Turkish Airlines’ lower cost unit AnadoluJet has added its third new destination in the former Yugoslavia, with more expected in the coming weeks. After announcing plans to launch operations from Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport to both Sarajevo and Pristina in April and May respectively, the carrier will also enter the Macedonian market. AnadoluJet plans to introduce up to four weekly rotations between Antalya and Skopje starting June 3. Services will run from Thursday through to Sunday with the Boeing 737-800 aircraft. It faces no direct competition on the route and will be the only one linking the two cities with a scheduled air service.
Turkey is one of Skopje’s busiest markets. During the last normal year for commercial aviation, in 2019, a total of 7.147 passengers flew indirectly between the Macedonian capital and Antalya. Turkish Airlines handled 3.632 of those travellers via Istanbul. AnadoluJet mainly operated domestic flights within Turkey up until last year, with just two international routes served prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Having lower operating costs than its parent company, it replaced Turkish Airlines at Sabiha Gokcen Airport. It has now added over twenty new destinations to its network for the upcoming summer, with new routes being announced on an almost daily basis. AnadoluJet’s main bases are in Ankara and at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport.
Besides Skopje, within the former Yugoslavia, the airline will also be serving both Sarajevo and Pristina from Turkey’s largest city. Services to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital will commence on April 1 with three weekly rotations, while flights to Kosovo will start on May 10 and will also be maintained with three weekly flights. AnadoluJet will be in direct competition with low cost carrier Pegasus Airlines on the two routes. “AnadoluJet will continue to support the post-Covid-19 gradual recovery. We foresee a potential upside to international passengers, following the additional 15% seat capacity and configuration that AnadoluJet will bring: 189 seats compared to 165 seats in Turkish Airlines aircraft as well as improved aircraft utilisation from AnadoluJet’s business model”, the company said.
| Route | Launch date |
|---|---|
| Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen - Sarajevo | 01.04.2021 |
| Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen - Pristina | 10.05.2021 |
| Antalya - Skopje | 03.06.2021 |
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Good to see. Wonder which other routes will be added.
ReplyDeleteI am sure if there were no bilateral restrictions there would be more flights between BEG and SAW both with them and Pegasus. Would be cool to have them launch ESB-BEG but like I said, they are restricted until JU has at least 18 weekly to Turkey.
DeleteIt would be nice if they added Ljubljana.
DeleteI'd love to see Pegasus in LJU especially since TK and IST were the busiest in 2019
DeleteBelgrade - Antalya
DeleteSofia - Bodrum
Ohrid - Sabiha
Next ones
BEG-AYT could only work like charters, not scheduled flights. Anadolu used to operate those flights many years ago.
Delete@9.19 Sun Express is starting Antalya-Ljubljana this summer, so that's something.
DeleteWhat about Podgorica? Any chance they will start flights?
DeleteMaybe Tivat?
DeleteWould make sense.
DeleteConsidering TK has seemingly stopped IST-DBV, maybe they could use Anadollujet to start SAW-DBV.
DeleteThose flights were for transfers from Asia and the Middle East so I doubt we will see Anadoluejt starting those.
DeleteThey are really gong after Pegasus
ReplyDeleteLet's hope it can compete and we can get even better prices.
DeleteI think yields are not that great on SJJ-Turkey market. Yes, there is large volume but it seems like it's not out of this world. After all, KK tried this market back in the day and they failed. I wonder what the future of TK in SJJ will bring. I can see them focusing more on SAW since like that they could maximize their yields on the market.
ReplyDelete+1
DeletePegasus/Anadolu are desperately needed in ZAG!
ReplyDeleteAny LCC is badly needed in ZAG but despite recent announcements and alleged talks, I doubt
DeleteSame here, in the end I don't think anything major will happen. Maybe overpriced flights on EW from a few more places. In my opinion top LCC priority for ZAG is the following:
DeleteZAG-DTM W6
ZAG-BVA W6
ZAG-DUB FR
ZAG-SAW PG
ZAG-EIN W6
ZAG-MMX W6
ZAG-LGW U2
That would be very nice but I'm not holding my breath.
