The three Gulf carriers operating flights to Belgrade - Flydubai, Qatar Airways, and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi - handled a combined total of 182.170 passengers to and from the Serbian capital in the first half of the year, according to data provided by the statistical office of the European Union. This represents a 46.8% increase compared to the same period during the pre-pandemic 2019, on services from Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi. Flydubai, offering the most flights and capacity among the three, carried the largest number of passengers, totalling 87.417. While Dubai had the fewest passengers among the Gulf destinations served from Belgrade before the pandemic, it has now become the busiest route.
Belgrade route performance by Gulf carriers, H1 2024
As previously reported, Qatar Airways handled 54.616 passengers on its flights between Doha and Belgrade during the first half of the year, representing a 26% increase on its previous record during the first half of 2019. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, which commenced operations to Belgrade in 2021, also registered strong growth on the route, welcoming 40.137 travellers. It has now filled most of the void left by the departure of Etihad Airways, which, until it discontinued flights in 2020, was the busiest of the Gulf carriers in Belgrade with a daily rotation.
Over the past few years, Belgrade Airport has attempted to attract new carriers from the Gulf, however, so far, none have managed to replicate the success of their counterparts in Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi. In January 2019, Air Arabia scheduled flights and put on sale tickets for a new four weekly service from Sharjah to the Serbian capital, which were to launch in June of that year. However, by April, sales were discontinued. Last June, Jazeera Airways commenced two weekly seasonal operations from its home in Kuwait City to Belgrade, but ultimately cut short the service by three weeks and did not return in 2024. Kuwait remains the busiest unserved market in the Gulf from Belgrade based on point-to-point demand. It is followed by Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Habibi come to Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteCould JU go for some of this business?
ReplyDeleteOf course not. JU isn't competitive against these well run and professional carriers. They can beat airlines like Vueling and so on. They even failed to beat Norwegian which was on the verge of bankruptcy.
DeleteToo long flight time.
DeleteJU lacks the aircraft and crews for it.
Better to use it's capacity on European routes that allow an aircraft to make more round trips during the day than the Arabian peninsula would.
Just my2cents
JU ha total of 0 destinations in the Middle East.
Delete@09:09
DeleteWith the current situation in the Middle East who can blame them?
Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Iran, Iraq are to avoid even flying through their airspace.
Hopefully CAI will be back soon
DeleteJU in Middle East is too long rotation. Price would not be competitive
DeleteJU struggles even in ESB.
DeleteDoesn't seem so. They are flying year round on this route. And you say that "even" as if Ankara has such tremendous demand, No one served it until last year.
DeleteJU aircraft could probably fly there, but the high end market would rather fly on QR/FZ. W6 is only fortunate that they have no competition on the route they operate. Once you fly with new(er) aircraft and have a proper international flight experience, JU appears less than mediocre. Noblice won’t cut it on that kind of flight when the likes of QR offers full catering service, W6 is oay onboard, but their fares are aligned to the service offering, and FZ has fare types to pick from with various inclusions.
DeleteAnonymous17:07 On longer flights JU actually provides a meal and a proper drink included in the price. Flight to OPO for example included a lunch pack and a drink for a 3.5h flight. Would not say that they are mediocre since they charge similar prices (sometimes even less then) Wizz air but provide much better service od routes to Portugal. They can do the same with UAE.
DeleteWe should really try to attract Saudi carriers to BEG.
ReplyDeleteIt would require very little, just some contact with the Saudi Air Connectivity Program people. They are literally paying airlines left and right and covering all their costs to start flights to Saudi.
DeleteThat's true. The only reason LOT and ITA started flights to Saudi recently is because of this program
DeleteA3 too.
DeleteYes. Also many Chinese airlines have launched flights to Saudi Arabia under this peogram. I also just read the other day that Flynas started Berlin by using this 'support'.
DeleteSerbian passport holders still have to procure visa before trip. All eu cirizens plus some from regional have possibility to travel with visa upon arrival or no visa. Visa is not cheap and ambassy is in Sarajevo.
Delete^^^
DeleteThat's why the GoS needs to get involved. Change the visa regime, invite Saudis to invest here and their airlines to fly too.
Who exactly is going to fly to and from Saudi Arabia?
DeleteWell a lot of people Aegean flies year round to both JED and RUH with increased frequencies next summer they will fly to JED daily. Flew once ATH-JED and flight was full. 2 weekly BEG-JED could work I think
DeleteYou are comparing Athens and Belgrade for the love of God. Two markets which have nothing in common and are definitely not in the same league.
Delete@Anonymous12:38
DeleteSaudi tourists!
Millions of them travel abroad every year.
If they fly to Albania, Georgia, Bosnia they can most certainly fly to Serbia too.
