Belgrade – Dubrovnik flights fail to sell

Dubrovnik Airport awaits Belgrade flights
Flights between Belgrade and Dubrovnik are set to resume after 20 years on June 17 when Jat Airways launches 2 weekly flights between the two cities. Three days later Croatia Airlines will also inaugurate services between Dubrovnik and Belgrade. Between the two national carriers a total of 4 flights and 282 seats will be on offer each week. However, interest has been unexpectedly low. Both airlines are offering seats to tour operators and a certain amount of seats have been put directly on sale to passengers wishing to travel individually, rather than through a travel agent.

The Association of Serbian Tour Operators told the “Tanjug” news agency that interest for holidaying in Croatia has fallen drastically when compared to last year while Greece followed by Turkey, Spain and Montenegro remain the main holiday choices. Interest in holidaying in Tunisia and Egypt during the summer is almost nonexistent, which will lead to a big reduction in charter flights to the two North African countries, which recently experienced violent revolutions.

Both Jat Airways and Croatia Airlines are operating the route between Belgrade and Dubrovnik as a seasonal summer service. Despite previous plans for Jat to launch flights to both Pula and Rijeka during the summer season, the poor showing for the Dubrovnik flights have forced the airline to amend those plans. Furthermore, Dubrovnik Airline has also backed away from initial plans to operate flights to Belgrade. In 2008, when the first scheduled services between Serbia and Croatia were resumed since the breakup of Yugoslavia, flights between Belgrade and Pula were extremely popular, being full on almost every single flight. On the other hand bookings for the Belgrade – Dubrovnik service may improve as summer approaches.

Croatia Airlines plans to commence flights from Zagreb to Belgrade this winter, according to statements the airline made earlier in the year. Whether those will be successful remains to be seen.

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