Air Serbia has suspended ticket sales for flights between Belgrade and Guangzhou from December until late March, with the last flight currently scheduled for November 27. Tickets for next summer had not been on sale. The carrier has struggled on the route for much of the year amid a steep decline in the number of Chinese visitors to Serbia and strong competition from China Southern Airlines. Air Serbia reduced the service to once weekly for much of the 2026 summer before restoring a second weekly flight at the start of the winter season in late October. The airline recently told EX-YU Aviation News it was still reviewing whether to operate the route during the 2027 summer season, which begins in late March.
Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News recently, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “We are currently reviewing the long-term performance and future development of the Guangzhou route. It's not related to Miami (launching next May), and it's not because of fuel. Year to date, up to the end of September, there has been a 26% decline in the total market size between Serbia and China. It's impacting everybody, not only us, but also the two other Chinese carriers", Mr Marek said. He added, “There isn't really clear industry data, research or an answer as to what is behind it, but a 26% year-on-year drop in the market size is significant. We addressed that during the summer by going down to one weekly frequency".
Air Serbia said the Guangzhou route, which launched in September 2024, performed well this October, largely thanks to the Canton Fair. Its CEO noted the airline was still weighing whether to operate the service next summer. “Next summer is still under question. We haven't taken a final decision yet. We will see how things evolve, but it will be driven by how the market size develops”. Air Serbia continues to operate two weekly flights between Belgrade and Shanghai, while China Southern Airlines maintains two weekly services between Guangzhou and Belgrade.
Well it was good as long it lasted
ReplyDeleteDid you actually read the article or just the headline?
DeleteDid you read it yourself? The route is not coming back
DeleteI read it. But it does not seem you did.
DeleteThe route was cut long before they suspended it. Fact is China Southern beat them on this market. They will struggle with long haul until they fix their product. #facts
Delete9:19
DeleteAnd how do you explain other 4 successful long haul routes without "fixed products"? And new one next year #BS
I agree JU isnt the best out there, but their product has nothing to do with this. People who state are being basic.
DeleteWell then why China Southern is doing better on this route? By comparing the two China Southern has better product. If JU is getting serious about long haul is should also start to renew and standardize its soft and hard product.
DeleteSoft product is standardised.
DeleteAirline product is not the key driver for visiting a distant tourist destination. Chinese tourists visit Budapest in larger numbers than Belgrade. Bucharest and Zagreb are new destinations for them in the area. Closer look at competitive landscape, working with right partners and increased spend in advertising and new attractions are needed to boost tourist numbers.
Delete@14:17
DeleteWell, large majority on those flights are Chinese tourists. And Chinese, just like Turkish, prefer their own companies, if they are able to choose. That's why PVG is doing good, while CAN was struggling. And that's why Turkish airlines have a lot more flights to Serbia, than JU.
Mostly they all aren't fluent in English and they're more comfortable with their own speaking crew. Air Serbia tried with one crew member speaking Chinese, but that's not enough
^ And China Southern can charge far less and offer far more in terms of onwards connectivity. Idemo dalje.
DeleteChina southern charges a lot. Not far more less 😂😂
DeleteBuy I am courious, if they knew they gonna pull yhe plug, why they've included CAN in novrmber's sale 🤦♂️
I got return ticket for 55k RSD why burn the money on route that is planned for kill 🤷♂️
Not everyone ends there. They offer cheap onwards connections
DeleteExpected.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Belgrade still remains connected to CAN by CZ.
Flights to China should be operated by a single airline. If China Southern continues with CAN, Air Serbia should get exclusive access to another destination, such as HKG
DeleteWhat? What does that even mean?
DeleteThis isn't 1986, no such monopolistic restrictions are acceptable today.
DeleteThey are, if you negotiate it. Example: Antalya
DeleteWell thats crap for customers. Most European cities have multiple carries on that route so its certainly a weird one. But as @10:16 says its not 1986 mate and 'exclusive access' sounds Soviet.
