The Saudia Group, which is made up of Saudi Arabian Airlines and budget carrier Flyadeal, has announced the launch of 25 new routes this summer, two of which are Sarajevo and Tivat. The pair will be operated by Saudia’s low cost unit Flyadeal from the Kingdom’s capital of Riyadh on a seasonal basis. Tickets are expected to go on sale shortly. The airline will compete against budget carrier Flynas from Riyadh to both Sarajevo and Tivat. Flynas will initially run three weekly flights between Riyadh and Sarajevo from April 16, increasing to four weekly between June 23 and August 31, before lowering to two weekly from September 2 until October 28. On the other hand, Flynas will inaugurate flights to Tivat on July 1, with a three weekly service to run until August 31. The route will replace Podgorica, which was launched last year but will not return this summer.
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Flyadeal was launched in 2017, with the airline now operating a fleet of 26 Airbus A320s. It recently announced an agreement with Airbus for a firm order of thirty brand new A320neos and a further twenty narrow-body options. All markets in the former Yugoslavia have seen growing demand for flights to Saudi Arabia in the past year, as the Kingdom relaxes its visa entry requirements and opens up to tourism. The Saudi market, which counts over thirty million people, is also seeking new travel opportunities, with the Balkans proving popular with holidaymakers. Bosnia and Herzegovina has already capitalised on these trends, with Montenegro increasingly turning to the Gulf, as the country looks to diversify its source summer markets.
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| Flyadeal cabin |
Apart from flights from Riyadh, Sarajevo Airport will also boast services from Jeddah operated by Flynas twice per week, from June 23 until September 29. Further afield in the Gulf, Oman’s Salam Air will run two weekly rotations from Muscat to Sarajevo from July 2 until September 8. Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways will restore seasonal operations from April 20. Services will initially be maintained twice per week, before increasing to four weekly from June 18 until September 9, after which they will return to two weekly. In addition, Flydubai will operate three weekly services from its hub to Sarajevo until mid-June, after which double daily operations will run until mid-September. Flights will be reduced to four weekly thereafter. Qatar Airways will restore seasonal operations from Doha on June 2, with four weekly flights maintained until September 10. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi will continue to fly to Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital daily. Unlike previous years, budget carrier Air Arabia has not scheduled any flights to Sarajevo this summer, neither from its hubs in Sharjah nor Abu Dhabi. On the other hand, in addition to flights to Riyadh, Tivat will be connected to Dubai like previous years, with Flydubai maintaining operations between the two cities four times per week from June 24 until September 8.
Sarajevo will be on fire this year! :)
ReplyDeleteIf only it could get more flights to Europe it would be fantastic.
DeleteThese are the destinations that the vat majority of locals use.
^ I don't get your argument. It is used by foreign tourists which directly contributes to the livelihood of locals.
DeleteI'm talking about connectivity that locals can use.
DeleteWould not want to be on those seats for 5 hours.
ReplyDeleteThey are the same like Wizz Air, which flies from Abu Dhabi to SJJ.
DeleteAnd for anyone that has flown on those Wizz Air seats to Abu Dhabi they know how awful it is.
DeleteAnonymous 09:10
Delete+1
You get what you paid for.
DeleteHow many seats does Flyadeal have in their A320?
Delete186
DeleteThanks. So same as European LCCs.
DeleteWizz has 180 seats in their A320, not 186.
DeleteOuch, they managed to cram an whole extra row. That is going to be one tight ride.
Delete@Anon 10:37 Wizz has 186 seats on many of its 320s. All the NEOs, and a significant number of CEOs have the cabin flex option offered by Airbus. When you see the flight attendant seat on the aft lavatory door, or rather both the lavs in the back are super tiny and placed at the rear bulkhead instead by the 4L and 4R doors, you know you're in a cabin flex configuration with 186 seats.
DeleteHere: https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/800x600_1406262480_Spaceflex_Front_Module-800x415.jpg
Shame Wizz Air doesn't consider flights from any ex-Yu airport to Saudi Arabia.
ReplyDeleteAh that's true, I forgot
DeleteIf there would be open skies agreement they would.
