Air Serbia has launched sales for its Belgrade - New York service today and revealed its scheduling and pricing for the route, which is to begin on June 23. Formally, the Serbian Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vučić, marked the start of ticket sales today at the Belgrade Tourism Fair. The airline will operate a split schedule for its five weekly service, with a select number of flights departing Belgrade in the morning, while an afternoon departure is scheduled on other days. The full schedule can be viewed here. Flights have been timed so as to connect onto the airline's regional network. The carrier will retain the same flight numbers used by its predecessor JAT Yugoslav Airlines on the route (JU 500/501), which was suspended 24 years ago. To celebrate the new service, Air Serbia is offering travellers special promotional fares, with round trips originating from Belgrade starting at 399 euros for economy class and 2.499 for business class, including taxes and charges. These special introductory fares will be available for purchase from February 18 to 24 and can be booked through the Air Serbia website.
Air Serbia A330-200 product
Air Serbia will lease a Jet Airways Airbus A330-200 aircraft for its first transatlantic service, which will have the capacity to seat 256 passengers - 18 in business class and 238 in economy
BUSINESS CLASS
Business class cabin includes leather upholstered fully flat beds, with a 63.5 inch length, dine on demand service with a range of a la carte meals made from Serbian produce, turn down service, inflight entertainment with the latest Hollywood movies, TV shows and a broad range of Serbian and international films and a generous baggage policy of 2 X 32 kilograms complimentary pieces of checked luggage.
ECONOMY CLASS
Economy class cabin includes three meal options, including traditional Serbian dish, inflight entertainment including the latest Hollywood movies, TV shows and a broad range of Serbian and international films and a generous baggage policy of 2 X 23 kilograms complimentary pieces of checked luggage.
Air Serbia's CEO, Dane Kondić said, "We can feel the excitement building around our upcoming flights to New York and are delighted to announce the start of sales on this route. Our flight schedule has been carefully designed to offer guests convenient connections to New York from across the Balkans, as well as great onward connectivity upon reaching New York to popular cities such as Chicago". He added, “This vital air bridge has significant historical importance, which is reflected in the fact that Air Serbia has retained its flight numbers from 1992, the year of the last transatlantic flight between Serbia and the United States. We are pleased to report that our flight approval request with the United States civil aviation authorities is progressing well and we are on track for a successful launch in June 2016”.
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| First passengers to book tickets for flight JU500 - Kyle Scott and Marija Gaćeša |
Marking the occasion, the Serbian Prime Minister said, “This is a great and positive symbol for Serbia. There are no originating flights to the USA from any other country in the region, which is why there is such a huge interest in the new offering from Air Serbia. I am very happy that today, at the Tourism Fair, we can announce the start of ticket sales on the Belgrade - New York route”. Proceeds from the sale of the first pair of business class and economy class tickets will be donated to the Blic Foundation, an organisation dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance in Serbia.
Comments
Rodney.
Shouldn't this read;
"Air Serbia have leased a Jet Airways Airbus A330-200 aircraft for its first transatlantic service"?
Wasn't Mali in Germany showing it off a few weeks ago? I thought it was being painted in JU colors.
http://www.exyuaviation.com/2016/01/air-serbia-to-take-delivery-of-a330-in.html
but this story says the plane is an currently operated by Ethiad, not Jet?
If Star Alliance airlines dump cheap fares to our market in order to harm Air Serbia the government has an obligation to protect us from anticompetitive practices.
It should launch investigations on illegal dumping and make sure that it stops.
To day is a great day in the history of Serbian and ex-yu aviation!
1. Still did not publish time-table
2. Have no partner in USA to feed JFK flights for connections in USA and Canada
3. Have no information about new connected flights from exYu and other feeding routes that will connect in BEG (summer time table starts in one month and still we don't know frequencies and even routes)
Strange, strange, strange...
Don't worry, professionals do their job.
Have a nice day!
It was all right that Air Serbia had dumping for 2 years now (LJU-BEG-OTP-BEG-LJU for as low as 110 EUR) but now it is not OK if some other companies will have dumping to protect their interest?
