Air Serbia has for the first time surpassed Wizz Air both by the number of operated flights and available capacity to become the largest carrier across the former Yugoslav markets during the first quarter of 2024. It comes after Wizz Air implemented temporary wide-ranging cuts to its network during the three-month period compared to its original schedule due to the necessity to inspect aircraft fitted with certain Pratt & Whitney engines. The airline is relocating two its six aircraft out of Skopje and one of its four jets from Belgrade during the first quarter. Furthermore, it will use the smaller Airbus A320 instead of the A321 on a number of its Skopje and Belgrade flights.
Wizz Air is temporarily suspending two routes out of Skopje, one each out of Niš and Ljubljana, and will also reduce frequencies on select services from Ohrid and Pristina as well. In contrast to the January - March period of last year, Wizz Air no longer maintains a base in Tuzla, which has reduced Bosnia and Herzegovina’s total air seat capacity during the first quarter by 11% year-on-year. Air Serbia has also reduced its network during the first quarter on its original plan, however, it will be just ahead of Wizz Air in the region with 1.23 million seats and over 10.200 flights (both directions included). Both metrics are still up 33.5% and 28.3% on last year respectively.
During the first quarter, Air Serbia’s busiest routes in terms of available capacity are Istanbul, Podgorica, Zurich, Moscow, Paris, Athens, Tivat and Barcelona. The Serbian carrier previously identified Wizz Air as its main competitor on the market. “Wizz Air is a tough player in Belgrade. We compete with each other on several routes. Sometimes we win, sometimes they win. There are also routes where our offers complement each other. We are open to competition because then we are forced to improve our efficiency and change our approach to the customer”, the airline noted last year. Croatia Airlines will be the third largest airline in the former Yugoslavia in Q1, with just over half a million seats, followed by Turkish Airlines and Ryanair.
Bravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteQ1 is the money bringer- so they will thrive!
Delete👌 👏
ReplyDeleteWe are waiting for more frequencies and new destinations!
ReplyDeleteFrom both to be honest
DeleteWell they have started adding frequencies on some route
DeleteMy comment above refers to JU
DeleteOnly on 2 or 3 routes. Not much so far.
Delete9.01 Next week or in two weeks perhaps we have news about It
DeleteLooking forward to it
DeleteAny hint what they may introduce/increase?
DeleteWell Mostar is one of the new routes :)
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/01/air-serbia-to-launch-three-weekly.html
Ok so now Mostar, Guangzhou and Shanghai are 100% confirmed :D
Delete^ But analticar said that there will be no new routes from BEG this year...
DeleteTrue lol
DeleteI truly laugh every single time when I read his articles. He ignores the fact that Finnair and probably Vueling stoped flying to Zagreb, he insists on one day delays from BEG instead of seeing bigger picture like Ex Yu does with this article and he is not even informed by Mostar CEO (and apparently he has very good relation with him) that JU will fly 3 weekly routes to OMO.
DeleteYes, while ignoring same situation that happened in ZAG just few weeks ago
Deletehttps://slobodnadalmacija.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/ludnica-na-aerodromu-ljudi-na-rubu-zivcanog-sloma-netko-ce-izazvat-incident-putujem-25-godina-i-ovo-jos-nisam-dozivio-1349687
I think we might see 2-3 more destinations to the one anon @10.30 wrote.
DeleteBigger picture is that BEG has unusual delays which we didn't see for quite some time and that's why even Ministry had to act, which was reported here too. I would be happy with management change at BEG.
DeleteThat person (that calls himself, analiticar) is the worst.
DeleteHes like some tetka that just loves to crap on everything.
His hate towards Serbia, Belgarde and Air Serbia is so evident.
I love how I can get the right information here on exyu.
DeleteHe had a post yesterday after he had a talk with Mostar airport but exyu was the one with the exclusive news.
I think alongside Mostar, Shanghai and Guangzhou they might add Dublin, Manchester and Possibly Cluj-Napoca and Paphos.
Delete@anon 12:30
DeleteFully agree with you!
anon12:36
DeleteCyprus is too small to add Paphos too since they serve LCA with high frequencies. I think they'll add another greek destination.
Sometimes I feel sorry for "analiticar", guy contradicted himself numerous times and lost all of the credibility. Unfortunately for him, self titled “analyst” is typical yellow press "amateur journalist" that is proclaiming hostility and aversion. His columns are psychological picture of his sanity.
DeleteCluj is possible and Manchester and Warsaw. I would be happy to see Dubai 😀
Delete14:47 If they're going to add a new Greek route, it will surely be Santorini, Mykonos, Mytilene or, potentially, Paros or Alexandroupolis.
