Air Serbia - Etihad partnership turns four


Serbia's national carrier is today celebrating its fourth anniversary since relaunching as Air Serbia on October 26, 2013. It also marks four years of Etihad Airways' involvement in the airline out of an initial five-year agreement. Over the past four years, Air Serbia handled over ten million passengers, grown its destination network, fleet size, revenue, load factor, launched transatlantic flights and has officially been reporting a profit since 2014. The airline noted that this year has been particularly successful, despite the rationalisation measures taking place inside the company. "Air Serbia is celebrating its fourth anniversary, capping off another year of business success. Major highlights this year have included Air Serbia moving its IT systems to Sabre, the biggest technology transformation ever undertaken by the Serbian flag carrier, launching non-stop services between Belgrade and Venice, and refitting its Airbus A319 and A320 fleet with modern new seats", the carrier said. Air Serbia's CEO, Dane Kondić, noted, "We are grateful for the support of our guests all these years and look forward to bringing the travelling public even more choice, flexibility and value as we enter our fifth year of operations”.

Questions over Etihad Airways' future involvement in the airline continue to be raised as its equity investment strategy in Europe has unravelled in recent months. Late last year, the Emirati airline said it was “fully committed” to its 49% stake in Air Serbia following reports it was considering reducing its share in the carrier. Etihad and the Serbian government signed a five-year investment and management agreement for Air Serbia in 2013, which came into effect on January 1, 2014, with the option of extending the deal for another five years. The UAE carrier turned its initial forty million dollar investment into equity with a further 200 million dollars invested thereafter. "Our partnership is long-term. The 'five plus five' is about a cooperation agreement but the investment is a long-term investment. So we are here to stay", the former President and CEO of the Etihad Aviation Group, James Hogan, said in March. However, Etihad's new management has not commented on its future plans for Air Serbia.


Under the transaction framework agreement between the Serbian government and Etihad, the latter can easily end its association with Air Serbia. The termination clause states that the deal can be discontinued due to a "material adverse event", which includes "any event or circumstance which, in the reasonable opinion of Etihad is (individually or in the aggregate) reasonably likely to adversely affect the business, operations, property, assets or conditions (financial or otherwise) of Etihad in any material respects". It adds, "Upon termination, in accordance to the terms of the agreement, no party shall have claim against the other party". However, Air Serbia's management is confident in the partnership and has finalised a five-year plan in an attempt to increase revenue and mitigate the escalating cost of fuel and services in the aviation sector while balancing seasonality and maintaining growth. The airline's development plan, which involves a review of its fleet, destination network and business model, comes as the company prepares for the next five years of Etihad's involvement in the business.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    Happy birthday, let's hope better times wait ahead.

    Talking of Venice, a friend of mine went there this morning and she told me that the LF was maybe more than 90%! Really nice since it's a slow period now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      In the system it says that VCE was 62/62 it was completely full as some seats were blocked.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:10

      Healthy load. Good decision to move take that aircraft off two rotations to Zagreb and Ljubljana and put it on this route.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:11

      And on top of that they are getting some nice incentives from Venice airport to keep flying there during the winter.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:47

      They actually planned to launch Venice back in 2014 and even applied for double daily slots.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:04

    I highly doubt Etihad will leave Air Serbia before the five year deal is up. What would be the point? The money they did invest in Air Serbia was, as far as I know, invested as a loan which is being returned by the GoS. But what happens after these five years will be interesting.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      If EY does leave they will leave by handing their stake over to another airline like they did with Etihad Regional. The political links and implications are too strong here for them just to pack up. Etihad-Air Serbia is just a fraction of a much bigger deal that the UAE has in Serbia and the others are much more important.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:12

      Even so Serbia will have to pay 60 million USD to Etihad if the leave.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:14

      How come?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:52

      Conditions of the contract. Out of 100 million 40 was investment, 60 was loan to be returned if Etihad pull out.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous00:21

      So Etihad will pack and leave, get their 60 million back.

      They've done it everywhere else so far, Air Berlin, Alitalia....

      Delete
    6. Anonymous08:46

      Darwin...

