Low cost carrier Ryanair has pushed back the resumption of its flights to Niš Constantine the Great Airport until March 2021 after the airline announced it would cut winter capacity from the initially planned 60% to 40% due to increased flight restrictions and weaker bookings. Furthermore, the budget carrier has decided to terminate operations between Bratislava and Niš. The low cost airline now plans to restore services from Bergamo to the south-east Serbian city on March 2, followed by Malta on March 5, while operations from Berlin will be reestablished on March 28. “While we deeply regret these winter schedule cuts, they have been forced upon us by government mismanagement of European Union air travel”, Ryanair said. The majority of Serbian citizens are still unable to enter most EU-member states.
Niš Airport has seen a significant decline in traffic as a result of the pandemic. Air Serbia has restored just part of its network from the city - to Hahn, Hanover and Nuremberg - while Wizz Air continues to maintain the majority of its flights from Niš, with exception to Vienna, which will resume in December, and Malmo in March 2021. During the first three quarters of the year, Constantine the Great Airport handled 136.811 passengers, representing a decrease 53.7% on the same period in 2019. The number of aircraft operations stood at 849, down 34.4%.
In addition to delaying its return to Niš, Ryanair will also push back the resumption of most of its flights to Banja Luka. The airline will delay the launch of new flights from Vienna to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest city until March 28, while its planned new route from Bergamo has been terminated. The resumption of its flights from Charleroi, planned for next weekend, will not go ahead, however, the service is yet to be rescheduled. The carrier will launch its new route from Gothenburg to Banja Luka on October 25, as initially planned.
Good thing there is Wizz from Nis.
ReplyDeleteJU as well.
Delete:(
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting they will keep GOT-BNX as their only route to Banja Luka. And it's new.
ReplyDeleteAdvanced booking are probably good.
DeleteGasto heavy route
DeleteAll of their routes from BNX are "gasto heavy"
DeleteWow
DeleteUnfortunate. I hope they resume all of their flights eventually.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't seem Bratislava will be back.
DeleteIt makes sense considering the market is outside of the EU and is still affected by various travel bans.
ReplyDeletePity :(
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.
DeleteWhy wouldn't it? Signed contracts are not cancelled by coronavirus.
Deletethey can be paused
DeleteThe decline in traffic isn't as big as I expected.
ReplyDeleteBecause it had a big January and February (Air Serbia routes). October, November and December will be significantly worse because AIr Serbia had already started its new routes this time last year.
DeleteI see. Thanks
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
DeleteGood news for Wizz from INI
ReplyDeleteJU should expand in INI
ReplyDeleteIn these conditions? Are you serious?
Deletethey are shrinking their network in INI and its a wise decision
DeleteThey are not shrinking their network, they just haven't restarted all routes yet. If you looked around and saw the situation you would understand why.
Deletethe situation is of course clear but beside the 3 routes they are flying now JU plans to resume SZG end of March plus Tivat in June. thats about it
DeleteThey simply have not scheduled the rest yet.
DeleteTaking in consideration all the circumstances this is more than expected.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThis is expected.
DeleteNot sure what more than expected means.
Try to figure out
DeleteIs it me or does Niš seem to have an amazing LF this year?
ReplyDeleteit is probably you ;)
DeleteI flew LJU-INI-LJU before covid and we were 35 and 45 passenger on 150-seater
DeleteThat's the point of PSO. They are unprofitable but are subsidised to boost tourism, economy, link people etc
Deletethis PSO is not so high to let the aircrafts fly empty.
DeleteYou conclude all aircraft are empty based on one flight by one passenger, and you know their revenue without knowing their cost structure on these flights, the amount money they get per flight or anything else. Nice
DeleteRoutes out of Nis are not PSO. PSO contracts have EU rules and are only made in EU countries. This is just a high subsidy which somehow got name "PSO".
DeleteAnon 13:09
DeleteUsually bad loads were reported on some flights out of Nis by Air Serbia.
The reason for giving the subsidy is the same as EU PSO. And just because the EU has it does not mean other countries are not allowed. You have them across the world. I guess subaidising Zagreb-Dubrovnik in the middle of summer is not a high subsidy. Don't be a snob.
Delete@ Anonymous15:54
DeleteYeah I tend to trust anonymous posters on aviation sites who magically have Air Serbia's PNR in front of them, in order to make ny conclusion.
