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| One year on... |
Today marks the first anniversary since Etihad Airways and the Serbian government signed a five year strategic partnership deal which saw the national carrier Jat Airways rebranded to Air Serbia in October. Earlier this year Etihad Airways took over a 49% stake in the airline. The partnership has transformed the Serbian carrier which was, at the time, facing declining passenger numbers, a chronic fleet shortage and a dire financial state. Since the strategic partnership was inked on August 1, 2013, Air Serbia has leased seven Airbus A319 aircraft and two A320s and has ordered a further ten A320neo jets, for delivery from 2018. Furthermore, the carrier has launched eleven new routes: Abu Dhabi, Banja Luka, Bucharest, Budapest, Beirut, Ljubljana, Prague, Sofia, Tirana (from September 23), Varna and Warsaw. Speaking in the Serbian Parliament yesterday, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić said Air Serbia has increased its passenger numbers by 70% when compared to 2013. Furthermore, the airline is expected to contribute 1.5% to the country’s GDP by the end of the year, according to the Prime Minister.
Over the past year the airline has rebranded itself, signed codeshare partnerships with Etihad Airways, Etihad Regional, Air Berlin, Adria Airways, B&H Airlines and TAROM and employed new cabin crew members trained at the Etihad Crew Training Academy. Furthermore, it has launched a new charter brand, Aviolet, which utilises five Boeing 737-300 aircraft to popular holiday destinations. In addition, the carrier has been increasingly focusing on handling transit passengers, shuttling them through its Belgrade base. It has also managed to become the busiest airline in the former Yugoslavia so far this year. Speaking yesterday, PM Vučić said Air Serbia has a clean balance sheet and will operate with a profit this year. Furthermore, he added the airline has expanded regionally, boosting ties with neighbouring countries. “In a year we will be flying to New York and Chicago with our aircraft”, Mr. Vučić added. In late June, the United States Federal Aviation Administration granted Serbia a category one rating, allowing Serbian-registered airlines to operate flights to the States.
Air Serbia will today resume flights to Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport after resolving slot allocation issues with Turkish authorities. The airline was relegated to the city’s secondary Sabiha Gokcen Airport since late October. In another sign of Jat’s passing legacy, Air Serbia will today retire the “Review” in-flight magazine, launched in March 1975. It will be replaced by a new publication from today entitled "Elevate". Yesterday, the Serbian carrier announced it will launch flights to the Albanian capital Tirana on September 23, resuming services to the city for the first time in six years. Commenting on the anniversary, Air Serbia’s CEO, Dane Kondić, says, “Today the airline that has inherited this rich history is forging ahead and making unparallel inroads into the industry. With regular services to an increasing number of destinations, a growing fleet of first-class aircraft, a global network of partners and increasing passenger numbers and revenue, Air Serbia is proving its worth as the successor of JAT’s heritage”. He adds, “Air Serbia is well and truly here to stay and will undoubtedly play a big role in the future of Serbia. Its success is intrinsically linked to its past, which is why I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has helped make this great airline what it is today”.
However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the airline. Since August 1, 2013 the Serbian government has not published the takeover agreement it signed with Etihad, which has been a sticking point with both the public and opposition parties in the Serbian parliament. While the government has made several promises that the deal will be made public in early March, it has not kept its word. The Serbian carrier has also experienced delays in its schedule as it continues to face operational problems at Belgrade Airport. In addition, the airline was to have eight Airbus A319 aircraft in its feet by late March but bureaucratic and technical procedures have delayed the arrival of its last jet. Meanwhile, low cost airline Wizz Air has labelled Air Serbia and Etihad Airways as “wannabe monopolists”. “Etihad/Air Serbia will use a non-transparent incentive scheme, which has been tailored to protect the Etihad/Air Serbia business model which is focused on transit passengers, so as to reduce airport taxes by 100% and thus allow this full fare airline to pay airport taxes to the amount of zero dinars”, Wizz Air said in a statement early last month.
Both of Air Serbia’s owners are upbeat on the airline’s prospects. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News in June, James Hogan, President and CEO of Etihad Airways, as well as Vice-Chairman of Air Serbia said, “Danny Kondić and his team have done an excellent job in running Air Serbia. Results in the first quarter have exceeded the business plan. Air Serbia will break even at the end of 2014”. It remains to be seen what the future holds.
What a atransformation in just one year. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI liked JAT but it would have been shut down by now if Etihad hadn't stepped it. It's amazing how much the airline has changed in such a short time. Looking forward to the next year.
ReplyDeleteExYu, the order was for ten A320 jets, not eight
ReplyDeleteAlso Ljubljana is missing in the list of new routes.
DeleteTypo. Fixed
DeleteCongratulations on not having online checkin after 1 year
ReplyDeleteAnd no amex payment and still waiting for etihad cards after seven months......
