UPDATE
Air Serbia promises “exciting” developments

Air Serbia hopes to fly to the US in next twelve to fourteen months

Air Serbia has said it will unveil “exciting developments expected during 2015” during the 37th International Tourism Fair which began today in Belgrade. The airline held a presentation at its stand, which was attended by the Serbian Prime Minister. The carrier has been notably silent over the past few months on its plans for the upcoming summer season. As EX-YU Aviation News learns, the airline is expected to release its audited financial results in the coming month, which was later confirmed at the presentation (updates available below). In a statement, the carrier said, “In focus this year will be Air Serbia's rapidly growing reach, which currently comprises a network of forty direct destinations in thirty countries in Europe, the Middle East and the Mediterranean”. The fair lasts until Sunday.

Air Serbia’s CEO, Dane Kondić, highlighted the importance of the upcoming event. “In the past year, Air Serbia has made great strides and the fair is the perfect occasion to share these developments with industry partners and the travelling public. The tourism industry is delivering growth and showing great potential to be one of the key drivers of Serbia's economic growth. As Air Serbia consolidates its position as the region’s leading carrier, it is proud to play its role to support the further growth of tourism and the creation of employment opportunities for Serbs across the broader economy”, Mr. Kondić said. He added, “The International Tourism Fair in Belgrade is one of the most important events in the industry's calendar in this part of Europe and we are pleased to once again take part in its success. The official country partner of this year's fair is the United Arab Emirates, the home of our equity partner Etihad Airways, making this event an even more significant gathering for Belgrade, Serbia and Air Serbia”.


Over the past month, Air Serbia launched a new look website, while the media leaked the carrier’s plans to introduce wireless on board Internet this summer. Yesterday, the airline announced it would boost operations to Tel Aviv compared to its current winter season schedule. However, the new frequencies represent a cut of two weekly flights compared to last summer. Furthermore, the Serbian carrier announced yesterday it would be moving its operations to Terminal 1 at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, which is exclusively used by Alitalia. Earlier this year Air Serbia’s part-owner Etihad purchased a 49% stake in Alitalia. The CEO of the Italian carrier, Silvano Cassano, said the airline plans to work “more deeply” with Air Serbia in order to increase customer choice across the networks of both carriers.


UPDATE

• Air Serbia's CEO, Dane Kondić, told "The Australian" newspaper, "We’ve made some public statements that we are working towards a small profit for the year of 2014. Once the auditors finish their work and confirm that, I think it will probably be one of the most amazing turnarounds in history. For a small airline, going from a 73 million euro loss to something in positive territory is going to be a herculean effort". He added, "The aircraft utilisation of the old fleet was something terrible. I think it was about five hours a day, it was point-to-point flying. We moved to a mini-network carrier basis so we were connecting cities and we’re driving the fleet very hard; we’re up around twelve or thirteen hours a day. We’re trying to develop Belgrade into a hub and so it’s really starting to compete now against the likes of Vienna, which was probably for many years the hub in that part of the world, which was the gateway to central and eastern Europe. Everybody’s done an amazing job up until this point but we’ve got to run harder, faster to get fitter. In terms of Belgrade and Serbia re-emerging in the world, it’s a natural ambition for the country to want to reconnect to many of the markets and places that they used to fly but Air Serbia had no aspirations to fly all over the world the way Jat Airways used to". Furthermore, Mr. Kondić states that the airline will also look at other parts of the world, continuing to build Belgrade as a hub to achieve the critical mass necessary for longhaul flying. It has already revealed plans to fly across the Atlantic, and the CEO said he hoped he could realise that ambition in the next twelve to fourteen months. Commenting on Etihad's tie-up with Alitalia, Mr. Kondić said, "Alitalia will be an interesting future partner once they bed down. Air Berlin is another one".

• Audited financial results for 2014 to be released on March 2 or 3. The results will be presented to the public and media and more information on future plans are likely to revealed then. The airline is said to have ended the year with a profit.

• Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić: Air Serbia recorded better results so far this year. So far in February, during the slowest month in the aviation industry, the airline has carried significantly more passengers. Without Air Serbia, the country's tourism industry would be at a great disadvantage.


• The President of the Air Serbia Supervisory Board Siniša Mali: Air Serbia has boosted the desirability of Belgrade as a tourist destination and changed the country’s image.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:10

    Ex Yu,

    I suppose you will update us?