DeleteAnonymous 12:28 If he hates Air Serbia and Belgrade that much he wouldn't praise both in numerous articles.
DeleteHe often criticizes Croatia Airlines and Zagreb Airport management. How do you explain that?
16:48
DeleteYou could say anything, but he is the most respected expert in regional aviation industry.
Oh wizz wizz... bad years for you
ReplyDeleteThey will be growing again later this year.
DeleteIts not their fold for what happend with the engines of the A321neos.
DeleteCongrats to Air Serbia but I'm hoping Wizz wakes up and adds some new routes and frequencies.
ReplyDeleteThey are not asleep, they just can't do anything because they got screwed by P&W.
Delete"Wizz Air no longer maintains a base in Tuzla, which has reduced Bosnia and Herzegovina’s total air seat capacity during the first quarter by 11% year-on-year."
ReplyDeleteWow and recently there was an article on the growth Sarajevo has in Q1. Just goes to show how big of an impact Wizz's Tuzla base closure has had.
How long will Wizz have to take out planes out of service for the engine checks?
ReplyDelete3 years
DeleteThat's a lot
DeleteSo they won't expand for 3 years?
Delete09:20 Won't expand for 3 years? Could be just me, but I don't think that's going to happen at all. I mean, they surely have orders for the A320neo family with the CFM LEAP-1A engines.
DeleteWhich are engines that, currently, don't have any issues, as far as I heard that is.
DeleteSeems like airlines should buy spare engines for their planes.
DeleteA rule of thumb is that for each aircraft you get a spare set. Even OU got that right with the A220.
DeleteRyanair will probably become number 1 in a year or two.
ReplyDeleteAs you can see, in winter they are smaller than Croatia Airlines and Turkish in ex-Yu.
DeleteThings will change in Q2 when Zagreb gets a fourth A320, Zadar gets three A320s and Dubrovnik gets two MAXs.
DeleteIt will be interesting to see if Ryanair can overtake Wizz in Q2
Delete09:38 I'm not really sure about the 737 MAX aircraft after recent events.
DeleteRyanair cant overtake wizz as two of their bases are seasonal. Wizz Air also has numbers of routes to Croatia and summer seasonal to Nis and Ohrid, Podgorica and Pristina. No way this is going to happen.
DeleteIt is quite possible. Ryanair expansion in region is HUGE.
DeleteNow would be the moment to sell the airline
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteNo need considering they are binging money to the state and paying it back into the budget.
DeleteGod forbid.
DeleteYou would get the largest price now for JU. The worst kind of deals you can make for an airline is when it is struggling or on the brink of bankruptcy. It would still bring money to the state. The money JU repaid to the government last year is a drop in the ocean for the funds it received from that same government over the past few years.
DeleteNo thanks, modest regular income over long period compared to short lived big money injection (to be gobbled up by greedy politicians and their uhljebs in no time), I'll take the first option always.
DeleteQR might be on the cards. Especially now that it has a new CEO.
DeleteYes for 2 months now
Deleteproud of Air Serbia
ReplyDeletehope that AirSERBIA continues to grow
ReplyDeleteIt will
DeleteIt can't grow forever, they made enormous expansion. No surprise if it dicontinue to grow. Basic economic law.
DeleteIt has to stop at one time. Nothing is eternal.
This year will be interesting. I am expecting new destinations, probably regional and long haul as they announced.
ReplyDeleteHope so too
DeleteImpressive
ReplyDeleteImagine how much ahead JU would have been if they hadn't made cuts to the schedule.
ReplyDeleteWell Wizz would be ahead had they not cut their flights so..
DeleteI wonder what JU would do if Ryanair did by some miracle base a plane in BEG.
ReplyDeleteIt would be the end of Air Serbia.
DeleteYeah right. The same was said when Wiz Air opened a base in BEG.
DeleteI think if Ryanair based planes in Belgrade it would impact Wizz more. They may be less inclined to expand at BEG, Air Serbia is pursuing more transfer passengers etc and long haul. P2P will always be difficult to compete with the low cost airlines.
DeleteAer Lingus exists in Dublin next to Ryan.
DeleteNot only Aer Lingus exists in Dublin next to Ryan, but Aegean in Athens, Air Baltic in Riga, Bulgaria Air in Sofia, SAS in Copenhagen, Austrian in Vienna, and many many many more. Even pathetic Croatia Airlines exists in Zagreb next to Ryan. So,.....
DeleteHow many passengers could JU have this year if they were at 4.1 million in 2023. My guess around 4.6?
ReplyDeleteGreat. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteNot surprised considering the number of new routes they added.