ReplyDeleteTirana will be a HUGE success! I would dare to say it will be comparable with Prague and Beirut! I expect increase to 5 weekly really soon.
ReplyDeleteLet hope. Just after my return from Sydney, looking forward to be guest on first return flight BEG-TIA on 25th.of September. Greetings from Sydney... Rod.
Deletea good deal for JAT which was falling apart. who would have thought
ReplyDeleteHvala boze sto ih je kupio veliki Etihad.
ReplyDeleteDo kraja godine ce ALS imati profit.
I nadam se da ce ASL u buducnosti imati B777-300ER ili X =D
INN
I don't see the point in renaming the in-flight magazine: (1) I thought they had more pressing issues to resolve; (2) what is the point in changing the name. Btw what is the name in Serbian? Podići? Uzvisiti?
ReplyDeleteFor me the biggest fail is its transition from Cyrillic to Latin. One one hand the airline introduces the two headed eagle which features Serbian medieval characteristics, they play Bilja Krstic in the aircraft and they try to present the whole airline as something 100% Serbian.
DeleteThen they go and revise the inflight magazine by introducing a totally retarded name whose translation in Serbian makes it even more pathetic. To make things even worse, they introduce the Latin script which has zero connection with Serbia as it's a symbol of Yugoslavia. The same country (era) they have been trying to get rid of for a whole year now.
Demagogy at its finest. On one hand you are portraying yourself as a 100% Serbian airline and then you disregard the most basic element of the country's history and culture.
Maybe Kondic and his gang think that Miroslav's Gospel was written in Latin script. LOL
The new inflight magazine a total embarrassment. From the name to the fact they got rid of the national letter.
DeleteDisgusted.
Why not alienate Croatian customer...or Bosninan customer with cyrillic? Why not?
DeleteAnd...that howling when you enter the plane is not to everyone's taste. Not at all!!!
BA888
DeleteAmong all dumb explanations Ive heard, this is the dummest. You are the champion. Congrats.
( Btw, Serbian Cyrillic is a official alphabet in both countries you have mentioned.)
Keep in mind that inflight magazine should be a revenue source (from ads) and a marketing tool for an airline, otherwise it's just a dead weight. As Air Serbia aspires to be regional transit airline, this magazine change was a step in the right direction, but execution has to improve.
DeleteI did a quick browse of the online edition and outsourcer that creates the content has to step up.
As for the name, I hope Virgin America doesn't object to using their frequent flyer name as Air Serbia inflight magazine.
So will regional carriers introduce the Cyrillic version of their magazine so as to appeal to the Serbian travellers? Also, Air Serbia's passenger numbers from the region have been on the rise even when the magazine was partly in Cyrillic. This is a very stupid decision.
DeleteAlso, BA888, i would like to let you know that the Cyrillic is the official alphabet of Bosnia so I don't see how relevant your comment is. Then again, they rarely are.
This is what i just got into my e-mail:
DeleteDear all,
It is a horrible and impermissible shame that you allowed the new
edition of Air Serbia magazine to be published in Latin script, while
slapping in the face the whole of Serbia's history, culture and
heritage by doing so. I am outraged by your move and don't understand
who was allowed (or not given the guidelines) to edit the magazine in
such a way, which clearly shows that the third-party concerned had
little to no interest in valuing Serbian cultural and national traits,
as well as very scarce knowledge about the former. As a company that
is supposedly meant to restore some pride and dignity that Serbia lost
throughout its recent history, this is the worst thing that could have
been done.
I therefore call upon you and the rest of the company in order to
finally - that in accordance with the Serbian constitution - establish
the Cyrillic alphabet as the ONLY and OFFICIAL alphabet of Air Serbia
when written in Serbian language. It is as much outraging to see that
www.airserbia.com automatically points not even to the English version
of the website (what could be understandable) but to the
"Serbian-Latin one".
I know that your establishment comes from very far but let me clarify
you a few things: there isn't such as thing as "Serbian-Latin"
alphabet: there is the Serbian-Cyrillic one AND the Croatian alphabet,
which was introduced in Serbia during the communist times as a motion
of brotherhood between the two people following the atrocities
committed during the war.
Not that i have anything against Croatia but, why would Croatia
Airlines magazine be written in Cyrillic, on its 20-something
birthday? Do you see any reasons? Well, i don't see any reason why
Air Serbia's magazine should be in Latin. It's a shame and a
humiliation towards the country that Air Serbia originates from and
whose name it bears. It is also for me, a foreign admirer of Serbian
aviation and culture, highly distressing to see such an ignorant and
negative change and those responsible for it should be summoned at the
shortest notice.
Looking forward in seeing constructive changes and a responsible
approach to all those matters in the nearest future.
Thank you for your attention and all the best; sincerely yours,
Oscar Leman
Macedonia also uses Cyrillic, same as Bulgaria.