DeleteTuzla is not a Soviet city, but it has exclusive access in 2026 in Europe.
Delete^ I'm afraid that has not the slightest bit of meaning to me :)
DeleteI'm wondering if it would make sense to try Hong Kong instead
ReplyDeleteIt would make sense as long as they don't have competition
DeleteThey really need to greatly upgrade their inflight product to compete withe the Chinese carriers.
DeleteJust my2cents.
You need to read the article, mr my2cents
Delete9:13
DeleteWhy they don't need to upgrade their inflight product on other Chinese route to Shanghai?
^ They absolutely do need to!
DeleteThey don't. JU planes are perfectly fine. Maybe they could add Starling WiFi, which is a minor change
DeleteSome people are happy with mediocrity it seems. JUs product is suboptimal in 2026
DeleteMy oh my, thank you. Didn't know my next flight search should include checkbox 'Exclude suboptimal products'
Delete@15:38 Some people are detached from reality. Air Serbia is setting records every year, so stop spreading stupidity. Your theories remain theories, no matter how many times you repeat them
DeleteCalm down. Observations that JU offers an 'ok' product are not incorrect or an attack on the country, seriously dude. Yes the company is getting bigger and better all the time. But people are allowed to observe that as a long-haul product it doesn't stack up to the competition.
DeleteJU may set records every year while having a suboptimal long-haul product. Both can be true at the same time.
DeleteSure, but who may decide if the product is suboptimal? You? Me? No, that is decided by passengers, which is every year on the next record level and load factor. So, no. Air Serbia product is definitely optimal.
DeleteHaha @ dude that says JU widebody planes are good and wonder what peeps talk about. Its not a trash talk when people say truth. I never flew with Tesla, but others are barelly acceptable. Few months ago we were stuck in plane, all boarded and thwn pilot said there is some issue.. we were halted for some ti.e and then even one cabin crew had to disambark due to shift.
DeleteNo. There are ways of comapring. And they are fine. But not great.
Delete"Few months ago we were stuck in plane, all boarded and thwn pilot said there is some issue.. we were halted for some ti.e and then even one cabin crew had to disambark due to shift."
DeleteSo what, it happens to all airlines. In fact, that's exactly what happened to all aircraft in the US last night. You went ways off here. Keep in mind this thread started with the question about HKG.
Another failure in China. 🥲
ReplyDeleteDid you actually read the article?
DeleteMajor defeat for JU.
Delete^ why? They suspended an underperforming route as number of Chinese tourists fell significantly. Same thing any normal airline would do. Or you think airlines don't suspend or discontinue routes?
DeleteNothing more permanent than the temporary.
Delete@09:12 ^ hardly a defeat. They tried a route and it hasnt panned out. Thats what business do try things and adjust as needed. Simple.
DeleteThey can not compete directly with the Chinese, simple as that.
DeleteChinese airlines are not adding more frequencies to Belgrade. They also experience a drop in demand. The real elephant in the room is how attractive and affordable Belgrade is as a tourist destination for Chinese travellers.
DeleteWell in the same vein no European Airlines can, so its actually hardly a big deal tbh. Look at BA's tiny-weeny route map to China to tell you all you need to know.
DeleteBelgrade became very expensive for Chinese tourists. Prices in China are much lower than Europe, so they prefer traveling around China or other Asian destinations
DeleteAir Serbia just got one of the hardest airline defeats in Europe this year ... and it was by CZ
Delete^ i would say a bigger 'defeat' is Austrian Airlines discontinuing flights to Zagreb after 40 years.
DeleteAffordability is important. A month ago I was paying similar prices per plate in centre of Venice and centre of Belgrade.
DeleteWell you were obviously eating in the wrong places then lol
DeleteWrong places in Venice or Belgrade:):)
Deleteboth!
DeleteWith CZ triumphantly staying on this market I don't see JU returning, ever. What is bizarre is that unlike TK and others they are not profiting from people avoiding the Persian Gulf airlines.