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:05

    Congrats to JU from Croatia! Concerning the statement that Etihad "is fully committed": what else should a serious business state else? The moment Etihad says they are pulling out, that moment they are not fully committed anymore. So what remains is wait and see.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:48

      True but I still think there is little point for them to get out of this deal just a year before it naturally ends.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:09

    Is Air Serbia the only company where Etihad actually limited its involvment by putting an expiry date on the deal?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      No. It's the same with Air Seychelles.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:18

      When was that deal reached?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:22

      2012

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:24

      So it's been 5 years and they haven't pulled out.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:49

      Yes. They actually have a very similar deal to the one in Serbia. They worked around their investment and the government's in the same way. But they haven't officially announced the extension of this deal either so who knows.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:12

    I'm glad they think this 2017 was a very successful year, I just don't know how?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:50

      ATW award, increased revenue, passenger numbers steady despite decrease in flights, NYC flights doing better and better.

      Delete
    2. These are all good but if they are not doing what is ultimately purpose of every business (i.e. making money) we can't talk about successful year.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:13

    Ok, Air Serbia has certainly had some success in recent years but a lot of what they promised didn't happen. The major thing they promised, TATL, did happen, but they did not renew the regional fleet which they announced on the day they launched. They said they would organise a tender for the purchase of new regional aircraft. I also doubt the A320neo agreement will be honoured.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:51

      Lack of regional fleet replacement is one of my biggest disappointments.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:17

    Really impressive. I wonder which top gun sales person wrote this piece? Launching nonstop services between BEG and VCE a key highlight? deliberately forgetting to mention operated by an ATR and more recently JU have dropped services to AUH, IST and reducing flights overall.
    Will be interesting to see how long EY stick around given the financial mess EY are in

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:19

    I'm glad they think 2017 was a very successful year, I just don't know how?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      I can bet you their finances are in much better order today than this time last year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:28

      yeah, minus is only 25 insted of 30mil they had tis time last year

      Delete
    3. Nemjee09:33

      So reducing their losses by €5 million is not an improvement according to you?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:56

      good joke :)

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:22

    We'll see, you cannot trust EY. Their European experience was an epic disaster. By summer 2018, we might know.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:23

    I personally believe Etihad will stay. They got rid of biggest loss makers, Air Berlin and Alitalia, so I believe they will now focus more on smaller carriers and turn them profitable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:51

      they will stay until Serbia doesnt join EU (with other words: until it is legal for serbian tax payer to pay for the losses)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:48

      Taxpayers can always pay for an airline. Even in the EU. As long as it is state-owned, the state as its owner can pump in as much money as they want. The thing is different if the state pumps in money in an airline that is private owned or partly private.

      Delete
    3. Alen Šćuric Purger13:56

      Absolutely not true!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:29

      What about how LOT was helped some years ago?
      Of course there are then restrictions for certain time on expansion, etc.

      Look how Lufthansa is doing it , monopoly is the way to go in Germany :/

      https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-10-25/lufthansa-gets-a-u-s-lesson-in-how-to-squeeze-passengers


      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:23

    Schuster is coming.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:53

      Yap, for OU.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:21

      Agree. Agree LH aren’t interested in JU. Bleeds money with limited potential if any. OU much better option.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:14

      at @anon 10:21: not exactly.

      EY (mostly) owns the fleet and future fleet of all its "partners". Even if the neos are not there yet, JU can not cancel them. (EY has to control all of its holding by fleet deals, as they have no option to become a controlling shareholder.)

      LH and EY made their deal in May about their cooperation, and LH CEO Spohr explained this week again in public, how they will take over companies: They will be using their swiss air/crossair/swiss model. They just did it with Air Berlin. They are preparing everything in Italy for this scenario and arguing that the JU situation is much different, is not so easy.

      Btw. that is the very reason, that you should not bet on OU getting absorbed into EWE anytime soon as the swiss model would be hard to implement there. (Any OU partner/investor will have to keep the domestic, money losing routes. Who would every accept such a liability?)

      Anyway, they would pursue any of those deals in 2018 only if they really had to. There are more bigger deals to make/implement at the moment.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:54

      No one will be absorbed into EW. It is an open platform and anyone can join it. It is quite natural that LH will consolidate its operations such as SN into EW, simply to grow it and become the third biggest LCC in Europe. AB is a strategic acquisition and could have theoretically joined LH mainline, if that did not have a cost problem. Considering this and Croatia´s long standing and excellent relationship with LH they could join the EW platform much faster than EW.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:55

      *JU

      Delete
    6. Anonymous22:45

      Domestic routes are not burning money as they are financed with almost 13 million EUR, out of which almost 11 million is reserve for OU and 2 for Trade Air.