DeleteWhich 'region' we are talking about?
isnt oscar leman that "aerologic" guy who comes around here sometime . who cares
DeleteLet it go guys, the best way of restoring national pride is by having well run and profitable company. If the price for it is switch to latin I say by all means. While official language in BiH is cyrilic, most of the people can't read it, while in Serbia most if not all can read latin script. Pure marketing people , chill please.
DeleteI'm sure they are shaking in their boots now. LOL
DeletePS: The title was:
Delete"Elevate magazine in Latin script - The worst gift Air Serbia could get for its 1st birthday"
Some news agencies got it as well.
A "foreign admirer of Air Serbia" sends a letter about an inflight magazine and i'm still laughing because its about an inflight magazine to Serbian news agencies .... gosh ... Its probably someone who has too much time on their hands. The magazine is fine and double the size of revija.
DeleteActually, i'm sure he's got some Serbian friends.
DeleteWell, as much time as you have to read it and comment on it i am sure. Fortunately there are people who care about such things be them foreigner or not. By the way nothing says in the text whether it was sent to Serbian news agencies or other, don't know what you made that conclusion from.
Deleteummm "Some news agencies got it as well". i doubt it was sent to the bbc
DeleteSM, we can achieve profitability while respecting our cultural heritage. Many airlines today do it.
DeleteJesus @ all this kvetching over Cyrillic.
DeleteWhen's the last time any of you have had a mailbox to open in Belgrade so you can notice that 90% of the junkmail is in latinic.
When's the last time anyone here has received or sent an SMS in Cyrillic?
How many kids in Serbia update their facebooks in Cyrillic?
The answer is ALMOST NONE.
So, get over it. Cyrillic is dying a slow and inevitable death and no amount of crying over Serbia's history will have any effect.
Anon 7:18
DeleteIt's a business, owned partially and led by business people and like it or not if they can squeeze more money out of it by movibg to latinica they should and will do it. There is a lot of ways to protect our haritage, business is not one in my oppinion.
The last time I went to the newstand, only 3 out of the nearly 10+ daily titles were in Cyrilic ... that pretty much sums it up ...
DeleteGo to USCE or Delta City shopping centres and look at how much signage is in native Serbian Cyrilic - practically none, as it is in either Latin or English !!
Even the former name of the airline and the magazine, "JAT AIRWAYS" and "REVIEW" were in English, so what are these morons talking about ??
Anon@6:23PM
DeleteIt was sent to Air Serbia's management, then someone re-sent it to the press and to the blog's author, including myself. Why does it matter to you so much to who it was sent or not, instead on focussing on the subject that is being discussed here and now? That tells about some serious intellectual lacks or absence of arguments. "Elevate" - would you mind to translate that into Serbian? It can be seen from the style of writing that the guy isn't a local but why does that matters so much to you? Oh, let me guess: if a Serb defends the Cyrillic, he's retarded and backwards; if a foreigner defends it - he's a Serb -> making him again retarded and backwards, am i getting you right?
Talking about identuty i am sure it would do you some good to present yourself instead of signing as Anonymous, that doesn't give you much credit.
Here's the kicker ...
DeleteWhat do these protectors of Serbian heritage, complaining loudly about this 'treacherous" use of latin script do ? Post their comments of complaint in English - and poor English at that !!!
What a classic and what hypocrites !!
You should go and crawl in a hole and hide from embarrassment ...
It looks like we have several candidates here for magazine’s Advertising Sales Executives willing to carry a quota! As long as you can go several times over the quota by selling ad space that global companies will pitch at Air Serbia travelers from say, Beirut to Paris (or any other city pair), you are more than welcome to choose any language or script combo that will help retire your quota faster, even if it’s for example Bulgarian and Afrikaans!
DeleteI have been transit passenger on exotic airlines that had interesting advertising in inflight magazines only in local language, so even though I was interested in a product or a service, I could not become a customer. Elevate magazine has a truly moronic ad for Ribarsko Selo Zanjice, without a word in English, without a web site, phone, map, address or a social media info. They are not globally recognizable brand like Coca Cola, duh!
Keep in mind that Emirates or Singapore Airlines got where they are by catering not primarily to fairly small local population, but to global audience. Emirates are moving away from gold accents inside planes to align with taste of global travelers that finds all that gold very tacky. There are other places in Serbia to preserve beautiful Cyrillic other than inflight magazine that should be open and friendly to foreign guests. Where the space is not at premium, like the web site, Cyrillic is one of available options.
Do you want Air Serbia to be more like Air Koryo or KLM? It’s all about the $$$, welcome to modern economy!
AnonymousAugust 1, 2014 at 9:09 PM
DeleteI would like to remind you that the official language of this blog is English so...