    You usually announce at the bottom of the article that certain news will be updated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, if there are any annoucments today the news will be updated

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:22

      But please, unlike the last time, don't update the article without putting the updates at the end. It was really difficult to follow. :)

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:26

    Hopefully the press will consist of new routes announcement. I would love to see Madrid, Barcelona and maybe NYC or Chicago in near future. Would be nice to see Nis flights to Vienna or even Paris as well. Announceing few more Atr's and an A330 also would be nice. Lets see!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:34

      Doubt it, my guess is that onboard wifi will be the main announcement.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:44

    Keep in mind that the fair lasts until Sunday so they might not announce anything today.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous10:30

    So basically „news“ are:

    1. Tel Aviv will be 2 flights less than last year and that was presented as good news? Strange. I hope that „news“ will not be that other routes will stay on winter frequencies or few flights better than in winter but much less than last years’ summer, like this example of Tel Aviv.

    2. Financial report will be published in future. Why so big delay? Why they did not published it on press conference if numbers are good?

    3. There would be “exciting developments expected during 2015”, but no concrete plans, no new routes, no extra capacity was promoted. And it is end of February, just little more than one month to Summer time-table. It is already too late for new routes or better frequencies.

    Well, that does not look promising at all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:34

      I think we should wait and see, who knows!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:36

      You do realize that they said that they will hold the press conference at 14.00 today.
      The actual news was not announced yet so relax.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:52

      Admin clearly stated that it is a "presentation" not a press conference both here and in the side news about the fair

      @ AnonymousFebruary 19, 2015 at 10:30 AM" By Serbian law you are required to present audited results by 1 May for the previous year so I don't see how they are late about it. And who said they won't present it at a press conference? The admin just wrote that they will be presented within a 1-month timeframe and I'm sure even today they will be saying how many passengers they handled. People should really start reading what is written.

      "It is already too late for new routes or better frequencies."

      Summer season goes until October 30. Tirana was launched in September last year and announced in July. Pula was announced in May and launched in June. Upgrades for Dubrovnik and Split were announced in May as well. They opened 7 new routes (read 7) last year. I don't know what more you expect. For them to open ten new routes each year? They have opened pretty much most routes in Europe which can have some sort of passengers. Dreams that they will fly to Tbilisi or Yerevan or Maribor are just people's dreams where there is absolutely no viability. Just because a friend of someones flew somewhere from BEG once doesn't mean the route can be viable 365 days a year.

      Delete
    4. Purger11:34

      True, last year was really impressive. But if you want to make BEG as real hub you should not cut frequencies on routes like Tel Aviv, and you should put at least more frequencies to SPU, DBV, PUY, TGD, SOF, TIA, and open ZAD, RJK, PRN, OHD, OMO, MAD, BCN, LED, HEL, OSL, CAI, KBP

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:53

      Almost no airport with real traffic for ASL.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:00

      If JU wants to grow then it's expansion should be directed east of Serbia. Destinations such as Kishinev, Iasi, Cluj... should be launched before OMO or RJK.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:00

      But Purger, why JU should basically revive some of the airports you mentioned? I suppose you meant you think JU should establish year long flights to some of the destinations. Correct me if I got you wrong.

      Like Ohrid, Mostar maybe even Zadar and Rijeka? The fact that those airports do not have (enough) year long flights, says a lot about them, not about Air Serbia. Maybe they simply cannot handle JU, meaning they are only suitable for low cost flights, due to catchment area and purchasing power of residents.

      I don't think Air Serbia should have three or four Banja Lukas in their route map.

      I agree with you totally with the second part of your post.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:06

      These airports have local company and WIZZ. ASL has nothing to do there.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous12:10

      @Purger
      I think as well that they can't be real regional hub without flights to BCN and/or MAD.

      Delete
    10. Purger12:16

      Once here I published which of those routes should be seasonal, and which can be all year. For sure minimum should be:

      SPU, DBV, PUY every day in summer, 3 times per week in winter
      ZAD, RJK 3 times per week in summer, no flights in winter (those passengers can use SPU and PUY in winter).
      OMO and OHD for sure should be summer destinations (those passengers can use SJJ and SKP in winter).

      TIA should be all year every day destination. TGD for sure should be at least 4 flights per day route in summer and at least 3 flights per day in winter as it is strategic route for JU (with YM, or even without it to force YM to cut frequencies or start to code-share to JU).

