I think it is obvious now that the Chinese have won the BEG tender.

They just started Beijing with questionable loads and they are already negotiating Shanghai. Crazy.

Air Serbia should have started Shanghai.

I have never seen more talk initiated by the Serbian govt. for long haul flights - NY, Beijing, Toronto, New Delhi and now Shanghai. What's going on?

Fascinating

If they do start these flights it will be empty.

With what plane exactly?

Do you have a crystal ball to see into the future?

Questionable based on what info exactly?

My thoughts too.

Do you have some info on loads Nemjee?

Would be nice to see Air China in Belgrade.

What's going on with Mali? He seems to be talking a lot on aviation lately.

Remember when they made the bid for BEG they said it involves investments in several areas including tourism and making BEG a transfer point to the region for the Chinese.

Megalomania.

Interesting about most Chinese being from two provinces near Shanghai. When did the current Chinese community settle in Serbia?

I think it has more to do with the fact that Air Serbia has reinvigorated the market and made it more noticeable and competitive. Also global trends are changing, new aircraft which can operate more economically are coming onto the market allowing airline to open new routes with less risk.

In late 90s, that's when they start arriving

No, but I have common sense. Unlike Dr Sinisa mali.

Well he will need a new job soon

The biggest move was in late 90s early 2000 as above anon rightly says. Slobo issued them visas quickly and many of them used it to escape to EU. That is why JAT started flights to Beijing in 1998. When Slobo was toppled the EU requested for the JU flights to be suspended and for visas not to be issued so easily to Chinese. During these migrations, naturally thousands of Chinese stayed in Serbia. Their numbers have decreased in the last decade. It peaked in 2000.

No BA or Air France in Belgrade but two routes to China. Madness in my opinion.

I don't like that all these routes are being negotiated by politicians. When their party fails to win elections you risk loosing all these routes.

BA and especially AF are fading airlines not something to measure with in 2017 World of airlines.

How needs AF and BA. We have 2 weekly flights to Prague with a Chinese airline.

Šangaj ima 24 miliona stanovnika, kao jedna cela evropska država. Najveći je kineski grad i luka. Vize su ukinute i normalno je da se teži uspostavljanju letova. Mislim, Kina je toliko velika da su potencijali neverovatni i mogu samo da se uvećavaju.

Thanks. Very interesting.

I actually think Shanghai is much more logical route to BEG then PEK.

You think Hainan Airlines started Beijing-Belgrade because they love Vucic and he goes they will end flights too? LOL.

Both AF and BA failed during the Jat era around the time Wizz Air launched flights fro Beauvais and Luton. What do you expect Serbia to do to attract them back? Pay them? Wizz Air and Air Serbia are doing very well on both routes. AF and BA just could not adapt and lower their costs on the routes. Besides, BA serves only Croatia and AF Slovenia and Croatia. They are not very successful on ex-Yu market.

Meanwhile in Croatia, tsunami of Chinese tourists expected.
https://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/mozaicna-emisija-o-hrvatskoj-za-milijardu-kineskih-gledatelja---495846.html

Too much too soon. First make Beijing work.

Anon 09.14

From what I've heard and seen, there are around 100 passengers departing Belgrade to Prague. What's interesting is that the plane arrives packed with cargo which is always great.
When the Prague stop is removed, cargo will most likely play a key role in keeping the route profitable.

Like I already wrote, Hainan's A332 has 186 seats in economy so BEG fills more than half of it which is great.

After 25 years :)

I think BEG is operated with A333 not A332. Good to hear about the loads and cargo :)

Actually, AF suspended BEG long before W6 launched BVA. They had phenomenal loads, yearly average of some 86% but their main issue were the costs.

Like you said, it's not like BEG is not connected to either city. Air Serbia maintains double daily flights to Paris and 9 weekly to London in summer. I guess if the market was larger someone like easyJet, Ryanair or Norwegian would have reacted the same way Transavia did.

It already works, twice a week.

Nice. I hope it results in a nonstop flight soon.

You are correct, sorry for that. I guess that's another indicator of how well the route is performing. If the loads weren't there then they would have sent their smaller aircraft.

I still think it's a shame Hainan doesn't have a stronger network in PEK. The number of connections they offer is rather limited, especially to places like Japan or South Korea.

Isn't that the responsibility of the carrier to make it work? Who said Hainan is opening a second one and is struggling info the current route? Having 186 seats info economy and apparently over 50% coming to Belgrade to me says that Prague was failing and this was their way of filling up aircraft to not lose or shut down the route.

China Southern is pretty horrible. Air China is not bad but I still have nightmares of their Sydney-Beijing flight I took a few years ago in economy. The definition of being in a sardine can. Best to stick to Hainan actually.