I'd like to remind everyone here that just about a year ago we all complained here about politicians influencing business decisions in JAT. Now that businessman are making those decisions some are complaining again. Management's job is to make money as best they can. Protecting haritage is government policy issue that should be dealt throug other means (education system for example)
DeleteNemjee, it's a blog and this is not a police state or a website which removes posts made in a language other than in English ... Don't you read this website regularly ? If you did, then you would notice - even today - that posts in Serbian - both Cyrilic and Latin - are not removed, so your "reminder" of the 'official' language of this blog being English, is about as useful as drinking water out of a cup made from tissue paper .... Having established then, that blogs made in Serbian are NOT removed, then this entire looney army castigating JU for changing their new magazine from cyrilic to latin, would've given their cause much more credibility, had they have posted their comments in cyrilic, rather than English - simply reinforcing their credentials as being no more than the common trolls who take any opportunity to take a pot shot at whatever JU does ...
DeleteI still can't agree with you. For example, I exclusively use Cyrillic when writing but obviously when on this blog I usually write in English. A lot of people who visit this blog are not from this region and they can't understand our languages. Still, I wouldn't call them hypocrites just because they voiced their concern over the use of Latin in English. I think it's a wise thing to do as it increases the awareness of this problem beyond our region.
DeleteI work for Air Serbia and I don't agree with this decision. I think they should have kept the Cyrillic alphabet. Simple as that.
English should be written in Latin, Serbian in Cyrillic - period. I think someone is getting very confused.
DeleteNo one is saying that ads for foreigners have to be in Cyrillic BUT the SERBIAN text, alongside the English one, as it has been the case until now.
The ads can be all in English or in any other languages targeting a certain audience, that doesn't matter.
Namjee
DeleteDon't get me wrong. I'm all for cyrilic and use it all the time even in SMS with my friends who can read it. However, friend of mine from Sarajevo came to Belgrade last year and had a hell of a time following my instructions becouse he couldn't read street signs in cyrilic. The question here is do you want to be a tourist destination or not. Or in the case of JU would you like to make a guy from Split who doesn't speak English litlle more welcome or not. To satisfy everyone's appetite maybee they should make it in cyrilic too but that would be too much maybee.
I don't know if this is right decision or not but I'm willing to give the current mgmt. the benefit of the doubt tjat the decidion they made is based on valid reasons and in line with what they'd like Air Serbia to be.
Newsflash: Serbian language uses two scripts, both Cyrillic and Latin, both on equal terms. And both are fairly new to the language - their use began in the 19th century, although there were some years apart, as Cyrillic was the first to get adopted.
DeleteNow, complete amateurs when it comes to linguistics and bigots are saying that Cyrillic is actually the only Serbian script (which is not used in Bulgaria, Russia and many other places - while Latin is I guess Croat, and Croats are also known as Latin or Roman), because some politicians thought it would be wildly popular to put this nonsense into constitution. That doesn't make it true. So get over it. Our language uses both scripts and it should continue to use them on equal footing, according to our own personal preference. We are now forced to see the state communicating exclusively in Cyrillic because of the "official script" nonsense, but that's all.
By the way, anyone who can't use both perfectly can consider themselves illiterate.
Some of these arguments are shocking.
DeleteI agree that cyrillic should be used as the serbian script in the magazine. Air Serbia has invested alot of money and time to change and rebrand the image of former JAT and Jat Airways to be Serbia's national airline, carrying with it the name and identity of Serbia into the world. Money was spent to bring the livery to carry the identity of Serbia, which was inspired by Dusans Code, yet the basic bit of the Serbian indentity was not carried on - its language, its alphabet. Its sad how some Serbs see negativity to the cyrillic alphabet. Its ours, embrace it. How can you respect anything foreign if you cannot respect what is yours, and why would anyone respect anything of yours if you yourself dont respect it.
As for the foreign passengers it carries, the english translation is a natural thing.
In regards to the magazine name, I like it, its simple. It says Air Serbia. It has elevated from the mess that was Jat Airways.
Switzerland has four official languages, yet Swiss' inflight magazine equally promotes only English and German text! It's just not possible to have English, German, French and Italian side by side on a magazine page. It goes by majority for Swiss, and English + latin Serbian is what should appeal to most readers. If the paper space is no object, Elevate would have side by side articles in English, Serbian latin, Serbian cyrillic and probably few other languages. This is the best option, get over it already. Go write to other magazines/papers in Serbia that should be in Cyrillic but are not.
DeleteAnonymousAugust 2, 2014 at 1:22 AM
DeleteFunny you call people ignorant yet your post is full of ignorance. I would like to remind you that the Cyrillic script is NOT fairly new to the Serbian language as it was the sole alphabet during the Serbian medieval period- naturally, it was only after we dropped the glagoljica and other Slavic alphabets. Cyrillic (a mutated version of the Greek alphabet) was exported to the Serbian lands by the Byzantine emissaries in their quest to civilize the Slavic barbarians.
