Ryanair with no immediate plans to serve Belgrade


Low cost carrier Ryanair has said it has no plans to serve Belgrade due to high costs at Nikola Tesla Airport but it continues to monitor the Serbian market for opportunities. Within the country, the airline maintains operations out of Niš. “Belgrade Airport is too expensive and is not an option for us at the moment. We continue to track the [Serbian] market. It is interesting to us and if we can see that we can turn around potential into a profit, we will take the decision to further expand there. We believe the Serbian market has great potential. Basing an aircraft is currently not an option for us, but developments take place quickly with Ryanair. Of course, this does not mean that Ryanair will not continue expanding its network from Niš and attributing to its passenger growth”, the budget carrier said.

Ryanair’s rival Wizz Air has a base in Belgrade where it recently stationed its fourth aircraft. The airport’s management previously noted, “The low cost carrier market represents an important part of Belgrade Airport’s development. There is already a significant number of flights operated by budget airlines at Belgrade Airport. Even so, the decision to introduce flights to Belgrade is up to Ryanair”. Within the former Yugoslavia, Ryanair has a base in Zagreb and also maintains operations from Podgorica, among the capital cities. Regionally, the airline boasts bases in Budapest, Bucharest and Sofia, and will also launch flights to Tirana soon.

Over the coming 2023/24 winter season, Ryanair will be Serbia’s third largest low cost carrier based on available seat capacity, behind Wizz Air and Pegasus Airlines but ahead of easyJet and Norwegian Air Shuttle. It has put a total of 36.636 seats on sale during the winter, which runs between October 29 and March 30 of next year. It will maintain operations out of Niš to Malta and Vienna, while services to Stockholm Arlanda have been downgraded to seasonal summer flights. Air Serbia recently noted, “It doesn't matter whether the competition is Ryanair or Wizz Air. There aren’t many airports in the Balkans where these low cost airlines compete against each other. In Zagreb, in terms of low cost carriers, Ryanair dominates. In Belgrade it is Wizz Air. The markets of the former Yugoslav countries are not yet mature. The airlines see this and do not want to engage in a direct challenge through price stimulation”.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Good

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:38

      *facepalm*

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:47

      What they refused to "advertise" themselves for millions a year ??

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    What would have to happen for them to start flights from Belgrade?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      They would have to get masssive discounts.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:04

      *massive

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:08

      Ryanair has always been the toughest negotiator regarding airport taxes.

      Delete
    4. Vlad09:27

      BEG has absolutely no incentive to lower fees for FR at the moment. The market is healthy, the growth is already more than the airport can cope with, so FR's negotiating position is rather weak.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:59

      +100

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:17

      @09:08
      I'd hardly call it negotiation what they do, cause it's either their way or no way

      Delete
    7. Slav.Man13:31

      Ryan Air is now even arguing with its home nation. Its removing 18 routes from Dublin and they say its because of increase of fees. youre all right theyre the most agressive in their business dealings.
      but also theres no room for them in BEG. the airport doesnt have the staff to handle a big increase of passangers if it was successful.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    If Ryanair came to BEG and opened many routes, it would be the end of JU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      Hahahaha exactly! Same thing happened in ZAG where Ryanair killed OU.
      Wet dreams, man, wet dreams!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:10

      You can not kill a state owned airline , specialy in a country that is not a EU member . As long as Serbia is not a EU member , Air Serbia will always have the financial back up of the government.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:14

      Ryanair coming to BEG would be a much bigger threat to Wizz Air than Air Serbia.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:16

      It's not government that is ensuring AirSerbia's success, but good business they do! They don't fly 3 millions of government officials but passengers who paid for their tickets. Like it or not, AirSerbia is here to stay!