Zavist ključa, ne valja ti to za zdravlje. Ne brini se ti za Kineze, gledajte kako svoju državu da povežete bar jednom celogodišnjom long haul rutom.

And none of the background information, unlike Dr Sinisa Mali.

Out of those 100. how many did book PRG and how many ant to fly to PEK? It´s good there are 100 Pax boarding- the question is just where is the demand going?

Thanks for the concern.

That I don't know but since most passengers seem to be Chinese I would say that they are going to Beijing.

Don't forget that Hainan's schedule to Prague is quite awkward and their times are less convenient than Air Serbia's.

Ono, Kina raste i postaće u doglednoj budućnosti najjača ekonomska sila. Srbija sa njom ima odlične odnose i treba na vreme da se povezuje i zauzima strateške pozicije. A letova do Pariza i Londona iz Beograda ima sasvim dovoljno-treba li da molimo AF i BA da uvedu let?

Fantastic news reflecting the booming ties between RC and RS

Maybe they can also try a triangle with INI where tourist board the plane on the way back to China (if they would disembark in BEG and travel south from there + B&H)

Hainan momentalno ima 12 linija do US najvise od svih prevoznika. Samo toliko.

Why would the Chinese create competition for themselves if they already have the Beijing route. A route from Shanghai would take passengers away from it.

Because it seems they are mostlyt after O&D passengers not transfers.

Kako ste ljudi tako kratkovidi? Kina sve više jača i žele da se pozicioniraju i u ovom delu Evrope. Kakav Vučić, kakvi bakrači. Ovoj vlasti jedino treba čestitati na agilnosti u želji da povežu Beograd i Srbiju sa najvažnijim svetskim gradovima. Te naše želje se odlično poklapaju sa željom Kine da proširi svoj uticaj u svetu.

I wouldn't be so sure.

No it won't. People have to understand that the BEG route for Hainan is purely for tourists who bought a holiday package through Hainan tours. They are not competitive for other sorts of passengers.

Local elections

@9:55 +1

And to think now they can travel to Serbia without a visa and the EU has no problem with it.

Šangaj ima 24 miliona stanovnika, gde je još sva okolina. Jesi li video na kolikoj su udaljenosti Peking i Šangaj? Kakva oni konkurencija mogu biti, to je kao da gledaš dve posebne evropske države. Razdaljine ogromne, milijarda stanovnika..

I'm certain he will become the CEO of Air Serbia next year when his term as Mayor ends. I've heard Dane is planning on leaving anyway.

Good luck.

Mali also promised a second A330 for Air Serbia last year. We are still waiting...

Who then?

Sinisa Mali:

may 2016: flights to Teheran are in final phase of negotiation
- NOTHING

july 2016: there will be flights to Astana
- NOTHING

september 201: second A330 will come to Air Serbia till end of 2016, and flights to Toronto and Chicago will start
- NOTHING

So, can you still believe to that guy?

And while other airlines look to take a piece of their cake on this market, Air Serbia's only offer is a codeshare with Air China from Vienna to Beijing where passengers have to wait for hours in VIE to transfer.

Meanwhile they are involved in a pricing war with Hainan on BEG-PRG route and are dumping fares on the day Hainan operates. Fares are 100 euros return! Looks like there will be no codeshare between these two and they are officially competing against each other.

Said flights to Beijing would launch in 2017 - DONE

Said flights to New York would launch in 2016 - DONE

WTF? o.O are they serious?

Well it is a very different time now. China in 1998 and China in 2018 are two different worlds.

Shanghai would actually serve O&D and transfers. This route to PEK by Hainan is mostly leisure traffic.

Yes. I remember similar comments when they said that flights Beijing-Belgrade were likely.

True. I know they have a GSA in China. They made a big deal of it last year when they selected them so I do wonder what they are doing.

I assume most people book with Etihad to go to China and as far as I know Air Serbia has a codeshare on EY flights to China don't they?

:D

China is PRC, RC or RoC would be Taiwan :)

Air Serbia is proving to be a completely stupid airline, now they have chased away all the smart and capable people.

Instead of a codeshare, price agreement and funnelling pax through BEG, they engaged in a price war with Hainan on the days they operate to Prague.

Pathetic really.

I kad stigne sta cete onda?

I guess Hainan takes away the most passengers on Fridays.

can INI receive jet like A330 at all?

Padaju cene, a vi kukate ko zadusne babe? Neverovatna nacija.

That is highly unlikely. He's already the Chairman, has no direct experience in the aviation business and most importantly, isn't an Etihad cadre.

Time for round #2 of haters here.