You are joking, right?
JU has to be ready for attacks from other airlines, perfectly normal. Then their product, frequencies, schedule, value, marketing, frrequnet flier programs, tacticals etc should fight it. Just like for any other airline.
If I want to by SKP-BEG-JFK-BEG-SKP today what is my itinerary? Or you think I will pay for blind ticket without knowing that?
But why JU500/501? They created a logical system for all flight numbers, only to mess with it afterwards... First Malta 690/691 and now NY with 500/501. Not that it matters that much really...
Oko pola godine zivim u Srbiji Otadzbini, a drugu polovinu sa potomstvom u Domovini Australiji. Ako uspim da kupim kartu za prvi let BEG✈JFK, u junu cu biti u Beogradu, zbog leta kome se neograniceno radujem. Samnom, ili bez mene, najmanje je vazno. I onako u ovoj godini imacu dva povratna leta iz Beograda do Sydney - a sto ce sa time biti mojih ukupno 73 povratna leta izmedju Otadzbine i Domovine u cetrdeset sedmoj godini od kada letim. To sam opisao u mojoj prvoj knjizi ''Od Polarisa do Juznog Krsta''. Blagodaran sam Vam. Er Srbiji mirno nebo, dosta gostiju i lep profit u biznisu. Srecno Vam dolazece prolece. Pa i meni dobar let u martu BEG✈SYD.
Rod & dobrozeljatelji✈
It is a difficult day for them...
it was mentioned a month ago some increases in the timetable. OTP, SOF, DBV, SPU, BEY will see increase in frequencies. Other than JFK, it was mentioned a week ago by another member that 3 more routes will open, PRN seems it will be one of them, and a forth one could possibly open.
...the only reason is to fly not to make money
The new wings of Europe are going to fly high and far.
Congratulations to everyone!
Go Air Serbia, fly high!
https://www.kayak.com/flights/BEG-JFK/2016-09-08-flexible/2016-09-22-flexible/2adults
JU500 124 BEG 1 JFK 4 0730 1200
JU500 56 BEG 1 JFK 4 1255 1725
JU501 124 JFK 4 BEG 1 1440 0530+1
JU501 56 JFK 4 BEG 1 1930 1020+1
New York is only the beginning.
@Anonymous 11:09 The price is for 2 adults, that's why. On top of it, if you now go Airserbia.com with these dates, the final price is 398€ return!
16-23 august
Return flight only costs 186€, now thats really cheap.
399 for JFK flights with structure they have (one plane, no discount in JFK because of just 5 flights per week, comparing to discounts companies like LH, BA, AF... have because of 60+ flights per week) is huge loosing money on each flight!!!!
just few feeding routes (exYu etc) will have good connectivity on 12-4---, but not those who does not have overnight flights. On other dates there would be 6 hours stopover in BEG.
In same time on ----56- there is 3 hours stopover in BEG, and on other days 8 hours stopover. Very, very, very unmotivated for potential passengers.
So passenger from SJJ or SKP can fly only on ----56- to JFK with 6 hours stopover and 12-4--- with 8 hours stopover and ----56- with 3 hours stopover.
Connectivity just 2 flights per week. Not good at all!!!
I hope they will open overnight flights to most feeding routes at least for 12-4--- days (3 times per week).
- no discounts because of just 5 weekly flights (main competition have even 100 weekly flights to JFK per week)
- rerouting will have huge costs concerning the fact that Etihad group have just 6 daily flights with possible connection to JU (and to reroute them on other airlines will cost a lot)
- operation costs are much higher (you must have spare crew on just one plane not like you have in fleet of 50 and more long-haul planes with less more crew for stand by or in case of leaving company)
- education for few pilots and cabin crew cost much more than for several hundred of them (or when you have your own system of education)
- catering, maintenance, crew lodging, petrol... costs in JFK are much higher then when you do it for 100 flights per week
- costs per seat is much higher for small plane (A330) than for bigger one (777, 747, A380) which competition usually use for JFK route
...so basically Air Serbia have very cheap ticket with higher costs per seat! And that makes profitability....????
