Greece’s Aegean Airlines will no longer operate any flights to markets in the former Yugoslavia this winter after it revised its upcoming schedule which now excludes its last remaining service in the region to Belgrade. The carrier, which resumed operations between Athens and the Serbian capital in July, cancelled them shortly after Greece introduced entry restrictions for the majority of Serbian nationals, which are still in place. However, it initially planned to restore flights between the two countries next month. Aegean now intends on returning to the Serbian market on March 29, 2021 and has put tickets on sale for the route. The airline will continue to codeshare with Air Serbia to and from Belgrade throughout the 2020/2021 winter season. The Serbian carrier currently maintains operations to both Athens and Thessaloniki and plans to do so over the winter as well.
Last month, Aegean Airlines announced it was discontinuing flights from Athens to Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split, Podgorica and Skopje. At the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March, the carrier also terminated its operations to Sarajevo, marking its exit from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s market after just one year. It will resume services to Dubrovnik on March 29, Zagreb on March 31 and Split on May 18, 2021. Services to Podgorica, Sarajevo and Skopje will not be restored. Aegean has been serving Serbia since 2010, Croatia since 2015, Montenegro since 2017 and Skopje as of 2018.
In a recent report by HSBC entitled “European Airlines - state aid and governance”, the bank found that Aegean’s balance sheet remains strong, even without state aid. In particular, HSBC analysts pointed out that, "Among the airlines we evaluated, Aegean is the only one to have not received state aid. Like all carriers, Aegean has benefited from the labour measures taken by the Greek government for companies affected by the pandemic, having suspended employee contracts. However, the state aid received was limited". It added, “Although Aegean Airlines did not receive any significant support or funding from the Greek government, it entered the pandemic with very good finances. Available cash reserves during the second quarter stood at 465 million euros and unused credit lines amounted to 120 million euros. The company was burning forty million euros in cash every month during the lockdown, which means that it is capable of surviving the crisis”.
Shame :(
ReplyDeleteI am actually surprised they cancelled Belgrade over winter, I thought they might make Belgrade work twice per week, for transfers and some direct pasengers (Greeks mostly).
ReplyDeleteSerbian citizens are not allowed to enter the EU yet and greeks coming from Serbia and North Macedonia need to go to quarantine.
DeleteTechnically they are allowed to enter the EU just not all countries.
DeleteOut of 27 member states, they can't enter 24.
DeleteThat's what the guy said, they can enter some.
DeleteWhich are the three?
Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria.
DeleteNo, Croatia, Bulgaria and Cyprus. You can't enter Slovenia without quarantine.
DeleteYou can only enter Slovenia if you have the passport or residency.
DeleteWith such good finances and cash on hand they could afford to keep flying at least to BEG.
ReplyDeleteThey have good finances exactly because they do not make decisions based on emotion or prestige. Unlike all other Balkan airlines...
DeleteAgree with Petar. Such actin strengthens the company’s cash shield and reduces overall costs.
DeleteA3's network is collapsing left and right.
DeleteMany airlines have announced plans to shrink network and operations.
DeleteTell us how is it "collapsing"?
DeleteCancellations all around, Berlin was butchered for example. Many other destinations were suspended last minute especially as Greece is on the verge of a new lockdown.
DeleteSooo... Like everyone/everywhere else?
DeleteSoooo... like, yes.
DeleteSoooooo.... every single airline of planet Earth is collapsing according to you.
DeleteLOL at the staff we read here!
@09:25 - typical bigotry comment whenever an airline stops serving BEG. A couple of months ago, you were referring to them as the best in the region.
DeleteNot sure if you know, but A3 is really one of Europe's best regional airlines. Not to mention their impressive domestic coverage and amazing service.
Bigotry? Lol ok
DeleteRelax. They'll be back and no one is hating them. Belgrade is the single biggest market in the region so they'll be back in no time.
You mean ex-Yu region, don't you?
DeleteYes, of course. it's an ex-YU blog after all.
DeleteI'm surprised at how profitable they are.
ReplyDeleteOuch
ReplyDeleteI guess we can conclude that TGD and SKP were their least profitable routes.
ReplyDeleteReally unfortunate about Skopje. It was such a big deal when these flights started.. and now they have no plans to return at all.
DeleteUnfortunately in the case of Skopje and Podgorica I don't see any airline stepping in to take over these routes.
DeleteMontenegro Airlines could from Podgorica.
DeleteWizz Air could try ATH from SKP.
DeleteSure. Yes it could fly... from Q400 to an A320. But it wont
Deleteif they can fly to LCA they can surely do to ATH ... even more so
DeleteYou can't drive to Cyprus but you can drive to Greece.
