One hot summer

 

Belgrade airport is still reporting phenomenal results, a trend started with the lifting of Schengen visas for Serbian citizens in December 2009.

Last year the airport handled a total of 2,698,730 passengers which represents an increase of 13% when compared to the 2009 results.

 

As we approached 2011, many wondered if the airport would be able to maintain this amazing trend.

Since January the airport has been recording an average monthly growth of 20%! If this trend continues the airport will come extremely close to replacing Sofia as the third busiest airport in the region, behind Budapest and Bucharest.

With the summer season officially in place, the airport should be more than satisfied with the new frequencies announced by various airlines.

Additional frequencies will be available on routes to Istanbul’s main gateway, Ataturk airport. Turkish Airlines has requested an additional two frequencies which should complement their current daily flights. Once the flights receive government approval there will a total of 14 weekly frequencies between the two cities.

TK 1083 arr. BEG

1-3—- 18:20

TK 1084 dep. BEG

1-3—- 19:15

It will be interesting to follow the developments in the Serbian-Turkish market. In addition to Turkish Airlines, the Serbian national carrier operates this route 5 times per week.

Shortly before the crisis and the liberalization of the Serbian market, Turkish lowcost airline Pegasus was planning on opening up the Sabiha Gokcen-Belgrade route. The original plan was to operate the route twice per week using their B737-800 aircraft.

Currently Pegasus is expanding in the region with Bucharest being their newest destination. It remains to be seen what happens. There is always a possibility of higher frequencies from Turkish Airlines or Jat, or we could see Wizz Air inaugurating flights to Istanbul (probably Sabiha Gokcen airport) once they base their second aircraft in Belgrade. Who knows? Maybe we’ll see Pegasus back in Belgrade as they currently operate summer charter flights from Antalya.

Another recent announcement came from Belgrade’s northern neighbour. Malev has announced that from July 1^st it will be adding an additional two frequencies to Belgrade.

In the first couple of months of operations in Belgrade, Malev recorded impressive results. Part of this success was due to the promotional campaign where passengers could purchase tickets for as little as €1! Very soon their Dash-8 aircraft became too small for their daily operations to Belgrade and their Boeing aircraft became a common sight at the airport.

This trend did not continue once the promotional campaign was over. There was a very sharp drop in passenger numbers and the airline was forced to reduce capacity from 68 seats to just over 30 per day. In time frequencies were reduced from daily to 4 times per week.

However, summer 2011 will see Malev operate daily flights until July 1^st when the two additional flights will be added. These flights will spend the night in Belgrade with a very early departure in order to provide passengers with decent connections through Budapest.

MA 478 arr. BEG

-2–5– 00:40

MA 479 dep. BEG

-2–5– 04:55

With CSA’s possible withdrawal, Malev should be more than satisfied as passengers who previously used Prague as their transit airport can now connect via Budapest. It would be a great shame to see CSA leave the Serbian market since it has been present there since 1946.

One airline which has announced drastic changes to its Belgrade flights is the Austrian lowcost carrier Niki.

Until the start of the winter season (31.10) the airline will keep its current 6 flights per week. Since the inauguration of its flights Niki has aimed at the large Serbian diaspora living in Vienna. With its upcoming membership of the oneworld alliance the airline has revised its schedule in order to cater for the needs of business and connecting passengers.

VIE-BEG

arr. as HG 8026 at 07:15   12345–

arr. as HG 8028 at 20:00   12345-7

BEG-VIE

dep. as HG 8027 at 08:00  12345–

dep. as HG 8029 at 20:35  12345-7

Both Malev and Niki have remained as the only carriers from the oneworld alliance to offer direct flights to Belgrade from their hubs.

Several months ago British Airways axed Belgrade due to tough competition from Jat Airways and Wizz Air.

With the above mentioned changes Vienna will see up to 7 daily flights operated by three airlines. As of 31.10 departure times to Vienna from Belgrade will be as follows:

    05:15, 07:55, 08:00, 08:10, 15:15, 16:50, 20:35

This particular route is important for both Austrian Airlines and Niki. Vienna is one of the few destinations out of Belgrade where airlines have the opportunity to offer convenient connecting possibilities while relying on the considerable origin and destination market (Serbian diaspora).

While these two carriers fight it out with each other, Jat Airways maintains its double daily flight on the route. Jat mostly aims at the origin and destination market between the two countries. Even if their flights are perfectly timed to offer connections to several ex-Yugoslav cities my personal belief is that they will lose in the long run. Both Austrian Airlines and Niki have expressed strong interest in expanding in the ex-Yugoslav/Balkan market. Austrian Airlines is a very well established carrier in this region, whereas Niki has just begun its own expansion in the region. After launching Belgrade, Sofia and Bucharest the airline has recently announced plans to open direct links between Vienna and Skopje.

Jat’s failure to modernize will result in its demise. The more we see these Austrian carriers expand in the region the less passengers will opt to fly with Jat. Demand between Belgrade and other ex-Yugoslav cities (with the exception of Montenegro) is far from enough to sustain profitable flights. Jat’s daily frequency to the regional cities cannot compare with those offered by its neighbours such as Adria, Malev or even Croatia Airlines. If Jat is unable to compete with these airlines then how can they even think of fighting off airlines which are backed by Lufthansa and Air Berlin?

It’s a race against time for Jat and for it to preserve what is left of its past glory. It seems to me that recently they have adopted a different strategy, one that will see the airline concentrate on fighting off competition at its home base in Belgrade and therefore regain some of the lost O&D market. Some of the recent changes to their timetable include daily flights to Dusseldorf and Athens, a sixthweekly frequency to Istanbul (pending government approval) and an additional 4 frequencies will be added to Paris CDG.

Only time will tell if these changes will prove to be successful. We will have to wait until the end of summer season to know who is the real winner and who is the real loser in Belgrade.