So please, do tell me how the Latin script is slightly younger than the Cyrillic one?
The Latin script in Serbian was born out of pan-Slavism when romantics dreamt of a unified Slavic country- the first to propose this idea were the Czechs. By the way, even after the Medieval period, during the Ottoman occupation, the Cyrillic remained as the alphabet of our people, even in places which are today controlled by countries such as Croatia, Hungary or Romania.
Mind you, all Medieval literature was in Cyrillic and Latin was never, ever used even during the 16th-20th century period. Unfortunately most of our Medieval scripts were destroyed in the Nazi bombings back in 1941.
Regards from Belgrade.
@SM
DeleteSo i guess your friend will never visit: Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Iran, Japan, Korea, China...or half the world pretty much, simply because they're using their own native script (which is not Latin)?! Why from all the countries in the world Serbia needs to adopt a foreign alphabet to 'appeal' to strangers? I guess some of the top world countries by tourism didn't loose any appeal cause of sticking to their identity, quite the contrary.
Besides, those 'strangers' are nobody else than two countries: Croatia and a part of Bosnia. For all the others, it makes absolutely NO DIFFERENCE since they can;t understand Serbian at all, be it in Latin or in Cyrillic. On the other hand, Macedonians and Bulgarians (our much bigger markets than Croatia so far) could actually understand something if it would be in Cyrillic and feel more like 'at home' so this is also pointless besides being stupid. Does your friend expects to read in Bosnian(-Latin) in Lufthansa's, TK's or Austrian plane? No, you'll have just the native language and English and i don't see it hurting their business or resulting in them abandoning markets in either place, so why should (Air) Serbia be any different and humiliate itself in order to 'comfort' and appeal to 3 seasonal Croatian destinations, where most of travelers are foreigners anyway (non-Croatians)? To them and to the rest of our network it makes no positive difference whatsoever.
Hmm... Aegean is a brilliant example which shows that you can be profitable and still keep your language, unique alphabet and so on.
DeleteNot to mention that 85% of the travelling public don't know how to correctly pronounce their name. That's why the whole Latin alphabet argument doesn't stand.
Besides, i am sure that the authentic alphabet certainly didn't harm the Greek tourism, being one of the top destination in Europe (especially for the nationalities that would supposedly have a hard-time understanding Cyrillic script).
DeleteEverything in Serbia should be CYRILLIC and ENGLISH. "Serbian-latin" is a half-way solutions that destroys and defigurates Serbian indentitiy, all while not allowing foreigners to understand anything at all, as much as they would understand the Czech or Romanian language.
DeleteOhoho, what a flame about Cyrillic.
DeleteSuch a shame, but did it occur to anyone that a possible reason for Latin script is the fact that in Cyrillic airline's name should be written: Eр Сербија; not so appealing, on the other hand, the so-hated "communist" airline was Југословенски аеротранспорт. :)
Of course the magazine is in Latin script, they gave the name and brand to nationalists, some other things have to remain logical. (Was it Jovan Ducic who argued for use of only Latin script in Serbia, etc. etc.)
On the more important note, did anyone look at it? It doesn't look so good - also, I am no English expert, but it seems to me that there are some unfortunate sentences and word sequences. Might be wrong, but one example is the title: "Air Serbia, Leading Airline in The Region". Is it missing an article?
I never said that we should obandon cyrilic. If you knew me you'd that my oppi ion is quite contrary. I have no idea if my friend will visit those countries but I just gave you some feedback as an example.
DeleteImo, person that might be affected by this is an average joe from Sarajevo, Ljubljana and Croatian coast who doesn't speak English. You might say very limited and that's true but as we look in the future this number canonly increase because in those places they don't teach cyrilic anymore plus focus seems to be on transfer pax and that might increase it.
Namjee, I don't think that your comparison with Aegean is valid for simpke reason that outside Greece nobady speak that language. If you write Greek in latinic it would make zero difference to anybody that us not Greek. In our case people outside Serbia speak same language with different name, the only difference is that they are less likely to be able to read it if it's cyrilic. All of this is in support of basic marketing rule to reach as many people as posible with as little amont of money.
But in all honesty I think we are making too much out of nothing.
Ok - and how do you translate "Elevate" into Serbian? What's the magazine name, "podici"?
DeleteBtw thank you all for civilized conversation, I'm very happy that there are still a lot of people passionate about cyrilic
DeleteYou didn't answer one question: why would an average "joe" from Croatia or Ljubljana have the advantage over an average "joe" from Macedonia or Bulgaria where we are having much more flights and year-round destinations?
DeleteNot even talking about the Serbian public and the diaspora (that is very traditional and roots-nostalgic).