ReplyDeleteVery true.
DeleteThe comment that the Gulf carriers are being avoided ignores the fact that they are rapidly heading back to normal. And price and flexibility is king guys. People will not avoid them if they offer the right offer.
DeleteBoth QR and EY massively cut their network so I don't know what you are talking about. Look at the EY cuts in Q1 2027.
DeleteMarketing JU didnºt know how to use this situation, simple as that...Marketing for this route was literally non existent throughout of those 2 years of running the route...JU now gives excuses about decline in Chinese tourists, but this route should`ve been orientated to Chinese who live in Belgrade, Serbia or Balkan area, most of them come from Canton region. Also tourists from European countries and Serbian tourists as well flying during winter and spring to Southeast Asia and Australia...JU just failed big time...And the funniest thing is Marek`s "halt" and "weighing" if they continue operations during summer!? And the main season for CAN is winter season, not summer season...who are they trying to fool?
DeleteI stopped reading with your claim how most Chinese in Serbia are from Canton area. Completely wrong. Most are from area near Shanghai.
DeleteZhejiang province in southeastern China, particularly Qingtian County, is the best-documented place of origin for Serbia’s long-established Chinese community
@ 16:42 and source of your claim? I cannot know for sure, but my source is- go to Chinese market in Blok 70 Novi Beograd, and ask every shop owner where is he from...
DeleteActual survey count. It was also written here many times in articles regarding PVG, which is why PVG was Belgrade's busiest unserved route before it launched.
Deletehttps://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/1820-3159/2021/1820-31592103267B.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com
@18:36 fair enough, I read the article, where is also stated that second largest group is from Guangdong province, which capital is Guangzhou, and also third province is Fujian which is next door to Guangdong. Zhejiang province is indeed south of Shanghai, so when you combine all factors- both destinations have similar in amount of immigrants Serbia.. But Guangzhou was supposed to have greater capacity for- catch all, because his very southern position and closeness with southeast Asian tourist orientated countries..
DeleteIf they can't operate at least 4 weekly then they should not even operate a long haul destination. But then again no one wants to fly on the outdated interior that is falling apart.
ReplyDeleteWhy did number of Chinese tourists decline 30% since the start of the year? Because of Air Serbia's interior?
DeleteIt's not interior: "there has been a 26% decline in the total market size between Serbia and China. It's impacting everybody, not only us, but also the two other Chinese carriers"
Delete9:15
DeleteBut who's flying on other five JU long haul routes? Paid actors? You fired 5 same stupid comments in 15 minutes without clear answer. But no one is expecting that from you.
But why ??? Weren't the flights full to the last seat as many here in this blog were chearing ???
ReplyDeleteBefore you released your venom, you could have bothered to read the article to get your answer. But you got too excited and the venom bubbled up first.
DeleteIt's mostly some sort of jelousy. He is upset the airline does generally well, mostly realted to the country the airline is from, not with the airline itself. So he celebrates whenever there is something he can hang on to. At the end of the day the airline will continue operating, launching new routes and growing frequencies. Just this week they added 20 weekly flights to their schedule next summer.
DeleteSurprising how it's normal for any other airline to cancel a route but it seems on the rare occasion Air Serbia does it, it is either classified as a massive failure or you get idiots like the one above who is so excited about any negative news he can't hide it.
ReplyDeleteBalkans bre.
DeleteI think we all forget this is a regional blog, and not international one, so people are closely connected to the airlines... I'm pretty sure the same thing happens locally when a LH route is canceled in Europe. Ofc you won't find those under SimpleFlying article
DeleteIt doesn't. People have more common sense.
Delete+1 exactly. Its defiantly not the case that people in the UK or Spain would react in a similar fashion. As an outsider its often quite interesting to watch responses to essentially irreverent (on a global scale) little changes being fussed over.
DeleteSo this winter only 5 weekly long-haul flights with 4 A330s?