      SKP, SOF, OTP, LJU, ZAG, SJJ, TIV should be 2 daily all year.

      Delete
    11. Purger12:20

      You can not be a real hub if you miss huge part of Europe. And if your nearest airport is Milan and Paris than you have most of France, Spain and Portugal missing and possible trip too expensive (rent'a'car, plane connections, train connections).

      Delete
    12. Anonymous12:47

      Okay, now I see at agree more than I did before your last comment. Makes sense. I do slightly disagree with Pula year long.

      Thanks for clarification.

      DBV is nice since people from Trebinje would use it quite much.

      Delete
    13. Guam12:49

      Very good idea how financial report will look like is the fact that is thoroughly described in an article of Mr. Brkic at pescanik.net
      17mil USD of due invoices of Belgrade Int. forgiven or given to Air Serbia. This is how your long waiting financial report will look like. Enjoy.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous13:43

      And Mr Brkic is expert in what?

      Delete
    15. Anonymous14:16

      in everything

      Delete
    16. Anonymous15:10

      On je jedan supak iz Vremena. U Srbiji se u novinama niko u nista ne razume. Pogledaj
      samo tekstove o avijaciji.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous15:21

      Pescanik pise samo ne istine u to netreba verovati.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    18. Anonymous19:18

      Dear Purger, regarding your comment about number of frequencies on the route BEG-TGD, ASL in fact scheduled three daily flights for this winter. Then they cancelled 18 flights in February on the route. And then as the start they cancelled 13 flights in March.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous10:38

    OT: Etihad Regional gives up on ZRH

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:54

      rumors: the now free two Saab 2000 could fly for JU or AB

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:57

      There is no rumour, they are being moved to Berlin to feed Air Berlin's network.
      Really cute, two airlines on the verge of bankruptcy working together. <3

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:10

      I thought for a moment you were talking about BH and Montenegro airlines ;)

      Delete
  6. Anonymous11:04

    Moving to Terminal 1 in Rome is actually bad news, now they will start losing baggage.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:18

      Worry not, they were losing luggage long before moving there. The problem is not the terminal but the airport itself.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:41

      I never had problem with JAT and Alitalia from Rome although their terminal there was gruesome but always with Alitalia and Malev via Malpensa.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:57

      Can't lose something that was already lost at BEG connection

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:58

      You jealous fool... Rome is notorious for losing luggage. Tune down your frustration.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:02

      Stop talking nonsense. It was always on Alitalia route from USA via Malpensa. Malev was in alliance with them.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:28

      I got my bags lost twice in FCO, once with JU, the other time with U2, so I guess this is something that happens often there.

      However, I am happy with the switchover to T1 provided AZ check in desks will cater JU pax round the clock. The reason is, until now, only two desks were opened exactly two hours prior to flights, and the lines were long! They were dedicated to BEG flight, but it was bad.

      So, even a little bit of backtracking at the airside (to H or G gates) is fine if the check in situation is fixed.

      Delete
  7. Today is great day in waiting for announcement at Belgrade tourism fair show today at 14.00 h.
    Ocigledno predstoji veliki pokret u preokretu ceog biznisa, kompitabilnog sa poslovanjem naprednih, uzornih avio kompanija. Dosta toga ima jos da se doda ljudima, da se nauci i primeni, da bi se doslo do level up sa vodecim u avio saobracaju. AIR SERBIA ne samo da ima potencijale, nego rapidno se podize na nivo KNO HOW... Prvenstveno sa koordinacijom sa kompanijama iz grupe ETIHIHAD AIRWAYS. Prirodno i ostalim u kod seru i drugim sporazumima... Veliko prolece pocinje Er Srbije, a sa njome i Beogradskog, Niskog i Kraljevackog aerodroma MORAVA. Prolece 2015, daje nadu, pocinje fizicko ostvarivanje preporoda putnickog vazduhoplovstva ove Otadzbine SRBIJE. Kondic sa svojim timom uspesno unistava korov na putu do zvezda. U znanju, profitu, rastu, trasformaciji...
    U ovom skromnom blogu, tople pozdrave, od nedostojnog Radovana. Rodney, HOME of QANTASVILLE . Kraljevo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:18

      Press conference is terminated. Nothing has been announced. Financial results will be fine. Serbian tourism is blossoming.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:51

      Stay tuned for the next announcement in which we will announce our next announcement to be announced.

