Austria is one of the biggest air travel markets from the countries of the former Yugoslavia owing to large diasporas and transfer traffic through Vienna, however, passenger numbers have, for the most part, been slow to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Austrian Airlines dominates on linking the region and has increased its services during the second quarter of the year with the carrier operating from Vienna to Pristina, Belgrade, Skopje, Podgorica, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split and Zadar this summer. Stricter entry requirements into Austria during the first quarter resulted in a lag in recovery on most markets with pre-pandemic figures yet to be reached on services from Vienna to Belgrade, Sarajevo, Podgorica and Zagreb.
In 2021, Vienna - Pristina was the busiest citypair in the region, overtaking Vienna - Belgrade which was dominant prior to the pandemic. Last year, 134.870 passengers flew between the Austrian capital and Pristina, while during the first quarter of 2022, a further 32.802 travellers made the journey by plane. Unlike the majority of other markets in the former Yugoslavia, figures for the first three months of this year overtook pre-pandemic levels. Austrian and Wizz Air maintain operations between the two cities. Austrian Airlines increased its frequencies from Vienna to Pristina from double daily to seventeen weekly services this summer, marking the most flights the Austrian carrier has ever maintained out of Pristina.
Passenger performance on flights from Vienna to EX-YU capital cities, 2021
Austrian Airlines competes against Air Serbia on flights between Vienna and Belgrade, with the Serbian carrier also operating short-lived services between Kraljevo and the Austrian capita; in 2021, while low cost airline Ryanair maintains operations from Niš to Vienna. Last week, Air Serbia inaugurated year-round flights from Belgrade to Salzburg, its second destination in Austria. “We are very happy that by introducing services to Salzburg, we are contributing to the strengthening of the air connection between Serbia and Austria, an extremely important market for our country due to its large Serbian diaspora. We are sure that Salzburg, as an important tourist destination due to its proximity of the Alps and ski resorts, will be an attractive option for planning a vacation for our passengers”, Air Serbia said. During the first quarter of this year, 26.243 passengers flew between Belgrade and Vienna, which is still down 40% on the same period in 2019.
On the other hand, Austrian Airlines and low cost carriers have notably skipped the opportunity of commencing services between Vienna and Ljubljana, despite passenger figures indicating there is solid demand. Flights to the Austrian capital were one of Adria Airways’ better performing routes prior to its demise, with double daily flights maintained over the summer months and an average of around 60.000 passengers per year. In late 2019, Ljubljana Airport expressed hope Austrian would commence operations from Vienna in the summer of 2020, which never materialised. Austrian Airlines had previously maintained its own flights to Ljubljana, suspending its daily service at the end of the 2005 summer season. Adria Airways then increased its operations to the Austrian capital, maintaining four daily rotations until the 2009 global financial crisis.
wow I'm really surprised at how well VIE-PRN route is doing. Well done.
ReplyDeletePart of the reason numbers have grown so much is because Wizz Air started flying between Pristina and Vienna.
DeleteWhat happened with Vienna-Zagreb?? :/
ReplyDeleteNot surprising. Vienna-Zagreb was suspended on many occasions during 2021. Sometimes Austrian suspended flights, sometimes Croatia Airlines.
DeleteAnother factor is Ryanair which probably took quite a few connecting passengers on European routes.
Currently it is operated 21 times a week, 12 by Austrian and 9 by Croatia. I don't know what you mean by what happened. Moreover, there are Bratislava flights by Ryanair ;)
DeleteLook at the passenger numbers in 2021.
DeleteIn February 2021 there were no flights between Zagreb and Vienna.
DeleteWonder how Belgrade-Salzburg is performing. Anyone have any numbers?
ReplyDeleteA good sign is that they will fly it during winter time too.
DeleteI don't see flights for winter season tho.
DeleteI guess they pulled it from the system. That didn't take long.
DeleteAlso other new JU destinations as Trieste, Bologna, Bari, Hanover, Nuremberg, Valencia ... I cannot find at the moment in the Amadeus-GDS for the next winter season.
DeleteMaybe it is good to be a bit patient and wait for JU's further decisions ...
Bari and several others were announced as seasonal.
DeleteVienna-Podgorica won't recover for some time especially since there is one airline less flying the route. I'm surprised Air Montenegro hasn't started flights.
ReplyDeleteProbably in next expansion.
DeleteAustrian took over the frequencies of Air Montenegro. OS now has two daily flights with A320/321 to Podgorica. Thus more capacity compared to pre-Covid.