      Delete
    5. Anon @09:10 Very true. Not only for airlines but any state owned company. Air Serbia has been perfectly safe when it was a loser. Now that it's profitable, it's even safer.
      OU will probably finish this year in the plus too because they've sold planes, but before that it had received two huge batches of government help..second of which barely got approval by Brussels on account of the covid pandemic. Nevermind the fact that they were doing better in 2021. than in 2019. because they'd grounded most of their planes in 2020. only.
      In 2021. they were already flying full force, scavenging the opportunity served to them on a silver platter due to the other carriers normally bringing tourists to Croatia, still largely having been grounded at the time. More to the point, Croatia was falsely marketing itself basically as a covid-free country where all is well and normal. On top of that, 2021. was the year with the largest proportion of tourists having arrived by plane. And that's the very year OU got €30 million for.
      I due have croatian citizenship but am lucky enough not to be the resident, or else I'd go nuts.
      I have no issues whatsoever with paying taxes for healthcare or social security nets. I refuse however to do it for saving deadbeat airlines and similar political projects.

      Delete
    6. *I do have croatian citizenship, not due

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:03

    I think Ryan is happy with flying to Nis for the time being.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      I hope they don't end INI operations, the way things are going.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:56

      Happy? Lol! with their 2 year flights while compared to 4 aircrafts

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:04

    Once KVO fixes the runway issue I see them launching flights from there.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:04

    They will come to BEG sooner or later

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:00

      Probably later.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:08

      Never.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:05

    I really hope they will eventually start flights from BEG.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:05

    I would rather easyJet expand its presence in Belgrade. They are a very decent carrier.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:09

      I don't get the obsession with EasyJet in BEG. How many routes they have from BEG? How many failed?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:01

      Failed MXP, BER and BSL. Remained GVA.

      I would also like to see more U2 planes in BEG.

      Delete
    4. They also failed on FCO. I flew them in 2014 on this route.

      Delete
    5. Nemjee21:45

      Issue with easyJet is that they never fully committed to the Serbian market. They tried one route here, one route there. Once one failed they launched another one and so on.

      Let's not forget that Wizz Air also failed on BEG-CIA some years ago. Look at them now running a daily departure with a high density A321.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:05

    Odlicno! Tako neka i ostane.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:27

      why would you prefer to have less choice?!?

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:06

    The nightmare if they come in BEG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:11

      Yes for Wizzair.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:34

      Nightmare indeed! Dont need that tourism in Belgrade

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:03

      Most tourists in Serbia arriving by air are from EXYU (Air Serbia), Türkiye (JU, TK, PC), China (JU, HU) etc. Ryan can't do s*** about most of them. Wizz already offers Belgrade as a city break destination to key EU markets.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:06

    Easyjet should come first and push the miserable Wizzair away

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:07

    Just another in ZAG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      Just base another in ZAG*

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:08

      For which passengers? DTM, BTS, SOF, TGD…

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:01

      MAN? :)

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:08

    Ryanair is always trying to get a very good deal on fees. But in the end, if they see a profitable market, they go there, even if the nominal fees are high.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      +1000 ! They said they will leave ATH , but there they are again.

      Delete
    2. And that's why they're the biggest airline in Europe. Business isn't charity work.

      Delete
    3. Nemjee21:47

      True but as the era of cheap tickets is coming to an end, they are trying to pass on as many costs as possible onto the airports. I understand their position but it makes you wonder how successful it will be. Aviation market will eventually adapt to their tactics especially as legacy carriers find ways to survive the onslaught of LCCs.

      Delete
    4. Definitely. I remember when I first started flying with Ryan, you could fly for 7 - 10 euros from one part of Europe to the next.
      Nowadays even when flying out of Zagreb, there ain't no way to pay less than €50 -60 for a flight over an hour long. Oftentimes it's more than that.
      It's one of the reasons the flights to TGD couldn't and didn't survive. The costs were too high while ticket prices were dirt cheap, often selling for €15.
      We'll see how they adapt.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:09

    Would love to see Ryan in BEG.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:14

    Belgrade should not accept Ryanair's ridiculous business terms.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous09:14

    Lauda should attack BEG-VIE or Ryanair with BEG-BTS, these routes have so much potential

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      Agree. Time to end the Austria/Air Serbia duopoly.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:18

      Lauda is Ryanair and Ryanair won't come to BEG until prices drop.

