Turkish Airlines’ regional brand AnadoluJet will commence a two weekly service between Ankara and Belgrade this December, the Serbian Ambassador to Turkey, Zoran Marković, has announced. Ticket sales are expected to commence soon. "This is a significant milestone, not only from a commercial standpoint and for a further increase in the already vibrant and ever-growing exchange in tourists, but also for relations between our two nations and deeper interaction between our people", Mr Marković said. He added, “We hope the initial two weekly rotations will grow in the coming period with more frequencies. The new route will open fresh opportunities for both Turkish and Serbian citizens to appreciate the kinship and common historical and social links that go back centuries”. The Ambassador noted the two countries are in discussions over the introduction of passport-free travel.
During the pre-pandemic 2019, a total of 10.787 passengers flew indirectly between Ankara and Belgrade on a single itinerary. It was Belgrade Airport’s twelfth busiest unserved route that year. In the pandemic-stricken 2020, a further 4.078 travellers flew between the two capital cities. Of those, Turkish Airlines handled 52% via its hub in Istanbul. Air Serbia codeshares on its Turkish counterpart’s flights between Istanbul and Ankara. AnadoluJet operates a fleet of 52 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which have the capacity to seat 180 passengers. Visitors from Turkey are among the most common amongst tourists in Serbia.
The Turkish capital has not been served from Belgrade up until now. At one point, Qatar Airways maintained its flights from Doha to Belgrade via Ankara, however, it did not have fifth freedom rights to sell tickets between the two cities, despite attempting to do so. Turkish Airlines filed for slots at Belgrade Airport to launch a two weekly service between the two capital cities this summer, however, in the end decided against introducing the service. AnadoluJet planned to launch seasonal operations between Antalya and Belgrade this summer but was not issued a permit by the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate due to a stringent bilateral air service agreement in place between the two countries. However, Ambassador Marković noted that the two nations reached a joint agreement for the new AnadoluJet service to be launched.
I'm surprised this route hasn't been introduced earlier. Good news
ReplyDeleteMissed opportunity for Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteThey could have even flown this route with the ATR.
DeleteYes, but they already had no planes to fly some routes so I doub that they could fly the route.
DeleteThat would be one long ride, longer than Prague. A319 would make the flight in 01.40 so an ATR would be over 2 hours while block would be 02.30.
DeleteI didn't realize the distance was so big
DeleteIstanbul block time is 01.40 and that's on a jet aircraft.
Delete@09,57
DeleteWould you like to enlighten us with what routes JU doesn't operate because they don't have the aircraft?
BEG is on fire, can't wait to see it's growth once COVID restrictions are over.
ReplyDeleteAndolu is part of Turkish airlines?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteYes, they have the same flight numbers. It's just a specialized brand. Like Aviolet was to Air Serbia.
DeleteLow-cost brand of Turkish
DeleteIt isn't now cost. Neither service wise or price wise.
DeleteNo. It has been part of Turkish Airlines since it was founded in 2008.
DeleteGDS categorizes AnadoluJet as Turkish Airlines. Doesn't make a difference between the two. It's the same company.
DeleteFlying with them for sure feels low cost, average 737 only fleet age is 16years, cabins are outdated and cramped. They receive retired TK boeings. In my experience Pegasus was much better in the same line SAW - AYT, ticket price was the same.
DeleteAnon 9:07,
DeleteThere is a clear difference in service/product. Cabin configuration is also different. Prices are not that much different but then again, there is no Ryanair-like company in Turkey. Lowcosters only offer lower end service, whereas prices are very close to TK.
Prices closes to TK, not exactly true. I flew AYT-SAW 3 months ago on Pegasus for 22 euros OW while cheapest TK ticket was 90, bought one week in advance only
DeleteTo fly to Antalya in July for 22 euro is a best buy, even if it's one way and zero luggage. Never thought it could be that affordable.
DeleteIt was beginning August, all other agree, I was also surprised and shocked with the price, and I travelled light, no checked luggage, but let me surprise you once again - all flypgs prices are with checked luggage included. And they operate AYT to SAW like 10 times per day, during summer season of course
DeleteDomestic flights in Turkey are quite cheap in general. Even those VERY touristy once like kayseri (cappadocia) or Antalya.
DeleteSkopje should be next I think with flights to Ankara...
ReplyDeleteThat's not good for JU.
ReplyDeleteAnd what possible issue could this create for JU, which does not fly to Ankara and which barely handled any transfers to Ankara via Istanbul?
DeleteHow is it not good for JU when they never even flew there?
DeleteAnother missed oportunity for JU. It will be very dificult for them to enter this market now.
DeleteDon't feed the troll.
DeleteAnkara has a population of 5.6 million!
DeleteJU should have tried to enter that market.