      Delete
  12. "The UAE carrier turned its initial forty million dollar investment into equity with a further 200 million dollars invested thereafter."

    how in the world have they reached 200mil figure?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:31

      They invested a lot in crew training, pilot training, plane overhauls, marketing, reconstruction of catering facilities, frequent flyer, new equipment of aircraft loading etc

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:34

      Because the 10 A320 neos Air Serbia is supposed to get is considered as their investment into Air Serbia.

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:27

      @9:31 if EY financed all of that, you might be right. there is also that wireless system and god knows what. anyhow it is interesting that EY is evaluating their investment at 240mil

      @9:34 list price of a320neo is about 108mil USD. if they got let's say say 30% discount that makes it about 75mil USD per one aircraft. it's hard for me to imagine EY is giving away planes

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:48

      I don't think EY is giving away planes. In fact the A320neos will be owned by them not Air Serbia (that is if Air Serbia ever gets them) but what I am saying is that Etihad will probably present this as their massive investment in Air Serbia. In actual fact they haven't invested much.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:00

      They really don't need these 320Neos, ok maybe max of 4 units for high load routes and charter and them the rest needs to be regional jets.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous22:48

      They don't need them but will get them anyhow. And who will pay for 1,08 million USD - discount + Etihad provision?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous00:26

      Don't think Air Serbia will get these 10 A320 NEO,

      Delete
    9. Anonymous08:49

      And what are penalties for that?

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:29

    When you look at it, a huge lot has been done in just 4 years. Yes there is a lot of room to improve but when I remember what Jat looked like in its last year and the 5 planes they had functioning in the summer of 2013, Air Serbia is a world apart. You couldn't imagine a respectable network, free entertainment streaming, wi-fi, long haul flights, pillows, blankets, on board nannies and a pleasant crew you get today. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Jat hater. I liked the airline even with all its problems but it's incomparable with what we have today. Jat in the state it was in 2013 wouldn't have survived the winter. I think the airline is a massive improvement on what we had and is actually competitive in today's market unlike what we had four years ago. But there is still a long way to go and they have to face some new challenges today. Now they need to up their game for that next phase. Good luck to them in the future.

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    Replies
    1. when talking about ASL there are always mixed feelings. true, the product is much better, systems are working, planes are on time, they switched from amadeus to sabre which great success, they started jfk flights which is remarkable, i was even proud to see an a330 landing at BEG, BUT

      ... there is always a question is all of that financially viable? the answer is pretty clear that the company is burning taxpayers money and then, at least for me, everything is in vain.

      if they were profitable ASL would truly be a one of a kind story in aviation world.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:13

      Not exactly on time Petar, I watched the other day at BEG the turnaround process of APG arriving from ZRH (on time) and subsequently departing to ATH late about 15 min at push back. I witnessed the lack of coordination on the platform, the very late boarding start and guess what, nobody expressed any sense of urgency whatsoever on the platform to depart on time. Everything was done in a slow mode. Well I know many will say that 15min is not a delay but it is also not on time departure they should be striving for.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:37

      Stvarno ne mogu vise da slusam ljude koji ne placaju porez kako kukaju o jadnim platisama poreza. Tri velike avio kompanije u Americi su sagorele hiljade milijardi poreza Amerikanaca i niko se ne buni zbog toga. A posebno tesko mi padaju ovakva lupetanja o ABG na mesto o ASL. Znamo da radite po zadatku, ali ABG nije ASL.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:53

      +100 last anon. U Srbiji od jednom svi postali velike poreske platise.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:59

      Наравно да Америма не смета да те фирме поједу њихов порез с'времена на време када им је порески систем мање више нормалан. У Србији то није. Довољно је што већ плаћамо 68% порезе и доприносе.

      Чим тако причате вероватно не плаћате порезе већ живите од неког другог.

      Delete
    6. o bože, ovo o plaćanju poreza je novo dno diskusija.
      na stranu što ulazi u to da li ga plaćam ili ne (a plaćam ga mnogo), totalno izbegava osnovu rasprave kako treba raspolagati sa budžetskim novcem. izgleda da je ideja da te pare ionako ničemu ne služe, pa ih treba spaliti, a kao društvo ćemo napredovati nikada.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:15

      По тој вашој логици важније је да се бацају паре у АСЛ него у здравство или војску или можда мислите да њима није потребно више него што сада имају?

