Low cost carrier Ryanair intends on restoring the majority of its operations in the former Yugoslavia by June and will launch several new routes. It has also reinstated plans to open a seasonal summer base in Zadar by stationing one aircraft in the city. The airline recently announced it would commence new operations from Vienna to Niš in July in order to replace its terminated Bratislava service. The no frills airline also plans to resume operations from Bergamo and Malta to the south-east Serbian city in May. Elsewhere, the carrier will launch its new Vienna - Banja Luka route in June, and has restored plans to introduce flights from Bergamo to Banja Luka, which were initially to launch in 2020. This new service is set to begin on July 3. Overall, all of Banja Luka’s Ryanair flights will, at this point, be restored through May and June.
Plans to re-establish a base in Zadar in 2020 was derailed by the coronavirus pandemic, however, the airline now plans to station an Airbus A320 aircraft from its subsidiary Lauda Europe on the Croatian coast from July. Initial plans for last year were to see three of the airline’s jets based in Zadar. The A320 from Lauda Europe will operate alongside Ryanair’s B737-800 aircraft which will be deployed on certain routes from other bases. As a result, the low cost airline will introduce new flights from Naples to Zadar in June, while the Zadar-based Lauda aircraft will maintain services to Marseilles, Memmingen, Berlin, Weeze, Beauvais, Krakow, Wroclaw and Gothenburg. Overall, Ryanair will operate 1.662 flights from the Croatian city this summer (both directions included).
Commenting on Ryanair’s operations in Zadar, the airport’s General Manager, Josip Klišmanić, told EX-YU Aviation News recently, “Ryanair closed its base in Zadar in 2018. However, despite not having aircraft stationed in Zadar in 2019, it saw passenger growth of 42.5% compared to the previous year. The end result does not ultimately define whether a certain destination is a base or not, but it certainly has a positive effect on the prospects of future growth”. He added, “As was previously announced, in 2020, Ryanair intended on stationing three A320 aircraft in Zadar operated by its subsidiary Lauda. However, Covid-19 made it impossible for these plans to materialise. Zadar Airport is logistically prepared to provide services to stationed aircraft and we are certain this will occur”.
Let's hope these don't get delayed
ReplyDeleteYes. Let's hope it doesen't end up like Wizz Air's various expansion in ex-Yu in last few months.
Deleteryanair didnt have a single flight to most of the exyu airports.
DeleteYes but at least they didn't promise routes and then cancel them, like Wizz.
DeleteFantastic news for Zadar. It will make sure recovery is ensured.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think Zadar is in a very good position now. Had corona not happened in 2020 they would have handled over a million passengers.
DeleteIt would be the fourth airport in Croatia with 1+ million passengers.
DeleteI'm surprised they will actually restart all routes to BNX.
ReplyDeleteNot just restart but launch two new ones too.
DeleteShame on Ryanair for 0 flights to Zagreb. No excuses.
ReplyDeleteAgree. If not Ryanair I really hope ZAG can get some major LCC start flights,
DeleteWhy shame?
DeleteThey clearly prefer to operate routes with higher profit margins than they could get in ZAG.
If FR had flights to ZAG they wouldn't be least profitable in Ryanair network.
DeleteIt is laughable to see weak OU fly to Ryanair fortress Dublin yet they can't do anything to respond and beat them.
If ZAG and OU found a secret formula to make potential Ryanair flights to ZAG unprofitable, than dozens of other airports could use it to kick out Ryanair in favor of flag carriers or other airlines.
Now have a look at how much state aid has Ryanair received from Irish government in the last 20 years and how much has OU from Croatian one.
DeleteYes but FR receives a lot of incentives from airports.
DeleteIt is not the incentives that distinguish this unique airline from the others, but the money the governmental bodies (tourist board, city council, tourism office, you name it) pay under the name of "marketing campaign". Sometimes it is naming of an aircraft after the city for a couple million euros, sometimes it is advertisement on inflight magazine or on overhead bins, or having the city's name on their website. That's where they raise an important portion of their revenue, which others cannot.