Petar nam pokazuje zavidan nivo neznanja. Nije ni svestan da izmedju Srbije i Turske postoji restriktivni bilateral pa ne može JU tek tako da proba da leti. Time što je Anadolu dobio dozvolu za ovo sigurno je balansirano nekom dozvolom za Er Srbiju, kako što je ekskluzivnost na vrlo profitabilne čartere itd.
DeleteПоштовани Анон 09.31 немојте се брукати. Билатерални споразум је заснован на реципрочности што значи да мора постојати баланс између две стране. Како ТК лети 14 пута недељно а Пегаз 4, то значи да ЈУ има права на 18 недељних летова ка Турској. Они су од тога искористили свега 7 што користе за Истанбул.
DeleteАнадолуџет је добио дозволу уз благослов ЈУ. Постоји неписано правило да Турци не улазе на чартер тржиште али зато имају права да повећавају летове и капацитет по жељи на редовним линијама. Зато и имају толико већи број недељних летова а и то је разглог зашто је ТК слао А333 овог лета.
Is reciprocity determinated on weekly level? I didn't know that, thought the balance must be reached at yearly level.
DeleteBasically each designated airline has to agree to any changes in flights. That's what the bilateral says.
Delete@09,09
DeleteJU can't serve every market, nor should it have 100% of flights out of BEG.
Frequencies are down all over the JU network due to the pandemic, while aircraft are being returned to conserve cash (end of lease, expensive leases...) until the next summer season ie transfer options is not great at the moment. Once the airline starts growing again, so will opportunities. Turkey is a large country with a large diaspora, tourism between the 2 countries is growing, as well as business. There will always be opportunities for growth in flights between Turkey and Serbia.
Anon @10:05 Naravno da mora biti balans, to sam već napisao u 9:31. Nije sve u broju letova. Recimo Er Srbija je godinama bila bitku za bolja vremena na starom IST. To što je Er Srbija pristala na ovo znači da će biti ustupaka sa druge strane koji će biti dobri za JU. To je suština, a ne da je ovo Not good for JU što neko svaki dan pokušava da plasira.
DeleteУ суштини ЈУ је фокусирана на чартере током лета јер су им ту озбиљне паре. Оно шта ме сада радује је да им ИСТ одлично иде. Попуњеност је у просеку око 80% и то су углавном локалци. Јако је лепо што имају одређена тржишта која им хронично иду добро.
DeleteI'm quite surprised by the demand on this route.
ReplyDeleteMe too. I'm sure there is demand for several Turkish cities.
DeleteVeliki je broj turista iz Istanbula u Beogradu. Tako da se verovatno očekuje i iz Ankare slično + određeni broj sigurnih putnika iz Novog Pazara koji su vrlo povezani sa tom regijom. Sasvim dovoljno da se napune 2x nedeljno
DeleteYear round flights to Antalya or at least seasonal scheduled flights would make sense. Izmir too.
DeleteWell Anadolujet wanted to introduce seasonal scheduled flights from Antalya to Belgrade this summet. They even started ticket sales but then CAD didn't approve their permit so Air Serbia wouldn't lose passengers on charters.
DeleteAs for year round flights I don't see the point of it. Who would go to Antalya in winter?
DeleteWho would go to Antalya in winter? Same people who go on Malta, Cyprus, GC etc in winter. Antalya has a mild and relatively warm summer.
DeleteWho would go to Antalya in winter? Same people who go on Malta, Cyprus, GC etc in winter. Antalya has a mild and relatively warm summer.
DeleteNice addition :)
ReplyDeleteGood news. Especially for winter when there are fewer flights
ReplyDeleteDid JU ever fly to Ankara? And by that I mean Jat?
ReplyDeleteNope.
DeleteBilateral between the two countries has always been strict. Before the current one was signed a few years ago, which is also strict, the previous one dates fron the 197os.
Delete@13,09
DeleteI think the old agreement was older, at the time when Yugoslavia was FNRJ, in the 1950's.
Does Anadolujet offer some connections via Ankara? Is it possible to buy connecting flights with them?
ReplyDeleteYes and yes.
DeleteThey fly a lot of domestic routes from Ankara plus a few international ones like Tbilisi, Aman and Baku. You can also buy Anadolujet operated flights and Turkish Airlines operated flight on the same ticket.
DeleteYes but TK only flies to Istanbul from Ankara, so you won't get a lot of transfer options with TK mainline :D
DeleteAnadolu flies to a few Western European cities from Ankara too - Vienna, Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin and Amsterdam.
DeleteWhy would someone from Belgrade transfer through Ankara to reach those destinations?
DeleteWhy would you travel from Belgrade to Ankara in order to go to Vienna or Berlin?
DeleteIt is a huge backtracking.
I didn't say anyone would, I was just listing the destinations they fly to.