DeleteWizz is now also flying to TGD. Today there is one Wizz flight and two Austrian, so 3 flights total on the same day.
DeleteConsidering Austria at one point completely banned traffic from the Balkans, it will take time before passenger numbers and trust recovers.
ReplyDeleteDidn't they even require Austrian citizens to take a test on return from Balkans last year?
DeleteYes. They blamed the Balkans for all their Covid problems even though it was Austria that originally spread Covid throughout Europe due to inefficient measures when their ski resorts became infested.
DeleteXenophobia and racism at its best. That’s why it’s important to remember who actually spread the virus in Europe (Austria and Italy).
DeleteIf they still had Dash-8 Ljubljana would be possible but now with their smallest plane being e95 I don't see them coming to ljubljana at all
ReplyDeleteDo you know what equipment they used up until 2005?
DeleteFokkers
DeleteI would have expected there to be more passengers between Skopje and Vienna considering Austrian is one the few network carriers serving Skopje.
ReplyDeleteRemember this was 2021 when there were still a lot of restrictions.
DeleteWell does not seemed to have impacted VIE-PRN.
DeleteBecause majority of passengers on VIE-PRN originate from VIE or other EU countries who are EU citizens or residents and who didn't face the same restrictions.
DeletePRN is doing amazing this year.
DeleteSKP also have a 2 weekly to BTS which is mostly used by Macedonian diaspora in Austria,so with that it will surpass the 100k
DeleteTrue, Bratislava should be taken into consideration.
DeleteIf Adria flew twice a day with CRJs then there is no excuse for not having at least daily E195 flight between Ljubljana and Vienna.
ReplyDeleteI still can't believe they don't fly to Ljubljana, especially with those 60,000 passengers as mentioned in the article.
ReplyDeleteIf 60k pax us not enough for them, than i don't know what is
DeleteWith the green politics dominating in Austria, I doubt we will see them start Ljubljana,
DeleteAnd LJU is doing nothing to find alternatives.
DeleteTypical
DeleteI remember when OS used to fly to places like Banja Luka and Mostar. They really were the number 1 foreign airline in ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteAs an airline, they profited a lot from the break up of YU.
DeleteThey also flew to Ohrid.
DeleteYes. Their terminated routes in ex-Yu are Banja Luka, Mostar, Ljubljana and Ohrid.
DeleteVienna-Mostar was last served about 25 years ago, 3 weekly flights with Tyrolean Dash.
DeleteFor how long were they operated?
DeleteIIRC only one season. I can't remember if those flights had an OS or an VO (Tyrolean) flight number. There were only few local pax, mostly transfer pax from Germany on that flights. The VIE-OMO flights were a financial failure.
DeleteAustrian is often upgrading their planned equipment on VIE-BEG route.
ReplyDeleteWhat plane do they send instead of the Embraer?
DeleteB737-800
DeleteThanks.
DeleteBtw how many weekly flights do they have to BEG?
Delete3 daily
DeleteTheir best selling point for north American flights is that their morning flight out of BEG isn't that early like LH (06.05).
DeleteAustrian diesny
Delete?
DeleteAustrian Airlines does not have B737s at all and over the oast 14 days only e95s were used in all 3 daily flights to beg. No idea why misinformation is being spread here
DeleteI'm not misinforming. I said they often do send the 737. They didn't send it in the last two weeks but in May they sent it many times.
DeleteAnonymous 10:04 explained already that OS does not have 737.
DeleteA few times they used an A320 to BEG
My guy Austrian retired B737s like 10 years ago. Stop making yourself a fool.
DeleteI find it interesting that OS still flies B767
DeleteHow does Air Serbia manage to compete against Austrian while using ATR72s on this route?
DeleteMost people don't care which plane is used. Air Serbia is often sending their new ATR72-600s on Vienna route.
DeleteNumbers should be much better this year with pre Covid frequencies on most routes from VIE to ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteAnd all restrictions now lifted to enter Austria.
DeleteTrue. VIE-BEG now has more flights than before Covid.
DeleteThanks to Austrian
DeleteSurprising no one flies VIE-TIV already. None of the LCCs.
ReplyDeleteMontenegro Airlines used to fly Tivat-Vienna
DeleteYes but only once per week for one season.
DeleteI'm surprised they didn't have more success.
DeleteThe good news is that ex-Yu survived the major cull in frequencies Austrian is making in the next two months due to lack of staff.
ReplyDeleteI wish we had more LCC options to Vienna.