DeleteGreat news from SJJ and TIV.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit surprised Air Arabia has completely withdrawn from Sarajevo. They flew for years.
ReplyDeleteNot surprised Flynas shifted from TGD to TIV.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised there are no flights to the Croatian coast.
ReplyDeleteYes, one would expect tourist demand.
DeleteDubrovnik would be a perfect match for these flights.
DeleteIn summer of course
DeleteI assume the coastal airports are too expensive to make these flights work financially.
DeleteSaudi airlines are least concerned about profits.
DeleteActually Saudi authorities are currently subsidizing literally every single route from the country in an attempt to turn Saudi Arabia into an aviation hub. That is why Wizz Air has expanded there so much.
DeleteWell they operate to HER, JMK and RHO which aren't more expenive than DBV or SPU.
DeletePlenkovic promised flights from Saudi Arabia last year after he met with Saudi Foreign minister. Surprise surprise nothing happened.
DeleteDubrovnik could work for Flyadeal
Delete@09.31
DeleteThat's because Flynas and Flyadeal are not prestigious enough. It will be Saudia for Croatia on odd days, and on even days Croatia Airlines with its "brand new shiny A220 fleet" Hahahahahahahaha!!! LOL!!!! 😃😃😃
Arabs usually do not like to go to the sea for obvious reasons.
DeleteWhat's the visa regime for Saudis in Croatia/Schengen?
DeleteDo u ppl know how Arabs treat seaside ?! Women's especially. They dont go sea, rare.
DeleteI guess TIV is close enough to Dubrovnik - there is a road connecting them...
DeleteWhy doesn't Flynadeal consider Ljubljana? I think there is potential for them on the route.
ReplyDeleteYou expect flights from Riyadh to Ljubljana when it took over 10 years to negotiate Flydubai's flight from Dubai...
DeleteIt's interesting how Montenegro is managing to attract these exotic airlines. Air Astana in 2021, Flynas last year and Flyadeal this year.
ReplyDeleteWell they have the coast and they are willing to relax visa entry rules. Saudis can enter Montenegro without a visa during the summer.
DeleteBosnia used to offer visa free travel to Saudis. But they revoked it. Don't know why?
DeletePolitics, as with everything is Bosnia. The HDZ party is blocking a visa waiver for Saudis.
Delete^
DeleteBut why?
Eventually more ex-Yu cities will get flights to Saudi as Saudi Arabia opens up for tourism. For now all these routes in Europe they are opening up are purely for Saudis to travel.
ReplyDeleteIt is a massive market that is slowly opening up and their citizens want to travel.
DeleteInterestingly Montenegrins don't need a visa to visit Saudi Arabia since they started their drive to open up the the world. But Serbs, Macedonians and Bosnians do.
DeleteWhat about Croatian, Slovenian citizens?
DeleteYes, it's visa-free for them too as they are part of the EU.
DeleteAll EU countries plus Norway, UK, Switzerland, Montenegro and Ukraine can enter Saudi Arabia visa free
DeleteEU keeps winning!
DeleteIt is not visa free. You still need a visa. The difference is you can obtain it online and it is more of a formality. But you can't just walk into the country.
DeleteThis airline has quite a few pilots from the region. They used to do pilot recruitment events in Belgrade before Covid.
ReplyDeleteHope we will see more flights from Saudi to the region soon
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what flyadela's frequencies will be?
ReplyDelete*flyadeal
DeleteOn their website it says sales will begin soon, so that's when we will know the frequencies.
DeleteI assume it will be 2 weekly for both.
DeleteWhat about Macedonia? Why not consider Ohrid?
ReplyDeleteMissed opportunity.
DeleteThey are launching 25 new international destinations this summer alone. How many can they add with their available fleet and crews?
DeleteWell it is across two airlines.
DeleteFirst let's make flights to Dubai work first before we think about Saudi Arabia.
DeleteHaha true
Delete9:25 SMFH Dubai and Doha cancelled and you are asking for Saudi Arabia.