DeleteCannot, or are unwilling to?
DeleteAre they going to start flights again Stansted to gothenburg
DeleteNaples-Zadar seems like a bit of an odd route. Anyone care to explain the rationale?
ReplyDeleteTourism and there are people from Dalmatia who work in Italy or need to go there for some business. You also have routes like Split-Palermo, Venice, Naples, Bari, Ancona.
DeleteI see, didn't know that. Thank you.
DeleteMany Italians go on holiday to Croatia.
DeleteGreat news
ReplyDeletein this day and age it's always good to read about new routes/bases being launched.
ReplyDeleteWill the seasonal base in Zadar have local Croatian crew like in the past or not?
ReplyDeleteI don't think it will be local crew. The base will pretty much be operational for 3 months or so.
DeleteRyanair would pay foreign crew a hotel to serve flights out of Zadar. Somehow doubt it.
DeleteThey wouldn't pay the hotel, just as they don't pay it in any other base.
DeleteWell done
ReplyDeleteWhich other routes from Ryanair network could work from Banja Luka?
ReplyDeleteBade Baden, Weeze, Eindhoven and Billund are possibilities in my oppinion.
DeleteStockholm was their best performing route to BNX. Unfortunate they have to cut it.
DeleteWhy did they end it if it was successful?
DeleteStockholm base has been closed. All Ryan routes from there were terminated.
DeleteHopefully the launch BVA.
DeleteWe can exclude Billund, because it is not their base. Potential new routes could be: Prague, Paris Beauvais, Cologne, Weeze, Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden, Athens and Thessaloniki as summer routes, Rome and Barcelona
DeleteOut of those I think Paris has best chance of success with a B737 or A320.
DeleteWho will fly during the pandemic
ReplyDeleteLife goes on
DeleteI've flown 12 segments since the start of the pandemic, and would've flown a lot more if not for the insane and illogical limitations imposed by bureaucrats. So there's a lot of pent-up demand, it's just being artificially limited.
DeleteLike Vlad says main issue are all these restrictions, not people not wanting to travel.
DeleteHope it will work.
ReplyDeleteTheir return to Nis seems to be very slow. Unlike Banja Luka they don't plan to resume all routes.
ReplyDeleteI guess they have more competition there. It is more difficult to make things work.
DeleteNot to forget that part of the competition there is heavily subsidised.
DeleteTrue, but also Ryanair is subsidiesed from Banja Luka.
DeleteCan't really compare the two.
DeleteI'm not sure if it's true or not but I heard that Ryanair has a tendering process where airports actually send in their bids to them. If it is that's quite crazy.
DeleteDoubt it works that way.
DeleteIs there any route that could work for Ryan from Zadar outside of summer?
ReplyDeleteI don't see any of their routes working outside of summer. All are there for tourists.
DeleteThere is not much demand outside summer.
DeleteWhy is Croatia Airlines completely disinterested in Zadar? They barely have any flights.
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines is disinterested not only in Zadar but in anything that benefits croatian aviation. All they are interested in is feeding LH, uhljebljivanje podobnih, and material and non material benefits for "competent management"
DeleteYou could make a suggestion how they could do it in terms of aircraft positioning and availabiliy for a few months. That might be a reason. ZAD-SPU are a bare 80km distance.
Delete09:21
DeleteActually is opposite. They fly even international routes out of ZAD which is totally nonsense for a legacy carrier which has focus city 150 km near ZAD and a hub 200km near ZAG.
What international routes they fly from Zadar?
DeleteFrankfurt 2 per week A319, seasonal.
DeleteLike Pozdrav says it's a feeder route. And it's one single route. Did they fly any others before?
DeleteCongratulations Zadar! This is fantastic news.
ReplyDeleteIs that Banja Luka Airport in the photo?
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteBad news, keep Ryanair out. They are doing a lot of long term damage to the aviation industry!
ReplyDeleteYes by giving thousands of people the opportunity to fly and increasing tourism numbers in places most people have never heard of.