ReplyDeleteThere are more and more offered by Wizz Air and Ryanair.
DeleteIs Air Serbia the only airline offering a secondary destination in Austria from ex-Yu?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteA few years ago Eurowings had two weekly flights Split-Salzburg.
DeleteAnd there were/are charter flights from Brac to Graz and Linz.
Wizz planned to fly from Salzburg to several ex-Yu cities. Didn't work out past the first flight.
DeleteAustrian has really suffered during Covid. They became completely negligible and many moved on to alternatives for transfer options.
ReplyDeleteThey have recovered quickly.
DeleteWell done Pristina!
ReplyDeleteWhat equipment do they use to PRN?
DeleteA320 and A321s
DeleteImpressive!
DeleteTruth be told Q1 was still very much impacted by Covid. From Q2 numbers will start improving.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if figures will be able to outperform pre COVID levels by the end of the year.
DeleteWe will see. I think it will depend market by market.
DeletePRN is doing better than many ex-Yu airports in many aspects.
ReplyDeleteThings will get better this summer
ReplyDeleteI would love to see an LCC start Belgrade-Vienna
ReplyDeleteOr at least to Bratislava.
DeleteI would like to see it in Frankfurt.
DeleteWhy? With two other airlines already competing on the route, no LCC would be able to offer significant number of 20eur fares you are dreaming about. Based on other examples in the region they would be on average just as expensive as other airlines. Needs of passengers and airports would be better served by starting a new route to currently unserved destination.
DeleteSo the question for you is: why?
Very simple.
DeleteThere are many examples showing that certain routes exist even if you have already 2 airlines serving them from BEG. Just have a look on Istanbul, Paris or Barcelona.
More competiton brings better prices (JU increased heavily BER prices as soon as U2 stopped fling that route) and it is always good for passengrts.
Nobody is expecting 20 eur price but the prices U2 had on BEG-BER would be more than welcome and realistic at the same time.
You are still dreaming of lower prices. Paris and Istanbul lowcosters fly to other airports so it's not comparable. Barcelona is to the same airport and low prices are not sustainable beyond first three season when airport incentives are usually helping. More competition does not always bring lower prices esp when there is already competition. For Berlin look at the table from yesterday's trip reports, it's lowcosters that jack up the prices. Wizz is free to add VIE-BEG but they are not starting that route. They are not starting it because they would not be able to profit by offering prices you dream about.
DeleteIt seems the market is denying your so called claims.
DeleteLCC's are reality for a long time and people do not have to dream about low prices anymore. It would be correct to say that actually LCC's changed the aviation we have today and they influenced a lot of changes by legacy carriers.
It makes no difference that airliners fly to different airports in Paris or Istanbul knowing that even in Frankfurt there are LCC's who manage to get lower prices if they use different infrastructure at the airport. Didn't Ryanair fly there for many years before FRA increased the taxes they did not want to pay anymore? All these years of FR flying out of FRA show that it is more than possible to have low prices from FRA to BEG if there would be a carrier interested to fly this route.
Opet si zaboravio da popijes pilule?
DeleteMark my words, this is just the beginning for PRN.
ReplyDeleteI would not be surprised if they become #1
Mark my words, these are wet dreams.
DeleteBut why? There was an article here the other day saying that it is one of the most growing airports in Europe. Currently, the gap between BEG and PRN is quite small.
DeleteRemember that PRN was in par with skopie and LJU...
Because the number of people that have left Kosovo in the last 5 years is immense. 90% of the airport's traffic is diaspora. As there are more and more LCC options, more people are travelling by plane to visit friends and family. While fantastic for airport statistics it is also a major problem.
DeleteYes it's a known fact around here that so many people have left Kosovo that there is no one left there anymore. Actually I'm not even sure if it actually exists at all, it might be a big conspiracy. And some people here won't go to sleep without mentioning it once in 1-2 days. With that being said, what did that have to do with the rest of the discussion?
DeleteWell in a congratulatory note to itself for surpassing a million passengers the airport thanked the diaspora. You can find it in the news. I just responded to the question how is the airport experiencing such growth. If you think it's because people have suddenly got rich and are travelling throughout Europe i'm sorry to dissapoint you.
DeleteWho asked how is the airport is experiencing such growth?
DeleteThe logic behind "oh Kosovo is just based on diaspora" can be applied to the logic that 70% on BEG traffic is based on transfers. The largest number of tourists arrive by car from the neighbouring countries.
DeleteEven if many people left Kosovo many will also return to see their homes and families.