DeleteExcept for SJJ, what flight times are these? For P2P travellers this is insane and a horror.
ReplyDeleteExactly what I was thinking. What's with these red eye flights???
DeleteAnadolu has a morning wave from 06.40 to 08.00 so these flights are for connections as well.
DeleteWhere do they fly to. I mean which cities can passengers connect to?
DeleteAs for AYT-SKP, this will be used by tourists who are not very picky about flight times. Also it allows them to fly after working the whole day so they save up on time. It will do well like most routes out of SKP.
Delete@9.14
Deletehttps://www.anadolujet.com/en/corporate/flight-network
They still haven't added all the new routes.
Is this first non seasonal ex-yu flight to/from Antalya?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure its gonna be seasonal.
DeleteI don't think so, in the past JU usually has flights to AYT until middle of November which is way past the summer season. However, ex-YU can do a bit better with seaside destinations. I think it's only BEG that has flights to places like Hurgada and Tunis outside the summer months. I always thought these could do well from LJU in winter.
DeleteI said and previously that they will open more then 30 new routes from Sabiha rumors are that Turkish Government want to take the leading position of Pegasus from Sabiha.
ReplyDeleteAnadolu is opening also many new routes from Ankara
It's really unfortunate. In most ex-Yu markets Pegasus is the only alternative to Turkish and now they are trying to kill it.
DeleteTK is horrible if you are O&D passenger. In Belgrade they might have a sale now and then but tickets are rarely under €200. Some friends of mine who live in Istanbul said that flying them to Europe is usually more than €300. Pegasus is also fantastic if you are O&D, basic service but low fares.
DeleteWhat kind of service does Anadolujet have? Is it LCC?
ReplyDeleteIt's like a low cost version of Turkish but it's not really low cost in terms of fares. You do get a free snack though.
DeleteThanks. What about luggage?
DeleteIt depends on your ticket price, but the cheapest tickets gives you 15kg of checked in baggage plus 8kg carryon.
DeleteAlso regarding food, packaged cake, sandwich, juice and bottled water are served free of charge for flights exceeding two hours. Because of corona, only bottled water is served on flights of less than 2 hours.
DeleteHope Pegsasus can withstand the competition on these routes. They offer great fares and good transfer options.
ReplyDeleteEspecially to the Middle East
DeleteGood to see more and more new routes.
ReplyDeleteSkopje - Antalya with Anadolu 480 euro one way
ReplyDeleteCrazy prices I guess they are sold only for travel agencies
wow that's an outrageous price!
DeleteLike anon at 11.49 said, it's probably because they are selling them to tour operators.
DeleteDisgusting prices!!!
DeleteIt is possible that they just released the fares and have only loaded higher subclasses. Prices will probably be normal in a few days.
DeleteMore likely that 98% of the plane is reserved for tour groups and the other 2% are in free sale.
DeleteI agree with the comments above. For the most part the prices and the scheduling are terrible.
ReplyDeleteIt's for tourists and tour groups. Red eyes are normal.
DeleteIt's for tourists and tour groups. Red eyes are normal.
DeleteGood luck to them
ReplyDeleteIs there really any demand from SKP to AYT? TK and PC already have coverage.
ReplyDeleteSKP needs another German or Swedish connection. There are currently 11 German cities connected to it which clearly indicates that demand is needed. STR, LEJ, DRS to begin with...
Of course there is demand. You have the statistics in the article.
DeleteThat is a heathy number. Were there also nonstop flights between Antalya and Skopje too?
DeleteI think only charters
Delete60k pax in the summer of 2019 (on direct charters).
DeleteIn August it was the most busy route with 18k
Fantastic news
ReplyDeleteThey'll add more routes for sure.
ReplyDeleteThere is a big market between Turkey and ex-Yu countries.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that most of Europe will be closed to non EU citizens this summer, Turkeu will only benefit.
ReplyDelete**turkey
DeleteEven more TK dominance on ex-Yu markets.
ReplyDeleteThey will start 16 May for SKPAYT flight. Pls check gds
ReplyDeletefrom the flying time they look like charter program to me. Most of the Antalya charters go in the middle of the night
ReplyDelete