ReplyDeleteComplete waste of available aircraft capacity.
Deletemaintenance, also those 4 A330 cost JU the same as 5 A220s in rent
DeleteWhat has that got to do with anything?
DeleteIt has to do with the same amount of A220 parked at ZAG apron
Delete@10:23
DeleteNot really, jets dont go into scheduled mqintenance every winter, and when they do its for up to a month or two. Comments here would have you believe they are in maintenance for months at a time every winter...
For your info, last major MX:
ARB: in FCO currently since 10OCT
ARC: March 2025, two months at FCO
ARD: June 2025 at NAP, a month
ARE: Short stint at CHR, end of September 2026
JU's A330 are barely flying and thats a fact. Their leases also cant be as cheap as you suggest, and even if they are, its still millions wasted. They should at least return ARC to lessor...
^ or they should hire you as the resident expert. Now, if only you knew about cycles, C checks...
Delete@ Anonymous 14:54
DeleteIt is the same guy who wrote the comment below at 14:54 about Chinese workers. What did you expect?
@15:03
DeleteI am in fact, a different person. The fact that you assume every negative comment here is correlated to the same 2-3 people who "have something against JU and/or Serbia" is your problem.
It is a fact that JU's A330s are barely flying, even during the summer when they still need more flights to pad out the schedule. I suggest you look up how many monthly flights most other airlines' widebodies do, to see what JU should aim for
@14:54
DeleteEnlighten me then mr. expert, what were they doing at these airports? Tourism charters for the retirees of Serbia? Thats where they do B/C/D checks as JAT Tehinika, as all other organisations at BEG, cant do any big maintenance on A330s
Idk whats worse, are you suggesting JU is purposefully flying their jets less to delay maintenance, or the very fact that this is a possibility?
In any case, the jets are not flying as much as they should
Is there a reason for this relatively steep decline in traffic between Serbia and China
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I can only guess. Hotels in Serbia have become expensive so Chinese tour operators may look elsewhere. Another one might have been the political instability. There were massive protests in Serbia and Belgrade in particular this year, especially during the first half of the year. Chinese people and tour operators tend to avoid these.
DeleteSure both of these, but also lack of advertising in China. Before covid, we had massive advertising campaign on Chinese national TV and Chinese tourists were no.1 in Serbia in 2019. And of course, flights were cheaper with 3 daily Aeroflot connections and prices were a lot lower in Serbia
DeleteIt doesn't have much to do with tourism, but rather with Chinese workers and management personnel involved in projects carried out by Chinese companies.
DeleteThose days when Chinese companies were taking on almost all major infrastructure projects through direct deals with the previous government are coming to an end. Transparency and competitive public tenders are among the core principles of the new government, so it's pretty clear that demand for these flights is going to decline.
Better to act now rather than later and free up capacity for destinations where demand is likely to be stronger in the near future.
^ I know you thought you were extremely smart writing this comment but you have proven unfortunately quite the opposite.
DeleteThe number of Chinese visitors has declined in Serbia the entire year, starting from late December last year and the decrease has been consistent every month since. Elections at the end of October have nothing to do with that.
Guangzhou has struggled for some time on Air Serbia. It was decreased to 1 weekly last winter, then 1 weekly during this summer. Again it has nothing to do with your misleading comment.
And one more thing to let you know, so you can learn something. The arrivals from China registered by the Statistical office are not workers on construction sites or people who have come to live here. They are purely tourists, calculated through a national database that each hotel and short term rental place has in the country.
Now please, think hard again before writing nonsense.
I must say @14.54 the amount of wrong things you wrote is staggering.
DeleteHad a return flight from CAN with JU on December 4th. Got email yesterday that it has been canceled. 😞 Quickly booked HKG->PEK->BEG with Hainan on the same date instead.
ReplyDeleteWas there a significant price diference?
DeleteFortunately no - they are in the same ballpark (~450e one way, iirc). Other options like TK and KL were significantly pricier and had worse connection times as well.