Anon 12:48 , anon 12:46 compared nothing . He or She just said his opinion that BEG-JED could work at least twice a week ! Where did you see the comparison ??
DeleteLove it when they compare ATH with BEG. ATH an airport that next year is gonna get daily flights to Charlotte in North Carolina and Qantas will soon start direct SYD-PER-ATH that says it all!
DeleteDoes ATH has flights to Chengdu? No, BEG does.
DeleteDoes ATH have flights to Krasnodar? No, BEG does.
BEG does not have flights to either of those two cities.
DeleteChengdu and Krasnodar? Really? Cities many of us here didn't even know exist
DeleteThey fly to Albania, Greece, Georgia because of SEA, something Serbia does not have.
DeleteAnd Bosnia is muslim country, closer to Saudia, idealogy speaking
@01:05 Not "many of us", just you. Here, correct now. You are welcome
DeleteIt's crazy how much Dubai exploded.
ReplyDeleteWell, Qatar Airways is being naughty and since they won't increase BEG then it's FZ that will take their lunch and eat it.
ReplyDeleteQR has a genuine issue with a lack of narrow body aircraft.
DeleteBEG could also show some initiative towards them. They literally do nothing neither with existing airline partners or attracting new ones.
DeleteBEG is focused on ASL. That's why we only have 20 airlines flying year round.
DeleteQatar under its previous CEO manage to have a horrible relationship with Airbus.
DeleteTheir NEO orders were pushed back, they claimed they would order MAX, then changed their mind, same with A350s and now are in a situation were the global airplane deliveries are limited and they can't get enough aircraft.
@Anonymous 09:22
DeleteWith China Southern starting Guangzhou in a couple of weeks BEG will have 21 airlines flying year round.
Actually, Belgrade has 22 airlines flying year round: Aegean Airlines, Air Cairo, Air Montenegro, Air Serbia, AJet, Arkia, Austrian Airlines, China Southern Airlines, easyJet, flydubai, Hainan Airlines, KLM, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Pegasus Airlines, Qatar Airways, Sun d'Or, Swiss, TAROM, Turkish Airlines, Wizz Air
Delete^^^
DeleteI think Air Cairo is seasonal but I could be wrong.
You are wrong. It is year round and has been for many years. You can buy tickets on their webste to BEG for this winter.
DeleteActually Air Cairo is increasing flights to Belgrade to 3 weekly this winter.
Deleteis there anything new about the President's announcement in July that JU would restore CAI service?
DeletePresident: Air Serbia to restore Cairo service
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/07/president-air-serbia-to-restore-cairo.html
Vucko said: “Many people have complained over the lack of flights between Serbia and Egypt. Air Serbia will resume its flights between Belgrade and Cairo as soon as possible. When I say as soon as possible, this will happen within the next two month, no later than that. As a result, we will once again establish even better connectivity between Egypt and Serbia”.
DeleteSo in a couple of weeks JU should restart CAI. It's not as if a politician would promise things that he can not deliver. 😉
Exactly. Previous winters were only 1pw, now it’s 3pw
DeleteBut anon 10:20 , the weird thing in this blog is that when an airline stops flying to BEG , the most common comment here is : Good news for Air Serbia ! It's like they don't want the airport to develope . Everything for Air Serbia .
DeleteYou equated one person wiring the same comment to this entire site?
DeleteHow many passengers carried Jazeera Airways last year?
ReplyDeleteThe issue with Jazeera was that nobody knew they were flying. They did some social media ads and all were advertising flights to Moscow from Belgrade via Kuwait.
DeleteTrue dat!
DeleteSomeone will reopen Kuwait sooner or later
DeleteNobody will reopen Kuwait because flights didn’t work out.
DeleteI guess the same could have been said when TAP stopped Lisbon-Belgrade or when Vueling ended Belgrade-Barcelona.
DeleteThey were after Russians *exclusively* and that was a mistake.
DeleteGreat news. I also hope other flights to the Middle East are resumed like Beirut, Tel Aviv and Tehran.
ReplyDeleteI doubt we will be seeing flights to Beirut anytime soon as the situation in Lebanon is dire.
DeleteTel Aviv flights are operated by Sun d'Or and Arkia.
There are already flights to TLV.
DeleteMight as well do Yerevan and Tbilisi. Lots of Russian expats there just like in BEG.
DeleteThose are amazing numbers for Wizz Abu Dhabi considering they handle mostly point to point passengers while with Etihad it was mostly transfers.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWell LCCs usually have very high load factors.
DeleteIs there a chance that Air Serbia will restore plans for Amman?
ReplyDeleteAmman is suspended by many airlines as well, so I highly doubt it.
