Low cost carrier Ryanair will resume just two routes to both Banja Luka and Niš this summer season as it continues to rebuild its network. The low cost carrier, which celebrated its return to flying with over 1.000 daily flights all across Europe two days ago, will restore operations to the two markets next month. It has already recommenced services to Croatia and Montenegro. The carrier plans to resume flights to Banja Luka from Charleroi Airport and Memmingen on August 1. It’s subsidiary Lauda, which was to commence new operations from Vienna this summer, has pushed back the service launch until the start of the 2020/2021 winter season in late October, when Ryanair is to restore the remainder of its destinations, as well as commence its planned new service from Bergamo to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest city, although changes remain highly likely.
Ryanair will recommence flights to Niš on August 2 with a service from Malta. The airline has also said it would restore operations from Berlin to the south-east Serbian city next month, however, tickets for the route are only available for purchase from late October onwards, indicating flights will not begin as planned in a few weeks. In a statement, the carrier said, “Ryanair is pleased to announce it will restore two routes to/from Nis, commencing from August 2, 2020, as part of our summer 2020 schedule. We look forward to reuniting friends and families and bringing thousands of tourists that will help boost regional economies and protect jobs. Serbs can now look forward to bagging a bargain holiday and enjoying sunshine and the stunning beaches in their favourite summer spot like Malta or discovering Berlin during city break”.
Both Banja Luka Airport and Niš, which have struggled for years to secure flights, have seen a partial resumption of operations following their reopening. Banja Luka Airport is currently served by two weekly services from Belgrade operated by Air Serbia, which will grow to three weekly from next week. Air Serbia will also run summer charters from Banja Luka to Antalya starting this Sunday. On the other hand, Wizz Air has restored its network out of Niš, while Air Serbia has resumed select destinations, including Hahn, Nuremberg, Salzburg and Hanover.
Unfortunate. I hope they resume all of their flights eventually.
ReplyDeleteI doubt Malta-Nis will happen next month either.
ReplyDeleteRyanair has indeed become quite unreliable and unpredictable. Hope they become more serious.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to see how they will cope with the pandemic and if they seriously won't think about supplying elementary gear pro bono and adhering to prevention measures like emptying the middle row.
DeleteEmpty middle row is useless. How would this look on airplanes with 2/2 seating configuration? Only one person on each side of the aisle? So max 50% load factor?
DeleteLCCs can't make money with empty middle seat, as it's probably below their break-even LF.
I wonder what happens in cases like Banja Luka which said they pay some sort of subsidy for Ryanair to fly. Do they not pay now or what do they do?
ReplyDeleteDo we know what is the amount they get in BNX?
DeleteAny subsidies are probably per departing passenger, so if there are no/less passengers, Ryanair gets no/less money.
DeleteThose were nothing but rumours. No proof
DeleteThe RS government said themselves that subsidies are provided but that they can't reveal the nature of them or amount because it is a business secret.
DeleteIt makes sense considering both markets are outside of the EU and are still affected by various travel bans.
ReplyDeleteHas nothing to do with travel bans, more to do with the slow reintroduction of Ryanair flights. They have resumed flights to Montenegro, which is also subject to many travel bans.
DeleteYes but the passenger structure is completely different. I mean they resumed flights from some Polish city to Podgorica. Obviously these flights are not filled with Montenegrins but with Polish tourists going to Montenegro.
Delete* True. And they launched Dublin-Podgorica yesterday.
DeleteGood news for Wizz from INI.
ReplyDeleteWere they competing on any routes?
DeleteNo, but this could easily change .
DeleteWizz makes fast decisions .
Pity :(
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Nis will keep its 3 euro charges for airlines after this pandemic.
ReplyDeleteAirports will have to do even more to attract airlines after this crisis.
DeleteI think they have that 3 euro agreement with Ryanair until next year.
DeleteGovernment said they will extend this charge in the future.
DeleteVery fragile situation.
ReplyDeletePoor Banja Luka. It finally catches a break and now this.
ReplyDeleteHow come VIE-BNX will go ahead in October if they closed down the base in Vienna?
ReplyDeleteThey didn't.