DeleteWhy not try to have JU rebook you onto the CZ flight instead?
DeleteCZ's departure dates simply didn't work for me - I either would have to cut my stay in China for 2-3 days, or prolong it by same time, and neither was a good option for me.
DeleteWell it was expected when they downgraded. Btw, @admin what happenes with today's article from history?
ReplyDeleteIt is not a weekly article, there will be a number of articles published on Saturdays running up to the 100 year anniversary but not on a weekly basis.
DeleteHopefully JU will start other destination in China. Xiamen, Hong Kong or Chongqing sounds reasonable
ReplyDeleteIs there a reasonable chance of it coming back in the summer, as suggested?
ReplyDeleteOf course not, China Southern is too strong and offers a better product
DeleteI suspect it won't be back. JU should put all their efforts into making Shanghai work well. I saw their A330s at both Shanghai and CAN earlier this year. I was flying with China Southern and of course the one thing people forget to mention in this game is that the prices China Southern command are dirt cheap.
DeleteEven if you swap the aircraft between two airlines, tourists from China are known to be more likely to choose domestic over foreign carrier. It's the loyalty, not product, that makes the difference. For that reason, single carrier per route would make more sense.
Delete'For that reason, single carrier per route would make more sense' you mean on every route? or Just to China :D sounds highly uncompetitive to me.
DeleteSo W6 cuts a route it's the end of the world but when JU does it it makes all the sense in the world.
ReplyDeleteOf course not. Wizz Air has cut hundreds of routes during its existance. Wizz has cut 3 routes from Belgrade this winter, not 1, and after for months doing a song and dance how they love Belgrade and how much they want to grow from Belgrade.
DeleteI'm surprised no one congratulated the network scheduling department. There is always a guy here who says they are responsible for all the new routes and growth and only them so what now?
ReplyDeleteThat comment has no meaning dude.
DeleteIt does if you read the comments regularly here.
DeleteGuangzhou was planned in 2022 if not before. China was still dealing with pandemic closures. Permit was obtained in 2023. Market has changed and Air Serbia is likely cutting losses while at the same time finding new growth opportunities like MIA, not to mention Europe and the region. Air Serbia will still be able to sell flights to Guangzhou as codeshare flights JU8800 and JU8801. Stop the bleeding, keep connectivity, expand in new markets. Rational business move.
DeleteWe understand that you're trying to play smart again, but failed. Again!
DeleteIf you bothered to read the article, you would have noticed that tourist demand from China is lowered by 26% THIS year. And you probably wouldn't post dumb comments.
CAN route started more than TWO years ago and its evaluation lasted one or two years BEFORE 2024. At that time, you wouldn't believe, were completely different demand and conditions at the market. And wasn't CZ competition on sight. So, network scheduling department did excellent job at that time, but failed to foresee the future development of the market.
Is sounds like you, unlike Air Serbia, have a crystal ball that was able to predict Gulf war, prices of jet fuel, rising accommodation costs in Belgrade, China Southern plans and all other events that caused ALL airlines to be impacted by 26% drop? Of course you don't and you weren't able to predict them. This disregard for common sense and ignorance is what makes you butt of the jokes here every time Air Serbia is the topic. Just the number of factual corrections your posts caused above is embarrassing, and the recurrence of same claims, even when proven wrong, is evidence you are not here to better understand aviation in the region. Your motives are far more sinister.
DeleteWell the scheduling department created a fantastic schedule which allowed for many transfers. It was up to guys like Marek and Rupic (commercial affairs) to make sure this route survives. Network is not in charge of marketing, revenue etc.
DeleteIt also doesn't help that JU offers one of the worst products on the China-EU market.
Reviews are mostly positive:
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2026/03/trip-report-air-serbia-guangzhou.html
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2025/01/trip-report-air-serbia-belgrade-shanghai.html
Change destination with no Chinese Carriers on flights to Belgrade and Europe.
ReplyDelete