We had to listen to them about how PEK-BEG won't happen. Now time for those same comments except replace PVG instead of PEK.

Or BEG-JFK

TK Cargo has a scheduled flight once a week so yes

Srbija predlozila Kini jos jedan let :)

Dane had limited airline experience yet here we are

Sorry NO NO: Croatia proposed China one more destination for Serbia.

Air Serbia is starting Canada next year, so the east has been left to eastern airlines to pick the low lying fruit.

All in all, good growth for BEG. After the concession, the hub system will take off considerably.

Of course. The outcome of elections for Belgrade municipalities hangs by the thread on flights to Shanghai. Gimme a break and come up with something more original.

Mentalitiet je ubitacna stvar.

The self-sufficient, self-declared tourist mecca of the world proposing something to better any of its neighbours? Maybe in another dimension, in a galaxy far far away.

The dose of bitterness and the number of nervous breakdowns have already exceeded all expectations. It is really interesting how a single piece of positive development in aviation can trigger tsunamis of hate. Even more interesting how the whole thing is location-dependent. Had it been another place in exYU, standard numeric would not be able to count all "Bravo!" comments.

At the end of the day, it is good to see some good news. The more the merrier. Haters may or may not find a cure and that's it.

Meni kao Hrvatu drago da kinezi dolaze u BG, to može biti samo dobro za sve. Dio će neminovno doći i do Hrvatske i ostaviti novce tu. S druge strane sve da i ne dođu ostavit će ih u Srbiji šta će potaknuti njen gospodarski razvoj, a time i razvoj moje domovine. Nema goreg susjeda od sirotinje, zato želim sve najbolje Srbiji u poslovanju s Kinezima.

haha yes - but Serbia in 1998 and in 2018 - exactly the same world.

Well, that explains how Air Serbia is there where it is today. Dane was placed to just be a puppet of Etihad. That's the main criteria at EY for selecting its managment.

I say good on them. Why not exploit the visa free regime to boost tourism.

Interesting that the city is negotiating these, probably more effective than to rely on the incompetent losers working in ministries. Maybe Bandic should do the same.

2017: Beijing-BEG
2018: Shanghai-BEG
2019: Guangzhou-BEG
2020: Chengdu-BEG
2021: Kunming-BEG
2022: Shenzhen-BEG
2023: Xi'an-BEG

Link in English. Hold onto your hats!

https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/23363-chinese-tv-devotes-whole-show-to-croatia

Nah, it was better in 1998.

A evo sta nam kaze Purger
"Ona nije slučajno otvorena, kao što nije slučajno istovremeno odlučeno da se ne otvori već najavljena linija za Zagreb. Upravo ova linija je vrlo indikativna. Otvorena je iako Beograd ima neusporedivo manje potencijala nego Zagreb ili neki drugi aerodromi u široj regiji"
Beograd ima manje potencijala za letove ka Kini a pregovara se o drugom direkntom letu dok ZAG nema jos nijednu. Zanimljivo

https://tangosix.rs/2017/07/11/kolumna-alena-scurica-hoce-li-etihad-otici-iz-er-srbije-koja-je-sansa-da-je-hainan-kupi/

Opste je poznato da se ovde redovno tvrdi da je Beograd inferiorniji od Zagreba iako ima duplo vise putnika.

Deadline for concession had been moved one more time to December. All other bids have arrived except HNA. If they are slow to write a document for months, imagine how delayed they will be to build a terminal? Belgrade airport will not get new terminal until 2040 if NHA wins.

Jedino normalno rešenje je PVG-PEK-BEG.

If they had so many tourist they wouldn't have to drive their empty buses to Belgrade Airport to steal tourists from Serbia:

http://www.b92.net/biz/vesti/srbija.php?yyyy=2017&mm=11&dd=13&nav_id=1324801

Verovatnmo isto tako Slovenci govore o vama

A Hejteri u neverici

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA this is so hilarious. :D

Zagreb this year will have 3,1 million Pax. Belgrade will have 5,3. The difference of 2,2 million is covered by airports in the same country which are scattered across the Adriatic. Why would someone be flying to ZAG when his destination is ZAD, SPU, DBV, RJK or PUY. If you want to go to any destination in Serbia, you more or less have to fly to BEG. So "duplo vise" is not quite true.

Another political route, right guys?

Hell, BEG must be some kind of record holder by the number of political routes.

It is not.

Both Belgrade and Zagreb are the capitals of their countries, not located on the coast.


If Serbia had sea coast the airports located there could not have been blamed to "steal" the passengers from Belgrade.