Without the cost structure to back up such claims, I can't take what you're saying seriously.
But out of interest, is there a magic number, where you would consider airfare to be commercially viable, while not too expensive as to kill the LF - and of course to prevent you from commenting about it, just from a different angle?
Or, if not, again just out of interest, where is the exact line between the two mantras we hear all the time (losing money - too expensive, nobody will fly)?
J prices are interesting, Y*7 as far as I can tell. However, still one of the cheaper fares around, and with full J on European flights, they might actually have a good LF in the premium cabin. Pax really hate stepping off international J (or F) into Eurobiz for the final (or first) leg. Wonder if Y+ would have been a good idea...
INN-NS
Ovo je dobro i za Regionalnu mrezu linija ASL gde ce sad moci da se salje RJ ako ga bude bilo.
INN-NS
Fair winds, Air Serbia!
JU seems to be making AUH work, lately I have been amazed on how much more full those flights have become, considering last winter they were empty. JFK will be much easier with more O&D.
As for the rest, the whole idea behind the EY alliance was to overall bring lower costs network wide. EY could too benefit from adding JU flights to its bill, which then is divided accordingly. Fuel, accomodation, transportation...
As for cancellations, they are rare with amongst serious carriers. I have bad experiences with LH group who have twice forced me to search for alternatives, where as soo far JU have been fantastic, just usual 15-20 minutes late arrival in BEG from AUH. FZ is for example worse and is always a minimum 30 mins late everytime i check, who is more expensive and offers less compred to JU.
I think JU will do well on their new transatlantic route.
Dakle ako sada gledamo feeding linije, one imaju dobre konekcije za JFK u dane 12-4---, ali tih overnight linija je jako malo. Zapravo tak 2-3 linije dnevno. Za sve ostale koji su u valu iz BEG oko 13:30 ovo je smak svijeta. Ostalim danima za sve feeding linije u jugoističnoj Europi stopover je 6 sati u BEG.
U povratku za dane ----56- stop over iz JFK u BEG je 3 sata, a ostale dane čak 8 sati stopovera. To je vrlo, vrlo loše i demotivirajuće za putnike.
Što znači, da ako ne uvedu noćne letove za BNX, SJJ, SKP, TGD, TIV, PRN, TIA, ATH, SKG, TLV, BEY, SOF, OTP, VAR, LCA, bar za dane 12-4--- konektiranosti za sve njih uopće nema (ako je jedini dolazak u 16:30 u BEG to se ne konektira ni na što), a ako se i uvede samo noćni let, prihvatljiva konektiranost će biti tek 2 leta tjedno, što sigurno neće donijeti velik broj transfernih putnika.
Znači feeding linije bi morale letjeti
12-4--- noćni let 00:15 - 06:30 da love JFK letove u odlasku iz BEG
----5-- jutarnji let, tj. "zapadni val" da ulove konekciju iz JFK i za JFK
-----67 svoj uobičajni "istočni val" oko 13:00 da ulove konekciju iz JFK (sa 3 sata stopovera što je poprilično)
I to bi napravilo tek 3 prihvatljive tjedne konekcije (4 u odlasku, 3 u dolasku), u ostale dane uvođenje noćnog leta značilo bi dugo čekanje za konekcije u BEG kako u odlaku, tako i u dolasku.
da li ce ZAG/Hrvatska dozvoliti da ASL prenoci i poleti ujutru oko 05 i 30. Znamo da postoji problem transfera preko BEG. Unapred hvala
Today you can clearly see who is here to discuss aviation matters and who is here simply and purely to push their political agenda. You can very clearly tell posters who are unable to write a single word about aviation (praise or criticize, doesn't matter) and can only fire political salvos.
Since this is not a political blog, I would recommend that your restrict these political activists from the comment section the same way you restrict chauvinists, racists and swearers. You should not let them turn your blog into their political battleground.