DeleteSo, in order to satisfy less than 5% of our network and customers (not even year-round one and where most of transit pax are from Europe and other countries - not Croatia) we are:
- giving up on our identity and heritage
- marginalizing Serbian customers, putting them on a second place (without an O&D base no transfer-company can thrive)
- marginalizing customers from all the Cyrillic countries where we are having much more flights (double daily to Skopje, daily to Sofia, 3 weekly to Varna), some Russians would also rather read the Cyrillic and we're talking of one of (if not the) top Air Serbia markets.
Question is - besides the 'nationalistic' dilemma, is it really worth it?
The Croatian folk unless he's really ignorant (and by being that ignorant he's probably not gonna read anything at all), by booking a flight with an airline called Air SERBIA he would assume that yes, some of the material might be in Serbia's own language, right, just like in a German or French company... I didn't see Aeroflot being bankrupt for that.
Given the Air Serbia's original "traditionally oriented them" this is a quite sickening contrast.
Loving the Cyrillic, being passionate about it, using it whenever possible, creating new typefaces, branding companies with it if that's your cup of tea - sure, that's great. Trying to push out Latin out of the language where it was widely used for more than a century - that's a whole different ball game. Forcing people who prefer "the other" script to use whatever suits YOU best, that's not respect or passion, that's ignorance and xenophobia.
DeleteIf anyone genuinely believes that using Latin script will somehow rob the Serbian nation of its identity - before that happens the battle for the national identity will have been long lost. I am quite positive you won't be able to find a single person in Serbia, who is an ethnic Serb and using Latin script, saying that they're something else or being confused about their national identity.
On the other hand, forcing people to either use Cyrillic or "stop being Serbs", well, we've tried that approach before with the orthodox church and that didn't work out all that well, now did it?
For now all we're saying is that the Air Serbia review should have simply stayed as it.
DeleteYeah but still, the whole point is to prove that keeping your unique alphabet (or anything of that sort) will not harm your business. Remember when on this blog masses of people predicted that no one would fly with Air Serbia because of the logo or the name?
DeleteFurthermore, there are no good enough reasons to justify why Bosnians would not be able to read Cyrillic when it is the official alphabet of the country. It's also disrespectful towards the Serbs, both in Bosnia and outside of it.
On the other hand, Air Serbia has incomparably more passengers from Russia, Bulgaria and Macedonia than there are from countries which speak the same language but do not use the same alphabet. If we were to use pure business logic then sticking with Cyrillic would make more sense.
Let's take a look:
Moscow:
- two daily flights A319/320
- code-share/interline with Aeroflot
Bulgaria
- daily flight to Sofia
- seasonal 4 weekly to Varna
- interline with Bulgaria Air
Macedonia
- double daily flights to Skopje, A319/Atr
On the other hand we have:
-seasonal flights to Croatia where not a single destination is served on a daily basis.
- Triple daily flights to Bosnia, two to Sarajevo and one to Banja Luka (where Cyrillic is not a handicap). I included JA in this equation since they feed Air Serbia's Belgrade network and their customers would be 'forced' to read Cyrillic.
Since someone mentioned Swiss, it actually makes sense for them to use English and German since their biggest base is in Zurich and they are owned by Lufthansa.
I just don't think it's worth it to switch to Latin in order to please a small and relatively low-yielding market. I am sorry but it is a publicly known fact that 90% of the Balkan travelling public is low-yielding VFR traffic.
AnonymousAugust 2, 2014 at 1:46 PM
DeleteYou are a hypocrite. You are doing the same as those you condemn.
It's every person's right to fight for what he believes in. You have no authority to belittle someone's interest just because he loves his country and his roots.
There are ONLY 3 global brands in Elevate magazine that address passengers NOT departing or arriving to/from Serbia/Montenegro: Longines, Rolex and Jeep. That's it. For every other ad, you need to understand Serbian language and/or do business in Serbia or Montenegro.
DeleteIf you can double or triple that number (while increasing ad price per page) by going with Cyrillic, go for it! Let me see how many capable sales folks will respond! There's job waiting for you!
Nemjee, I enjoy your posts but I have to help you with this:
Delete“Since someone mentioned Swiss, it actually makes sense for them to use English and German since their biggest base is in Zurich and they are owned by Lufthansa.“
If you apply same logic about ownership, Air Serbia should also have Arabic text, or CSA should have texts in Korean because of partial ownership, but that’s not how it works.
Switzerland has about 2/3 of native German speakers, so from purely commercial reasons they decided to address more market with German language than say, Italian. It’s all about the revenue, the money you can make from more passengers looking at your magazine.
CSA is another perfect example. Their inflight magazine is in three languages: Czech, English and guess what – Russian! Looking at their route map it’s clear why they have Cyrillic – they have 6 destinations in Russia, plus number of other former CIS destinations where Russian is also spoken. Few of the articles are not translated to Russian because they don’t address Russian market. I would not be surprised if one day Elevate magazine gets couple of articles translated to German, Greek or whatever market analysis comes up with. Hope this helps!
