Niš Airport will soon be linked with Ankara, while additional frequencies from both Constantine the Great Airport and Kraljevo to Istanbul will be introduced. Speaking at the Belgrade Tourism Far, the Ambassador of Turkey to Serbia, Ilhan Saygılı, said, “Tourism is one of the areas where Serbia and Turkey enjoy the strongest cooperation, and increasing the number of scheduled and charter flights is key to further progress. Every week, there are around 66 flights between our two countries, and soon there will be even more. New flights from Niš to Istanbul and Ankara, as well as from Kraljevo to Istanbul, will be introduced shortly. Demand for charter flights is growing every year, so we expect this trend to continue this year”.
The Ambassador did not specify whether the new services between Niš and Ankara would be operated by Air Serbia or Turkish Airlines’ low cost subsidiary AJet. The development comes just weeks after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Air Transport between Serbia and Turkey, which opens the door for more flights, new destinations, and increased capacity between the two nations. Currently, both Niš and Kraljevo have two weekly flights to Istanbul's main airport, operated by Air Serbia under a Public Service Obligation contract with the Serbian government. Additionally, the Serbian carrier runs summer charter flights between Niš and Antalya.
In 2024, a total of 232.527 Turkish tourists visited Serbia, an increase of 15.4% on 2023, making them the largest group of visitors to the country. They spent 603.787 nights in Serbia throughout the year. Despite a stringent bilateral Air Service Agreement that regulates frequencies and capacity between the two, and in addition to flights from Niš and Kraljevo to Istanbul, Belgrade offers scheduled services to Turkey’s main gateway, as well as Sabiha Gockan Airport, Ankara and Izmir. Furthermore, there are numerous charters between the two countries with Antalya being the busiest. Air Serbia, which has exclusive rights to operate between Serbia and the city, handled close to 120.000 passengers between Serbia and Antalya last year.
Bravo INI 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteBravo INI 🎉 👏 🇷🇸
DeleteEmbraers would be perfect for this route. Hopefully some more soon to come for Air Serbia and I hope they get some E190s as well.
ReplyDeleteUnless JU uses the Bulgarian E90s to launch these flights. That said, I'd rather have Ajet do it as they have a stronger brand in Turkey.
DeleteAjet would be nice to have on this route. But I was just stating that Air Serbia should get more embraers and even E190s for these type of routes, it would be a game changer for JU.
DeleteWell they are getting an additional two through Bulgaria Air.
DeleteI think they will need both of them in Belgrade. That said, this winter the E90 were small on some routes like Athens on Thursdays. Those flights are consisently fully booked. It's a shame they don't have more E95s.
DeleteSounds like it will be Ajet with Ankara and maybe SAW to Nis, while JU gets extra Kraljevo frequencies.
ReplyDeleteI don't see SAW-INI happening since JU already operates INI-IST flights.
DeleteI don't see the point of this route. Even to BEG, JU don't have flights all year. Nis is not so attractive for tourism
DeleteAir Serbia doesn't operate year-round flights but Ajet does. Mind you, ESB is not a small airport and it has solid demand. Just because JU struggles there doesn't mean there is no potential.
DeleteNis can be attractive for those on a budget and they can visit Belgrade as well.
There is a lot to see and do around Nis.j
DeleteGood news
ReplyDeleteFares between Belgrade and Turkey are not exactly cheap. Introducing ESB-INI could be a good way to make Serbia more accessible to Turkish holidaymakers.
ReplyDeleteWorth noting that Nis is getting another hotel in downtown and with existing capacities, there shouldn't be any problems in accommodating additional tourists.
It also helps that Sofia doesn't have Ankara flights, another opportunity for INI.
I think Serbia should do more to promote spa tourism. I was in Vrnjacka Banja last week and the new highway makes the whole area far more accessible.
Can someone tell me why Turkish carriers cant open AYT-BEG charters?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I know there are bilateral restrictions and any additional flights need to be approved by both sides.
DeleteIn the past Ajet showed interest in operating these flights but they were turned down by the Serbian government. Same way they turned down Air Cairo when they wanted to launch INI flights.
It's a way to protect Air Serbia. When it comes to charters, I don't have a problem with JU operating these flights. People are already going to spend their money in Turkey, no need for them to be flying on Turkish carriers. Especially not if they would dump fares in order to chase JU out of the market.
Because all passengers are Serbian tourists. No point to travel with Turkish carrier. Same is with Turkish tourists travel to Belgrade. Majority of them uses Turkish companies,
DeleteScheduled flights to Antalya would make much sense nowdays.
DeleteIf JU schedule this route, TK would also do that. And it’s a pure loss for JU
DeleteBaby steps. In ten years, with proper marketing and management, INI will be serving over a million people.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think we have to wait for 10 years to see INI serving 1M people. INI has amazing potential, but JU doesn’t have capacity to grow there and INI is doing nothing to make LCC’s fly from Nis. They should think about paying RyanAir or WizzAir to open a base. In that case scenario, we can see a way more connected and one million passengers in a year easily. Also, INI management should have talks with Lufthansa, KLM and Austrian to start flights to Frankfurt and Amsterdam. It will connect Nis with many destinations. Also, AirSerbia should schedule flights from Nis daily (in the mornings) so the passengers can connect to all JU destinations. I see INI grow that way.
DeleteThey had talks with Ryanair a while back and nothing came out if it, so it obviousl that the management is beyond incompetenet.
DeleteThey srill have no restaurant at the airport, the self check machines dont work cause the kiosks dont print the code well enough, ridicilous.
Has the air bridge at the airport been installed yet ?