@15.58 they dont have their PNR but luckily the nr's for the german routes are publicily viewable (if you know german) and only those were reported here. having said that if you are interested in the latest August numbers for INI routes just tell me ... they are not high though
DeleteGood then you should be happy no?
DeleteYeah it's unbelivable to think loads are light at the moment from a place like Niš. I mean, nevermind Croatia Airlines is suspending flights from Zagreb to Munich or that Austrian is ending flights, we should be excited that Air Serbia has a low load factor from Niš.
DeleteAnon 15:55
DeleteReason is not the same because original PSO is only for domestic flights, not for international ones. Also you should understand that you cannot make PSO only for one part of the year but for a whole year. So you have how much is given to an airline every year. For domestic flights in Croatia in worths about 10 million € yearly, in Serbia for flights out of Nis also about 10 million yearly. While out of Nis you had about 23 weakly flights during the summer season, OU operated 90 weakly. So it is not wrong to call JUs flights out of Nis an expensive subsidy.
The Nis subsidy is actually 5 million per year, not 10. So get your facts straight first.
Delete"Air Serbia will be the beneficiary of five million euros per year over the next five years in order to maintain the flights."
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2019/05/air-serbia-to-launch-twelve-routes-from.html
PSO in EU also allows international flights within EU, and some airlines have it and use it.
Also tell me what are the frequency of the Croatia Airlines flights in winter?
You are right im wrong about the amount but still is expensive for 23 weakly flights in summer and 20 in winter. OU usually operates 50 or more weakly flights during the winter season in Croatia.
DeleteIt is completely logical that it is more money in proportion to the frequencies. There is a difference in fees between Osijek Airport and Fiumicino. I'm certain all the fees for OU are much lower at Croatian airports compared to the destinations JU flies to from Nis. On top of that the distance between Nis and Salzburg, Rome or Ljubljana is much bigger than between Zagreb and Dubrovnik or Split. Everything is relative.
DeleteArent fees at ZAG among the highest in Europe?
DeleteNo, and definitely not for Croatia Airlines.
DeleteYes they are. No LCC wants to fly there because of high fees.
DeleteVery fragile the situation
ReplyDeleteI'd rather have these flights delayed than suspended
ReplyDeletePoor Banja Luka. It finally catches a break and now this.
ReplyDeleteif you have followed the BTS fares you could have wondered how they kept it so long to be honest
ReplyDeleteI think Wizz Air simply crushed them with the Vienna flights.
Deletethinking in the same way tbh
DeleteWhat about the staff during
Deletewinter months ?
What staff?
DeleteCabin crews. Grouded fleet.
DeleteFR said they need at least 70% LF to be flying at around break even or small loss.
ReplyDeleteRyanair has closed many bases due to Covid. I mean they just announced they are shutting down Cork from which they have 23 routes.
ReplyDeleteNot much the airport can do in these circumstances.
ReplyDeleteThey will come back sooner or later
ReplyDeleteDo not rely on FR. Hope they can survive after the crisis. Pretty much the same for W6
ReplyDeleteLCCs fly only if it makes financial sense. That's why they suspend routes at short notice.
DeleteIs there any indicating when Italy will lift that ailly flight ban. Not surprising they suspend flights which they can't even operate.
ReplyDelete*indication
Deleteailly?
Delete*silly
Deletecannot see the date for Bergamo on their webpage
ReplyDelete"its planned new route from Bergamo has been terminated."
Deleteyes but the question was for Nis-Bergamo
DeleteNot surprised at all about Bratislava. The route was dead the second Wizz Air started flying to Vienna.
ReplyDeleteIt also could be done to protect JU in INI. After all, the trend is quite similar in the capital BEG. Serbian interests come first before the Irish ones, which is understandable.
DeleteWhat rubbish are you on about? Wizz Air's Nis-Vienna flight which directly impacts Nis-Bratislava is a demonstration of "Serbian interests coming first"? Whatever. Tip: take a map and try to find Bratislava and Vienna on it. Tip 2: try to find out how many Serbs live in Vienna and how many in Bratislava.
DeleteRyanair still flies to Montenegro .
ReplyDeleteDont tell me these flights have better loadfactors ...
And why is that hard to believe? That a European capital city whose national carrier is serving 5 destinations once to 3 times per week at the moment (except for Serbia) has a better lf than a secondary city.
DeleteAny idea if and when Ryanair are likely to resume flights to Amman from Malta?
ReplyDelete