Deletethat's a bit extreme
ReplyDeleteThis is sad :(
ReplyDeleteOU should have made ZAG-ATH year round.
ReplyDeleteWhy? If there is no demand? Even Aegean didn't fly to Zagreb in November.
DeleteOf course it's completely different situation today and markets have changed, still it's interesting to know that EX-JAT had operated DAILY year-round on B727 BEG-DBV-ATH
DeleteWe have seen that there is market, even for 3 weekly flights by Aegean during the winter months last year. But OU has never operated direct flights to ATH from ZAG, it was always via DBV, hence never developed (similar to Rome) properly. OU first should have operated direct flights, before considering year-round. In fact, OU first should follow hub&spoke business model requirements and stop wasting its resources by feeding other carriers' hubs from its domestic markets.
DeleteOU should start making profit and become independent from taxpayers money every few years. (Not during cases like this). That can be with hub&spoke or p2p out of the coast. Both cases would be usefull for Croatia and its economy. It should just start making profit.
DeleteWinter is coming for all airports!
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised Sarajevo didn't work out pre pandemic.
ReplyDeleteMe too. They originally planned to increase frequencies from 2 to 4 this summer.
Deletecorona and travel bans
DeleteBut the suspension of Sarajevo was announced days before corona really hit Europe.
Deleteit was not
DeleteMarch 10
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/03/aegean-discontinues-sarajevo-service.html
Hopefully next year things return to normal.
ReplyDeleteA lot of airlines will be rethinking their route networks.
ReplyDeleteYes, but ATH-BEG will surely remain
DeleteNot surprising. ex-Yu routes are weakest as there are generally few business passengers and most are ticketed on cheap fares.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteA3 doesn't even offer business on BEG-ATH. I always found that weird - JU always had business pax.
DeleteBecause it's a Q400 so no business clas. It would be the same as if JU operated an ATR to Athens
DeleteNope, it's been an Airbus route for quite some time now.
DeleteAegean has been sending A320 for about three years now to Belgrade. It's nice to see them do well despite JU being much stronger on the market.
DeleteSo they won't be flying to ex-Yu for the first time in 10 years
ReplyDeleteWhat about Zadar? Didn't they fly there?
ReplyDeleteZAD was suspended well before corona.
DeleteI didn't realize. Thanks.
DeleteWas SKP operated with the Q400 or Airbus?
ReplyDeleteQ400
DeleteAll their routes outside of Serbia and Croatia were with the Q400.
DeleteDo they have any plans to retire those Dash planes?
DeleteQ400s are operated by Olympic
DeleteAnd no they have no plans to retire them at the moment.
DeleteThey were operating Airbuses completely to SPU, DBV, BEG, ZAG.
DeleteDamn corona
ReplyDeleteIt's unfortunate for these airport to loose a legacy carrier such as Aegean.
ReplyDelete*airports
DeleteHas Aegean suspended some other routes as well? Where do they plan to fly to?
ReplyDeleteThey fly to Cairo.
DeleteOf course they have. All airlines have suspended numerous routes.
DeleteSuch an ugly livery will not be missed.
ReplyDeleteIt will be missed by passengers. Their fares were at some point half the price of their competitions.
DeleteAegean was extremely expensive on BEG-ATH. JU was always cheaper.
DeleteHe is talking for transfers.
DeleteThe livery looks absolutely fine.
DeleteThe old one was much better.
DeleteIt's oversized and grotesque.
A mockery of design.
I don't understand the need to introduce a new livery each time a new plane joins the fleet.
DeleteI fly BEG-ATH and A3 was rarely more expensive than JU. Or to be precise - I have never encountered a cheaper JU ticket than what A3 was offer. Unless you were trying to book codeshare flights operated by JU - that codeshare is useless.
DeleteThere are some great prices right now on Air Serbia:
Deletehttps://www.airserbia.com/en/special-offers/fly-to-belgrade-and-beyond
Lol, comparing JU to A3 :) Comparing an airline that is operating A32N, has a fleet which is 5 times larger and winning the prestigious SkyTrax award for the Best Regional Airline in Europe for 2019:
Deletehttps://en.about.aegeanair.com/media-center/press-releases/2019/stathera-proti-i-aegean-stin-protimisi-toy-pagkosmioy-epibatikoy-koinoy/
But, who am I to disagree?
People were only comparing fares on the route. What does that have to do with awards or aircraft types????
DeleteYou might have missed the fact Aegean has a much larger market especially in summer when millions of tourist head to the Greek sea. Why do you think they have 3-4 A320s based in places like Rhodes or Heraklion?
Delete*Greek seas, three/four, depending how you count :)
DeleteAs far as i know, A3's fleet is nowhehere near five times larger but three times.
