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| FAA to deliver final report on Serbia in July |
The United States’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will publish its final report on whether Serbia meets necessary requirements to be issued a category one safety rating this July, the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate has said. The rating is a prerequisite for the resumption of direct flights between the two countries. Following the FAA’s latest assessment of Serbia’s safety regulations and practices in March, inspectors found the country has largely met US and international safety standards and has adequate infrastructure for international aviation safety oversight as defined by international standards. However, the aviation authority outlined several additional areas that need to be improved before it can finally award Serbia the category one status it lost in 2004. Those regulatory shortcomings are now believed to have been amended and a final decision by the FAA is expected to be made in two months time.
The decision will come at an important time for the country’s aviation sector as Air Serbia looks to launch direct flights from Belgrade to the United States by early 2016 according to Serbia’s Prime Minister, as well as Etihad Airways’ CEO James Hogan. A positive ruling by the FAA this summer would give Air Serbia enough time to prepare for transatlantic flights by 2016. The Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate notes that the FAA’s decision will be handed down in the first half of July. Speaking of Air Serbia’s future long haul plans last week, Mr. Hogan said, “We will launch new routes and Chicago is the first destination we are thinking of. It is a logical choice since it is home not only to the largest Serbian diaspora but also others from the former Yugoslavia”.
The FAA's foreign assessment program focuses on a country's ability, not the individual air carrier, to adhere to international standards and recommended practices for aircraft operations and maintenance established by the United Nation's technical agency for aviation, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Five FAA inspectors evaluated Serbia’s air safety standards, regulations and procedures for five days in late March. The delegation also included representatives from the Department of State as well as experts from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
There are 10 FAA category 2 countries:
ReplyDeleteBangladesh
Barbados
Curacao
Ghana
Indija
Indonesia
Nicaragua
Sain Maarten
Serbia
Uruguay
Hmm, i'm sure it wasn't written "Indija" on the list but India.
DeleteMany Cat1 countries can only dream of meeting today's FAA requirements but they are still Cat1 because they earned the status in good old times. If all Cat1 countries were put to one-off audit of compliance with today's FAA requirements, half of them would lose their status.
DeleteGood news. Let's hope for the best
ReplyDeleteIs there FAA3 or not FAA at all?
ReplyDeleteThere is no FAA3, and there are countries that did not ask for FAA categorisation.
DeleteOT:
ReplyDeleteBEG (symbol AERO at BELEX) has just announced its Q1 2014 financial report on Belgrade Stock Exchange:
http://www.belex.rs/trgovanje/vesti/hartija/AERO
OT: Ukraine International has recently restarted flights to the United States, KBP-JFK two weekly, going five weekly from June with Boeing 767-300ER ex-Aerosvit refitted.
ReplyDeleteTypical political decisions from Obama administration...I thought that Bush ,jr was the worst USA president and now i am sure i was wrong
DeleteMany friends i have in USA who voted for |Obama are dissapointed. And i really love USA and their people.I was for him but i feel he is not real leader of free world.
Delete@Q400
DeleteThank you for the cro/bul link. It was never mentioned in Serbian school books ( as I remember ). It sure is surprise for me.
On topic. I really hope that BEG will receive category. A330 is the most beautiful twin for me and i would really like to see one in AirSerbia colors.
@DusanMay 14, 2014 at 1:11 PM
DeleteU're a moron, what this has to do with Obama, if you knew anything about US politics you'd knew Obama isn't that powerful with Congress and Senate can block any decision he makes.
As to FAA ruling you should be talking to US corporate sector for its them who finally will ensure if Air Serbia can fly to US. If history is any judge than Air Serbia won't be given category 1. Call it lobby politics call it corruption call it anything you want, but Serbia is a small insignificant country in Balkans,
Delta, United, US Airways... are major US airliners with 100 000+ employees and half of the US congress in their pockets, who you think FAA will listen to first, Serbia or Delta?
There's your answer, get used to it.
Perhaps you, as such a brilliant geostrategist, would be willing to explain why megacorporations with 100 000+ employees would ever bother about a small insignificant country in the Balkans?
Delete@AnonymousMay 14, 2014 at 4:14 PM
Deletethey wouldn't, but there's little thing called Ethiad and its unscrupulous actions on NA markets, same with Emirates which was barred from flying to Canada for very same reason.
The fact that these airlines are heavily subsidised by their government and are doing everything possible to barge in to the EU and NA markets makes many uneasy, especially in the EU, and perhaps the reason why the EU commission is looking in to this right now.
