Air Serbia is readying for the arrival of its first wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft, with the jet to undergo final preparations early next month before joining the fleet in June. The airline's Chairman, Siniša Mali, told the "TangoSix" portal, "It will take some two to three weeks to fit-out the interiors and we hope that all work will be completed by the first week of June". Mr Mali noted that from then on, until the aircraft's maiden flight to New York on June 23, the jet will be used for cabin crew training purposes, also known as crew familiarisation. "We will have training flights to the United States and several other cities. We plan to fly the A330 to Niš Constantine the Great Airport too, so the public from that part of Serbia can see our new aircraft".
According to Air Serbia's Chairman, the first few weeks in June will also be used to promote both the new service to New York and the aircraft itself. Furthermore, Belgrade Airport will also have the opportunity to get accustomed to handling the wide-body jet in the weeks leading up to the inaugural flight. The A330 in question will be on lease from India's Jet Airways and is currently based in Abu Dhabi, operating on Etihad Airways' behalf. The 254-seat aircraft will feature eighteen seats in business class and the remaining 236 in economy. Air Serbia's CEO, Dane Kondić, recently said, "The biggest single expense of flying long haul is the cost of fuel and given where fuel is today, if you were ever going to launch long haul flying now is the time to do it. First mover advantage will give us enormous benefit and we are all very excited and the planning continues to a successful launch on June 23".
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| Air Serbia A330 cabin layout (click to enlarge) |
Mr Mali noted that Air Serbia no longer enjoys subsidies and has been paying its hub airport for all provided services since the start of the year, in line with the government's transaction agreement with Etihad Airways over its part-ownership of the Serbian carrier. However, according to the Chairman, the airline will continue being more aggressive on the market than its competitors. "Our strategy is to start flying double daily to a number of cities, to get new regional planes, either turboprops or jet-engine aircraft, in order to cover points in the region. That is our strategy. We are more aggressive than the rest, we invested in excellent service, we have relatively competitive fares, we have installed Wi-Fi on board our aircraft and we will start flying to New York", Mr Mali concluded.
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Nice. Wonder which cities we might see a330 on before US.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've heard the plane ended ops with Etihad a few days ago and should start refurbishment :) Although like someone said here it will probably go under maintenance first.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know the registration of this plane.
ReplyDeleteYU-ARA
DeleteAlfa Romeo, cool!
DeleteNo cool. Dont like the fact its nato reporting code matches an automobile brand notorious for its unreliabiliti and lots of rednecks going wild in these on public streets.
Delete"nato reporting code"? What are you talking about?
Delete¨We plan to fly the A330 to Niš Constantine the Great Airport too, so the public from that part of Serbia can see our new aircraft".
ReplyDeleteThis is really waste of money!
Instead they should better flown 1 ATR 72 to Nis, and commence flight out of there to VIE, MUC and MXP for example, so the public from that part of Serbia can see this country has national carrier.
+1000
DeleteOne promotional 30-min flight of A330 is hardly a waste of money.
DeletePromotion of what? Of airline that doesnt fly from there..come on!
DeleteLook, Jat once did this:
Deletehttp://www.modli.rs/flying/vrsac/VrsacDC10.jpg
YU-ARA will be the flagship of the fleet. There is no harm in showing it off in INI. The cost is almost immaterial given the fact that there will be a lot of training flights before the JFK route kicks off - including test flights to JFK.
Belgrade Airlines, what do you expect?
DeleteHonestly, Air Serbia is a far cry from Lufthansa, as much as Niš is not Munich - there's just not enough capacity for a secondary hub, and I'm afraid there's no demand to accompany it as well. Flying to BEG would be a waste of money, simply, there would be no interest whatsoever.
DeleteWhat Niš needs is a fast and reliable rail link to Belgrade and further. This trip should last an hour, or hour and a half, and it could have a direct link to the airport.
But even as it is, Niš is just to well connected to JU hub in order to be considered as a secondary hub. As regards VIE flight, there are two daily ATRs from BEG - I am very doubtful INI would have the capacity to fill one.
But, yeah, Belgrade Airlines.