      Delete
    8. Defintivno nije vaznije ali i jedno i drugo imaju svoju svrhu i namjeru i bitni su. Da bi drzava dugorocno imala povecane poreske prihode (od kojih bi mogla da ulozi vise u vosku, zdravstvo, skolstvo, socijalana davanja itd) ona mora da omoguci uslove da biznisi dodju, razvijaju se itd. Infrastruktura je bitna, avio prevoz takodje. Aerodromi, kao i putevi, zeljeznica su bitni. Bitno je i skolstvo, jer da bi razvio biznis moras da imas i dobre skole koje ce razviti kadrove. Prema tome, sve je to jako povezano, i nema definitivnog odgovora, bitan je balans.

      E sad ovo sto sam rekao je vrlo generalno, ja licno ne mislim da je drzava dobar vlasnik bilo cega, ali da treba da ulaze u stvari koje ce sutra donijeti veci poreski prihod mislim da treba.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous20:50

      68% je daleko manje nego amerikanci placaju sve to. Vi uopste ne razumete njihov sistem ni to koliko placaju kompanije. Penziono i Socijalno i osiguranje i zdravstveno. Brrr.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous21:24

      Hoćeš da kažeš da ameri plaćaju više od 68% porez na platu? Očito da si ti taj koji ne znam kako funkcioniše poreski sistem u SAD posebno u takozvanim crvenim državama.

      I Srbija i Hrvatska imaju najveće poreze na plate na celom svetu.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous22:56

      Amerikanci mogu progledati kroz prste svojim kompanijama koje nakon neke krize dobe pritajene subvencije obzirom da godinama plačaju višemilijunske iznose poreza.

      Delete
    12. Nemjee07:46

      Plus, on top of that, once they are out of Chapter 11, US airlines start to report massive profits. Airlines pay taxes to both the state and the federal government.

      Delete
    13. poenta je da novcem treba raspolagati tako da kreira vrednost, a ne bacati ga što je sada svakako slučaj.

      drugo, taj princip, imaćemo aviokompaniju - dolaziće biznismeni i otvoriće fabrike nemam pojma odakle je preuzet? iz neke outdated konsultantske prezentacije iz 80's?

      uostalom šta dalje pričati u poimanju vrednosti imanja aviokompanije kada je gazda mislio da će JFK-BEG dovesti city break turizam

      "Siguran sam da će mnogo građana Srbije ići u SAD, ali i da će mnogo Amerikanaca pronaći novu siti brejk destinaciju u našoj zemlji - naglasio je Vučić"

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:33

    I wish all the best to Air Serbia

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:36

    If they do stay on for another 5 years it will be interesting to see if there will be a change in top management at Air Serbia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:53

      Hope so. Someone with a clearer vision for the future.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:36

    Not good at all for the taxpayers.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:38

      Yep it was much better for taxpayers during Jat Airways. Back then they gave the same money but saw no return on it. At least today you have an airline with 40 destinations and functioning planes that is certainly in the category of avarage European carriers, unlike what Jat was.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:46

      Better put money in a profitable company with potential, than one that was bleeding money and was on a one way road to bankruptcy.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:49

      What profitable company?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:24

      imagine how many people you might employ by investing 40mil€ each year

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:01

      If the same amount of money and decent management was given in due time to JAT there is no doubt that they would not be on the verge of bankruptcy. It is fact that SPO, SNS and other related political cousins were milking JAT to the extreme without investing anything.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:06

      Truth be told SNS did not milk JAT. They gave it to Etihad less than a year after they came to power. SPO and DS were the biggest "milkers" for over 10 years.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:33

      Da li TI mislis da im zaista treba ovoliko zaposlenih? sa barem 500 manje izasli bi iz minusa ne zbog plata vec bi zaista usavrsili poslovanje.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:52

      SNS might have not milked Jat but they are certainly milking Air Serbia now.

      Delete
  17. Nemjee09:38

    I think the main problem is that most critics on here do not fly with Air Serbia (or fly in general).

    Despite the recent cuts, Air Serbia is still offering a decent enough product, especially when compared to Austrian Airlines, Lot, KLM...