;)
Dude, get you facts straight, EK still has trice weekly A380 flight to YYZ. They were not barred as you said. The issue was about EY's intention to introduce additional frequencies. Canadian government acting in the best interest of AC didn't give them permission.
DeleteSorry EK's not EY's
Delete@ Anon 6:21
Delete"..little thing called Ethiad and its unscrupulous actions on NA markets"
Wow, please call American Airlines, Air Canada and JetBlue and tell them about your discovery! All three are close partners of Etihad in North America and have vested interest in Etihad's success there through codeshare agreements. Thank you for your expertise!
@ AnonymousMay 14, 2014 at 3:40 PM
DeleteHaha! Kakav si ti mentol! Što se ne lečiš?
Jos kad bi YU letela sa 777-200LR
ReplyDelete777-300ER
787-9
teško da može Jugoslavija da leti, s obzirom da je nema već duži niz godina
DeleteOvde niko ni ne spominje Jugoslaviju.
DeleteNego Air Srbiju.
YU je oznaka za Jugoslaviju. Air Serbija je JU
DeletePogledaj na Avionima pise YU ja to gledam a IATA kod je JU.
DeleteYU je oznaka za Srbiju sada...
DeleteYU ima svaki avion registrovan u Republici Srbiji, bez obzira da li pripada kompaniji "Air Serbia" ili nekoj drugoj (AGX, Air Pink, Prince, itd.). JU je IATA kod za aviokompaniju "Air Serbia".
DeletePrema tome, ne može YU da leti sa B777, samo JU.
Naravno, i jedna i druga skraćenica su nasleđene iz vremena Jugoslavije.
Malo ima onih koji neznaju da je JU oznaka IATA za bivsi AEROPUT, kasnijim naslednikom JAT-om. AIR SERBIA je za sada produzila oznaku iz dva osnovna razloga. Prvo zbog procedure koja bi administrativno trajala
Deletea drugo zbog novca koji bi to kostao. Dali neko zna koliko vremena je potrebno za preregistraciju i kliko $ kosta? Ovo JU kao i sve drugo sto pripada komercijalnoj avijaciji oticice u tisinu muzeja Srpskog putnickog
vazduhoplovstva. Kada bude novca za tu svrhu, nece postojati ni JU. Izuzev onih koji ne mogu da disu bez ju, i muzeja u kome je mesto za proslost, emocije, nostalgiju... Nekoliko vekova Srbija se zvala, hvala Bogu prezivela je porobljavanja, okupacije, ideologije, ispiranja mozgova... Ostaje fakt: AIR SERBIA = AS. Bez nadmudrivanja, porebno je novca a volje bez kraja. Strpljen spasen uvek bice. Kada dodje vreme IATA oznaka YU bice isporucena muzeju i secanjima ljudi. Srbija ce dobiti prfix sadasnje drzave.
Rodney Marinkovic. AME, Sydney-Griffith /// Kraljevo.
Jedini problem Rodney je sto je AS code već zauzet
DeleteRodney, mozda imas neki problem sa YU/JU, ali je to u ovom slucaju sasvim nebitno. Problem je u tome sto je vecina "smislenih" kodova odavno dodeljena, pa bi nama mogao da pripadne neki 8U ili slican, kao sto Hrvati imaju 9A ili Crnogorci 4O. Pravi da ti kazem meni apsolutno nista ne bi znacilo da imamo 8U i sasvim sam zadovoljan da imamo i dalje YU/JU - em ne moramo da se bakcemo sa promenom, em zaista ne vidim sta bi nam ta promena donela.
Delete@AnonymousMay 14, 2014 at 12:45 PM
ReplyDeleteJugoslavija je odavno odletela.
Procitajte obavezno ANT.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aviokarta.net/vesti/2455-novim-gejtovima-povecan-kapacitet-aerodroma-tesla/
Let's imagine for a moment that Serbia has category 1. In order to launch long haul flights they need a plane and let's say they are not "sharing" a plane with EY or AB (i.e., it's only used for JU long haul). If they just fly to a single long haul destination - Chicago, they can do 1 daily rotation or if they have fewer than 1 rotations per day plane is just sitting empty at JU. So they should do a daily rotation which means they should fill the plane every day which will be very hard if you primary market is low yield VFR. If you count on connecting passengers you need to be cheaper than alliances that offer many more options.
ReplyDeleteAll in all, I do not think flying to ORD makes any economic sense in the short run. IMHO, EY alliance can only afford one transatlantic hub in europe and that hub is Berlin - backtracking from western europe to BEG is as pointless as backtracking to AUH.
