EX-YU airports and airlines negotiate new routes

Airports and airlines across the former Yugoslavia took part in the annual Routes World conference, recently held in Istanbul, where they negotiated the launch of new services with industry partners. Over 3.000 delegates took part in the event in one-on-one meetings to discuss the establishment of new routes.

Skopje Airport recently saw Aegean Airlines introduce flights to Sarajevo, SunExpress upgrade its seasonal Antalya and Izmir service to year-round and airBaltic announce operations from Riga to the Macedonian capital for next year. Looking ahead, the airport’s General Manager, Nejat Kurt, said, “We are looking forward to getting destinations such as Doha, Dubai, and Barcelona especially. We are very much focusing on marketing and developing those markets as well. We are in contact with our mother company [TAV] which are doing a lot of marketing for these destinations, but also our marketing team in Skopje Airport is doing a tremendous job and are in discussions with the relevant embassies and ambassadors and showing that we would like to restore flights to these cities, especially Barcelona. I hope it will happen in the near future”. Commenting on the potential for long-haul flights, Mr Kurt said, “It is an ongoing conversation with airlines and our headquarters are working on this. We have all the tools, necessary equipment, and facilities to cater for long-haul flights to markets such as North America. I am personally convinced that this will happen in the nearest future. I believe that this is a good step forward and I hope that we will have a positive outcome with airlines that are willing to operate such flights”.

Airports of Montenegro, the operator of Podgorica and Tivat airports, held talks with fourteen carriers from Europe and the Middle East at Routes World. Airports of Montenegro had meetings with Air Arabia, airBaltic, Air Dolomiti, Azal Azerbaijan Airlines, British Airways (Euroflyer), Eurowings, easyJet, Kuwait Airways, Pegasus Airlines, SunExpress, Transavia, TUI Airline, Vueling Airlines and Wizz Air. Talks were also held with Bahrain’s Gulf Air on the sidelines of the conference. “This was an opportunity to motivate our existing partners to consider all the opportunities we offer in terms of expansion, while we introduced the advantages of cooperating with Airports of Montenegro to potential new clients”, the President of the Board of Directors of the airport operator, Eldin Dobardžić, said.

Sarajevo Airport was also present at Routes World. It noted, “Our representatives held a series of meetings with airlines with a special emphasis on presenting the new incentive scheme for carriers as well as the ongoing public call for airline subsidies, which is open until November 13, 2023. We will have more information about the results of the negotiations after the end of the public call”. The Sarajevo Airport team was spotted in meetings with SunExpress and Vueling, among others. On the other hand, Dubrovnik Airport noted, “We are constantly working on expanding our destination network and are currently in talks with carriers for the next summer season. It is too early to publicise details, but we hope to be able to do so soon”.

On the airline front, Croatia Airlines said the addition of new Airbus A220 aircraft into its fleet next year will open up new opportunities in terms of route development and potential new markets. Furthermore, the carrier is working with airports across Croatia and local tourism authorities to strengthen its presence at all of the country’s commercial airports. On the other hand, Air Serbia held over eighty meetings at Routes World. The carrier said, “We enjoyed meeting with our valuable partners - airlines, airports, and tourism boards at the biggest Routes edition ever. Air Serbia stays committed to enhancing the connectivity through its hub at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and exploring opportunities for further growth. Stay tuned for more developments”.