Both of you are free to fly from SOF, SKP and PRN, and hate Belgrade as much as you wish.
DeleteNis have SOF.
DeleteSOF will definetly take away a lot of pax from souther region of the country due to massive expansion. Only Ryan is brigning in 1.6 million pax and Wizz will also introduce few more routes.
Delete1.6 million pax is wishful thinking. That is if 100% of aircraft experience a 100% LF which is near the impossible, even for Ryanair.
DeleteAnd on top of that, people think that no EXISTING passengers in SOF will switch their carrier of choice to Ryanair at the expense of its competitors. They think this theoretical maximum of 1.6 million new passengers will fall into SOF straight from Mars.
DeleteOf course it is not about making hub in INI, but few flights per week. Croatia does not have hubs in SPU, DBV, PUY, ZAD, BWK but has flights from there
DeleteDa ali isti ti Aerodromi imaju More sto INI nema .
DeleteI apsolutno je glupo uvoditi letove iz INI i praviti gubitke , Gospodin je gore upravu treba brza pruga.
INN-NS
Tako je isti slucaj je i sa B. Lukom !
DeleteNije isti slucaj sa BNX sta pricate vi , BNX jeste povezan Autoputem ali imaju 2 prelaza preko granice .
DeleteINN-NS
Holly crap! How come Wizzair has LF 80%+ on each flight and ASL can not have 68 sold tickets twice a week to/from VIE. This is totally insane!
DeleteInn does Osijek also have see? And they have 12 flights pet week inside Croatia most of them to Zagreb.
DeleteDVB-ZAG takes a lot of time, and tolls are quite expensive. Same goes for BNX-BEG, crosses two borders, and still this route is not very successful. Plane is, however, a reasonable way to travel, unlike INI-BEG.
DeleteTwo weeklies from secondary hub is just crazy for a legacy carrier with a hub system. So, they should have two separate business models, right? Also, there's going to be a lot of pax who don't want to travel on, for example, Mondays and Thursdays, resulting in INI pax travelling to BEG and flying from there, further reducing potential LF.
To cut long story short, I'm sure no one in Air Serbia hates INI for any reason and would gladly fly from there, if only these flights were financially viabile. They are in business of earning money, so I'm sure they'd be up for it.
In absence of JU grasping this great opportunity you believe INI is, why don't Wizz, easy or Ryan step in? Well, I guess they know the same thing JU does, that otherwise eludes a lot of people. I wish it were different, honestly, but it comes down to a sad fact that INI is a 100k town with huge unemployment rates and miserable disposable income. Not that BEG is much better, but at least there's significantly more people.
@AnonymousApril 4, 2016 at 6:48 PM
DeleteAll flights from Osijek (international and domestic) are subsidized. When they weren't there were no flights.
"it comes down to a sad fact that INI is a 100k town with huge unemployment rates and miserable disposable income."
DeleteNo it doesn't. Wizz flights are targeting diaspora looking to get home, not local market looking for a citybreak in EU.
The first thing to understand is that INI lacks so many constituencies who fly to BEG: business people, diplomats, NGOs, foreign tourists. None of that; it only has O&D and then basically mostly from abroad b/c of the state of the local economy. Once you understand that, the first problem with flying to, say, VIE is that JU doesn't have a partner in VIE. Other than diaspora pax, this would be basically handing transfer pax to a competitor; a complete lunacy. If JU had a more serious code share with AB AND if AB were a more serious airline AND if AB had a real hub in a diaspora-heavier region, then a flight from INI to an AB hub might make sense. But with the main AB hub in Berlin where few Balkans live, that doesn't work either. And finally an occasional flight to AUH (then transferring to JU code shares) would also make sense IF JU could reach it with some smaller a/c. But they can't, and there's no way that INI can fill a 319 to AUH. And there you have it, it just doesn't make sense any way you cut it.
DeleteI believe that SOF will go over 5.5 mln in 2017. The average LF of FR is around 90%. The average LF of W6 is over 80%. This year RF is introducing 21 routes! W6 have 27 routes. I think that next year the struggle will бе sharpeр and they will introduce even more routes.
