Air Serbia, Turkish Airlines and Pegasus Airlines welcomed close to half a million passengers on flights between Belgrade and Istanbul last year, with the route continuing to grow into 2023 as well. The big increase in passenger numbers, up almost 90% on the pre-pandemic 2019, comes as a result of a revised Air Service Agreement between Serbia and Turkey, favouring the flag carriers, and enabling more frequencies, as well as close cooperation between Air Serbia and Turkish Airlines, which has resulted in a wide-ranging codeshare agreement. Furthermore, tourism exchange between the two countries has significantly increased, there is a notable rise in Turkish workers in Serbia, while a larger amount of Russian travellers transferring on the route also generated more traffic. Last year, in addition to Istanbul, charter flights to Antalya saw a significant number of passengers.
Air Serbia and Turkish Airlines handled a total of 380.004 passengers between Belgrade and Istanbul’s main gateway last year. In addition, Pegasus carried a further 81.730 travellers between its Sabiha Gokcen hub and the Serbian capital for a total of 461.734 passengers between the two cities. During 2022, Air Serbia accounted for around 30% of the capacity on the route to Istanbul’s main airport, while Turkish Airlines held 70%. However, this year, Air Serbia holds 43% of total capacity between the two cities. During this year, there are a total of 617.986 seats between the two airports, up 32.7% on 2022 and an increase of 144.6% on 2019.
Belgrade - Turkey passenger performance in 2022
Air Serbia commenced operations from both Niš and Kraljevo to Istanbul’s main airport last year, in addition to flights from Belgrade, while Turkish Airlines’ lower cost unit, AnadoluJet, launched flights from Ankara during the last week of 2021. This year, both expanded their route networks between the two countries, with Air Serbia introducing services from Belgrade to both Ankara and Izmir, while AnadoluJet added its own service from Izmir to Belgrade. Turkish Airlines has been lobbying for the introduction of scheduled year-round flights from Antalya to Belgrade, which generates significant traffic, however, an agreement with Air Serbia will be required first for the service to commence.
.jpg)
Impressive!
ReplyDeleteAntalya numbers are crazy
ReplyDeleteNo wonder JU does not want to allow TK to fly it.
DeleteThing is that these passengers are there because of tour operators. JU is afraid that they might switch to TK because they offer everything better, from planes, onboard experience, frequent flier miles, timing, flexibility...
DeleteWhile JU is not cheap and you end up flying on some random Romanian or Lithuanian plane.
@anonymous 09:22
Delete+1000
My experience with TK was AWFUL. Average food, missed TK plane bc of first TK flight late, left my lagguage outside on the rain overnight etc.. Onboard experience? PR and propaganda.
DeleteMy Turkish Airlines experience; cabin crews usually work hard and do what they can, but on the ground, TK is a total mess 🙄 Be prepared for delays, last-minute aircraft swaps, missed connections, outright lies about what happens/happened... Transiting in IST involves kilometers of walking/running, and baggage carts have to be paid for!! TK = 👎
DeleteWorst airline ever! Worst food, worst service! Never again!
DeleteWow
ReplyDeleteWish Pegasus was allowed more flights
ReplyDeleteAnd SkyExpress to launch flights.
DeleteAt least Pegasus has been able to increase capacity and now uses A321 on Belgrade flights.
DeleteI'm surprised a third Turkish carrier has not been allowed on the market. I remember that Atlasglobal was allowed to fly.
DeleteThey were allowed to fly because JU allowed it because they made a deal. That is what the Air Service Agreement was like. Then Atlasglobal went bankrupt and JU later decided to make a deal with Turkish
DeleteRemember that at the time Air Serbia let Atlasglobal fly, Air Serbia didn't operate to IST.
DeleteI remember. AS has come a long way since than.
DeleteIs BEG now ahead of Bucharest in terms of passenger numbers from IST? I know it was third in the region behind ATH and OTP but ahead of airports like BUD, SOF, SJJ, ZAG etc.
ReplyDeleteBucharest is ahead of Belgrade in terms of passenger to/from Türkiye. OTP-IST-OTP: 473.889 pax, OTP-SAW-OTP: 108.649 pax, OTP-AYT-OTP: 218.992 pax. Source: EUROSTAT - 2022
DeleteCould this be because people from Moldova and Pridnestrovie don't have any more flights from KIV to Russia, so they have to transit? Bus/train/car--->OTP--->IST--->Russia? 🤔 KIV->Russia was of course not a huge market like Armenia to Russia, but anyway? I remember like 10 years ago there were nonstop flights from KIV to places like Surgut...
DeleteSure. All residents of Transnistria travelled 3 times.
DeleteDemand from Romania to Turkey was always high. Before covid, TK was the main carrier for passengers heading to China. That's why they used to deploy the A333 to OTP.
DeleteOne million Moldovan citizen work or worked in Russia.
DeleteMoldovas government prohibited flying to Russia because these gastarbeiters preferred voting in elections for the pro-russian opposition..
Anonymous 14:10 - there are daily a lot of flights from KIV to IST - (Turkish, HiSky, FlyOne), moldovans prefer to fly to Istanbul from KIV or IAS, they do not go down to OTP.