DeleteThey are not closing the base, Ryanair is taking over but they will be leasing the planes and crew from Lauda.
DeleteAh ok I see. My mistake. I would have thought they would have started this route. I realize there are travel warnings and whatnot but I assume there is such a big diaspora which has residency or Austrian citizenship that it would probably do better than for example Dublin-Podgorica which they launched yesterday.
DeleteFuture for smaller airports certainly looks bleak.
ReplyDeleteI think OSI and OMO are in worst position in all of ex-YU because even before corona they struggled to keep airlines flying there.
DeleteTrue. OMO has no flights this summer at all. No charters from Italy and Eurowings is not resuming flights from Germany. It's really a dire situation.
DeleteIt looks bleak for all airports. Big and small.
DeleteNo it does not look bleak for all airport, big and small. Big airports will recover much faster. Look at BEG departures today, it's very busy. On top of all that yesterday Belavia sent the B733, they will do it again tomorrow and then on Monday again. Obviously there is growing demand since they increased capacity from E75. Then we also read about JU boosting its network and the same for QR. So no, bigger airports don't have it bad, small ones on the other hand do.
Delete733? Dude, plz lol.
DeleteHow about working on London and not having 70 flights to Oslo?
Plz lol what? Increasing capacity from E75 to B733 is quite a jump.
DeleteAlso what's there to be done about London? There are flights to both LHR and LTN, what more do you want?
As for Oslo, there are 70 flights beacuse there is enough demand.... duuuh
MSQ BEG on B733 was full today.
DeleteIt's interesting the very different approach Wizz Air and Ryanair have. Wizz Air started flights as early as possible while Ryanair has been quite slow.
ReplyDeleteI think most LCC flights at the moment are operated at a loss, so Wizz Air is just trying to stimulate capacity by burning cash to expand (new routes). If the demand follows capacity, they'll be rolling in cash. If not...
DeleteYes and then you have some proactive legacies like OU that never stopped flying. Great for their brand though.
Deleteeasyjet has adopted the same policy as Ryanair.
Delete"proactive legacies like OU"
DeleteEasy to burn cash like there's no tomorrow if you know somebody will step in and pay your debt/bills.
Easyjet actually is back as usual in August .
Delete3x weekly Belgrade to Basel and Geneva
4x weekly Belgrade to Berlin Tegel
Plus they have already resumed GVA-BEG!
DeleteAt least they will come back, so I would be thankful.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteYes, at one point no flights from Banja Luka were showing until winter.
DeleteThe structure of passengers on these flights may change. There will be fewer workers around Europe.
ReplyDeleteI doubt Nis-Malta depended on temporary gasto workers.
DeleteNot exclusively but I don't see whose going to fly there in 4 weeks. I think Malta still has quarantine rules.
DeleteMalta's service sector is full of Balkanians. So, yes the route depends on gasto travellers. Like every other Malta route from the Balkans.
DeleteTrue. People should remember that INI is also used by people from other countries.
Deletelol sure the other countries have no flights to Malta. HIllarious
DeleteSure they do. But certain cities and areas gravitate towards different airports because they are closer.
Deletedream on
DeleteI don't have to dream on. The airport reveled the percentage of passengers coming from neighboring countries.
Delete@11.31 you better look on the map and check the positions of SOF (60km to the border) and SKP (even less) and then try to find out "cities and areas" the gravitate to your desired airport
Delete@11.57 the airport also revealed that without BUD the LF in August was "close to 70%" which after we discovered the german numbers concluded that it was nothing but an audacious lie
DeleteYet INI marches on, from strength to strength no matter what some on here say or what their rotten and envious hearts desire.
DeleteI find it interesting that out of all of the routes from Nis they plan to resume Malta.
ReplyDeleteAny news about txl-bnx?
ReplyDeleteWill the route also come back?
Ryan offers Berlin in this situation as a city break destination for customers from Nis. What?? Is Ryan going cuckoo?
ReplyDeleteThis is Wizz Airs golden opportunity !
ReplyDeleteThey should kickstart the same routes as Ryanair but much earlier and squeeze Ryanair out of both markets .