    I am happy they no longer serve hot meals. They were generally horrible and these sandwiches are a huge improvement.
    I still think serving only water on regional Atr flights is a massive mistake. A sandwich and a few drinks can't cost that much. They lose much more from suspending these than from keeping them.

    That said, I think it's time to refurbish those Atrs. Their cabin is getting quite worn out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:41

      I agree with all your points. The ATRs were refurbished 2-3 years ago but generally I think it is high time these planes are retired.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:42

      Why don't they put the same seats in the ATRs as the ones they have on the A319/A320.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:03

      I agree that the product is “decent enough”, but their prices have nearly doubled since 2013 while the soft product is hit with cut after cut. They even devalued their frequent flyer programme beyond all sense.

      Delete
    4. Nemjee10:26

      I believe the seats that go on the Atrs are much smaller so they can't use the ones that they installed on the Airbus fleet.

      I think the biggest mistake was removing the wet wipes from the service. Now all you get is that cheap tissue and that's that.

      There are many things that could be changed in terms of soft and hard product but the situation is not as bad as some make it seem on here... excluding those water-service-atr-flights, those are quite bad especially since their fares are not that low.

      Delete
    5. Nemjee10:27

      Anon 10.03

      I absolutely agree with the frequent flyer programme but that seems to be a trend with all airlines. However, Etihad's decision to allow you to keep your status for a year is pretty senseless.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:33

      Concerning the water-only flights which I experienced to Skopje a few days ago, I don't understand why don't they fill half of the cups with water and half with some orange juice. Even that would make a difference. I don't think their costs would rise that much by having one bottle of OJ and one bottle of water on board. This looked really cheap. If they gave with that one of those small orasnica that they used to serve I would have absolutely no complaints about this service.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:47

      water only? Wow

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:48

      and then they want to compete with TK ...

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:50

      Yes they now serve only water on short ATR operated flights. The FA comes out with water filled in plastic cups and that's it.

      But from what I'm hearing they will soon offer you the choice to buy food on the ATR - sandwiches and stuff.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:57

      @10.48

      That ship of them trying to compete against Turkish Airlines has long sailed. They had that ambition once, not anymore.

      Delete
    11. Nemjee11:07

      The buy on board concept would be a disaster from a marketing point of view. No one in his right mind would buy anything on a flight that's shorter than 80 minutes. Especially not if they are coming from a connecting flight where they got a sandwich.

      Sticking to drinks and a small dessert would be the way to go.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous11:30

      Jedna cokoladica ili neki zitna stanglica i casa vode/ mineralne/ nezasladjen sok/caj je sve sto je potrebno i nemoguce je, bas nemoguce uvesti u avio kompanije. Nemam pojma zasto.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous11:58

      Swiss hands out chocolates for example

      Delete
    14. Anonymous12:16

      Lufthansa serves a drink and some pretzles on its domestic flights.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous14:56

      @Nemjee

      JU now offers less privileges to their FFs than Etihad does (note that EY Silvers do have lounge access in AUH, MLE and BEG when on EY operated flights - lounge privileges were revoked for EY Silver on all JU flights, even in BEG, with the lounge completely empty almost all the time).

      Also, I am still emailing them back and forth over cancelling even priority check-in for Silvers, which is a published privilege as per JU website. In reality, they are no longer accepting Silvers as Business class desks and FIDs now state that these counters are open to Gold and Plat only, which is totally against EY and JU policy.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous18:36

      are you sure for this? as with they refursbished etihadguest website doesnt show this. it only shows "pay with miles to access to lounge"

      Delete
    17. Anonymous18:46

      Anon 14.56

      Thank you, I didn't know about all those changes. Interesting.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous20:46

      @6.36

      See here: https://www.etihadguest.com/en/our-programme/tiers-and-status.html. It clearly states lounge access is available for Silver @AUH, BEG, MLE, but if you read the footnotes, you'll see it's EY flights only.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous20:48

      JU even has a press release on their front page: https://www.airserbia.com/sr-RS/obavestenja/izmena-pogodnosti-za-etihad-guest-silver-clanove, however, they conveniently decided to revoke the privilege that's first on the "remaining privileges" list!

      Delete
    20. Nemjee21:21

      This might be a stupid question but do these JU rules apply to the BEG lounge once the Air Serbia one closes?