DeleteI'm not a Ryanair fan but I agree that small airports for whose name most people have never heard of - example - Nis, Banja Luka - should pay them to fly there. If you want to get tourists you will have to give money to Ryanair to put it on the map.
DeleteJust keep away from LJU please.
DeleteYes because LJU has so much going for it at the moment...
DeleteYeah becouse LJU doesnt need airlines, more routes..
DeleteIn 2011 Ljubljana Airport proposed for Ryanair to start flights out of Dusseldorf, Madrid, Oslo and London to LJU.
DeleteThis would be great. All those destinations proposed in 2011 would still make a lot of sense today.
DeleteManchester or Liverpool would be good.
DeleteFor an airport like LJU its very dangerous to go to bed with Ryanair. Once they have a monopoly they will begin demanding. History has shown. Ryanair at big airports works only if there is strong competition or if the airport pays.
DeleteMore airlines and routes will come when LJU gets rid of its incompetent management. Also i think dublin and barcelona were added to oslo, madrid, dusseldorf and london proposal, but im not sure.
DeleteRyanair base in LJU for who? Slovenia is a small market, no diaspora and we don't want to have mass tourism. It would be really hard to fill 189 seat airplane few times a week to Vaxjo or Memmingen for example. Or Girona, Valencia, Hahn, Porto, or any other such airport. For those few flying with Ryanair you have a lot of flights from Treviso. Considering driving time, additional costs and all the hassle with Ryanair I'm more than happy with possibility to go almost everywhere in Europe with LH group from LJU for around 150€.
DeleteLJU would be reborn with Ryanair.
DeleteAnon 14:49
DeleteFraport disagrees with that.
10:13
DeleteMarket is not too small, it's just a lot of people flying from other close airports because it's cheaper. Most of the people I know uses Treviso or Venice Marco Polo eventho Ljubljana is closer (talking about pre-pandemic) and would be happy if there were Ryanair flying from LJU.
What can be done to deter people from using nearby airports and using Ljubljana instead?
DeleteAlso I think if LJU started working with an LCC it could attract some passengers from Zagreb as well.
DeleteI wish Ryanair good luck and a lot of pax! I hope to see further growth from other airports in ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteMe too!
DeleteBravo Hrvatska!
ReplyDeleteI hope they eventually open a base in INI.
ReplyDeleteNo chance due to government support for JU.
DeleteThey are shrinking operations from INI so I don't think a base is on the cards.
Delete3 year agreement on 1 euro charges is expiring at INI. We will see how it affects LCCs there.
DeleteIt's actually a 3 euro charge, not 1.
DeleteLanding and take offs 0.75 euros
DeleteGround handling 1.25 euros
Passenger service 1 euro.
Of course all of these are per passenger. So if a plane has 100 passengers they get 300 euros from the airline.
Deletecannot believe they stil avoid VIE-BEG/SKP
ReplyDeleteBoth of the airports are too expensive for their cost structure.
DeleteClearly, this seems like a very good year for BiH. BNX and SJJ will see more routes. and hoping to see more happening in TZL and OMO. 4 international airports for a country with current population and economy is definitely something. Way to go, Bosnia!
ReplyDeleteTrue, impressive
DeleteI hope Ryan will launch Mostar. They were in talks for some time.
DeleteMostar Airport is dead unfortunately.
DeleteRyanair definitely has to start flights from OHD (or SKP). They can do very well in OHD from everywhere since it's becoming a popular touristic place and they can use the Macedonian and Albanian diaspora too.
ReplyDeleteThey wanted to fly to Skopje a few years ago. They were chased away by Wizz and a fixed tender for them.
DeleteNew routes to/from Osijek?
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how people respond to MAX aircraft. Boeing doubled down with a huge order, getting probably yhr biggest discount ever.
ReplyDeleteI really doubt many people in ex-Yu will know if they are flying with a 737 MAX.
Deleteor have ever heard of a 737 max.
DeleteI hope it all goes pear shape
ReplyDeleteWhat a rip off company
Takes money for flights
Does not refund a penny