ReplyDeleteWell, Wizz did suspend 2 routes to Skopje, and 1 each to Niš and Ljubljana and reduced frequencies on some routes to Ohrid and Prishtina. Not to mention, they did remove some aircraft from Belgrade and Skopje and will use A320s on some routes, which were used by A321s.
DeleteBut, tbf, AirSERBIA did suspend flights to Naples, Izmir, Salzburg, Cologne, Gothenburg and Ankara, and lowered frequencies to many destinations.
Actually A320s will be based in both SKP and BEG. Also many routes from SKP and BEG have been reduced. But its not just our bases, they will also remove one A320 from Varna, Craiova and Timisoara so all of them will have only A320 based. Aircraft from Iasi, Cluj and Catania will also leave next week and will be based elswhere. Only Tirana will have increase in the flights next month compared to this one, maybe OTP and BUD as well but i havent checked yet. Currently they use 38 A320s two of which are wetleased, 41 A321s and 97-100 A321neos. 17 planes are based in OTP, 14 in BUD, 12 in LTN and AUH, 11 in WAW, TIA and FCO and so on.
DeleteI hope Wizz will overtake soon. We urgently need airlines who can survive on their own!
ReplyDeleteIt will be ahead in summer.
DeletePray do tell how Air Serbia is not "surviving on its own"? And please, no "subventions" drivel, as it's not getting a cent from the government and is making record profits too.
DeleteI'm surprised Air Serbia's capacity is so high vs 2023 considering the frequency cuts.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, JU. It seems you’re on the right track.
ReplyDeleteHopefully they will consider growing out of Nis and Kraljevo in the near future too.
ReplyDeleteNot so much demand there for legacy carrier.
DeleteSwiss is the best proof for it.
What happened to TLV resumption, I see that JU completely removed it from the system...
ReplyDeleteBEG-TLV is in the system from 31 March. JU having removed it from its website is probably a glitch. It's not the first time they have done something like this.
DeleteThey didn't remove it from the system, they just removed TLV from the website. Knowing how many issues they have with the website it is probably by mistake. I remember 2 years ago they removed some destination (I forgot which one) and it wasn't on the site for 2 or 3 weeks before before they realized and put it back.
Delete"Aljkavo" as we would say in Serbian.
DeleteAll by mistake. Mistakes..
DeleteTel Aviv is back on the site today.
DeleteWould be interesting to see which other airlines are in the top
ReplyDeleteIt is in the article...
Delete"Croatia Airlines will be the third largest airline in the former Yugoslavia in Q1, with just over half a million seats, followed by Turkish Airlines and Ryanair."
DeleteThey are really on a roll
ReplyDeleteWhere is Varadi? He used to give interviews left and right. Recently he has been missing in action.
ReplyDeleteChasing his bonus
DeleteGood for them, but JU needs to fix a lot of things on the customer side.
ReplyDeleteBelgrade Maribor flights when?
ReplyDeleteBring them the tolars and it will start in April :)
DeleteVery nice, but AS has serious delay problems. This was my 4 AS flight that was delayed but this delay was the biggest I ever had. It was delayed 5 hours and on top of that when it landed in BEG around 3am they could not connect the bridge to plane due to freezing weather. It was flight from Milan. I am happy, very happy for AS growth, new destinations, but if they do not shore up dep/arr. on time, they will have issues with customers. FYI flight was packed with well-to-do Russians, I mean 80% both ways.
ReplyDeleteIt happened only 1 day during this winter and it can happen to anyone.
DeleteSorry but each of my last 4 AS flights were delayed around 1 hour, not counting Milano 5 hours. So statistically that is a bit too much.
DeleteTry to fly from FRA to see what means delay!
Delete👍 !!!
ReplyDeleteIts good that Wizz Air did this. Better to have reduction in the slowest period of the air then in the summer. They have cuts from most of their bases, so that they can prepare for the summer when some A321neos are finished with inspection. Plus new A321neo are going to come. Their six A320neos are also grounded for months so they should be ready for the summer. I think that its smart move for them as they are using this period when its common to fly half empty planes.
ReplyDeleteyear*
DeleteWizz when close base in Tuzla get down...
ReplyDeleteSeems like they finally revived the EY codeshare. Was just able to buy tickets to Tokyo on EY website for a crazy good price (BEG - ZRH - AUH - NRT, with BEG-ZRH operated by AirSerbia and rest by Etihad and even layovers being short!) - 700 EUR return ticket in economy, only 2000 EUR in business!
ReplyDeleteWizz air is not Ex YU company. Wizz air is coming from Hungary, which is not Ex Yu country. So Air Serbia was biggest without over taking Wizz air. Croatia air second place.
ReplyDelete