1. Ukupna brojka putnika se kalkulira raznim alatima koji objedinjuju određene kategorije putnika sa "početnom" i "završnom" destinacijom. Kako ima velik broj putnika koji koriste separatne karte, koji obavljaju više ciljeva putovanja, pa putovanje traje više dana i ima više sredstava putovanja, kako isti objedinjuju tek zračne luke i kompanije koje su u sustavu, ovaj podatak, iako jest stanoviti alat i indikator, niti je precizan, niti dovoljno kvalitetan za ikakvu ozbiljniju analizu. Ozbiljnih alata ima tek 3 u svijetu i oni koštaju zračne luke koje ih koriste mnogo stotina tisuća EUR godišnje.
2. Da bi Air Serbia bila na break-even (naravno ne računajući dumping) trebala bi ostvariti 105.000 SAD putnika u idućih godinu dana, tj. preko 50.000 u jednoj strani. To je pola brojke koju ste napisali. A ako bi Air Serbija stvarno privukla svakog drugog putnika (uz sve ostale konkurente) onda bi bila svjetsko čudo.
3. Naravno, u brojci koju ste naveli su i druge destinacije u SAD-u, a ne samo JFK, za koje je konkurentnija LH, SU, TK, LO, OS, AF, KL... jer za sada niti JU ima feeding partnera u SAD-u, a ako će ga i imati još uvijek će za sve ostale destinacije u SAD-u lavovski dio kolača uzeti navedene kompanije.
4. Po logici navedenih alata ATH, BUD i OTP bi trebali imati barem 10 linija prema SAD-u. Kao što znamo, nemaju ih.
5. Ima tu još jako puno argumenata ali za to bi trebao medij koji prihvaća daleko više teksta...
Aeroflot - $836
Turkish - $1188
Austrian - $1194
Air Serbia - $1298
How about connecting flights. Let's take a look at JFK-SOF for the same period of time:
Aeroflot: $861
Turkish: $953
Air France: $964
Air Italia: $964
Air Serbia: $1216 (hmm cheaper than direct to BEG)
I am happy to see Air Serbia flying to the US, but for a family of four these prices make quite a difference.
Good luck with these prices.
Drugi cekaju da im neko otvori liniju pa ni bivsi Jat ne bi smeo da je otvara sada. I Atina ima Deltu leti.
Oni bi sa 5 frekvencija tjedno mogli prevesti 67.000 putnika, a break even za long-haul bi morao biti 53.000 putnika. Dumping to još samo povečava. Znači pola od ukupne brojke koju spominjete za sve destinacije u SAD.
Atena ima Deltu sezonski, i???? Koji je to argument? Zar uspoređujete potražnju na BEG i ATH? Smatrate da govorimo o istoj potencijalnoj brojci putnika?
I ljubazno molim da izbacite ove prizemne izraze poput "lupetaj" i "ne glumi". Nismo na trznici. Ako imate potebu tako komunicirati, predlazem da odete na trzincu pa raspravljate sa piljaricama oko cijene i kvalitete krumpira, a ne da pokusavate raspravljati na civiliziranom forumu zrakoplovnih entuzijasta.
Letovi za SAD su ogroman benefit. Donjet će Srbiji jako mnogo. Svaka čast svima koji su na tome radili, to je ogroman projekt, tona posla... Linija će donijeti i daleko veći broj konektiranih putnika iz šire regije, te olakšati funkcioniranje cijelog sustava.
No, tri stvari su tu upitne i to govorim od samog početka:
1. Jesu li benefiti opravani spram investicije? To malo ljudi zna i može izračunati, a za isto trebaju imati pristup podacima koje mi nemamo. Već sam jednom rekao i linija Podgorica-New Yorki bi donijela enormno puno benefita za Crnu Goru i njen turizam, i mogla bi se financirati iz crnogorskog proračuna, no jel bi takva akrobacija bila isplativa za majušnu Crnu Goru?
2. Može li Air Serbija sa toliko skromnim prometom i slabim konekcijama uopće održati ovakvu liniju? Daleko, ali daleko veći igrači su slomili zube na long-haul.