DeleteWe will see what their scheduling will be. Maybe it doesn't conveniently connect onto anything. I think their main aim here is to get point to point passengers.
DeleteBest part about ESB is that you can connect to the regional network thus avoiding the massive airport in IST.
DeleteWell at least the CAD won't block them.
ReplyDeleteIt only required stone-age inter government negotiations for route to be agreed.
DeleteThese types of negotiations are still quite normal. Look at all the negotiations EU as a block does with other countries over flight right and frequencies.
DeleteWe should join the open skies treaty in Europe like non EU members have like Switzerland and Norway do.
DeleteWe are part of it. But that does not apply to two non EU countries like Serbia and Turkey.
Delete@09,32
DeleteCanada must also be in the stone age. 2 pw was the best they could offer on flights between Serbia and Canada. Not to mention other countries with airlines wanting to increase flights to Canada. Just an example.
EU members also restrict foreign airlines access to their markets ie Germany, Poland, France, Netherlands. All countries in the stone age.
We also have Australia, India...and the list goes on.
Would have preferred Turkish Airlines but ok
ReplyDeleteThey only fly IST from ESB.
DeleteIt's interesting that Turkish Airlines has relegated everything in Ankara to Anadolujet.
DeleteAnadoloujet has lower costs and Pegasus had a large Ankara presence. They couldn't make enough money with their mainline service. They used to have it once upon a time, I think around 2010.
DeleteI think this is swap-deal. Due to strict air service agreement, DCV has now issue permit for Anadolu service to Belgrade in expected exchange for Turkish permit for JU flights from INI and KVO to IST.
ReplyDeleteMy 2 cents...
Yes you are right. That makes sense
Delete+1
DeleteI doubt it. Turkish airline companies don't have the aircraft for KVO, so INI remains the only option for them currently. Serbia could also give Turkish carriers access to KVO as well knowing it's useless to them.
DeleteIn INI, JU "won" a rigged government tender for flights of "importance" for connecting Nis with the world, so JU is tied up on global hubs such as Hahn, Baden-Baden and Friedrichshafen and not Turkish villages such as Istanbul. I don't see that changing anytime soon.
@JATBEGMEL +1000
Delete@ JATBEGMEL
DeleteI meant quite opposite. Swap is made for JU: A319 to IST from INI and AT7 from KVO.
Regarding famous PSO from INI, it is already available in media it is mulled-off.
@15,45
DeleteI doubt that JU will go after INI/KVO-IST. There was talk from the previous government that Jat will launch KVO-IST, which was comical as Jat didn't have the aircraft for all the flights they scheduled out of BEG.
INI and KVO seems to be a way for the government to pump cash into the airline. For subsidised routes to mostly secondary destinations, the tickets out of INI were not that cheap either. KVO however has been decent. Considering that JU wouldn't have launched flights out of INI and KVO had the government not pushed them to do so, and the way the tenders were executed, as well as the destinations chosen, I wouldn't expect much.
Regarding the tender, could you share the article, I must of missed it.
Finally flights to Ankara
ReplyDeleteWill they have code share with JU also on BEG-ESB route?
ReplyDeleteDoes Anadolu have codeshares with anyone?
DeleteEven if they did we wouldn't know because their flight numbers are 'TK' - same as Turkish Airlines.
DeleteHope the schedule is such that it allows for weekend breaks.
ReplyDeleteWhen they applied for summer slots, the schedule was Thursday and Sunday with 2PM arrival in Belgrade.
DeleteThanks. I guess that's not bad
DeleteI'm really surprised by the amount of indirect traffic with Ankara. I have never ever heard anyone from Serbia going there. Any idea where this traffic is coming from?
ReplyDeleteTourists from Turkey.
DeleteTurkish inland village of Goreme is increasingly popular among tourists even in Serbia. Its 3 hrs drive from Ankara, and would now become more reachable.
ReplyDeleteAny particular reason?
DeleteGoreme =Kapadokya
DeleteOh, now it makes sense :D
DeleteNow we need IKA to come back
ReplyDeleteLet's see if Mahan Air eventually returns.
DeleteAlthough just a fuel stop, BEG has both IKA and CCS with Conviasa :)
Deletewow they are planning passport free travel? That's significant.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWhat has the number of Turkish tourists in Serbia this year? Are the numbers recovering from last year?
ReplyDeleteI wish Anadolu could launch INI-IST to connect southern part of Serbia to TK's large network, and maybe offer slightly lower prices compared to BEG - IST - Final Dest.
ReplyDeleteFantastic. Doesn't seem like it's going to be such a bad winter after all.
ReplyDeleteAnadoluJet is really expanding its presence in ex-Yu with lots of seasonal flights. But I think this is the first year-round flight being introduced by them to the region.
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia still has the opportunity to fly to Izmir, an even better destination for tourism because its on the Aegean coast.
ReplyDelete