I agree it is difficult but you didn't cover all the possibilities. Is it impossible to have Chicago 4 times per week + e.g. Toronto 3 times per week?
DeleteDidn't they say, they would get 2 A333s? This would be just fine for the beginning to cover both ORD and YYZ 4-5 weekly to penetrate the market. I think BEG would perform well with these flights as it could capture lots of passengers from neighboring ex YU states, as well, Lebanon, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, all of who have none or just seasonal flights to the US (ATH).
DeleteIf FR somehow manage to pull out low cost transatlantic routes ( as they are planning ) it'll hurt many airliners, and severe AS attempts for flights to America.
DeleteNaj bolje bi bilo uzeti 2-3 B777-200LR da bi se moglo leteti za Bangkok,Johannesburg,Singapur,Peking,Bali,New Delhi, Sydney, Toronto,Chicago i JFK.
DeleteJedan scenario koji bi mogao i da se realizuje je npr da jedan A330 ujutro dodje iz AbuDhabi-ja (sadasnji let EY71) ujutro. U toku jutra odleti za Chicago/Toronto/NewYork (npr oko 8h). Tamo je oko podneva po njihovom vremene (let 9 sati,vremenska razlika oko 6 sati). Nakon pauze od nekoliko sati predvecer krece prema Beogradu .Dolazak bi bio prepodne (+1 dan), i nakon krace pauze krece u AbuDhabi (let EY72). Prakiticno bi im trebalo 2 da pokriju i let prema S. Americi i let prema Bliskom Istoku. Ovi avioni mogu biti registrovani u UAE .
DeleteBoth possibilities: EY registered planes and combining ORD with JFK or YYZ make much more sense than launching ORD alone. Also, by the time these flights launch in 2016, BEG should have decent transfer facilities and then the whole story becomes more plausible.
DeleteFingers crossed.
It looks like FAA Cat 1 is getting closer for Serbia, although slowly - inch by inch.
ReplyDeleteAssuming that will happen in July, next step would be JU codeshare on partner flights to the US. With JU and BEG operational improvements in the next few months and airport concession as expected, those events could then lead to lease of widebody planes and firming up long haul plans for JU. Interesting times ahead!
Top JU routes by pax (Q1 2014 vs Q1 2013)
ReplyDelete- Paris: 29013 / 17375
- Zurich: 28346 / 15475
- Moscow: 25396 / 18004
- Podgorica: 24897 / 18915
- Vienna: 15785 / 16399
Top airlines in BEG by pax (Q1 2014 vs Q2 2014)
ReplyDelete- Air Serbia: 368389 / 223959 (+64%)
- Wizzair: 91715 / 75482 (+22%)
- Lufthansa: 52526 / 52889 (-1%)
- Montenegro: 42007 / 43916 (-4%)
- Turkish airlines: 35755 / 27558 (+30%)
- Other airlines: 194859 / 179905 (+8%)
Sorry, meant to be Q1 2014 vs Q1 2013
DeleteIs this information available to the public on some website?
DeleteWhy do you ask?
DeleteIt is not that I don't trust you, but in the past there have been people posting false news (such as Air Canada Rogue flying to BEG) and I like to get it from offical source.
DeleteNo Swiss? No Austrian?
DeleteThis is from the BEG Q1 financial report made available yesterday. There's more interesting data in there, I suggest anyone interested to have a look. There's a link above, to the Belgrade Stock Exchange website, where you can download the report. Unfortunately for English speakers, it's available exclusively in Serbian.
DeleteOT: Are there any plans for Air Serbia to add (lease or own) more ATR's to the fleet? In particular, are there plans to add 72-600 model? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAirSerbia fleet in the following three years should look like this:
Delete2 Airbus 330-200
8 Airbus 219
2 Airbus 320
3 Atr 72-200
2 Atr 72 500 (current)+3 extra Atr 72 500
Jel bi mogao Virgin Atlantik da leti Chicago-Beograd i ako Srbija nema CAT 1.
ReplyDeleteMogao bi kad bismo mu dali dozvolu, posto OpenSky vazi samo za Evropu, a ne i za Ameriku. Naravno, Virgin Atlanticu ne bi palo napamet da lete BEG-ORD iz jednostavnog razloga sto sasvim dobro prodaju karte vezane na JU za BEG-LHR-USA, a svakako je neizvodljivo da baziraju svoj avion u BEG.
Delete