Air Serbia continues fleet expansion

Air Serbia expands fleet and plans for the future

Air Serbia has continued to expand its fleet with the arrival of its fourth Airbus A319 aircraft in Belgrade yesterday. According to the airline’s CEO Dane Kondić, a fifth A319 is expected to arrive in Belgrade at the end of this week while a sixth is scheduled to jet in late in December, or in the first weeks of January, since it must undergo a C check which might push back the delivery date. The aircraft which arrived yesterday is on lease from CIT Aerospace and is six years old. It is registered YU-APE. Some sixty crew members are expected to complete their training for Airbus aircraft in Germany by December 27. Currently, the majority of pilots flying Air Serbia’s Airbus fleet are foreigners, though mostly of Serbian origin, since an insufficient number of pilots have been trained for the new aircraft.

As EX-YU Aviation News learns from unofficial sources, there are also plans for Air Serbia to double its current fleet of four ATR72s to eight, in order to deal with the increase in the numbers of regional flights. Currently, Air Serbia has fourteen aircraft in operation - six Boeing 737-300s, four ATR72s and four A319s.

Furthermore, the airline is still adjusting its 2014 summer season timetable with flights to Beirut, Budapest, Kiev, Warsaw, Sofia and Varna to be introduced. Flights to Cairo are still under consideration due to the political situation in Egypt. The carrier will resume seasonal flights to Dubrovnik, Split and Monastir but seasonal services to Pula are likely to be discontinued. Yesterday, the airline launched flights to Prague and Banja Luka. On its inaugural service, the airline carried thirty passengers from Belgrade to Prague on the ATR72 and 66 passengers from Belgrade to Banja Luka on the Airbus A319.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Ape? ...Suitable

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    YU-APE - Kusturica. Really...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:32

    30 passeneger on prague flight?!? i am shocked and i dont want to believe.. its not strange jat and csa cancelled pragu, belgrade flights. why is that so, i wonder for years... that we cannot make full 66 sits on daily basis to prague??? what to say than for kyev, varna or sofia??? or budapest which is less than 4 hours by car.. im affradi air serbia can come in the same position as jat, to make work without a money, or not to play with destinations, just to be presented on gastarbeiters's lines..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:44

      its the first flight geez. Etihad started off with 8 passengers from AUH-BEG now its full.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:59

      Is it. My data doesn't show that...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:12

      My data prove your data wrong.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:35

      hahaha its not about first flight, its about flying to prague. cmon, everybody knows about beg-prg route. its been two months AS is advertising new brand, new everything, new routes. i would never fly AS because of only one reason: since it started every single day delays. Even to prague, i would fly lufthansa, austrian or any other company via some european city. AS do not respect their passenegers, cause if they do, they would be on time, which is not happening since 26.10. If i have dane kondics email, i would ask him what does he think about everydays nonstop delays of AS. I would be shamed.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:42

      When you speak of delays are you referring to the 10-15 minutes ones that occur every morning?! I just want to see if I am laughing for the right reason.
      By the way, you beloved Austrian Airlines has cancelled its second flight in two days- I guess its ancient Fokkers have become less liable. Also, Lufthansa has more or less a delay of 15-20 minutes. You poor disillusioned person.

      Feel free to fly on any airline you wish, after all it's a free market.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:18

      it is free market and free opinions. i can say whatever i want about my national carrier, ok? so everydays since it started 26.10. NEVER ON TIME, but NEVER. im sorry there were so many 2-3-4 hours delays in one month of existence. im serbian from belgrade, but i dont accept it. and you are right every morning 15, 20, 45mins - 1hour, so dont be proud of this fact, but support critics.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous16:22

      First of all, you make absolutely no sense. Unless you are saying that every single flight have been delayed which is just utter nonsense. Fell free to say what you want but the same way we are free to freely mock you as we please.

      Delete
    8. Shone20:04

      I just want to ask you guys where the hell are you getting your informations regarding delays, cancellations, 4 hour delays? Do you even know what are you talking about, what actually delay is and so on?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous20:09

      Air Serbia has maybe three flights a day that are late by more than 30 minutes and they are just blowing it out of proportions.

