Over forty new routes planned to launch during the 2020 summer season to countries of the former Yugoslavia have now been cancelled as a result of the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic, with services to Zagreb, Ljubljana, Tivat and Zadar being among the latest to be cut this week. Ukraine’s Windrose Airlines has cancelled plans to introduce a new three weekly flight between Kiev and the Croatian capital, although, at this point, it is sticking with plans to commence operations to Ljubljana in early July. Unsurprisingly, Iberia has shelved its planned new service between Madrid and Jože Pučnik Airport. Flights to Ljubljana were to commence on July 25 and initially saw strong bookings.
MARCH AND APRIL
| Route | Original date | New date |
|---|---|---|
| Vienna - Zadar (Austrian) | MAR 29 | JUL 01 |
| Vienna - Dubrovnik | MAR 29 | AUG 01 |
| Vienna - Zadar (Lauda) | MAR 30 | JUL 03 |
| Paris - Dubrovnik | MAR 30 | JUN 15 |
| London Luton - Ljubljana | MAR 30 | CANCELLED |
| Poznan - Podgorica | MAR 30 | JUL 02 |
| Gdansk - Zadar | MAR 31 | CANCELLED |
| Kraljevo - Thessaloniki | MAR 31 | JUL 02 |
| Stockholm - Tivat | APR 01 | SEP 02 |
| Dublin - Podgorica | APR 02 | JUL 02 |
| Vienna - Banja Luka | APR 03 | AUG 03 |
| Hahn - Rijeka | APR 04 | CANCELLED |
| Paris Orly - Pula | APR 04 | JUN 06 |
| Nantes - Dubrovnik | APR 11 | JUN 27 |
| Athens - Split | APR 19 | JUL 05 |
| Brussels - Pula | APR 25 | JUN 20 |
| London Luton - Pula | APR 28 | JUL 02 |
| Kiev - Ljubljana | APR 30 | JUL 02 |
TUIfly Belgium has cancelled its planned new seasonal service from Brussels to Ohrid, although the carrier intends on going ahead with its new route to Pula in late June. Volotea has suspended the introduction of flights from Mykonos to Dubrovnik and from Bari to Split for 2020 and will launch the two routes next year instead. On the other hand, it is maintaining plans to commence operations between Athens and Split this July. German carrier Condor has cancelled its new flights from Frankfurt to Tivat and from Hanover to Dubrovnik. Norwegian Air Shuttle, which is expected to discontinue the majority of destinations in its network, is still selling tickets for its planned new service between Stockholm and Tivat, although they have now been pushed back until September. They are unlikely to materialise with plans for the “New Norwegian” to be revealed in the coming months.
MAY
The pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on the aviation sector, with the liquidity crisis risking insolvencies and threatening millions of jobs within months. Airports Council International (ACI) estimates that, in 2020, airports will suffer a reduction of more than 4.6 billion passengers and a decline in revenue of more than $97 billion.
JUNE AND JULY
| Route | Original date | New date |
|---|---|---|
| Belgrade - Amman | JUN 01 | CANCELLED |
| Belgrade - Geneva | JUN 01 | CANCELLED |
| Belgrade - Chisinau | JUN 01 | CANCELLED |
| Belgrade - Lviv | JUN 01 | CANCELLED |
| Belgrade - Rostov-on-Don | JUN 02 | CANCELLED |
| Kiev - Zagreb | JUN 02 | CANCELLED |
| Brussels - Ohrid | JUN 06 | CANCELLED |
| Belgrade - Florence | JUN 07 | CANCELLED |
| Kuwait City - Sarajevo | JUN 11 | CANCELLED |
| Tel Aviv - Skopje | JUN 11 | CANCELLED |
| Basel - Zadar | JUN 22 | JUL 02 |
| Milan - Tivat | JUN 22 | JUL 03 |
| Glasgow - Pula | JUN 22 | JUL 03 |
| Podgorica - Lisbon | JUN 22 | JUL 06 |
| Amsterdam - Zadar | JUN 23 | JUL 05 |
| Copenhagen - Zadar | JUN 30 | CANCELLED |
| Copenhagen - Tivat | JUL 01 | CANCELLED |
| Budapest - Zadar | JUL 02 | CANCELLED |
| Vienna - Podgorica | JUL 03 | JUL 20 |
| London Heathrow - Podgorica | JUL 04 | CANCELLED |
| Hanover - Dubrovnik | JUL 04 | CANCELLED |
| Bari - Split | JUL 04 | CANCELLED |
| Ljubljana - Madrid | JUL 25 | CANCELLED |
Over forty routes cancelled. Wow
ReplyDeleteThis is just bad, really bad.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling Emirates will be next, makes no sense to postpone it after August.
ReplyDeleteI think airlines should not cut so many flights. Yesterday we read how loads on JU exploded once flights were introduced. With more and more Ukrainians coming for holidays to Croatia cutting these flights is beyond idiotic.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't use the word "exploded" as that wasn't mentioned anywhere.