DeleteMost of it sits idle on the tarmac in winter.
Great portion of Aegean's pax are domestic pax.
Delete@13:38 ah, no?
DeleteFleet Size 51 Aircraft (+ 2 On Order/Planned)
Average Fleet Age 1 10.5 Years
Olympic fleet:
De Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 10
Average Fleet Age 1 14.5 Years
61 aircraft
Okay, it is almost 4.
We were talking about Aegean not about Olympic.
DeleteEven then, i don't know how 61/21=~4?
You mustn't be very good in maths.
Wrong again, Olympic air has 8 Dash-8-400, 2 ATR- 42-600, 2 DASH-8-100, and Aegean has another 41 a320-321 neos on order.
DeleteVery bad
ReplyDeleteI think we will be seeing poor passenger figures at ex-Yu airports all through winter.
ReplyDeleteseriously even FRA has -90% what do you expect?
DeleteAnd to think just last year they wanted to buy Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteNo A3 competition is good for JU as some people would say here, am I right?
ReplyDeleteIt may be good for JU but not for passengers.
DeleteThe good thin for JU is that Aegean's passengers to ZAG, TGD and SKP are being rerouted via BEG because of the codeshare.
DeleteJU operates the route now because of transfers. Aegean doesn't impact them at all.
DeleteAir Serbia operate just 4 weekly flights to Athens in this moment. In winter if would be even harder to sustain operations to Athens with much lower demand. So, it is not surprise that Aegean does not operate those flights.
ReplyDeleteHow much OU operates to Athens?
DeleteHahaha oh, that's rich. I can't wait for the Jan-Sep stats to be out so we can cycle back to that article/comment of yours.
DeleteIn this moment 2 per week
DeleteWhy is Zagreb important in Belgrade situation?
DeleteIf JU carries transfers from Athens, how does Aegean impact them in any way? There are local passengers until the Greek government ban is lifted. Honestly kudos to JU for even surviving in Greece right now. They also fly into SKG btw
DeletePurger you do realize that A3 and JU at the moment do not compete with each other on this market? Are you even aware of this? Remotely even?
DeleteIt's going to be a very quiet winter at our airports.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many years back we will go.
DeleteAt least JU increased LCA to two weekly now there is no ban.
Deletewell they dont let our citizens in their country why should they fly here empty
ReplyDeleteI think this is their first a321neo SX-NAA. Beautiful photo.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually SX-NEA. NEA = neo :)
DeleteNo, look closer it's a321neo
DeleteShame, such an awesome airline in itself with great connection options.
ReplyDeleteAt least it used to.
DeleteDoes Aegean continue to flt to SOF & OTP?
ReplyDeleteYes but they are EU countries.
DeleteYes, i know they are EU countries, but so is ZAG.
DeleteAnd so are Croatia and Hungary, but they will not operate flights simply due to lack of demand in winter.
DeleteThe interesting thing seems that FR is also downsizing ATH operations but A3 seem to try and linger to some destinations. OTP-ATH remains 6 weekly, BUD is being dropped off this winter, SOF remains 4 weekly. Almost the same as last year. This proves that sadly, ex-YU is not their strongest market throughout the whole year even though Greece remains a popular destination to Serbs but mostly in summer.
ReplyDeleteYeah, there is only a finite number of residents/relatives (with EU passports/visas) that can currently travel between BEG-ATH.
Deletegetting worse and worse for ex yu countries this winter !
ReplyDelete"Available cash reserves during the second quarter stood at 465 million euros and unused credit lines amounted to 120 million euros. The company was burning forty million euros in cash every month during the lockdown"
ReplyDelete465+120=585mil / 40m per month burn rate = 14.6 months. Starting at July (1st month of Q3), that gives them life until Sep 2021. If burn rate increases during slow 2020/21 winter they have less than a year. Moreover, 2019 travel levels won't be restored until 2023 or 2024. A3 will have to ask Greece for financial support or go out of business.
LOL!!! You think this is simple mathematics??!!! It is way more complicated, and believe me Aegean is not Croatia airlines or Air Serbia managed by the government.
DeleteMath is accurate enough to indicate A3 will need government subsidy or additional funding in less than a year. If you think otherwise please show us your calculation.
DeleteThis has nothing to do with your JU/OU.
Worst-case scenario they will need funds next year. However, they will be firing people this autumn, returning aircrafts to lessors as leases expire (hey, see, it's not bad now owning aircraft - you don't have to take care of it if you don't need it) and so on. So the monthly cash burn will be much less.
DeleteThe burn rate was 40 million a month during the second quarter when flights were grounded.
DeleteObviously now they fly and therefore hae reveneus to reduce part of that expenses.
I thin they are flying now around 60% of their regular schedule.