NEWS FLASH
airBaltic will increase frequencies on its seasonal flights between Riga and Belgrade next year. Following its successful initial year of operations in 2023, the carrier will add an additional weekly departure for a total of three weekly rotations from May 1 of next year. The carrier has also modified its flight times, departing Riga at 23.25 local time and arriving in Belgrade at 00.40 local time the following day. The inbound journey departs the Serbian capital at 02.45, arriving in Riga at 06.00.
Nice :)
ReplyDeleteAnd just look at the comments under this trip report where so many people were saying route will be discontinued. Experts
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/06/trip-report-airbaltic-riga-belgrade.html
These people only know the market from the time of JAT.
DeleteLooks lile they are going after transfers with those timings.
ReplyDelete*like
DeleteYes but the schedule is perfect if you ask me. I presronally prefer to arrive as early as possible to my destination and leave as late as possible so that i can use the maximum time there. Just my opinion and my preference when i travel.
DeleteIt seems you don't need to sleep.
DeleteI also like early arrivals and late take offs. I'll sleep when I get back home..lol.
Delete@20:07 my person!
DeleteIts better if i dont sleep one night then to arrive at my destination late at night before midnight and immediately go to sleep.
DeleteWell, to each their own. For me if I haven't slept the night before the day is basically lost
DeleteWell that's also true, but I am usually too excited before trips to be sleeping tight anyway. A couple of hours of chill does wonders. :)
DeleteGreat news!
ReplyDeleteThis Is not convinient for Belgrade inbound tourists..
ReplyDeleteNot convinient for regional connections too through code share with Air Serbia. Pure transfers in Riga I guess, but to where I have no idea.
DeleteIf BT is revising their schedule then it can only mean there weren't that many connections onto JU last year. If there were they wouldn't be doing this.
DeletePlus, BT is much stronger now so they can actually focus on themselves and on further reinforcing their operations in Riga.
The arrival and departure times in BEG are not the best to put it mildly.
ReplyDeleteFlying times are terrible.
DeleteIt seems they want to copy Vueling with these tranfer times, but I don't know if anyone told them what happened to VY in BEG...
Wait a second, are you guys for real??? This type of flights is EXACTLY what is making JU so successful on the market! Exactly this type of flighta! And now when Air Baltic is doing the SAME yiu guys are vining "oh my god, so terrible". Unbelieveable!
DeleteTirana pax, Bucarest pax, russian pax, all midnight pax in BEG are HAPPY?
No! But who cares! They can reach their final destination early morning as they arrive to BEG around 5 in the morning and then proceed further
Not really. Vueling had limited connectivity as their flights required a longer connection once you arrived at an ungodly hour. They failed because they never wanted to commit to BEG so they were run over by JU and W6.
DeleteairBaltic on the other hand will offer swift connections via RIX. For example, once you arrive in Riga at 06.00 you have the following:
07.00 OSL
07.00 HEL
07.00 CDG
07.05 ARN
07.10 CPH
07.10 HAM
07.15 BER
07.20 BRU
07.25 TLL
07.25 VNO
etc
So connections will be short and you will arrive anywhere in the Nordic region by 09.00. Also, airBaltic's network is used to this as they regularly operate such night flights.
Yes, we in Serbia might not be used to taking off at 02.45 but everyone who lived in LCA, CAI, BEY, TLV... knows the feeling. After all, JU departs LCA at 04.10, CAI at 03.55, AER 04.55, LED 04.45, ATH 04.40, OTP 04.40 ... many airlines do this so that they can offer connections onto their morning wave of departures. For example, look at CAI last night:
01.40 YYZ MS B789
01.45 FRA LH A321
02.00 BOM MS A332
02.15 BEY MS B738
02.20 CDG AF A350
02.20 ADD ET A359
02.35 JED MS A320
02.40 KWI KU B77W
02.45 JED SV A333
03.05 KWI J9 A320
03.10 AUH 3L A320
03.20 MUC LH A321
03.40 JFK MS B789
03.45 EBL MS B738
03.45 JED SM A320
03.45 IST TK A332
03.55 BEG JU A319
From the top of my head, only one airline in addition to Vueling in the past tried to operate such flights out of BEG. It was Norwegian with flights to ARN. They used to have a departure at either 01.50 or 02.00. Naturally this did not work and they lasted only one season. Worth noting that on this route (like with VY to BCN) there were JU and W6 offering more flights at better times. However, with BT the jury is still out and we will see how they will perform with this new approach to BEG.
I think once the price is low enough and offers convenience, most people don't care if it's 2,3h in the morning.
DeletePersonally I prefer it to mid day flights cause it allows me to plan and use my time better. I flew LOT this spring to CPH, departed BEG around 13h and arrived around 18-19. I neither had the time to do much in Belgrade before the flight nor could I do much in Copenhagen once I arrived and settled in the hotel. That felt like a wasted day, and looking back I wouldn't have minded the RIX flight timing if it meant getting to CPH in late morning
Out of curiosity, how come you went with LO and not with, for example JU or even LH?
DeleteJU was not flying on that specific day and LH was pretty expensive, so LO came out as the best option
DeleteIs Riga a popular destination among Serbian tourists?
ReplyDeleteDunno if it is popular or not, but it is a nice city. German style architecture. Not so big, but cool. Vilnius is more beautiful and Tallinn as well, but quite smaller. Typical European city is Riga with communist buildings of course.
DeleteI have been impacted by this change. Since my ticket was canceled, I'm now considering flying from Vilnius to Beg with a 55-minute layover in Riga (Sunday, VNO-RIX 21:40 - 22:30; RIX-BEG 23:25 - 00:40). I've flown to Riga this year, it is indeed a small airport so I guess I would be fine, but what's your take on this attempt?
ReplyDelete