@8:47PM
DeleteNo one is talking about the ads but the review's text itself! Stop bringing up the damn ads questions as if you can't read what has been written previously!
Swiss is a bit of a different case since Lufty is a majority stakeholder; the cases of Air Serbia and CSA are a bit different.
DeleteI don't care if they introduce an Albanian version of the magazine, for me the Serbian version is the one I can't agree with.
I think Air Serbia did a very good thing by introducing a multilingual website. I hope that eventually all Balkan languages will be included as well as Arabic. The airline flies to Abu Dhabi and Beirut and they also considered Cairo at one point. It's a massive market and a lot of their cities are considered as high-yielding.
I think the airline has done a phenomenal job in just a year. We all remember what a flying disaster Jat Airways was. It will take a long time before all things are back to normal. :)
Anon 1:10pm
DeleteBasic difference between an average joe from Macedonia and Croatia or muslim part of BiH is that Macedonian one has much more likely to be able to read latinic since I belive they still teach it in school one way or another. On the other hand, cyrilic in Croatia and BiH Federation school system and life in general is non existent.
OMG....is this for real...From marketing stand point, decision to use SERBIAN LATIN alphabet is excellent. Stop with that notion that Serbia is using only Cyrillic alphabet...NOT the case.... I'm Serbian from Bosnia and, like 90% of Serbs from Bosnia, I always used and still using only latin alphabet. Currently I reside in Canada. Do you really think that Serbian diaspora is using Cyrillic ????? Trust me - NO. So now, I would be 100% for Cyrillic alphabet if AS is flying exclusively only from Nis to Kraljevo, and nowhere else. Also, before my departure to Canada, I've spent 7 years in Belgrade. I would say that well over 50% of Belgraders are using Latin alphabet only. Now, if majority of people from Vojvodina, Belgrade, Serbs from Bosnia as well as Serbs from abroad are using Latin alphabet on daily basis, would it be wise to stick to Cyrillic alphabet only...Of course not... On top of it all, as far as I remember, SERBIAN LATIN is one of official letters.SO please quit with nationalistic notions here.
DeleteMa daj prekinite vise sa tim kad je cirilica stigla u Srbiju......to gledanje samo u proslost je I dovela Srbiju do ovoga gde je sada. Ja sam Srbin, ponosim se sa tim, a to sto iskljucivo koristim latinicu, verovatno me cini u ocima "narrow-minded individuals" izdajicom, Hrvatom itd.....
@Anonymous August 2, 2014 at 4:48 AM
DeleteIts bad comparing Switzerland and Serbia as Serbia has 1 official language, and 1 official alphabet - Serbian and Cyrillic.
As I said, the company invested alot of money and time to rebrand Jat as a Serbian airline with Air Serbia, including this magazine that will advertise Serbia to its foreign pax, but the simplist things they could advetise is the Serbian language and its alphabet. I think we should be proud of the fact that we have a unique alphabet where 1 sounds is represented with 1 letter, which even the latinica doesnt have (eg: Љ = Lj). The whole idea of travel is experiencing something new, something unique, something foreign. I still believe its contradictory to adverise 'Serbian hospititality' yet not the fundemental and most basic thing from Serbia, its langauge. The Dusans Code which they proudly mention as inspiration to the logo was btw written in Cyrillic.
@anon at 10:19
Deletereview's text exists only because it sells ads, so they are important, not the text.
Some airlines gave up on printed magazine altogether and found other ways todeliver ads to passengers like IFE. Texts are not important except to have passengers flip pages and see more ads.
Али што волим тај тренутак када долазе ти продуховљени и самопрокламовани чувари модернизма да нам приповедају о томе како нисмо у праву што бранимо ћирилицу док ваша посвећеност латиници је у потпуности оправдана.
DeleteТо што се неки на овом блогу хвале да не пишу латиницом је пре свега тужно и то само показује колико су кратковиди и заправо како су жртве лоших политичких одлука из прошлости. Мени је пре свега јако драго да и даље постоје људи којима је стало до ћириличног писма и који се боре за његово очување.
Што се тиче Ер Србије, ово је било за очекивати, нажалост. Такав им је кадар тамо и са овом одлуком достигли су врхунац демагогије и дволичности.
Порука свим латиничарима и пријатељу из Канаде: само се глуп човек хвали оним чега се паметан стиди.
Поздрав из Београда.
Уместо расправе о ћирилици, боље би било да покушамо да поправимо часопис: економску класу у наслову на 110 страни зову Economic a ne Economy, нема ни помена о програму Etihad Guest за лојалне путнике нити огласа партнера (рецимо хотели где се поени могу скупљати), нема мапе аеродрома Никола Тесла...