DeleteOK, all flights from OSI are subsidized. True. But all Air Serbia flights are subsidized. Why than some of those are not from INI? Why flights from INI are not operated by company which is subsidized from all Serbian citizens (not just Belgrade one).
DeleteYou said there is not a lot of diplomats, tourist, NGO, business passengers from INI? And how many of those are in OSI?
No, Air Serbia is not subsidized.
Delete"Mr Mali noted that Air Serbia no longer enjoys subsidies and has been paying its hub airport for all provided services since the start of the year"
@ AnonymousApril 5, 2016 at 12:34 AM
DeleteThis "NO LONGER" is only 3 month!!! Let 1 year pass since the "NO LONGER" and we will see how they will perform when they have to pay...
They have this obligation till end of 2016. And you will see they will do it even after that.
Delete"Mr Mali noted that Air Serbia no longer enjoys subsidies". Maybe can explain why they were operating only out of Belgrade. Now, when they have to pay full tax airport fees, they may cosider Nis as interesting because of it´s really low tax :)
DeleteAnyway, I am looking forward to see FR to INI in the near feature much more then ASL! Good luck to all of them!
Air Serbia is not providing more details on the work that already started in Abu Dhabi on A330.
ReplyDeleteDo you know the reg?
DeleteIt will be YU-ARA.
DeleteI meant current registration. But thanks :).
DeleteIt is msn 885, and if I remember correctly it's A6-EYC right now.
DeleteGreat. Thanks Aleksandar.
DeleteIt is A6-EYC.
DeleteLast flight Abu Dhabi - Johannesbourg on 31st of March by Etihad acording to fr24.
DeleteAircraft painting at Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies...
DeleteDoes this A330 have external video camera system so passengers can watch takeoff on IFE?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThe plane is active, last flight on 15.04.2016 07:47, JNB - AUH. Acc. to Flightaware.
Deletewow 1-1-1 seating in business. Good one Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteIts the configuration Jet Airways had previously and they probably did not want to do any reconfigurations. I know Air Canada has the same configuration on their A330-300, but anyhow the standard seems to be 1-2-1 for A330 models.
DeleteBut with a lesser number of seats to the "standard 1-2-1", it should be a much more comfortable experience for passengers
DeleteCorrect. Much more private feel in the cabin for sure, for the comfort of the seat itself, I would say it's marginally better. For those who are reasonably tall (say, 185cm+), this is a MUCH better product.
DeleteNow, the question is cabin utilization. I would really love to see C class numbers once flights start, as they are expensive. Etihad charges below 2K EUR for most C destinations from BEG (incl. Far East) - and JU's lowest rate is closer to 3K.
What does what EY charge for flights to the Far east have to do with what JU should charge for flights to the US ?
DeleteThey will be the only ones flying non-stop between BEG and JFK, so they should be able to command a premium over the 1 stop players. Beyond JFK, they will need to be price competitive with the other 1 stop players selling from Serbia
What destinations beyond JFK are now available through interline with American Airlines?
Delete1-1-1 in Business is fuckn unbelievable. 3 seats per row. Who has that besides Jet and JU? Slowly but surely they are making some noise... i lile that :-)
DeleteJU 500 go and fly and show the world how beautiful u are..... :-))
Very interesting about regional jets in the last paragraph. Could they be testing the CRJ900 with the Adria lease?
ReplyDeleteCould be. I think they should definitely choose jet engine instead of turboprops.
DeleteI hope so, otherwise their overall performance will continue to go down.
DeleteThey have had 2 successive year sof growth with the same fleet. This year with 5 new destinations, will be another of growth - again, with the same fleet, except for teh addition of a widebody.
DeleteSo how do you figure that "their overall performance will continue to go down" ??
if you can not recognize diference between overal performance and number of operations, there is no need to waste your time.
Deleteall the best for airserbia
Overall performance infers financial performance. Besides, no reference was made to number of operations.
DeleteAs you correctly point out, both are different.
You don't need number of operations to increase to improve overall performance. You can get better overall performance by reducing number of operations ie. capacity.
Even you should know that....