3. Može li ova linija uopće preživjeti konkurenciju koja ima daleko manje troškove identične linije (što sam napisao i gore). Profitabilna sigurno neće biti, no hoće li jesti proračunskog novca koliko si Srbija može dozvoliti?
Ja kao zrakoplovni entuzijast sam oduševljen nad ovom linijom i ako cijena ostane i blizu ovoj budite sigurni da sam jedan od prvih putnika, kao što Air Serbiju koristim i na drugim linijama.
Upravo stoga ovaj vaš komentar niti jest realan niti je korektan. A još manje mi je jasno kakve veze ima Vlada hrvatske i premijer sa ovom temom?
A što mislite o jednom posve neuobičajenom pristupu - da pričekamo da linija krene i provjerimo joj učinak tijekom nekoliko mjeseci, pa da onda postavljamo pitanja na koja čemo čak i moči odgovoriti bez kristalne kugle?
This is fantastic News. ex YU finally linked with the States again. All the best from Zurich
your JU520 buddy
For some passengers on some dates it will be a bargain. For some other, on other dates, it will be expensive. Just as the case is with any goddamn carrier out there.
Like I said, you know this very well. But you still choose to play manipulative.
INN-NS
JATBEGMEL other than that one random anon nobody else ever said anything about 3 other routes except PRN of course. Do you have some info from any other source other than one anon on here? It would be great if JU could open few more routes, but with what aircraft? Now its already passed mid February. There were also rumors that JU will get back 2 old B737 into services. Any info about that?
Please tell me you're joking... huge interest? From the USA?
Lol, this stats came from his ...!
I guess some people are really not aware of the situation
Once again, God Bless you Anon 12:26 PM
Radovan✈
I Slazem se sa Nenadom i Hot Lane.
INN-NS
INN-NS
si ti entuzijasta.
Evo gde je ASL u plusu jos:
Cena , kabina na svim letovima u OS je stvarno uska za nekoga ko je skoro 2 m kao ja , Ketering naravno , cini mi se cak i bolja C klasa i jeftni troskovi posade i Aerodroma .
Plusevi OS
Vise letova po regionu nego ASL plus Ukrajina Moldavija i dosta destinacija u Rumuniji i Bugarskoj .
Biranje dali se leti na EWR ili JFK, i jednostavno vise konekcija.
Mislim da su jednaki u sansama .
IN-NS
Yup, pretty crazy. We used DHL to move some goods from the UK to BEG and they charged us €320 for about 250 kilos.
Same with Lufthansa, it was about 1,200 kilos from MUC to BEG and it was around €700.
I remember a few years ago we used to move quite a few machines from LCA to BEG and each one was between 40 and 70 kilos and Jat never charged us more than €500 for it.
Unfortunately a passengers couldn't carry it as it was a spare part for a medical machine.
Руку на срце кетеринг им је феноменалан и мислим да су чак добијали неке награде.
Ер Србија има феноменалну и крајње пријатну посаду, нису навалентни и немају ону извештачену финоћу као Етихад, Емирати или Катар.
confirmed.
confirmed from reliable source.
starting from when and how many frequencies?
ASL ima bolju posadu i to ce joj dosta pomoci na tim letovima.
INN-Ns
Thanks, I think I get the idea which they are, but as someone previously said its 3 destinations,right?
Aircraft is A6-EYC and you can search info on google.
Cabin will be refitted for JU.
Čak mi je i SU u doba Tupoljeva za Beograd bio bolja opcija od OS.
INN-Ns
The other wave (east/south ie: SJJ, TIV, SVO etc) works 3 x per week BEG-JFK, that is 2 x per week JFK-BEG.
Business pax will most likely be BEG/JFK O&D pax. 18 seats is a small cabin for such distance. BEG-AUH already has this considering the O&D numbers are significantly less than BEG-JFK.
Da LX i LH imaju prijatnije osoblje sto mi je nekako cudno.
Ali zanimljvo mi je kako na pojedinom Portalima u Austriji kad su Objavili ovu vest mnogi su napisalu email ASL sto ne moze da se kupi karta VIE-BEG-JFK-BEG sto je odlicno znaci da ima i zaintresovanih u VIE.