      Air Serbia, stop announcing and start delivering!

      Delete
  8. Riječanin12:00

    is Air Serbia going to order 2 A-330 neo for America flights?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:07

      ...and they will come in 2 weeks as INI-NS told us.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:14

      is AirSerbia going to order 200 Letecih tepihov for Armenia flights?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous00:03

      Ja to nisam obecao. Samo sam reko najverovatnije.
      INI-NS

      Delete
    4. Anonymous08:42

      Ne, ti si tvrdio da je to sigurno, da će se deisti 100%, da znaš od vioskih unutarnjih izvora, da ćemo svi vidjeti... Nije bilo najvjerovatnije nego sigurno zbog izvora. Dječja posla! Samo da si naučio nešto na tome.

      Delete
  9. BA88813:01

    Among other amazing announcements...

    Maybe the headline is that JU will actually have efficient frequent flyer program?

    One that does not involve scanning, faxing, keeping tickets...

    The one that is from 21st century?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:13

      What are you talking about? Etihad's retroclaim procedure is easier than 95% of the airlines out there.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous18:58

      It sure is, but 95% of other FF programs do not require you to go through any "retroclaim procedure" if you registered your FF# at any point prior to flight... Which I always do at JU, but out of 30ish segments in 2014, I think maybe 3 or 4 got automatically credited.

      All of them were ex-BEG (return flights on same bookings had to be retroclaimed), and it was exactly after the switchover to new check-in software.

      Save for one case when it took them almost two months to post miles, retroclaim is usually done within a week or so.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous13:22

    I think, if any at all, Priština could be introduced today.


    But I would personally prefer if they are going to introduce online check-in or something like that...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous14:54

    "Without Air Serbia, the country's tourism industry would be at a great disadvantage."

    =)))))))))))))))))))))))))))

    Рече и остаде жив.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:07

      Bože sačuvaj.

      Da li je on normalan.

      Od tri sveta trojstva: Air Serbia, Železare i Južnog toka, ostalo samo ovo prvo, pa je donekle i razumljivo.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:11

      Tri dela*

      Lapsus..

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:18

      Тресла се гора а?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:01

      ...а родила се нова најава! Сви се напалили као мајмуни кад оно невиђена навлака! За две недеље опет има да падне велики пи-ар, ложење по фејсу, вести, кад оно: најављујемо нови кетеринг, нови дизајн веб сајта, будући wifi и све остало што већ знамо!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:02

      Pa eto najavio je letove za Ameriku za 14 meseci. Znaci leto 2016

      Delete
    6. Anonymous18:38

      Covek je rekao da se nada. Nije nista najavio kao sigurno.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous15:03

    Bice zanimljivo ove nedelje svakako.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
  13. BA88815:55

    (HEAVNES! AirSERBIA press conference...or whatever that seems to be...)

    Can I remind you about source of dirty spin done by Serbian government these days?

    :http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/18/tony-blair-advising-serbian-government

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous16:16

    There was a airbus 330 to BEG today. Anybody know why? Dont tell me its because of the fair since there is absolutely no need to bring in two full freighters of "fair" stuff. Maybe they are bringing parts for ASL new airbus 330 just like some guy said it here :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:45

      No, only first A330 came as parts in that 777. I think this time they will just keep that A330 at Belgrade airport. I believe they will repaint it in Air Serbia livery, put seats in it and in two weeks show it. Visitor from Austria-Vojvodina was right again - two A330 in March!

      Delete
  15. Anonymous16:53

    So US flights in 12 - 14 months Kondic says. Interesting :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous17:14

    These developments are so exciting they gave me a boner -.-

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous17:40

    Wow. All this excitment about a press conference to basically hear nothing. What i new that is being offered? I think this CEO just likes the spot light. As a person once said ASL stands for Air Serbia Lies. They will tell you anything and everything YOU want to hear. Just like a politician would.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous17:51

    Was there some A330 at BEG today?!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous18:36

    Anomymus 4:53, he hopes to realize it in the next 12 14 months. He hopes. So he is realistic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:07

      What does it depend on? Etihad? Enough passenger feed? US approval?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:38

      I suppose, among other things you mentioned:

      "...Furthermore, Mr. Kondić states that the airline will also look at other parts of the world, continuing to build Belgrade as a hub to achieve the critical mass necessary for longhaul flying."