DeleteKada uporedim sa onim fasistima tj komunjarama iz doba poslednje JAT-ove faze ovo je raj. Jedina mana te price sto su neke stvari trebale biti, davno, jako davno.al ajd sad. ;)
ReplyDeleteZelim im svaki uspeh i srecu u radu , sto bi strucnjaci silni nasi rekli dobar load factor, i vidimo se uskoro na nekom novom letu.
Happy first aniversery of partnerships to AIR SERBIA and ETIHAD AIRWAYS. Srecna slava Sveti ILIJA svima koji koji ga slave i postuju. Rod, Sydney.
ReplyDeleteGospodine Radovane koje ste Avione popravljali u QF.
DeleteINN
Dragi Anonymous 10:13 PM, Vise od 20 godina sam radio na remontu motora za Boeing-e B747 i B767. U pocetku sam radio na Alisonovim otorima T56 za Hercules-e kao ina P&W JT3 za B707. Onda su sledili P & W JT9-7F pa zatim RR RB211-D4,/G2, Trent, pa GE CF6-80E2... Zadnjih par godina sam proveo radeci u hangaru H91... Druzim se sa avionima punih 45 godina preletvsi oko 4500 sati dokumentovan, sa svim avionima zapadne proizvodnjne i jedanput na sa TU 154 M. Do sada sam leteo oko sveta 22 puta. Iz Australije u Srbiju zapocinjem za par nedelja 69 let za ovih skromnih 45 godina. Verovatno nisam dostojan da se javljam na ovom Forumu pa nezanimljivim nacinom obracanja mnoge razocaravam u najmanju ruku. Ako je to u pitanju recite mi. Podaricu vam mir. Jedno je izvesno za mene. Da sam ostao u Otadzbini nebih dobio ni kanale da cistim oko Beogradskog aerodroma, sto se mojeg ucesca tice. Sa mirom to i prihvatam. Ali postoji i druga strana medalje. A to je: "covek snuje a Bog odredjuje". Nedaj Boze da sam nekog omalovazio. Jer uvek ljudima mislim, zelim dobro. Ako mi i obraz osamare, ja drugi okrenem... Verujte opstajem uspesno pa se trudim da tako ostane. Vama svako dobro ez obzira sta i gde radite ili ne. Sa Sydney-skog aerodroma, iz Mlazne Baze mojeg native QANTAS AIRWAYS-a srdacni pozdravi Radovan.
DeleteGood partnership,
ReplyDeletebut after only one year it is not possible any more to book Air Serbia flights through Etihad web site. Why? If you try to redeem Etihad miles on Air Serbia flights you can't!!! Why?
Just a reminder that agreement was announced a year ago and transition started to kick in, while official start and rebranding to Air Serbia happened in October, so it's not an official anniversary just yet. Still, it's an important milestone in Serbian aviation. Impressive transformation so far, but there's a lot on management's plate to be done. Congratulations and keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteCongrats Air Serbia!
ReplyDeleteOT: Dubrovnik July 2014:
303 993 passengers
+ 9,7 %
great result indeed, now other Croatian airports need to publish their data to see the overall result.
DeleteAir Serbia is still very much JAT ("joke about time"). Some things will never change; actually getting worst! Actual punctual;ity is a disgrace to all passengers!
ReplyDeleteOT: Sarajevo had great July
ReplyDelete80,585 pax +16%
YTD 401.023 +7,36%
IAG je ostvario u 2 quartalu profit ,cak i Iberia :)
ReplyDeleteINN
Može li neko stručan (ali stvarno) da mi odgovori zbog čega AS vraća penzionisane supervisore, stw/std i ostale na posao?!
ReplyDeleteНико од пензионисаних супервизора није враћен на посао, примљени су нови људи... и то доста њих. То се исто односи на кабинско особље.
DeleteТако да верујем да је то само малициозан трач.
Zamolio bih Vas da navedete konkretna imena stw/std koji su uzeli otpremnine od desetak hiljada evra decembra 2013 i navodno vratili se pod ugovorom na isti posao. Hvala.
DeleteNema takvih.
DeleteWonderful news for Sarajevo! :)
ReplyDeleteI am using Cyrillic every day and I will never stop using it because that is our country tradition. I even have it installed on my Android phone with a special program!
ReplyDeleteSo did i on my Windows phone. SMS messages work perfect in Cyrillic.
DeleteHere is the no of pax of some flight from yesterday
ReplyDeleteDestination-plane-no of pax(business/economy)
Otp-atr-63
Sof-atr-39
Ath-a320-7/154
Skg-a319-0/116
Dbv-a319-0/90
Skp-a319-6/116
Tiv-737-147
Spu-737-5/125
Tgd-737-7/128
Bnx-atr-55
Sjj-atr-59
Ams-319-2/116
Fra-737-102
Cdg a320-2/132
Bru-a319-1/118
Mla-a319-1-74
Tgd-atr-64
Cph-a319-8/124
Prg-atr-58