      Delete
    10. Shone20:14

      Delays occurs due to numerous reasons. And the most often reasons are rotation delays (late arrival of the aircraft from the inbound route) or slot delays (congestion of air traffic en route or at the arrival airport) Nothing to do with effectiveness of the company but with air traffic regulations.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous20:33

      Air Serbia still needs time to adopt the strategy all other airlines have :
      Instead of arriving at the official time at say 12.00
      they inofficial organize the flight to arrive an half hour earlier at 11.30.
      If there should be a delay they still arrive on time or earlier .
      Qatar,Easyjet and Aeroflot for example do this in Belgrade.
      A lot of time they arrive earlier and even depart earlier.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous20:56

      Oh my God, Aeroflot's flight tonight is late by one hour! What a shitty airline, let's set it on fire!

      Delete
    13. Anonymous22:08

      Putin is guilty that the flight is delayed...
      Let us protest in front of the the Russian embassy in Belgrade with stolen bulldozers!

      Delete
    14. Anonymous22:43

      Air Serbia from Copenhagen is like 15 minutes early tonight! BLASPHEMY!

      Delete
    15. Anonymous22:52

      I want my money back!!!
      I have bought a ticket with Joke About Time and not with a second Etihad...

      Delete
    16. Anonymous23:12

      Hahahaha true that! I also want to depart from gate A8 where I can be put to wait in that little room like in the good old times!

      Delete
    17. Anonymous23:33

      To be serious - if Air Serbia performs like today
      then i will be happy.
      But i also understand the complaints of the people in regard to delays.
      Arrivals on time or minimal delays are something we really ask for.
      For connecting pax its evben more important than onboard experience.

      Delete
    18. BEG-DUS on 23 November: takeoff 40 mins late, captain immediately announces the arrival will be on time and no need to worry about transfers. Parked in DUS exactly on time, as promised.

      I fly TK a lot and they hardly ever take off on time due to congestion in IST, however the arrival is always on time and sometimes even ahead.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous10:59

      That's because Turkish Airlines includes the delays due to congestion into its flight time.

      By the way, if you flew to DUS on the 23rd, can you tell us how the loads were?

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:33

    EX YU admin this is classic for you - Whenever you don't have anything to write about, you write something everybody knows. AMATERIZAM

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:43

      Stop spamming. I didn’t know when the planes will arrive, the LFs, the new about Cairo and Pula, ATRs

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:57

      And when he doesn't have anything to write about he makes stuff up. Remember how he said that OU confirmed that they will be replacing their fleet with Embraers? That is the same with AS ATRs. He's just making stuff up.... If it is true, where did he get the sources? If he publishes some links down there I will apologise!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:02

      God, are you that unhappy with your lives that you have to come here and vent? He never made things up, he just reported what was said by airline officials and the media- give the guy a break. If you are so competent and you know it best why don't you start your own blog?

      Oh... remember when almost a year ago he posted how Etihad was interested in taking over Jat Airways? I guess that was his best fairytale to date. ;)

      Delete
    4. It was a quote from the CEO published by many sources. If you don't like this blog or its content you are more than welcome to leave. Thanks.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:36

    I was in Vienna 7 days ago and there is still JAT window in terminal 1 main building, not Air Serbia!!!! Disgrace!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:38

      Yes, still Jat in VIE old terminal!!!! After more than one month from first flight... Shame!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous18:38

      Even Skopje airports website still label them Jat Airways on its arrival/departures sites.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:50

      Yeah but that's SKP's fault, not the airline's.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:38

    ExYU are in those 66 pax. to BNX also VIP's, journalists and Air Serbia staff, and how many paying passengers were in those?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:04

      There were 8 paying passengers on board, there was no way for more to be booked as the rest of the seats were reserved for the members of the government, or parliament, who were supposed to hold a joint session. In the end they did not go, that's why there were only '66' passengers.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:36

      Hmmm... that is very strange. 128 places on board, just 66 passengers, and 8 paying. And parlament with joint session to be canceled last second. Come on... parlament does not cancel thing last second...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:43

      Not the parliament, it was the government (Vlada).

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:47

      Again, it looks like excuse, because those things is not arranged, and for sure not canceled in last second.