Wheels fell off pretty quickly on this discussion. Back to CRJ: JU can gauge CRJ performance and compare it for example on SOF route with A319 and ATR. Bombardier is in tough position and I wouldn't be surprised if they are aggressive trying to place C series or even CRJ/Q400 with new customers. Air Serbia didn't order A319NEO, 737 are going to be retired, old ATR72-200 are also on a way out, so everything below A320NEO looks wide open and Bombardier has a product range that kinda fits.
DeleteC series will be the best option for airline such is ASL ! Maybe first step will include some CRJ deal.
DeleteFlota ASL bi trebalo ovako da izgleda po meni .
DeleteRegionalni Avioni :
8 ATR 72-600
4-6 E190
8 A319
2 A320
10 A320 neo
4 A332
2 A333 ali samo mozda ako Aerodrom dovoljno ekspandira posto poste linije gde bi bio isplativ.
INN-NS
Do you honestly believe that JU is not getting any new aircraft because it doesn't want to? No. It knows it needs them but unfortunately funds are the issue here. Just look at the two new aircraft that are joining the fleet, one came as a result of a debt JP had towards JU and the other came from their fellow Etihad Alliance airline.
DeleteSo no need to fantasize about some dream fleet when the airline can barely get an Atr.
Interesting that Adria's CRJ isn't scheduled to PRG. Wouldn't that make more sense than Sofia?
DeleteDon't get all the fuss about the airport being able to handle an A330. It used to handle several DC10s at the same time every day during 80s and used to handle B747s on a regular basis as well.
ReplyDelete+1
Delete+1000
DeleteMust be the "First time in history" virus.
DC10 wingspan is smaller. Pax numbers were smaller back then. JAT at most had 7 DC10's (if I remember right) and they were spread around the world on various multi day rotations (BEG-ZAG-JFK, BEG-DXB-SIN-MEL-SYD etc). Travel has changed a lot since the 1980's.
DeleteThe problem is not one ac, but in the short term future problems could arise from lack of upgrades to facilities and capacity issues should there be further increases being from JU or a foreign carrier. Problem also with no concrete development plan being enforced to plan out and enforce upgrades and expansion, while works underwent has been slow.
OT: Dubrovnik airport
ReplyDelete3/2015 24142
3/2016 41664
Ovo zasluzuje duboki naklon!!
DeleteBravo DBV!!!
Well done. Looks like it definitely makes sense to introduce year-long routes to DBV. At least for major European carriers.
DeleteJbt kakva ste vi lozana Uskrs im je bio u martu.
DeleteAnonymous 12:31 PM, Uskrs je bio u 3. mjesecu, također je predstavljanje Mercedesa donijelo značajan broj avio gostiju, sve je to točno. Ali, broj putnika je za 17500 veći nego lani, i to je činjenica, kao i gore navedeno. Pozdrav!
DeleteI prošle godine je Uskrs bio u 3. mjesecu
DeleteNije nego 5.4.
DeleteWhat about crew seats, how many crew members except pilots will be on this flight to JFK?
ReplyDeleteIt depends on the airline how many crew it sends, however typical for A330 is 12 crew members minus flight deck. Usually for longer flights there is 3-4 pilots.
DeleteI think for BEG-JFK there is no need for a 3rd pilot?
DeleteThere is because of the block times. Crew rest must be given for the flight therefore addition flight deck crew will be needed.
DeleteMocice jos i u LHR , SVO da se posmatra i jos nekoliko evropskih gradova sto je fantasticno za reklamu ASL.
ReplyDeleteYU-ARA ce biti pravi ukras na aerodromu BEG.
I da u Maju bude Aerodrom spreman za njegov Dolazak.
INN-NS
Ajd ne lupetaj "pravi ukras". Ako je nesto bio pravi ukras to je bilo ono leto kada smo imali 5 desetki u isto vreme, pa jos dodje CAAC sa B707 i kasnije sa B747, kao i Qantas sa B747. E, to je ukras! Kratka nam pamet...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteNe znam kako neko sa 18 Godina da zna nesto o tome. A u sadasnje vreme kao jedini Aerodrom u Regionu cija Nacionala Aviokompanija ima wide-body ja mislim da je to za pohvalu.
