the Budget carriers are only P2P.
DeleteThere is enough space for both.
I don't think there is enough for both under these circumstances.
DeleteBesides W6 is growing in LWO, which is a really potential destination. More and more Ukrainians are emigrating and the LCC are taking advantage creating gasto routes.
DeleteOS were dominating in Eastern Europe but now W6 is right behind them all the time.
LWO was actually a destination OU or JU could have considered for transfer. I guess it is too late now.
JU was supposed to launch LWO starting June 5th at 4 pw:
DeleteJU668 BEG LWO0030 0325
JU669 LWO BEG 0440 0530
https://www.exyuaviation.com/p/air-serbia-belgrade-lviv.html?m=1
Risky schedule......LO are very strong in LWO and have a cunning schedule covering most of their network. Here is a good example of route to Paris>
DeleteЛьвов - Париж
LOT Polish Airlines
06:10
07 июля, Вторник
Львов Международный аэропорт «Львов» им. Д. Галицкого
1 ч 5 мин
06:15
07 июля, Вторник
Варшава Ф. Шопен
Рейс LO-758
Embraer 170
Эконом-класс
пересадка 1 ч 10 мин
LOT Polish Airlines
07:25
07 июля, Вторник
Варшава Ф. Шопен
2 ч 30 мин
09:55
07 июля, Вторник
Париж Шарль Де Голль (1)
Рейс LO-331
Boeing 737-800
Эконом-класс
Визовая справка для граждан страны Россия для выбранного перелета – ознакомиться
Только ручная кладь Багаж: не включен
Париж - Львов
LOT Polish Airlines
07:05
10 июля, Пятница
Париж Шарль Де Голль (1)
2 ч 15 мин
09:20
10 июля, Пятница
Варшава Ф. Шопен
Рейс LO-334
Embraer 195
Эконом-класс
пересадка 3 ч 35 мин
LOT Polish Airlines
12:55
10 июля, Пятница
Варшава Ф. Шопен
1 ч 00 мин
14:55
10 июля, Пятница
Львов Международный аэропорт «Львов» им. Д. Галицкого
Рейс LO-765
Boeing 737-800
Эконом-класс
Визовая справка для граждан страны Россия для выбранного перелета – ознакомиться
Только ручная кладь Багаж: не включен
Перелёт
12 377.00 RURАвиабилеты
Пассажиры
Итого12 377.00 RUR (155€)
LO is a larger airline, with a larger hub, and a larger demand for travel between the 2 countries (Poland and Ukraine).
DeleteJU schedule still allowed decent connections to: ZAG, LJU, Montenegro, Italy, BCN for example.
LO might have an advantage in LWO but it doesnt necessarily mean it covers everhything.
LO is a big airline but they are not impossible to beat. For example take Tirana and Athens, two markets where JU thrives while LO stayed away. They actually failed miserably in Greece. So I wouldn't really say that LO is some major threat. Btw both Tirana and Athens are much larger than LWO.
DeleteSlovenia is removing the 14-day quarantine.
ReplyDeleteFor more then a month we had 7-day quarantine. It's now removed only for EU citizens, for all the others quarantine in now indeed 14 day.
DeleteLol
DeleteBecause the other ones are more prone?
AFAIK as i know the EU countries top all the charts in Coronavirus infections.
Exactly, that is why Non-EU citizens do not need to enter. They can go to Turkey and Russia.
DeleteGreece begs to differ. They have been desperately trying to find a way with Serbia, Bulgaria and Israel how to allow their citizens to come and spend their holidays in Greece.
DeleteI believe the real reason for this (except Slovenia maybe) is because HR is not in Schengen and the rest are not in the EU... Althought RO and BG are not in Schengen also but have flights... who knows.
ReplyDeleteSchengen has got nothing to do with this. It is all about the EU members excluding UK of course.
DeleteWe really need one of Europe's biggest carriers back ASAP.
ReplyDeleteWhat a year this has turned out to be... Disaster.
ReplyDeletetypcal Catch-22 scenario - no routes because of no demand, no demand because there are no routes.... My guess - when they re-open the connections, Zagreb will serve Ljubljana passengers too. There is no way LH is going to operate LJU-MUC or FRA any time soon. Let alone SN LJU-BRU..
ReplyDeleteWith SN cutting BRU-ZAG it makes no sense for them to cut LJU too. It's a market with enough demand and no competition.
DeleteThere is actually no confirmation they are cutting ZAG. The bunch of destinations the other anon gave above are not confirmed by the airline at all. They only confirmed Hanover, Valencia, Sevilla, Billund, Santorini, Bristol, Marrakesh and Moscow. Personally I think ZAG will be cut, but it's not certain or confirmed.
DeleteSN is removing 8 A320s for now so the list he presented makes absolute sense. I think they will have to massively cut frequencies and destinations.
DeleteThey can remove aircraft but they can remove different destinations. So a list someone made up doesn't make it a fact just because it makes sense for you.
DeleteThe tool to break "catch-22" loop are flag carriers. So Croatia and Serbia are in much better position than Slovenia.
DeleteAnon 12.43 I understand you might be nervous but in this climate anything is possible. With 8 narrowbody aircraft leaving the fleet that means a lot more flights will be suspended.
DeleteWhy on earth would I be nervous? I even said myself I expect ZAG to be cancelled (and neither am I from ZAG or Croatia) but I just said not to present something that someone made up in the comments as fact.
DeleteAnon 13.54 please be nice, this is a civilized forum.
DeleteNorway just anounced that their strict travel rules will apply to 20th of august, for outisde the nordic countries, i assume sweden and rest of nordic countries will do the same soon, sweden has tjeir recomendation to 15th of july now.
ReplyDeleteRemember how sp many here said it will blow over in 1-2 weeks and laughed at me when i said only a fraction of people compared to last year will fly and travel again. I feel sorry for the countries in our region who heavily Depend on tourism.
You want a medal?
DeleteOnly difference is that Norway has a strict policy while Sweden has a mere recommendation. Big difference so no medal for you.
DeleteYeah, and swedes wont travel this year, our prime minister told everyone that tjey shouldnt make summer plans to go abroad. How many will obey? At least 90%. It doesnt matter if its a reccomendation.
DeleteCome back LH! We need you!
ReplyDeleteWhat about DUB to HAM anybody know
ReplyDelete