      And for sure Government does not have 62 members including consulters and administrations, even more some of members were on this flight as VIP's.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous18:48

      Well, Serbia has 18 ministries and each minister will surely bring along at least three to four people. 18x3=56. ;)

      Naturally, we can spend days here arguing if what they said was true or not but I am just telling you what they told us. It's your right to remain bitter like the other disillusioned anonymous arguing that Egypt is not doing worse than before.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:57

    Planes:
    - delays (first plan was to have them in September, no new delays even in December)
    - quit old
    - grounded for days after coming

    Lot of Jat
    - on web page
    - selling offices out of Serbia still in Jat colors

    New lines
    - delays after first plans
    - change of timing of flight
    - even now question about CAI flights
    - ticket sale too late (still no tickets for March new flights)

    Administration problems

    Lot of announcements which at end are not like announce
    - service is not that superior
    - plans for intercontinental flights, buying companies in region

    Every day several hundred minutes of delays, some flights even for few hours

    ...it is about time that Air Serbia finish with Jat practice!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:14

      Yeah, it's Air Serbia's fault that Egypt is undergoing a bloody revolution... shame on those nasty Serbs working in the airline. tsk tsk

      I wish we could have you as the CEO, you seem to know it best.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:17

      Where exactly is a lot of Jat on the webpage?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:38

      delays exactly, u know 11:00 11:00 odleteo u 11:45

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:53

      Most delays are around 20 minutes which is ok. They can compensate that in the air and anyway, we need to take off 10 minutes which is how much they need to taxi to the runway.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:50

      Idiot, how often you travelled? Delays up to half an hour or even an hour are a norm in the industry. But then i don't see why aren't you bashing against TK, cause there even if you arrive on time you won't leave the airport any-time soon cause of the chaos and saturation.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous15:40

      Delays are not only thing. There is huge list of Jatovanje in Air Serbia by this anonymous. We can not be blind on that.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:44

      Situation in Egypt is same as it was in October. Why they announce that flight than? They should wait to be sure before announcement... But, anyhow airlines fly to CAI in this moment, so why AS can not fly there? Excuse for delaying plans again?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous15:54

      Many airlines have downgraded their operations in Egypt. For example British Airways no longer sends its B747-400 there but B777-200, at one point it was down to a A321. The same for KLM and Air France. Many, many airlines have reduced capacity.

      And no, the situation is not the same as in October. It's even worse now, especially since Egypt might go into war with Ethiopia over the Nile dam project.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous16:51

      Not true. Situation in Egypt is critical for 2 years now. Same shit... and to change flights from 747 to 772 is not such a big cutting capacity. And not to fly at all when you announce flights is no professionalism.

      But again LIST IS HUGE... not just CAI flights and delays which are big even if you don’t calculate those up to 30 minutes.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous18:44

      lol there aren't THAT many departures which are late by more than 30 minutes. If you pay close attention to foreign carriers in Belgrade they have more or less same delays as Air Serbia.

      And no, it got worse since the beginning of the war. Shall I remind you that the country underwent a military coup when Morsi was deposed? That resulted in bloody clashes with the authorities which claimed many lives.

      So what's on this supposedly long list besides Cairo? Please, enlighten us.

      As for British Airways, did you purposely ignore the part where I mentioned that it was also operated by an A321 for some time? Also, if you pay attention to the configuration of BA's fleet you will see that it is a drop, especially since B747 is considerably larger than a B777-200. I would understand if you said that for a B777-300 but...

      FYI I just checked on Amadeus and British Airways is sending in its A321 these days. Now, if that's not a good indicator of how bad the situation is then I do not know what it is.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous00:23

      OK, let's put CAI out of the list (and they should not announce lines if they are sure), and delays (and on some days they are disaster, like several flights more than 2 hours delay):

      Planes:
      - delays (first plan was to have them in September, no new delays even in December)
      - quit old
      - grounded for days after coming

      Lot of Jat
      - on web page
      - selling offices out of Serbia still in Jat colors

      New lines
      - delays after first plans
      - change of timing of flight
      - ticket sale too late (still no tickets for March new flights)

      Administration problems

      Lot of announcements which at end are not like announce
      - service is not that superior
      - plans for intercontinental flights, buying companies in region

      ...it is about time that Air Serbia finish with Jat practice!!!


      Delete
    12. Lolz

      The planes are not grounded, they are undergoing regular checks and preparations before they are introduced into regular service. The last one to be delivered was parked for only three days.
      New delays? Are you referring to the one that might come in late December or early January? That's like a delay of a week because the aircraft is undergoing a C check. Do you even know what's a C check?
      The planes are not old. If they were 18 to 20 years old then you might call them old. I would also like to point out that the airline has 10 brand new, that's factory fresh, A320s on order. My guess is when these start to arrive the A319s will slowly be withdrawn since they have a higher CASM and by 2018 the airline will have a strong network to feed its Belgrade hub.

