Bleak start to 2020 summer season
Today marks the start of the 2020 northern hemisphere summer season, which runs until October 25. Markets across the former Yugoslavia have entered the season with closed airports and grounded airlines as a result of the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. Europe’s airlines are expected to lose 68 billion euros in passenger revenues over the course of 2020 because of travel bans combating the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned. IATA has said it expects demand for passenger flights to fall by 38%, causing global revenues to fall by 226 billion euros in 2020, almost halving the industry’s revenues compared with 2019. Those estimates are based on three-month shutdowns across much of the world, with the lack of cashflow threatening the survival of airlines globally. Rafael Schvartzman, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Europe, said on Thursday that many airlines did not have enough cash to sustain them through more than two months of shutdowns.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina will close all of its airports for commercial traffic as of tomorrow. No timeframe has been given as to when they may be reopened.
Croatia
Zagreb Airport will become the only capital city airport in the former Yugoslavia with commercial flights as of tomorrow. Croatia Airlines is continuing to maintain a limited network to several European hubs. However, the Croatian government has warned that the airport may be closed to help combat Covid-19. Croatia Airlines has postponed the launch of its two new seasonal routes, from Zagreb to Sofia and Podgorica, from May 1 and May 3 to June 2 and June 3, respectively.
Kosovo
Kosovo has closed Pristina Airport for commercial flights. No timeframe has been given as to when the airport may be reopened.
Macedonia
Macedonia has closed Skopje and Ohrid airports for commercial flights. No timeframe has been given as to when the they may be reopened. Wizz Air has tickets for some route on sale out of its base in Skopje from mid-April, however, as EX-YU Aviation News learns, the airline plans to resume operations from the Macedonian capital at the start of May, subject to government approval. The budget carrier has been operating repatriation flights to Skopje from Malta, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Cologne, Berlin and Memmingen over the past few days.
Montenegro
Montenegro has closed Podgorica and Tivat airports for commercial flights. Montenegro Airlines has also been grounded ever since, with exception to repatriation flights which have included services to Rome, Budapest, Barcelona, Belgrade, London and Vienna. No timeframe has been given as to when the airports may be reopened, although the Montenegrin carrier has set April 16 as a tentative date for the resumption of operations, with flights from Podgorica to Belgrade and Paris and from Tivat to Belgrade and Moscow.
Serbia
Serbia has closed its airports for commercial flights. Air Serbia has also been grounded ever since, with expectation to repatriation flights which have included services to Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Moscow, Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, Thessaloniki, Larnaca, Malta, London, Doha and Los Angeles. No timeframe has been given as to when the country’s main airport in Belgrade may be reopened, although the Serbian carrier has set April 13 as a tentative date for the resumption of operations. Both Niš and Kraljevo airports will be closed until May 12, based on the latest Notice to Airmen issued by the country's air regulator.
Slovenia
Slovenia has closed Ljubljana Airport for commercial flights from the European Union until midnight March 30. Flights from countries outside of the block have been suspended until further notice.
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