DeleteSaudi Arabia is a huge market. Surely there is potential for these flights. Looking forward to their launch.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAbolishing visas for Saudi citizens will get you immediate flights from there.
ReplyDeleteThere is probably a reason there are visas in the first place.
DeleteActually the EU is planning to abolish visas for Saudis.
DeleteInteresting, didn't know that
DeleteThat is an impressive number of airline from the Gulf flying to Sarajevo: Salam Air, Flyadeal, Flynas, Jazeera Airways, Flydubai, Qatar Airways...
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can see, common to all of them, except for QR, is that they are LCCs.
DeleteWizz Air too.
DeleteAnd those Wizz flights are daily.
DeleteIt is surprising that QR doesn't seem to have any intention of resuming year round flights, like they had before Covid.
DeleteThis route was likely struggling before Covid. So after Covid they just reset it to the way it was originally supposed to be.
DeleteIt is good Montenegro is trying to diversify their destinations after the loss of Russia and Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteAre all flights to Georgia and Azerbaijan also with tourists like the ones in Sarajevo? Or is there a Georgian and Azerbaijani diaspora?
ReplyDeleteIt is for tourists. Georgia has a very liberal visa policy and is very popular with people from the Gulf. Same with Azerbaijan.
DeleteThank you, very interesting!
DeleteThis is big number of flights and tourists.
Yes, it is amazing how popular particularly Georgia has become in the last few years with tourists from the Gulf. They literally have flights from all GCC countries.
Delete+10000
Deletevery true --.. because its a cool plaace to visit for everyone.-
DeleteI'm interested to see what the fares will be like.
ReplyDeletePlanning on using these flights? :D
DeleteAll part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 plan.
ReplyDeleteLike how MNE is finding ways and alternatives to compensate its tourism and attract new markets with the loss of the Russians. Even the recently launched airline already has a respectable network.
ReplyDeleteAs for Sarajevo, well it no longer even needs advertising in the Middle East. BiH is a beautiful and interesting country. Remember that there are also many tourists not interested in the beach. Besides KSA already has a huge coastline.
Stay away from them. Passenger or employment - stay away.
ReplyDelete+1,000,000
Delete^Stupid !
DeleteFlynas is a good airline .
It was actually founded to be a more contemporary and liberal version of Saudia .
SJJ just keeps adding airlines. Nice work.
ReplyDeleteThey are doing a good job but I just wish they tried harder with European airlines.
DeleteI don't understand why many Bosnians are complaining about Middle East tourists. They come, they spend money and they leave. There is strong demand in summer so what is the problem? SJJ is actually doing very good.
Deletewell this kind of saudis dont spend much... usualy lower middle class
DeleteTivat still needs a lot of work to do to make up for the loss of Russian tourists.
ReplyDeleteAt least they are working on it which is something. Can't replace such a huge market overnight.
DeleteWow, flydubai just lost race there. I remember they used to have 3 flights per day...
ReplyDeleteYes it's the impact of all the Gulf airlines starting nonstop flights. Majority of Flydubai's passengers used to be transfers from Kuwait and Saudi.
DeleteDoesnt Flynas already operate or wish to operate to Tivat ?
ReplyDeleteSo will they compete or only replace each other on this route ?
It says in the article, in the first paragraph. They will compete against each other:
Delete"Flynas will inaugurate flights to Tivat on July 1, with a three weekly service to run until August 31. The route will replace Podgorica, which was launched last year but will not return this summer."
OK, thanks .
DeleteI didnt read further . Obviously i was not concentrated enough on the whole thing ...
Surprised they dont give Moscow a try - Jazeera Airways on this years 2nd february started flying to Moscow three times weekly and already this last week increased service to daily !
ReplyDeleteIf you consider that februray is the weakest month in the year thats a impressive result .
Thats because Jazeera Airways is a profit oriented company .
ReplyDeleteThey take risks and do thinking out of the box .
Saudia on the contrary is a government airline and doesnt care about profits or opportunities .
Most of their " new " routes arent new at all but just resumptions of flights .
Same old, old ... also copying what Flynas is doing doesnt look very inventive to me .