DeleteAnonymous14:20 Could it be because Romania has three times the population of Serbia?
DeleteAm not surprised about those results, Serbian biggest economical and political partner in so called "region" it's Turkey. Open more to the east countries will be more beneficial for Serbia.
ReplyDeleteTK is to JU what Lufthansa is to OU. feels like were back in 1910.
DeleteHopefull both JU and OU can grow more independently. The long haul routes by JU should help with that when they open those eastern routes themselves. hopefully after 2-3 years they will open more african and latin america also.
^ This is such nonsense. JU will carry 4 million passengers this year, meaning Istanbul accounts for less than 3% of its total passenger numbers. Air Serbia flies to 80 destinations - yes 80 including long haul. Some of you really don't think before you comment.
DeleteJU next year might have close 100 destinations, while BEG will have in coming years more passangers than susjedi airports all together. JU has growth, while OU don't.
DeleteSlav.man usually speaks nonsense so I'm not surprised.
DeleteHow can it be the same when OU only flies to LH hubs while JU launched Izmir and Ankara and arranges IST flights to fit their own connections and not TK's.
Deleteas usual peopl like to be just reactionary without reading and understanding. Turkey has the most passanger numbers from Serbia or its 2nd. and now relying on TK for for its MRO set up. My comment was about the post which highlighted "there is a notable rise in Turkish workers in Serbia" and the original comment "Serbian biggest economical and political partner in so called region it's Turkey".
DeleteTry to have a bit more understanding when reading a comment.
so again. when JU can set up and rely on its own independent MRO and has its on connection to eastern destinations. hopefully starting with Yerevan and Tbilisi then epand to New Dehli etc. That would be great.
Well your thinking is still off. Air Serbia launched flights to China when they could have easily shuttled everything via IST.
DeleteThen JU launched TLV where TK is the busiest foreign carrier. Then they went ahead and resumed Cairo where TK-MS offer multiple daily connections.
Air Serbia then expanded in Turkey by adding Ankara and Izmir.
OU on the other hand is afraid to launch Berlin or Dusseldorf as that would anger its German overlord. I won't even speak of long-haul.
When it comes to the LH-OU relationship it's best described as Stockholm syndrome. JU and TK on the other hand have a mutually benefiting relationship which came as a result of growing political ties between the two countries. TK is in no ways limiting JU's growth while LH is restricting what OU can do. Actually this deranged relationship has reached new highs so LH doesn't even have to bother anymore, OU management does everything themselves. Launching OSI-MUC without first securing a LH code-share is a good example of this.
@anon 09.41
DeleteNo thank you. Were good like this.
JU going from such a small share to this much is amazing.
ReplyDeleteI think Turkish tourists are number 1 in Serbia at the moment by visits.
ReplyDeleteYes they are. But this has been the case for several years
DeleteIs IST now the busiest route from Belgrade? Or are Tivat and/or Zurich ahead?
ReplyDeleteIt's been yhr busiest for a while
DeleteAnd all those Antalya passengers are flying with Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteScheduled flights are needed on this route.
DeleteNot going to happen. For Air Serbia to get scheduled flights they would need to offer the same to TK and they don't want to share the cake.
DeleteSince Air Serbia flies Kraljevo and Nis to Istanbul, is it possible that any other carrier start Nis?
ReplyDeleteNo other carrier can start IST-INI because of PSO.
DeleteThanks, I forgot about that
DeleteIn all honesty neither of the two should be on the PSO list anymore as both routes are profitable and busy.
DeleteThen JU should increase frequencies from there..
DeleteIn summer JU could use A330 from Belgrade to Antalya without a problem.
ReplyDeleteThey could use it to Hurghada too but they don't have enough widebodies.
DeletePegasus should at least be allowed to go daily.
ReplyDeleteIf there ever was discrimination and unfair competition then it has to be in this case!
It is [art of the bilateral. Unfortunately, very common between Turkey and many countries. Not to mention that Pegasus Airlines isn't on good terms with the ruling AK party in Turkey, so they are often being sabotaged.
Delete* part
DeleteSome really impressive figures there.
ReplyDeleteThis year there will be even more passegers.
ReplyDelete* passengers
DeleteWhy are prices extorshinatley high Moscow to Belgrade surely restricts profit on the route.
ReplyDeleteWhat you mean? If prices are sky high, and aeroplanes full, than profit is high.
DeleteFirst of all congrats to whoever is running this blog/site it is very well made and with lots of contents. I didn't want to write but since I have seen the debates about TK I decided to give me 2 cents: October 2023, business class: SOF-IST-AUH. Crazy long taxi when you get to IST, stuff inside airport not even interested in giving you basic info, not able to use lounges in IST during both legs as we had to run to connect as the airport is massive and made in idiotic way. Food only OK, at around 3 AM on the flight to EAU (was late) cabin crew just started toying and making noises with the galleys part and talking loud like people are not wanting to sleep at 3 AM. A321neo sucks for a 4/5 hours flight. Connections at IST are absurd, you need at least 4-5 hours between flights to feel safe and not rush. Final verdict: Nunca mas.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing bro.
Delete