Delete+1
Deleteat least ou is in expansion mode which is great
They increased from 14 to 70 frequencies my friend, that's an increase of how much? :3
DeleteHopefully people recognzie the importance of OU after corona
Delete@ 9.08 Me too. They will salvage what can be salvaged of this summer.
DeleteThat's an increase of five.
DeleteI think 31.05 will be the first day with busier traffic: AMS, VIE, CDG...
DeleteMykonos-Dubrovnik was the most interesting to me. Understandable it won't start this summer but good thing it's been moved for 2021.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone predict how many passengers Croatian airports will have this year?
ReplyDeleteZadar has it worst this summer. I hope some of these routes can be salvaged next year.
ReplyDeleteThe Adriatic coast in general will have a brutal summer.
DeleteToo bad ZAD cannot take advantage of the significant drop in passanget traffic to start the planned airport expansion this year.
DeleteWindrose will probably eventually cancel Ljubljana too.
ReplyDeleteUnless they are getting €€€ from Fraport.
DeleteThey must allow Ukrainians to enter freely to Slovenia without corona virus limitations.
DeleteEven with unrestricted entry allowed it will be difficult.
Anyone know if SU is planning on coming back to ZAG? They already reduced capacity this summer before corona.
ReplyDeleteYes, they are planning on coming back.
DeleteNice, hope they do well now that there will be barely any Asian tourists. I guess they carry the same type of passengers as EK, QR, TK... though they send their SSJ so it shouldn't be too hard to fill a regional jet.
DeleteI'm sure your hope is genuine.
DeleteIt is. :)
DeleteWhat a depressing year but at least from tomorrow LJU is getting some action once JU lands. I wonder how the load will be.
ReplyDeletePity about Iberia. I think they would have had good loads if they were to go ahead and start LJU in late July.
ReplyDeleteConsidering how affected Iberia has been by this coronavirus, it will be miracle if they are still around by the end of July.
DeleteOf course they will be around. They are owned by IAG.
DeleteI see in the table that Israair's TLV-LJU is moved to August. I hope they will launch it.
ReplyDeleteI believe they will. They cancelled plans to start TLV-SKP. So if they were giving up on LJU they already would have cancelled it.
DeleteMore to come unfortunately. For all airports.
ReplyDelete99% of the routes in these tables which still haven't been cancelled won't be launched.
DeleteI'm interested to see whather LOT will keep any of its new routes. Especially those from Budapest.
ReplyDeleteI fear those flights from June 15 are simply automatically moved by the system because that's when they plan on starting to fly. I'm doubtful they will actually start those new routes. When they start flying in June it will probably be just a handful of cities.
DeleteI'm waiting to see whather a single new route will be launched.
ReplyDeleteLike I sad a few weeks ago, summer is cancelled.
Delete2020 is cancelled.
DeleteSad :( this would have been a fantastic year for most airports.
ReplyDeleteYes! Especially for some like BEG or DBV as they were supposed to have their best years so far. Unfortuntely there is no way for DBV to start recovering before next summer though.
DeleteThis is going from bad to worse.
ReplyDeleteIs it realistic for Windrose to start LJU in July?
ReplyDeleteYes, why not? So far LJU has done more or less ok in terms of foreign carriers.
DeleteThe list keeps growing :(
ReplyDeleteConsidering Norwegian will likely end all routes except a few domestic flights this could be a good chance for Air Serbia to launch Belgrade-Oslo. Also, Croatia Airlines should keep Zagreb-Oslo this year but I think there was already an article here that they will cut most Scandinavian routes this summer.
ReplyDeleteIt would make sense in my opinion.
DeleteMakes sense if new routes began in April or May to cancel them but if these new routes were planned for mid June or July maybe wait a little bit and delay them for a few weeks before deciding to cancel the routes all together.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see the spreadsheet showing which airport in ex-yu has seen the most cancellations and opposite
ReplyDeleteZadar really can't catch a break. First the Ryanair flights, now SAS too.
ReplyDelete24 planned new routes cancelled as far as I can see.
DeleteAnd many existing ones won't resume either unfortunately.
DeleteI see in the table that Ryanair has cancelled Hahn-Rijeka. Since they also cancelled Frankfurt-Rijeka that means no Frankfurt flights anymore. Maybe Croatia Airlines should consider it.
ReplyDeleteCondor
DeleteExactly. Condor scheduled RJK FRA for this summer as well. At least for now. What I am more worried, is Croatia might not come back with RJK MUC this summer
DeleteGiven the current corona situation and the behaviour of people:
ReplyDeleteManchester and London to Tivat and Zadar are very risky!
Risky in what way? That the UK's got more cases of Coronavirus?
DeleteBRIEF-Fraport Flight Operations Down 83% Last Week
ReplyDeleteMay 26 (Reuters) - Fraport:
* SAYS FLIGHT OPERATIONS -83.0% IN LAST WEEK
* SAYS PASSENGERS -95.4% IN LAST WEEK
* SAYS CARGO -17.4% IN LAST WEEK Further company coverage: (Berlin Speed Desk)