      Regarding the lines, what delays are you talking about?! They always said that they will have the large expansion in spring. Banja Luka and Prague were launched as scheduled and I am sure Bucharest and Ljubljana will be too. March is four months away. God created the world in six days, imagine what these guys can do until March. ;)

      Have you actually flown on Air Serbia? A friend of mine came from Stockholm (he is Greek) and he was more than impressed. He said that from now on he will fly on Air Serbia. He joked that the quality of cutlery was better than the one he had at home. The fruit bowl was a glass one! This is on top of the fact that each seat has a pillow and that the crew is professional.

      I can go on but I think I have made my point.

      Delete
  8. It's really good news that they will expand their Atr fleet. It's a perfect aircraft for the rather short regional routes. If they are planning on adding four more aircraft then I am sure they will be adding more destinations in the region.

    I have a feeling that Tirana is high on their list, especially now when Belle Air went belly up. When Jat Airways used to fly the route they have about 400 to 450 passengers per month and if I remember correctly they used to fly five times per week. In other words they had a 20% loadfactor but that 20% is only O&D which could help sustain initial growth within that particular region.

    By the way, what are the chances of Dubrovnik and Split becoming year-round flights? Is there a market in winter time?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:42

      of course there is market for dubrovnik and split. i wonder why they didnt decide to fly there winter time.

      Delete
    2. Do you know which are the biggest markets out of there?
      Air Serbia is selling flights from Dubrovnik to:

      1. Athens
      2. Vienna
      3. Larnaca
      4. Moscow
      5. Paris
      6. Rome
      7. Thessaloniki

      And from Split to...

      1. Athens
      2. Larnaca
      3, Moscow
      4. Rome

      I don't get why they are offering Rome when there are more than enough direct flights from both of these coastal cities.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous10:51

    I think the load factors on Prague flight wont be pretty high, but they would be good enough to maintain the route. For Banja Luka - hard to say, cause it will probably rely on diaspora transit pax, since those who have 89 euros and live in B. Luka, would rather go to Belgrade by car, and use the car for driving around.

    However, I think that people should not make conclusions based on the first two days, especially the first day, which was Sunday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CSA passenger numbers in Belgrade.

      2006- 25.661
      2007- 24.034
      2008- 21.276
      2009- 29.845
      2010- 41.037

      Up until March 2009, CSA relied solely on the O&D market to fill its aircraft. I think they flew three times per week, morning flights with A319/320 while the evening flights were operated by the B737-500.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:16

      Would you know the numbers of top O&D destinations from/to BEG ?

      Delete
    3. BNX will continue to be served due to the heavy subsidies the government is paying for the route. There won't be a great passenger load, but that doesn't really matter.

      Delete
    4. Eh I don't remember now but it's always the same for Belgrade. In summer it's Tivat followed by Vienna, Paris, Moscow... In winter time things don't really change that much.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous22:02

      Thanks, Nemje!
      I recall someone offered pax figures in the past.
      chelica2

      Delete
  10. Anonymous11:29

    In case you didnt notice, BEG has 14% pax increase. Check out the website.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:35

      Amazing numbers for BEG!

      3.275.897 passengers carried so far. I am sure that this year we are going past 3.500.000 passengers.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:31

      Plus, in december we have women's handball world cup in Serbia. 3.5 milfor sure!

      Delete
    3. Where do you see these numbers? All I get is news from October on beg.aero??

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:36

      http://www.beg.aero/o_%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B0/%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0.887.html

      Delete
    5. Oh, ok... I was looking under news... Thanks!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous15:11

      No problem, my pleasure.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous11:52

    Well, I guess November numbers put to rest any claims that people would not want to fly on Air Serbia because of its name or logo. These results make really proud to have a national carrier like Air Serbia.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous12:11

    Anyone else have the numbers for other ex-YU airports? Zagreb? Dubrovnik?