DeleteLol ofc not and they are nowhere in sight. Worthy of note is that police's behaviour is disgusting. They stare at passangers like they are are entering North Korea and trying to hide something. No basic greetings, flipping trough passport pages like gestapo, idk what they are trying prove lol. Customs personnel on the other hand is very polite and friendly.
DeleteNothing new really, the upper level of the airport looks rather dark and crammed. . . seems like the people who designed the airport took a note out of Vinci’s playbook. Perhaps you can vouch for me when I say this as I haven’t been there yet but would there even be enough room on the upper level to accommodate a reasonable amount of seating? Perhaps enough space for a Kafeteria at least? Also, I don’t see why the airport can’t have its own train station. Rail is already right there and it would be super convenient for people.
DeleteThey have already placed seating on the upper floor so it is more accomodating now, how its gonna work once/if they introduce more flights is questionable.
DeleteThe funniest thing tho, the little duty free store they have (its like one wall lined with different goods), they have 4 workers for it.
Two working the ONE register and two standing on each side staring at people so they dont steal lol
Haha, the new duty free looks like it’s going to be quite big especially for an airport for Niš’ size. Maybe they were planning ahead of time for hiring all those workers or something who knows.
DeleteI'm guessing two weekly
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure on INI-Ankara potential. One of leisure destinations would be better. On the other hand with a good marketing INI could see tourists from Central Turkey. Kopaonik, spa centers perhaps.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the statistics for January at INI?
ReplyDeleteWith all the cuts probably not good.
DeleteThey haven't published their results for January yet but it's not going to be great considering the Wizz cuts were not in effect last January.
DeleteThey only published when are in possitive rates!
Delete^ why would you make something like that up? What's the point? They published their result for all of last year which were negative on an almost monthly basis throughout the year. Why would you enjoy lying for something that can be easily checked?
DeleteFew thoughts:
ReplyDelete1. Nis definitely has things to offer to Turkish tourists, especially those interested in Ottoman history.
2. INI-SAW is great if it can work. But I'm more excited about the potential increase of INI-IST, especially if they can make the codeshare with TK more reasonable.
3. If I would be the government of Serbia, my main strategy for INI would be one ATR of Air Serbia flying INI-BEG-INI-IST-INI-BEG-INI every day, accompanied by a strong marketing promotion of connecting flights at both hubs. I think it would be beneficial, and ultimately profitable, for all players involved.
1. Yeah, Ćele kula for instance.
DeleteNiš is a 100% European town, designed by the Austrian architect in the 19th century. Coming to Niš, tourist from Turkey may have the cheapest and also visa free option to get in touch with - Europe.
Nis may visit only Turkish tourist who already visited Belgrade. But would he spend another 300-400 Euro for Nis only?
DeleteMany of them can go to spa centers. I think Kursumlijska banja was renovated, Vrnjacka Banja is less than an hour with the new highway etc. Many can simply take the bus to Belgrade.
Delete@12:06
DeleteI would say 300-250 is fine for a weekend in Niš for random Turkish couple.
*200-250
DeleteThat is huge amount for Turkish tourists. Economy is very weak, inflation huge, 10+ mil refugees are wondering through the country. Average salary is below 500 Euro
DeleteI think it will be Ajet one weekly, similar to recently announced SAW-OMO.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to see what will be the breakdown of flights through this revised arrangement with Turkey. So we know it will be increase in KVO-IST, INI-IST and new INI-ESB. But who will get what.
ReplyDeleteMy guess
DeleteKVO-IST goes three weekly (JU)
INI-IST goes three weekly (JU)
ESB-INI starts two weekly (VF)
Or it could be
DeleteKVO-IST goes four weekly (JU)
SAW-INI starts weekly (VF)
ESB-INI starts weekly (VF)
I guess ASL will be allowed to increase KVO-IST and INI-IST by one weekly each, while AJet gets to launch ESB-INI twice weekly. Or some similar arrangement that preserves the bilateral balance.
DeleteKVO-IST numbers are not so great now. Would it work better with 3-4 pw?
DeleteActually numbers are good and there is obviously a reason why the airlines want to increase it. If it was loss making they wouldn't be requesting an increase in frequencies on this route. But I guess people here know better.
DeleteThere were like 40+ passengers from KVO in January which isn't bad. More flights means more flexibility so more people would actually travel.
DeleteKraljevo is a joke airport. Why the need for more flights?
DeleteHow can Niš get those flights before Zagreb or Ljubljana?
ReplyDeleteTurks need a Schengen visa to visit either Zagreb or Ljubljana, plus the two are Central European cities, so Turkish tourists that go through the hassle of obtaining a visa are much more likely to visit Prague, Vienna or Budapest instead.
DeleteOTOH, Niš is banking on being visa-free and offering a more Balkan experience in terms of food, sights, history etc.
Plus Turks don't need a passport to visit Serbia, an ID is enough. Serbia has also invested a lot in promoting itself in Turkey. These results are not by chance.
DeleteUnfortunately, that decision never lived. Many Turkish passengers couldn’t board the planes with ID’s only. Other things are news on TV than reality
DeleteThat's unfortunate then. At least there is no visa regime.
Deleteor even Sarajevo that has Istanbul, Antalya, Izmir but no Ankara
DeleteThis is terrible, why are they pushing these lunatic services, when we clearly need more gasto lines to the west - BGY, BVA/ORY, FKB, HAM, HAJ, BER, EIN, CRL, FCO/CIA, BLQ...
ReplyDeleteSince you are not a lunatic, why don't you open an airline and fly between INI and all those airports?
DeleteThat may be done only via PSO. But firstly, JU would have to acquire E75 for a good price. Combined with one A72 for closer destinations
DeleteNice!
ReplyDeleteNo any coast Turkish flights? Antalia? Izmir? All year round?why?
ReplyDelete