      And the prices won't drop as long as BEG develops successfully.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:23

      They should bring back INI - BTS, those flights were packed back in 2019.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:05

      Packed doesn't always equal profit. If they were satisfied with the routes performance they wouldn't have left. Same with INI-BGY.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:17

    Well they can always expand from INI . With the right prices and destinations they can earn part of the central Serbia and of course the southern part and not only those.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:23

    Maybe FR to destinations from BEG where JU is not flying

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      Dublin could work

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:41

      My idea is that maybe BEG could list certain airports where they could offer special prices and where it is obvious that neither JU nor W6 will start the flights.

      For example DUB, HEL, BIO, OLB, KEF...

      Maybe only in that case FR will arrive.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:32

      But why would BEG go against its two biggest clients by offering special incentives to some third party to launch a destination or two? So it can list Ryanair as its client on the website? Doesn't make sense, business-wise.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:01

      HEL was operated by JU and didn't go too well when brought over to the A319. With ERJ's I think there is a chance it'll be brought back. Wizz also failed to launch TKU despite announcing the route and selling tickets.

      DUB I think is a likely new destination for JU within a year or 2 as they start adding more flights above the 3 hour range from BEG. There isn't alot of O&D travel for FR to tap into while JU has the advantage of offering a tonne of transfer options. Visa requirements for Serbian citizens to enter Ireland doesn't help stimulate demand either.

      As for the other destinations within Europe, what ever incentives BEG would announce will be quickly taken up by JU and Wizz. BEG really doesn't need to announce incentives for growth as it already has above average growth without adequate resources to accommodate the current network, mainly staff.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous09:24

    I'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. Why waste your money.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous09:24

    Sooner or later they will introduce Belgrade flights. They are not going to leave the market to Wizz Air.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:07

      They are already too, too late in BEG!

      W6 is taking money in Belgrade in front of their nose!

      Delete
  21. Nemjee09:32

    Simply put, Belgrade is not buying what Ryanair is selling. What is FR's selling point? Discounts for passenger numbers? Belgrade already has that. So what exactly would be the benefit of slashing charges so as accommodate FR?
    Belgrade has the upper hand here as it keeps on growing while FR shrinks in its catchment area (TSR, OSI, TZL and even INI).
    This winter should be a good one so hopefully summer 2024 will be epic. It also doesn't help that FR did not bring expected growth in ZAG. They have to come up with a better proposal if they want BEG's attention. Wizz did it and look where they are today.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous09:34

    If they ever start BEG, I wonder what destinations could work for them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      Prague, Budapest, Athens, Rome, Barcelona...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:40

      STN

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:48

      Greek islands as well (seasonally)

      Delete
  23. Anonymous09:35

    Air Serbia like that! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:04

      And Wizz Air especially.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous09:39

    Their presence in ex-Yu is still very limited.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous09:40

    I think FR generally shies away from non EU markets (obviously not including UK)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:49

      They had big plans for Ukraine before the war started.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:49

      They still have big plans for Ukraine, to base 30 aircraft after the war eventually ends. They also have significant presence in Morocco.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:34

      When the war eventually ends there will not be any airports left over.
      And by a high probability there will not even be people that could use that flights..

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:14

      Ehat do you mean? There are milions of ukraianians in europe, who will travel back again and again.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous09:51

    I think if Ryanair came to BEG it wouldn’t have the benefit many would think. It would only make Wizz decide to reduce its presense. We have seen in other Ex-yu markets. Wizz doesn’t like to go toe to toe with Ryanair in these markets

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous10:13

    They must come immediatelly in BEG if they want to catch the last slices of the cake. With their stubborn policy in BEG they will just continue losing market share in Serbia and let the market to W6.

    Later they come less will remain for them as there are already gossips that W6 plans to base 5th aircraft in BEG next summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nemjee12:50

      I think the cake is almost gone. What is left for them to launch? Porto? Manchester? Dublin?

      There are basically no high volume markets left for them to exploit. Spain and Portugal were the last remaining ones and they are covered now by W6/JU.