DeleteI'm surprised there isn't more demand for Jordan from Serbia in general. It is a great destination. Amman in itself is interesting let alone Petra and Aqaba. Also visa is issued on arrival. Shame Serbian tour operators haven't looked into it more. Also should note that Jordan isn't very expensive either.
DeleteAs someone from Serbia, I can tell you that like with everything in the country, the bear minimum is done. Same with tour operators. No one is interested in new markets. Even Air Serbia said they could launch long haul leisure flights but need to get Serbian tour operators working on it too. They don't care. They just sell Greece, Egypt, Turkey making minimal changes year after year. Might get some hate now but it is the result of the worst generation now being in leading positions. All those that were teens in the 90s when everything was closed and falling apart are now in managerial positions. Their experience is visible on every corner unfortunately. They want to do bear minimum and don't want to be bothered by work, let alone learn something. Funny thing is, 15 years ago when the country was poorer there used to be regular charters each summer to Aqaba. But back then people who actually knew how to do their jobs were still working.
DeleteWell, there are foreign agencies too. If the local ones lack knowledge, the foreign will step in. If there's a market, sure. On the other hand, it is not crazy to organize well established Egypt charters if you will make same money as for Maldivi, let's say. Why bother with new destination, new rules, new plane etc if you already have know-how for Egypt. We can't get mad on how people run their own private businesses. The market is free and anyone can establish an agency and start talking with JU about long haul charters.
DeleteMarket is too small for foreign agencies to get involved.
DeleteMaybe Air Arabia brings back plans for Sharjah-Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteWith Wizz flying to Abu Dhabi and Flydubai double daily to BEG soon, is there really a need for them?
DeleteAir Arabia is expanding in Europe recently. They introduced flights to ATH VIE KRK and they starting WAW too.
DeleteWould be nice to see them in BEG.
DeleteInterestingly they don't seem impacted by the huge increase in traffic by Turkish Airlines.
ReplyDeleteOr Ajet with its transfer options to the Middle East through SAW.
DeleteTK is constantly packed and expensive because all seats are taken up by Russian transfers.
DeleteYes, they have become really expensive when you compare to pre pandemic
DeleteTK is a horrible airline to fly on. So disorganized, no thank you.
DeleteThey are considered one of the best in the world.
Delete@12:36 Not when it comes to safety they are most certainly not!
DeleteBeg to differ, Flown with them over 15 times now, and yes, they are one of the top ones flying at the moment.
DeleteLOL, getting plenty of food and drinks is not how you judge an airline's safety culture.
DeleteBrowsing AVherald is.
https://avherald.com/h?search_term=Turkish+Airlines&opt=0&dosearch=1&search.x=49&search.y=14
I was reading some pilots forum, few years ago....
DeleteBasically Turkish airlines was considered the worst, even worse than some African airlines.
The people (highly experienced pilots), many of whom quit from TK, were wondering how they don't have crashes more often.
They also criticized the place where the airport was built, just so they could call TK "European", for being on the few % of European soil and that locations on the Asian side were much better for safety and navigation.
I think you are already anti Turkish Airlines spamming by now. It‘s clear we all consider it as a great airline.
DeleteI think there is potential for flights from Saudi to the region down the line
ReplyDeleteHave there ever been flights between Belgrade and Saudi Arabia?
DeleteNo
DeleteHope FZ considers Dreamliners to BEG when they get them
ReplyDeleteIsn't it better to have double daily flights?
DeleteOr maybe EK comes :)
DeleteFingerscrossed
DeleteThat would be nice
DeleteHigh time for Emirates to step in and show them how it's done
DeleteI'm quite interested to know how come Kuwait City is at the top of the list of unserved in Gulf. Is there a Serbian community there? Where does the demand come from?
ReplyDeleteYes there is. Lots of doctors, engineers and architects working in Kuwait.
DeleteInteresting, thanks
DeleteAny chance Etihad might come back? They just announced Prague as new route for next year.
ReplyDeleteI don't think currently with Wizz flying the same route. But you never know
DeleteThey announced Warsaw too today
DeleteWAW is the first new destination in Eastern Europe since BEG I think!
DeleteDoes Etihad still fly to Minsk?
DeleteLogical that Flydubai does best since they have double the number of flights of QR. But QR does remarkably well for the number of operations it has.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWere visas still in place for Serbian citizen to enter Dubai back in 2019?
ReplyDeleteNo
DeleteVisas were abolished in 2018.
DeleteAnyone think Singapore airlines is a possibility in the future?
ReplyDeleteWould be great connection from Australia. Govt. should work on opening more tourist routes from Asia, like Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand etc
No chance for SIA
ReplyDeleteWhat about Scoot, their low-cost subsidiary? They fly to ATH.
ReplyDelete