    It will be interesting to see how Split performed given that it saw most of ZAG operations move there.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous12:45

    It was just for one and a half day, it won't change much...i expect around 31.000 pax in November on SPU. DBV around 25.000.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous14:11

    Sarajevo had 44.446 in 11/2013 (+15%!)

    http://www.sarajevo-airport.ba/vijest.php?id=241

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:12

      Great news for Sarajevo! Let's hope things look up in December when JA gets its second Atr and adds more flights among which is Belgrade.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous17:45

    Interesting analysis from CrankyFlier about Etihad's "equity alliance": http://crankyflier.com/2013/12/02/etihad-is-building-a-fourth-alliance/
    Let's hope Etihad really has deep enough pockets and the whole thing doesn't end up like Swissair...

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous21:02

    There will also be a bus line from the old bus station in Banja Luka to the airport. Let's hope that helps a bit. It's €5 and the ride is 30 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous00:40

      maybe instead of bus line, to be car or mini-bus line, for the beggining. if they have 10pax aprox per flight every day itll be good work for western bosnia.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:05

      Oh I think it is a mini bus. But this is really good because the last time there was no bus connection from the airport to the city. That's one of the reasons why I always preferred to take the bus in stead of the plane. Especially since they used to arrive late at night.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous00:39

    It is out of topic, but I still can't understand how come BA doesn't fly to BEG.
    - Wizzair''s 'all in' cost (fare, admin fee, train to/from, luggage, etc) is far from cheap.
    -Budapest is served 8-9 times daily by four airlines. BA flies 3x daily every day.
    -I'd imagine that is sufficient O&D + transfer to North America to fill the plane every day. They could give LH run for the money on transfer passengers. Even passengers flying to London choose to connect on LH, LX, OS flights rather that fly with W6 or JU. .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous03:58

      You can still fly to NA through LHR with AirSerbia/Virgin Atlantic combination.
      Other issue is that you still need visa for UK as far as I recall. That leaves not that many passengers for 3 flights a day. That is part of the reason why BA canceled Belgrade.

      Delete
    2. British Airways did not do badly in Belgrade. Their fares were not cheap and their loadfactor was around 66%. However, with London Heathrow being congested they decided that they better use the slots elsewhere. Maybe when the British remove visas for the Serbs they might return. However, Belgrade is not high yielding so I see them launching London Gatwick Belgrade flights. They are currently expanding there, they just transferred 10 A320s there.

      I spoke with a friend of mine who is rather high in British Airways and I asked him what was the rationale behind their launch of Zagreb. He told me that they are after the O&D market and that onward connections are not so important for them. He also told me that they do not expect for Croatia Airlines to last very long so when it either goes belly up or abandons London, they want to be there.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:23

      Interesting insight. Does it make sense for BA to fly less than daily to BEG, say 3-4 time per week? Or perhaps only seasonal? BA was always priced competitively vs JU, and people preferred them to JU b/c of quality product, dep/arr times and FF program. Does JU codeshare with Virgin ? I still think that dept/arr times could have been better to capture NA passengers. If I recall correctly , flight from LHR was too early for most connections from NA. Transit visas are not an issue for transfer passengers with valid US/Canada visa, and not an issue at all if transiting within the same terminal (T5).
      The numbers just don't add up, I still don't get how BUD can sustain 50+ flights to London vs 10 from BEG

      Delete
    4. Anonymous04:16

      I dont give a s..t about BA.
      Let us get Easyjet in!

      Delete
  18. Anonymous01:32

    Well since Air Serbia is slowly expanding, what plans, if any, do they have for Nis and the new Morava Airport.Seems as for Air Serbia, Beograd and its citizens are most important and who cars about the rest of the population in Serbia. Air Serbia and Etihad should have opened up Nis and Morava to air traffic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous03:06

      You must be that idiot Juznjak from Skyscrapercity forum lol. DO you guys know whom I am talking about.
      Air Serbia needs embraer 135 or atr 42 to make Nis profitable, and right now they dont have them so there is your answer

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:57

      The problem with the south is that it's underdeveloped. There might be some market but the prices would have to be rather low for it to be acceptable for the people there. Unfortunately, those low fares do not cover the costs which means that the flight would be unprofitable.
      The only way I could see it happening is if in the summer season they launch seasonal flights.

      The other way it could happen is if the airline really doubles its Atr fleet then it could happen. The four Atr it has not are better used elsewhere.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:32

      Now with government in bed with the Arabs, I'm not hopeful of Morava/Nis development. JU don't care and government will likely block anyone trying to develop these airports and take passengers away from JU.

      @Anonymous 3:06AM
      ................................

      Delete

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