The passengers who fly to the Croatian sea side actually have nothing to do with ZAG. They want to swim in the sea and have a good fun on the beach.
If Czech Republic had sea coast they would have done the same there.

OK, so the passenger from Novi Sad and Krusevac do not fly at all because there is no airport for them while not Rijeka or Zadar local would fly from ZAG because they have their local airports. right!

Dont forget INI :)

Nebosa, your argument does not hold. It is exactly because of the lack of airports in those two countries that people fly from the nearest available, regardless of sea or whatever. Switzerland also has more airports and no seaside. If BSL, GVA did not exist, people would drive 2 hours to take a flight from ZRH. The same with Croatia. Why would any local from ZAD or PUY take a flight from ZAG if PUY or ZAD have the flight. You are basically implying that the passengers from INI did not fly before, since there were no flights before. If any of the pax before flew from BEG to ZRH, that passenger is lost for BEG if the flights and customer base remain the same

Number of passengers who have Novi Sad, Kraljevo or Uzice as their final destination cannot be compared to the number of passengers Croatian coast gets. It is simple as that, especially taking in consideration that many people from western Serbia use Tuzla as airport, many people from eastern Serbia use Nis and Sofia and almost whole Vojvodina is less than 3 hours far from Budapest that offers many connections. Lets also not forget TSR where FR and W6 have internal war with low prices is also not that far from Serbia.

All of these airports (except Nis) are not in Serbia but passengers from Serbia are regular guests there so therefore we can not count that all of them use BEG.

The story we had heard here could be valid if Belgrade would have been an island with only one airport located there, but we all know it is not the case.

At the same time we could say that people who have Pozega or Varazdin as the final destination shouldn't be counted as ZAG passengers and we all know it would not be correct.

How many local passengers do BEG and ZAG handle, without those transferring?

yes!!!

Are you implying that the two would be the same if there weren't for transfer passengers? You are seriously disillusioned. BEG would still be miles ahead.

So are you impying that people who live in Serbia don't use SOF, SKP, TZL, TSR, BUD...? The last time i checked people who fly from these airports are not stopped at the border and then forced to use either BEG or INI.

Btw INI handled almost as many passengers in October as they did in July so I wouldn't rule them out just yet.

@AnonymousNovember 13, 2017 at 2:20 PM

This is a joke, right ???

Slovenian and Croatian bus drivers stealing Turkish and Chinese tourist and riding around Serbia ??? Cause Visa is still an issue, you can't take Chinese to Croatia without valid EU visa !!!

Or perhaps more likely Chinese visitors to Croatia and Slovenia use Belgrade airport only, as cheapest air link???

Croatia had 156000 Chinese visitors so far this year, Serbia 28000???

By year's end Croatia will have over 170 000 Chinese visitors, Serbia barely over 30 000.

Next year at least 250 000 Chinese visitors to Croatia, Serbia if it gets 45000 Chinese visitors, Serbia will be celebrating, not to mention supposedly 300 000 or even 500 000 Chinese ghost visitors visiting Serbia in 2017 and 2018 according to "Chines ambassador and Serbian PM".

When China Eastern, Southern or Air China start regular flights to Zagreb, I can only imagine headline in Serbia, Croatia stealing Chinese air carriers, cause Serbia had them before Croatia.

:nuts

Next year Etihad will cut all its links with Air Serbia, they themselves face major financial vows, the last thing they need is another failing air carrier on their backside.

I highly doubt Air Serbia can survive beyond 2019.

When China Eastern, Southern or Air China start regular flights to Zagreb? I think you are missing the point of today's article, it's BEG that's getting the second flight. ;)

You can use your statistics all you want but it won't change the reality

Momentarily Belgrade has more passengers, but in a long term Zagreb will catch up and surpass Belgrade. By 2025 Zagreb will hit 8 million pax, no idea how many passengers will Belgrade have by this point, but Zagreb Airport strategy is to get legacy carriers in, they pay for landing and services. LCCs don't Zagreb airport had €158.7 million turnover in 2016, Belgrade airport less than €60 million.

Massive difference, considering larger airport had 4.9 million pax. By 2025 Zagreb will catch up and I predict surpass Belgrade in number of passengers. It already is larger by revenue and turnover, not profits yet, cause most profits are eaten by investments, and will continue to do so until €323 million are paid for.

However, Zagreb airport unlike Belgrade airport has massive advantage and that is, Croatian coastline, major carriers from Asia and North America already recognize that fact, question of when major carriers come to Zagreb, from these parts is not if, but when.

Belgrade Airport on other hand, has very few legacy carriers serving it, Air Serbia with $824 million worth of obligations can't go on for much longer. Question is, when Air Serbia goes bust, be in 2019 or even if it survives to 2020, who will pump numbers in to Belgrade? Wizz, Ryan Air?