      If they want to make it in BEG they will have to fight for their own share of the market - they have to steal a piece of the cake from their competition.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:13

      They would do it with 20 EUR fares easily. We are a price sensitive market so they would take the cake quickly. But they would have to be hostile and, Serbia not being EU member, gives them harder job to use free market techniques to take the cake. So, I believe that's why they don't come. They would have to fight not just JU and W6 but the government too and they would do it if the prize is amazing, but it is (still) not so they calculate that, at the moment, the price of that fight is higher than the possible gain.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:07

      Croatia is in EU but still OU gets unlimited funds from their Government.

      Delete
    4. Not unlimited. The second tranche of €30 million barely got the approval but it was made clear it's the last one.
      OU will probably end this year in the black because of the sold planes, however after that, especially with the new planes arriving, they'll either change completely and miraculously, or... they're gone. OU is a dead man walking.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous22:47

      You keep forgetting that they have a chance again to get money from their Governmenrt for restructuring or however they call it.
      They have right to do it one in 10 years and probably we shall see it next year when they will get huge amount of Government's money.

      Delete
    6. What restructuring? They'd need to actually restructure which of course won't happen and the EU commission was very clear when they said no more.
      Of course they could go against Brussels but then they'd have to say buh bye to much larger funds for much more important strategic projects, such as the new high speed railway connecting Rijeka to Budapest - the biggest, most expensive and most important project since the Independence of Croatia.
      80% of it is being financed by the EU, just like Pelješac bridge, except this will be 10x more expensive. We're not talking €300 million, but rather €3 billion. We don't have that kind of money. Especially in light of the highway to Dubrovnik needing to be finished, not to mention the military shopping spree which isn't and can't be funded by the EU.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous10:17

    The question I would like to ask gentlemen from FR is how is it possible that so many LCCs can make profit with current prices in BEG and only FR could not? Norwegian, easyJet, Pegasus?

    Of course that W6 had discounts wich they earned with certain number of flown passengers, but they also started from zero discounts and got here where they are now. Wizz tried to play games with BEG many years ago when some discounts were revoked, but very soon they came back by introducing 3rd plane in BEG.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nemjee12:52

      Well Ryanair has a simple choice:

      1. launch BEG and lose money until they position themselves and build a customer base.

      2. trash and attack BEG as being expensive hoping they will lower their fees for them so that they can have an unfair advantage over the rest.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:06

      Somehow I do not see that option nr. 2 will ever work 😉

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:08

      Wizz had big discounts for opening a base in BEG, which got the CEO of BEG arrested.

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2014/07/wizz-air-confronts-air-serbia-over.html?m=1

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:24

      You can't possibly compared the state of the market in 2011 to 2023.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:02

      Im not comparing the market then and now, but to say that Wizz had zero discounts when starting BEG is simply not true.

      Delete
    6. Nemjee21:50

      They got massive discounts which were handed to them by Velja from G17+. These were terminated so they threw a hissy fit and withdrew one A320 from BEG.

      They saw that BEG did not care so they silently got over it and here they are today. Since covid they were in turbo expansion mode. They announced their first major expansion between the two big covid waves. Nothing came out of it but it was obvious that BEG was on their radar from then on.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous22:48

      After they removed their third plane they had no discount in BEG.

      Delete
    8. Nemjee06:24

      You mean after they removed their second plane from BEG? Back then they had two A320s in Belgrade.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous08:12

      Yes, you are right, Nemjee.

      Thanks for correction.

      Delete
  29. Anonymous10:19

    Bring Ryanair to LJU, you are welcome here

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous10:21

    -100

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous11:06

    Yeh Ryanair must be really happy with their EX-Yu results... muče se with mini airports like BNX and INI while their competitor have 9-10 aircrafts stationed in the region. ZAG is their first step and I dont count coastal Croatia. But they will never get the discounts they want from SKP and BEG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:35

      ZAG is not something they should be proud of.

      5 destinations cancelled and no new based planes.