DeleteINN-NS
Aco ne lupaj, nismo "mi" ista "mi" koja se danas raduje jednom A330. Sadasnja "mi" nikad nije imala 5 desetki. Imala je Ex Yu. Mnogo veca zemlja sa vise aerodroma i dijaspore, u kontrolisanom trzistu i sa blagonaklonim odnosom zapada. Ne moze se porediti.
DeletePa mozda nisi ti i nismo mi, ali jesam ja, jer je taj Surcin meni bio isti aerodrom gde sam i danas. Zato me i nervira kada neki ovde padaju u nesvest zbog jednog WB aviona, a nama nije bila guzva kada ih ima 4 (i to vecih nego sto je ovaj jedan) odjednom.
DeleteJa jesam i vrlo dobro se secam, ali nije krivica ni Jata ni Er Srbije sto ih nema. Rat, sankcije, umanjena drzava i pritisak LH da pokore istok Evrope i kanalisu dugolinijski saobracaj kroz njihova cvorista su krivi. Sad kad dolazi ovaj jedan, a bice ih jos, to jeste velika stvar za pocetak. Jednog dalekog dana mozda bude ponovo 4 WB aviona.
DeleteSent Luis je bio aerodrom sa 30 mil putnika do 2000-te sa gomilom 747 i interkontinentalnim linijama. Sada ima samo 12 mil i ni jednu interkontinentalnu liniju, i njima je velika stvar kad dodje A330.
OT ;)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.danas.rs/danasrs/ekonomija/agencije_otkazuju_letove_air_serbia_naplacuje_penale_.4.html?news_id=318301
The article claims that JU has no aircraft in its fleet capable of reaching Ibiza.
DeleteJust to alert you on the "quality" of stuff you decided to OT with.
Isti kvalitet novina kao i pojedine Televizije sire ne istine neke , Gospodin Novinar verovatno ne zna ni jedan tip Aviona , ili ne zna razliku nm i km pa je skuvao tako neki tekst . A pitanje kako su ti isti 733 koje trenutno koristi Aviolet leteli za DXB idt za vreme Jata . A u ostalom je svugde u svetu normalno ako nesto tako rezervises pa otkazes da se plati penali.
DeleteINN-NS
Autor teksta u Danasu tvrdi da ASLne moze da dobaci do Ibice pa je pravo cudo kako su sa 733 leteli za London, Moskvu..
Delete@INN , Dubai je bio 1 stop.
To je bilo verovatno iz razloga zbog popunjenosti ne iz razloga sto nema dolet kad 733 moze direkt o do DXB da leti.
DeleteINN-NS
Dubai je udaljen nešto preko maksimalnog dometa 733.
DeleteNije. Avion moze da dobaci uz odredjene weight restrictions. Jat je nekoliko puta leteo direktno za DBX kada je bio nizak LF, a bili su neki problemi u BEY.
DeleteJat flew direct to DXB with the B733 the night Beirut was being bombed back in 2006, but minus cargo and most if not all baggage. For a couple of months because of the war in Lebanon, Jat rerouted the flight via LCA (If I remember right it was JU88/89). The B733 doesn't have the range fully loaded to fly direct BEG-DXB. It always was via BEY, LCA or KWI.
Delete...domet punog B733 je 2,270 milja a rastojanje izmadju Begrada i Dubaija je 2362.63 milja, što znači može sa jakim vetrom u rep ali se tako nešto ne praktikuje u redovnom saobraćaju.
DeleteSix consecutive months of fall in pax traffic in BEG. Hopefully the trend overturns with the beginning of summer timetable.
ReplyDeleteMarch 2015: 315.283
March 2016: 313.174
Ops are down 4% in March, and cargo is down 8%.
How is it 6 consecutive months when they had growth in February?