      I do wonder if they have that many active frequent flyers.

      Delete
    21. Anonymous21:50

      i send mail to guestsilver@etihadguest.com several weeks ago about this issue..but never had a respond.. So, i'm still wondering would they accept me in lounge if i travel with EY flight, as i dont want to book all the flights (tgd-beg-auh-hkg) and get rejected to enter in lounge.

      Delete
    22. Anonymous23:18

      If you're flying on JU marketed and operated flight, you will be denied access. If you're on a EY flight, you will be able to get into the lounge.

      The whole thing is crazy, I've been to the lounge at least 15 times in 2017, there were 10 people just once and that was crowded. In all other instances, I was there alone, or with 2 or 3 people max. Why feel the need to further decrease that number, who knows. Maybe they're hoping that pax like me will be willing to pay discounted lounge access (in the vicinity of 20 EUR). Well, as BEG based, let me tell you - not going to happen, not even once.

      Nemjee, that's a good question. Will check with BBL next time I fly! This is the lounge I'm using now with Priority Pass...

      Delete
    23. Nemjee07:42

      To me all this sounds like nothing more and nothing less than 'ciganjenje.'
      I mean frequent flyers are usually those who are buying last minute fares and who are pushing yields up.

      By revoking their privileges they are just pushing them into Lufthansa's, Lot's, Turkish Airlines'... arms.
      Serbia doesn't have many premium passengers so JU should work hard on keeping the ones that we have.

      Delete
    24. Anonymous17:41

      Let me quote John McClane - they are doing a piss poor job.

      Marginal cost of making Silvers happy is price of a Coke, or a snack in the BEG lounge, which is next to nothing having in mind that these people have to fly 20 segments in a year in order to qualify. Marginal cost of them checking in at Business class desk is virually zero. And yet, someone thinks this is a grand idea...

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:43

    For all those people that are complaining just imagine Jat 4 years ago with a wide-body with lie-flat business class seats, young and attractive crew, IFE system, TV in each seat... You have all that today on Air Serbia's A330. This was unimaginable in 2013. Quit complaining.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:48

      I don't think people are complaining or denying the massive improvement compared to the last part of Jat's era. They are complaining about the slide in quality and value in the last two years compared to the first two years.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:04

      Exactly last anon. Quit comparing to Jat and start benching against their own value proposition.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:17

      +1

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:16

      I really miss their business class offering within Europe. No way to pay such a high price and fly in an economy seat!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:37

      Excluding Turkish and Aeroflot, their business class is the same as all other European operators, so i don't get what is the issue ...

      If it was paying dividends, why would they have changed them - doesn't make sense ....

      In doing so, they were able to get additional seats on their 319s and 320s which has surely enabled them to get a better outcome

      Delete
    6. Anonymous18:45

      The problem was that their business class was extremely expensive while their brand was unheard of. Their marketing approach was wrong from day 1.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous09:53

    Čestitke

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous09:53

    Air serbia treba da zapocne code share da lufthansa groupe posto air berlin odpada. I etihad je zapoceo code share sa lufthansom!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous09:55

    Is there any likelihood that Air Serbia will join an alliance? Oneworld or perhaps Sky team. I know that Jat Airways wanted to join Sky team. Of course it was impossible with their standards and no one wanted to sponsor them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:14

      Sky team seems unlikely with TAROM already a member. They don't need two similar sized companies from the same region in their alliance.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:22

      Speaking of TAROM it really is interesting to compare them to JU. Seeing as they have the same fleet size and network size, they handle significantly less passengers than JU.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:32

      Oneworld would make more sense. BA could use JU's network in Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous23:08

      But still after so many years of Jat/Air Serbia non of associations want Air Serbia to become their member. Air Serbia, Bulgaria Air, Ukraine International, Belavia, Air Moldova... klub of companies that are not member of alliances. Similar one.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous23:26

      Because Air Serbia hasn't applied to become a member of any

      Delete
    6. Anonymous08:56

      Not true. They try, but no success.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous10:01

    I think that Air Serbia's arrival has actually had a positive impact on the entire region. It made other airlines in the region much more competitive than before.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous10:12

    Does anyone have the link to the Etihad-Serbian government takeover contracts?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:16

      Here you go. Just so you know it starts downloading the file as soon as you paste the link into your browser.
      http://www.media.srbija.gov.rs/medeng/documents/air_serbia_agreements2014.zip