INN-NS
Had Airbus taken Serbia to court for the unfulfilment of the A319 order, Serbia would have lost. Now in 2 years time we will have brand new A320 neo ac.
Awesome, right? I went to book BEG-ORD on Air Serbia site to no avail. All offered BEG-ORD connections are through Air Berlin at TXL, not what CEO described through JFK. We know codeshare will not happen, but is there at least an interline from JFK onwards in the works?
Also, does anybody know if online seat assignment is available when purchasing tickets with Air Serbia JFK - BEG or no?
More than 4000 hours so far, aircrafts is my home. Traveling from continent to continent, usual is my destinations. In so many decades. Hoppe to continuing...✈
All the best Anon 8:25 PM
Rod.✈ LYKV✈SYD
I cringe every time I hear them call their passengers "guests"... Ugh
Dragi moj Anon. Mr. Kondic nije
jedini koji putnike Er Srbije naziva gostima. To se radi u svetu putnickog vazduhoplovstva, duze vreme. Sa Vasim ''ugh'' niste oplemenili percepciju. Pokazujete netrpeljivost. Bio sam putnik na Er Srbiji. Posada je nas, pa i moju malenkost tretirala kao svoje goste, a ne putnike. Dali ste nekad bili na slavi kod nekog?. Slicno tome se odnosi posada u avio kompanijama koje drze do sebe. Sigurno Er Srbija jeste jedna od tih. Tvrdim sa mojim letovima sa oko blizu 70 avio kompanija, i preko
4000 sati leta kao putnik preko svih kontinenata. U zadnjih pola veka. Vi Anon, moguce je imate vece iskustvo, znate vise o letenju. To je dobro. Ali nije dobro da ste frustuirani. Odmorite se malo. Umanjite ''letove''. Bice Vam bolje.
Iskreni pozdrav, ✈Radovan✈
LYKV✈SYD.
YES AIR SERBIA, doing exactly that. People keep flag up.
BRAVO AIR SERBIA✈✈✈
✈R✈
Finally a good and rational reply. Thanks for that. You have a point and you are absolutely right.
The problem I see here is that prices are not competitive for a product that is not even offered.
Let me give you an analogy. When a company offers a new and unknown product on the market they can price it aggressively in order to attract interest. For example, a new smart phone device is offered from an unknown company. What would be the best way to attract interest and have the market brag about it. Be aggressive. Of course if an established maker, such as Apple, offers a product, the price point is irrelevant since they have an established consumer base. JU is not Apple in the airline industry.
I am not in the airline industry. I am looking into these things from a consumer perspective. I remember when Turkish started their flights to the US. Their product was priced so aggressively that it was very competitive. People started talking about it and Turkish relatively easily built a consumer base. This allowed them to expand their network to other US Cities. If this doesn't happen, it will be very challenging for JU to expand their network in the US.
As a father of two, I know what you meant with kids crying in the airport if you are delayed for hours. But, if that allows me to save $1500 that I can use elsewhere (additional trips in Europe), it may be worth the effort :-). After all it may take few bucks to buy the kids a toy or too and keep them happy. I am pretty sure many parents out there have the same opinion.
When I do business travel (and I do it quite a bit of it), I don't care that much about the price as I care about the product and convenience. Missing a flight in Belgrade won't be the same experience with missing a flight in Vienna, for example. Possibility to get to the destination using another flight is one differentiator.
Yes, your point about the convenience of a direct flight is valid. But, that's not the only parameter the customers (no business) look at. As far as the business customers (going from NY to BEG as final destination), I am not sure if JU will have enough of them on daily basis.
So, it will be a bumpy road for JU if they really keep this strategy.
This is for anon at 6:05PM yesterday. You are entering a "religious" debate that I don't want to be part of. I did a matrix search and results were the same.
@JATBEGMEL, I completely agree that demand drives the price. But, what demand are we talking about here? JU just started selling their product. ;-) and by the way the demand will drive the prices up of the competition as well.
✈Rod✈