Etihad Airways is considering restoring operations between Abu Dhabi and Belgrade through its joint venture with Sharjah-based low cost carrier Air Arabia called Air Arabia Abu Dhabi. As part of its fleet simplification and business transformation, Etihad plans to offload its fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft to Air Arabia Abu Dhabi. The budget airline is then expected to take over a number of former and present Etihad routes operated by the single-aisle aircraft. Media reports claim Etihad will transfer crew to Air Arabia Abu Dhabi along with the A320 fleet. During its last full year of operations between Abu Dhabi and Belgrade, Etihad Airways handled 114.256 passengers on the route, with an average annual cabin load factor of over 90%.
Etihad Airways recently told EX-YU Aviation News it was evaluating the possibility of resuming flights between the two capital cities which were terminated as a result of the coronavirus pandemic in October 2020. In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, the Emirati national carrier said, “Serbia is not currently part of our operating network, but it remains an important market for Etihad Airways. We continually review the forward development of the network, and as part of this process will be regularly evaluating the potential to reinstate a connection between Abu Dhabi and Belgrade”. Since Etihad’s withdrawal from the route, another low cost carrier, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, commenced flights between the two cities with its Airbus A321 aircraft and currently maintains three weekly rotations.
Etihad relied heavily on transfer passengers on its Belgrade service, primarily to and from China and Australia. Its top five feeder routes on the Belgrade operation in 2019 were Shanghai, Beijing, Sydney, Hong Kong and Melbourne. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, which launched in July 2020, primarily serves the Gulf and the Indian subcontinent. However, it also maintains seasonal operations to Sarajevo. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi’s parent company, the Sharjah-based Air Arabia, planned to launch four weekly flights to Belgrade in June 2019, but suspended ticket sales two months prior to the planned launch. Etihad continues to maintain an 18% stake in Air Serbia.
I don't see the point. Especially with Wizz Air around.
ReplyDeleteThey would get transfer passengers in combination with Etihad.
DeleteYes but it does not seen transfers from, for example Australia, like this mixed double product. Look at article last week about Australia and the very small market share the EK/FZ combination has got of Australia passengers to/from Belgrade.
DeleteDon't forget that unlike QR, FZ has a relatively large O&D market. There is less pressure on them to fight for transfers. Qatar on the other hand will fail in Belgrade if they don't become a popular choice for those heading to Asia, Africa and Oceania.
DeleteThen again, I wouldn't be surprised if most O&D to Doha was actually flying via SAW and IST since QR charges like €650 to fly to DOH non-stop.
BEG is the central airport for secondary airlines of major ones. Instead of Emirates theres Flydubi, instead of Etihad AirArabia, instead the SAS we have Norwegian, instead of Egyptair theres Air Ciro, and in place of British theres Wizz UK. Luckily the Dutch who are the smartest and most seasoned traders among all nations did the exacty other way around replacing Transavia with real, crowned KLM.
DeleteYes and it took KLM three decades to return to BEG. Why do you think that is? Until the economy improves and until more people can afford to travel, airlines with more competitive cost structures will keep on flying to BEG.
DeleteWhat matters is that most of them seem to be doing really well which is in line with the economic development of Serbia.
Serbian market is slowly maturing and with this ongoing maturing the offer will keep on improving. Look at TK. They resumed BEG in (I think) 2005 and from those three weekly flights we got to 21 from IST and 2 from ESB.
Air Arabia offers pretty good transfer options to India which is a growing market to/from BEG.
DeleteTransiting trough Dubai offers you much more opportunities than Abu Dhabi.
Delete2 LCCs on route like Abu Dhabi is too much.
ReplyDeletePlus another LCC - Flydubai to Dubai.
DeleteI would not consider Flydubai an LCC. Neither in terms of service nor price.
DeleteGood new s is the UAE is ending necessary PCR covid test for entry into the country from 1st of Match for vaccinated passengers. Those unvaccinated still have to take a test. I think this will further increase point to point demand which is already high.
ReplyDeleteGreat news, especially since I'm heading there on the 2nd. I already booked my PCR test appointment but this is a nice surprise.
DeleteNice. For a family of 4 the PCR tests come to 200 euros!
DeleteOr EY could fly 3 weekly with B787. That way they would be more competative against Flydubai, Wizz and Qatar Airways
ReplyDeleteQuestion is can they make money by sending the dreamliner.
DeleteWell, their old schedule was pretty convenient. Arrive early in the morning and leave around noon. This would allow them to cover JU's entire morning wave.
DeleteThere is growing trade between Serbia and the UAE. I am sure additional cargo capacity would be welcomed by the market.
The main reason for not sending widebodies to BEG is insufficient business and plerium class sales. If economy demand is high they will just increase narrow body frequencies. Widebodies are only economical if there is enough premium seats sold, otherwise flying 2 x A320 is more cost effective than 1x B789
DeleteWell, from what I know FZ keeps on ending the MAX 9 which actually has a larger business class section.
Delete@09,49
DeleteI think there is adequate premium demand. What works to their advantage is they have a partner in BEG, who is also using their frequent flyer program. EY for some odd reason never really offered BEG as an option for transfers, everything was practically focused on FCO and TXL, even if BEG was, at times, the better option. EY's destination list in Europe is quite small compared to their competitors, and a good partnership with JU could of made up for that. Instead, they made alot of costly mistakes with JU that ended up stagnating their growth and sending them back into restructuring 4 years after their 'investment'. A wasted opportunity.
The more airines the better as far as in concerned.