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:23

      Thank you! Much appreciated.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:45

    Happy fourth birthday!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous10:46

    Well time certainly flies. Can' believe its been four years since Air Serbia relaunched. Gosh I remember all the excitement around it and the general disbelief that an airline was taking over Jat :D

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous11:00

    Indicative to me is this new 5 year plan which they had to make. It probably means the neos aren't coming and they had to completely rework their strategy and probably present it to Etihad, which would also indicate EY will stay for another five years.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous11:24

    The introduction of bag journey this year is probably the best thing have done in a long time. So I would consider that a success. Getting rid of dedicated business class product not so much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:33

      Agree. Very good service so you can locate your bags in real time.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous11:47

    Some of the things they should work on in next period is

    - Regional fleet replacement
    - Smartphone app
    - Online checkin for all routes
    - No checked baggage fare option
    - B737 retirement

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:58

      Nemaju sta da menjaju za regionalnu flotu trebaju dokupiti 3 ATR serija 500 to nije preskupo.

      Kako smartfon povecava profitabilnost?

      Zaista mi ide na qrc da se moram cekirati od kuce na kompu. Time su poskupeli polovini ljudi kartu.

      Uvedeno.

      Nema potrebe dok mogu da lete.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:02

      I would also add:

      -breaking-even

      Delete
  29. Anonymous12:20

    Air Serbia has kick-off a major sales promotion since Monday to cekebrateof its birthday. They offer tickets ranging from €109 to €199 for return trips in economy class. The fares are up for grabs between 23 and 29 October, and apply for travel between 15 January and 15 June 2018.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:43

      Interesting development even if some of their fares are not that low.

      Delete
  30. Anonymous12:47

    How many A/C does JU own?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:00

      8 - 4 ATRs and 4 B737s. The rest of the fleet - 8 A319s, 2 A320s, 1 A330 and 2 ATRs are on lease

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23:11

      3 ATR's and 4 737.

      But in reality those are so old that don't have any value.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:33

      Anon 11.11. I disagree. There is some value in those old aircraft. Recycled metal

      Delete
  31. Anonymous12:59

    Presently due to turmoil with the Air Berlin insolvency, LH and Eurowings are in need of dozens of aircraft with crew to cover for the winter schedules. LH will be for instance operating B744 from FRA to TXL due to high demand. They have leased metal from CSA, Sun Express, PrivatAir etc. I wonder if our genious managers from Croatia and Serbia will manage to place some of their fleets sitting idle to make some money over the winter months?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:49

      Well I guess you genious understand that Muti is cherry picking leftovers from Air Berlin and behaves like a croc who wants to eat first and want it all. LH will do anything to keep its monopoly to attack Easy and Ryan with Ewings and go to complain like hyena to the Court of Justice when something not up to it.
      EU airline is one big mess, together with the airports the punctuality of services is going down up to time we-re living in. Priorities has changed.

      Delete
  32. Anonymous15:32

    If JU can reduce subsibsidies to eur 10M this year, it will be a major success.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous18:32

    Etihad will sooner or later leave EAP. Maybe not Jet and Seychelles but all others.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:53

      So why would they stay in Seychelles but not in JU?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:46

      Funny none of you in Serbia noticed the obvious.

      Etihads frequent flyer program is only tied to Air Seychelles, and Air Serbia as of now. They have cut all there other joint partners out of the frequent flyer program which could only mean Virgin Australia, and Jet Airways could be the next ones to be dumped.

      As we know Virgin Australia are losing money, plus they have stopped flying to Abu Dhabi so its been known for a while that love affair is cold.

      Etihad is also frustrated with Jet Airways not co operating, and even using Amsterdam as a focus city in Europe instead of AUH.

      Keep an eye on the frequent flyer program, if EY cut that with JU then thats a good indicator they might pull the plug.

      Good luck

      Delete
  34. Milivoje Rodic18:32

    With over 80 flights taken with them since they enter in this partnership I must say my feelings are mixed. Service in planes are downgrade, price went up for most destinations, silver members lose access to lounge etc etc. I dislike they change of course to hybrid model.

    But i wish them a lot successful years as this deal made ex-yu market more interesting, while for us travellers made more options to fly almost anywhere we want.

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete

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