      Delete
    2. Nemjee12:53

      Plus FR in ZAG did not create a passengers boom that Wizz Air created in both SKP and BEG. Both BEG and SKP know this and that is why they are not exactly rushing to attract FR. They know who their primary business partner is.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:26

      Wizz is creating losses and Ryan profits so it's obvious which route strategy works better.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:05

      Nobody in BEG could care less about W6 profit. They are adding the planes in BEG while they are closing non profitable basis in surrounding.
      That's all that matters.

      Delete
    5. Nemjee, you can't compare ZAG now and BEG or SKP back when Wizz had arrived there. At that time both BEG and SKP were in a bad place, with old JU dying and BEG having few carriers flying there. SKP was even worse in addition to no flag carrier at all.
      Ryan has gotten to the position of the second largest carrier at ZAG in just 2 and a half years. Behind OU and ahead of Lufthansa or Turkish. Out of some 1.5 million passengers ZAG has gained in that period FR alone brought nearly a million.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:31

      If Wizz is loosing profit, then why is it expanding in SKP and BEG? 😂

      Delete
    7. Nemjee22:02

      Actually that is not entirely true. Wizz Air launched DTM-BEG on June 12th 2010 with three weekly flights. In December 2009 Schengen visa regime was abolished with Serbia and that year BEG got a whole bunch of new flights.

      In 2010 passenger numbers at BEG grew by 13% to 2.698.000. The following year they grew even more that is by 16% to 3.124.000.
      We all know in what shape JU was back then so they were hardly the engine of growth. Foreign carriers massively increased their operations to BEG. Wizz Air still had a relatively modest operation at BEG back then. What I am saying is that they never had it easy and it was especially tough for them after 2013 when JU pulled its act together.

      As for FR and ZAG, I am not saying that they are not an important player, they are. However we have not seen an explosion of traffic like we saw in BEG or even SOF when LCCs moved it. TIA is another example. Ryanair should have created a whole new market which should have propelled ZAG to 4 million passengers.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous22:50

      Because they kept bases like TZL where they kept losing money. Now they keep only profitable basis like BEG and SKP.

      Simple as that.

      Delete
    9. Nemjee06:28

      I wrote months ago that gasto routes will be affected by growing inflation and reduced industrial activity in the West. Routes out of airports such as INI, TZL, BNX, OSI... are the most vulnerable. These airports saw major cuts so it's no surprise. In reality, we don't need every airport to be fully functional with commercial flights. If there are too many of them shut some of them down.

      Delete
    10. Well, Nemjee...look at the growth of ZAG year on year starting with 2021. and you'll se equal or better numbers.
      Yes that was the time when many foreign carriers had started returning to BEG but due to a price sensitive market Wizz was in a much better position...and yet it had not brought a million new passengers as Ryan has to ZAG. Facing a harsher competition.
      SKP unlike BEG cannot even be compared.
      I'm not exactly sure as to what the metrics is for deciding that Ryan should've propelled ZAG to 4 million, but they will get close this year with around 3.7 mill. Next year traffic should be over 4 million.

      Delete
  32. Anonymous13:06

    Still, it's weird some major airports (with more passengers and more profit than BEG) give them 10 EUR fee and BEG doesn't.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous13:27

    Ryan Air is no go for me they r always late

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Had 40 flights with FR. Delayed two times. Once two hours, once one hour

      Delete
  34. Anonymous14:52

    BEG airport is growing passenger volume at 20-25% recently so there is no need for both Wizz and Ryan.

    Other large Ex Yu airports growing recently at only 1-2% obviously need both Ryan and Wizz.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:53

      compared to 2019

      Delete
  35. Anonymous15:03

    I know airports that give them 5 EUR only because they are desperate 🤣

    ReplyDelete
  36. Anonymous18:59

    Ryanair potential flights
    Belgrade-Moscow
    Zagreb-Belgrade(Friday's Night)
    What do you think?
    High cost, no problem.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Understandable. Pax fee is 21,39eur. I doubt they can get special agreement. It would be nice to try KVO or expand INI

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous08:47

    Anon 13:06
    Which airports are those?

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous10:59

    Ubijali bi da otvore Beograd - ZD/RI/ZG

    ReplyDelete

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