ReplyDeleteHow far has EY fallen...
ReplyDeleteThe market has moved on and so should EY. They had the chance to be the dominant player from the east to BEG but they dragged their feet and now they are completely pushed out and replaced.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few points worth making:
1. FZ has become the king of BEG-UAE market. They are planning on further boosting their frequencies to BEG which will enable them to offer even more connectivity in Dubai. Yes, transfers from FZ to EK might not be the smoothest but given the growing number of transfers they carry this doesn't seem to be much of a problem for the average traveller. I am sure FZ carried a lot of transfers from China so we should wait and see what happens to them once Chinese start returning to Belgrade. Since they are full right now and plan two daily flights then maybe we could see 14+ frequencies to BEG in the future.
2. Wizz Air has stepped in with their high density A321neo and with 3 weekly flights they cover AUH and partly Dubai. Wizz Air has a much stronger brand in Serbia meaning it will be very difficult for them to break through their defenses. I believe Etihad would have an easier time re-establishing themselves with a widebody in BEG than Air Arabia would have with their A320s.
3. Even though Air Serbia would still cooperate with them, JU has obviously shifted its focus to IST and TK. BEG-IST will have 4 daily flights this summer making it one of the busiest city pairs both in terms of frequency and capacity.
Etihad has decimated their network out of AUH so transfer options are fewer when compared to Istanbul, Doha or Dubai.
In my opinion, if Etihad truly wants to be back in Serbia then they need to do it with their own brand and with a wide ranging code-share agreement with Air Serbia.
Incomplete moves such as this one have too much risk attached to them. I just don't see how Air Arabia-Etihad will be competitive even to Australia when compared to QR or FZ/EK.
Personally I'd rather see Qatar bring back the night flight out of BEG than to have yet another LCC from AUH.
Well written analysis. Agree 100%
DeleteEtihad actually had a very good standing in Serbia in terms of product recognition. People liked flying with them, which is obviously seen through their very high LF. They also had very good prices. I agree that if EY wants to come back to the Serbian market, it has to do it with its own equipment.
DeleteEY returning with its own metal is pointless. The Australian transfer market is already ruled by Qatar Airways and when Air Serbia starts flying to China, there will be little need for Etihad.
DeleteThat is why they are exploring the opportunity of sending Air Arabia. In the end nothing will happen to them. Like Nemjee wrote, we moved on, they should do the same.
DeleteHopefully once situation improves Mahan will have regular flights and offer transfers as well to China, India and Middle East.
Better anything than nothing from Etihad I guess. Air Arabia should launch Sharjah though. It's not served from Belgrade and Arabia offers really good transfer options for India, much better than at AUH. And some nice perks like Colombo, Katmandu or Medinah...
ReplyDeleteAir Arabia should launch flights to BEG from Morocco. <3
DeleteOr they could start flights from their Cairo base too :)
DeleteActually Morocco ambassador to Belgrade just yesterday had its regular yearly announcement on talks about non stop flights
DeleteOh I think their application for BEG-CAI would get blocked on both ends especially since Air Cairo has its eyes on this market.
DeleteAnon 09.37
Hahaha I missed this year's announcement. Let's see if Morocco will be present at the tourism fair next month. They said it will be biggest one so far. Is Morocco even open to Serbian travelers?
There ia still visa regime for Serbians who want to travel to Morocco.
DeleteThis African country should first deal with it.
I didn't mean the visa regime, I mean have they opened their borders which were shut during covid.
DeleteThey reopened a week ago for commercial flights. Because of Omicron they didn't allow any planes in for 2 months.
DeleteI don't see much happening with Morocco anytime soon. The biggest issue I think is the visa policy. Talks of visa liberation the past couple of years has remained just that, talks. In the mean time, other visa free agreements have been made, the latest being with Azerbaijan and soon Guatemala. Wikipedia has an updated list for those curious of future visa free agreements, and Morocco is not on the list.
DeleteWhat is Air Arabia like? Full LCC?
ReplyDeleteNot even, they are a very trashy ULCC
DeleteLCC.
DeleteYou need to pay extra (something like 20 eur per flight) for 20 kg of luggage
LCC and not a great one. SHJ is terrible.
DeleteHmm I just checked their prices and they are similar to Fly Dubai on routes with a simmilar distance like BEG. So I don't think they would be too competitive.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago Pristina - Sharjah return ticket cost 299EUR taxes included.
DeleteI remember very weel the prices they published when they started selling Sharjah - Belgrade. Return ticket was 460 euros!
DeleteNo wonder they failed. That's expensive for an LCC.
DeleteAnd in 2011 I paid 705 euros return ticket to Dubai in August with Jat Airways :D how times have changed.
DeleteI would prefer if their Moroccan subsidiary started flights.
ReplyDeleteHow Etihad has fallen. Offloading its short haul fleet to Air Arabia...
ReplyDeleteQR has definitely benefited from Etihad withdrawal. Last month I was flying with Qatar and a couple of people I spoke to all used to fly with Etihad. Three of them were going to Abu Dhabi, one to Saudi Arabia.
ReplyDeleteI really wish Etihad would consider reinstating their Edinburgh route, it was a great feeder route to the Far East and Australia.
ReplyDeletePeople keep forgetting that AirSerbia uses Etihad Guest loyalty programme. Those who use AirSerbia on a regular basis, will definitely choose Air Arabia to fly to UAE and onward with Etihad, just because of miles, and to use their Tier Status.
ReplyDeleteIf they allow earning miles with Air Arabia, even better.