Who?

As I've see it, arrival of Chinese carriers is a positive thing for Belgrade, however it might not last long, perhaps in 2018 Chinese carrier will withdraw cause they're losing money on this route, even with transfers for Zagreb, it won't be sufficient. Etihad who is facing massive internal financial issues might also pull out of Belgrade as early as late 2018.

I simply don't see reason for optimism when it comes to Belgrade airport long term survival strategy. If Chinese get the concession, perhaps there could be something, Chinese continue to fly to Belgrade beyond 2020, however there's little prospect for much else.

I guess Belgrade could always do what Riga, Budapest, Krakow, Gdansk, Vilnius and number of other eastern European cities have done, become LCC base.

You need help and a reality check

We can all clearly see that good news for your neighbors don't agree with you

I seriously think he is not serious. He has to be trolling us.

Funny there is no mention of OU in your grand scheme of things. You know something we don't? What did you see from your mushroom induced visions?

Just let him be. Those are all just his wishes, he doesn't have a clue about BEG's progress or HU's success on the route. Just his fantasies and nothing more

Last year I flew from Split to Zagreb. I was the ONLY passenger to disembark in Zagreb. EVERY OTHER passenger headed to transfers. So much about number inflation.

So that means 3 fail : 2 success

that is good result for you?

Now really someone wrote this bullshit? Wasn't B92 media sometimes during Milošević era? What on earth happens to them?

We have so many tourists because we still them from Serbia. Now we find logical reason. Most of tourist comes to Belgrade but dirty Croatian tourist worker still them and bring them to Croatia. All that time they think they are in Serbia.

Blaming the media because you don't like the news? Would you like to shut them down?

It was reported in another media as well. Report is true, deal with it.

Krajnje je neprimjereno izvlačiti rečenice iz konteksta. U istom tom tekstu samo par redova dalje napisao sam:

U svakom slučaju linija Peking-Prag-Beograd velik je iskorak za Beograd i još jedan vrlo jak potez za zadržavanje dominacije Beograda u zračnom prometu regije. Bez obzira na dolazak Emiratesa u Zagreb, te velik broj novih linija i povećanja frekvencija nakon otvaranja novog terminala ovog proljeća u Zagrebu, Beograd je još uvijek superioran i dominantan u regiji. Pekinška linija ovu dominaciju ozbiljno je učvrstila.

Next year Etihad will cut all its links with Air Serbia

Do you have a phone number or address where we can tell it to your face that you were wrong about this next year? Not so brave now?

Sells newspapers I guess, i'll just ignore it and move on.

Croatia expects 18.5 million visitors this year, 17 million of them foreign, 170-180 000 of them Chinese from Mainland, 35000 from HK and 150 000 from Taiwan. I can say happily things are moving in the right direction.

Yet bus drivers ignore those millions and keep coming to BEG to poach tourists. Keep your head planted in the sand and keep ignoring the reality.

Hell, and you must be that type of guy that always drops a tear or two when BEG gets a new route, with the pace BEG is getting new routes you will run out of tears very soon.

pruger jesi ti napisao onaj anon u 8:58pm.. budi iskren lol

its Unreal how much hate there is when BEG and Air SERBIA are in question.. why guys why??? why cant this forum be constructed. And WHY do "we" always have to compare ZAG to BEG?

ZAG will never NEVER catch up to BEG.. that is a fact. ZAG is doing great right now amd im happy for the airport. truly i am. but guys please stop being children..

Dont Hate! Be happy that there is flights coming from all sides of the world to all airports in ex-yu.

It will be so much fun!

Beijing
Shanghai
Toronto
New York
Delhi

hope for

Chicago as well


there might be more suprises like

Montreal

Because its reality. Its important to have all of these counties connected.

its starts will highways then aviation.. its important to have all of these flights. BEG deserves that as the biggest airport in the region.

I could see 10 million pas. bu 2020

"ZAG will never NEVER catch up to BEG.. that is a fact"

How is that a fact? How do you know the future?

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Serbian tabloids are even more hilarious than Croatian Newsbar. Only...unintentionally.

Lol.no


But i know history..

ZAG will always say behind BEG. Ots a smaller city what do you want.

Why does this bother you so much. You can hope all you want. Its you right.

It's an assumption based on logic and facts/trends.

Poor guy. He is probably suffering from a mental breakdown after ZAG's allure started to fade away with LH suspending mainline flights and after Eurowings started to expand. You know, an LCC.

Seems like ZAG will turn into Krakow or Budapest much faster than Belgrade. At least BEG can make LH mainline work. :/