      Delete
    3. Anonymous20:02

      I am sure they have been looking all this time but there's not much low hanging fruit left. Northern Africa remains unstable, PRN is a political decision... but Kiev might be worth reconsidering. LH/OS/W6 have been hurt in Ukraine, others like CSA are shifting away from the East while on the other hand peace plan seems to be working. It's an opportunity to be explored.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous20:25

      "The peace plan seems to be working", dude in which world do you live in? The fighting is still ongoing, although less from lets say a month ago.Nobody will want to visit Ukraine during this time even if there was a peace deal. Do not forget that the Ukrainian economy is is deep trouble. I do wish all the best to Ukraine and hopefully fighting completely stops!! but at least this year there is zero potential. It would be a better option to start a more stable destination such as Madrid or Barca.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous20:27

      btw why do you think ASL could be more successful in Ukraine then the LH or CSA?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous22:03

      "but Kiev might be worth reconsidering. LH/OS/W6 have been hurt in Ukraine, others like CSA are shifting away from the East while on the other hand peace plan seems to be working."

      the peace plan is working? Dude on which planet are u living?? There is no reason for JU to try Kiev at this very moment!

      Delete
    7. Anonymous00:27

      Do you think the generally pro Russian views by Serbia will translate into less interest to fly with AS by Ukrainians? Or does best price trump politics?

      -- Charlie

      Delete
    8. Anonymous01:06

      Best price trumps everything. Air Serbia and JAT before it have been serving Tirana for decades, for example.

      Delete
    9. Funny thing is, they would have to fight UIA very hard when it comes to prices. In the last 12 months or so UIA has been dumping prices quite seriously, they are always the cheapest transfer option for Moscow and some other routes in the east. This has been happening even before troubles started over there. Ukraine is a big market but LH and TK are so strongly present it would really be hard to beat them.

      What I don't get is why ASL does not fly to Cairo. OK there is fierce competition but the market is really huge.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous16:15

      +1, I have noticed that during winter time you could get tickets as low as 400-450 US from New York to Moscow via Kiev, now that is what I call dumping. The issue with Cairo is that another "revolution" could take place anytime, otherwise Cairo would perform much better than Beirut, Tel Aviv, or even Abu Dhabi. Even without transfer pax there would be a few point to point people unlike the routes mentioned above.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous21:28

    They could try Kishinjev as Varna for summer season. KIV SPU KIV DBV KIV ATH.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:57

      Air Serbia can not offer anything to the Moldavian market. Majority of Moldavian diaspora lives in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Russia. Since Air Serbia has very poor or no conections to the first three countries I dont see any logic of Chisinau route. Its stupid to fly to Moscow via Belgrade. They could get people flying to Cyprus and Greece but I am not sure is it enough.
      Varna atracts western and central european turists more than locals.

      Delete
    2. There is a huge Moldovan community in Cyprus and Air Moldova has been flying there for years and years. However, Air Serbia can't really compete with their direct flights, not to mention one stop flights offered by Tarom or Turkish Airlines.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:42

      Yap like Croats from Zagreb. ASL can offer flights to whole seaside coast of Balkan. It is medium size airport not like INI, OMO, OHD etc

      Delete
  21. Anonymous21:31

    Najvaznije da je ASL ostvarila profit i da vidimo kako napreduju pregovori sa Kinezima.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:32

      I sve pohvale vrhunskom managementu.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:29

      Za šta?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous08:34

      Ma pusti ga.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous09:44

    Air Serbia made profit!? Is it a joke? What about Airport Belgrade bill of 17 mil euro for unpaid services?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:53

      It is less than 10 euro per passenger, small donation from government of Serbia. Stop bragging.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:55

      Did you even read the JAT/Etihad contract? It's public. Read it, come back and apologize!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:39

      @AnonymousFebruary 20, 2015 at 9:55 AM

      Apologize for what ?

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:47

    I've been told Air Serbia doesn't pay anything for handling and landing at BEG and BNX. Is it true?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:35

      Ask those who told you to prove it. People can say that Air Serbia planes are solar powered, are you going to believe it?

      Delete
    2. They don't pay anything to BEG for ground handling because they have their own ground handling division called ASGS.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous21:44

    Oh really? And other services like use of terminal, check in... Ground services is only a part. They offer old and ruined famous "Red building" and after that government said they will write off.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous07:17

    maybe they will announce plans for customer service?! that would be exciting...

    ReplyDelete

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