DeleteGrowth in February was due to an extra day
DeleteEvery four years there is 29th of February
Ukupno oko 18 hiljada putnika manje za 3 meseca. Recimo ako bude 30 hiljada putnika manje do 1 juna, to nije problem. Ako juni-septembar budu dobri, a sa 5 novih linija bice dobri, oni ce lako preskociti tih 30 hiljada minusa. Pa samo ako budu rasli 5-6% u avgustu to je vec oko 30 hiljada vise, jedan mesec moze da pokrije manjak iz prvih 5 meseci.
DeleteINI ima nesto manje od 5.000 putnika mesečno, što znači da je isti broj putnika samo preraspodeljen jer bi najveći deo tih putnika leteo iz BEG.
DeleteThe numbers for BEG:
Delete315.283 313.174 -1%
4.479 4.312 -4%
1.109.013 1.020.855 -8%
142.353 181.402 +27%
Not bad at all. Much worse was expected.
DeleteLX stopped GVA and W6 only launched FKB :( figures will maybe increase in July after JUs new 6 routes.ZAG might even reach BEG soon...
DeleteIn long-term (10-15 years) ZAG will overcome BEG.
DeleteDoubt it. BEG is a much cheaper place to run a regional business/subsidiary and companies are beginning to realise that. My own company (a major global player) has transferred 30+ positions from ZAG and SOF to BEG in the past year alone. Plus, there's access to a well-educated, relatively cheap workforce, so outsourcing companies are hiring like hell too (technical support, programming, call centres etc.).
DeleteCargo decrease is shocking. And pax falling just 3% is a success considering outrageous prices from most carriees, even including LCCs. Over the last years fares gave risen dramatically so I assume revenue actually grew in March this year compared to March of 2015.
DeleteBEG ove godine sigurno ostvaruje 5-6% rasta i ugodno prelazi 5 mil pax... Prevelik je rast u broju linija za ljeto da to ne uspije...
DeleteZagreb is much richer city than Belgrade. The economy of Croatia is bigger than the Serbian. The tourist flow can't even be compared. Croatia is in the EU. Zagreb will have a new terminal next year which will bring more carriers. What else you need as arguments that ZAG will overcome BEG?
DeleteBelgrade has national carrier and Zagreb has parody of company
DeleteBelgrade has long-haul flights, Zagreb does not.
Belgrade is practically only airport in Serbia, Croatia has 9 airports.
@ Mali Marko L.
DeleteDoes really Belgrade have a long-haul flights or it will have? I think this important clarification. And yes, Zagreb have seasonal long-haul to Seoul and will have to Toronto. Zagreb have British Airways, Air France, Brussels Airlines, KLM, Iberia, El-Al - Belgrad don't have a major European carrier beside Alitalia, Lufthansa, Aeroflot and Turkish.
Yes, Croatia have 9 airports, but most of them are with seasonal flights. Regarding having a national carrier - we can say that Croatia really have NATIONAL CARRIER, because they fly from all over Croatia and not fron 1 airport only.
So how come Zagreb hovers at around 2.5 million pax for years? ^ ^
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteZagreb hasn't been hovering around 2,5 mill for years. It's been growing every year except 2013. from around 2,2 mill in 2012. to 2,58 mill in 2015. Only when the new terminal opens in 2017. will we see serious pax numbers growth though. This small terminal can hardly go much more beyond full capacity.
DeleteOT: Sarajevo +6,3%
ReplyDeleteOT: new Adria link to Poland + VLM to Pula, more details on forum (Slovenia/Croatia sub-sections)
ReplyDeletewhat forum?
DeleteThis website's ;) You can access it by hitting 'Forum' on the top of this page
DeleteOT: Adria ending Stockholm and Cologne flights.
ReplyDeletehttps://english.sta.si/2249253/adria-airways-scraps-flights-to-stockholm-and-cologne
that's a disaster for LJU. It'll get completely overtaken by ZAG's growing influence in the catchment area...In 2008. LJU used to have 1.7 mil pax with many interesting destinations and solid connections. ZAG, on the other hand, lacked the presence of foreign carriers and solely depended on OU. This year I doubt Adria will break further away from the 1.5 mil mark while ZAG should be around 2,8 mil... next year ZAG will more than double Ljubljana's traffic...
Delete