MENA airlines boost Belgrade operations

Carriers from the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) will significantly boost capacity or increase operations to the Serbian capital this summer. One of the biggest developments in the run up to the start of the new season at Belgrade Airport has been the strong demand for flights between Iran and Serbia, which has resulted in six weekly services between Tehran and Belgrade to be operated by three different carriers, one of which will utilise wide-body aircraft. Following Iran Air, which commenced operations to the Serbian capital ten days ago, Qeshm Air inaugurated services between the two cities this morning, which will be followed by Mahan Air tomorrow. Iran Air's Deputy Manager of Operations, Abbas Ahadian Moghdam, said last week, "We hope to expand this operation. We could introduce some additional flights from other Iranian cities and we hope to establish good relations and cooperate with Air Serbia".

Iran Air jet greeted by water cannon salute in Belgrade last week

Carriers from the Gulf will also continue to grow their operations to Belgrade this summer. Etihad Airways will increase frequencies on its flights from Abu Dhabi from daily to ten weekly between July and September. The Emirati carrier will add a second daily service between the two capitals each Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Starting May 1, Qatar Airways will introduce an additional 45 seats each way on its daily service from Doha to Belgrade by upgrading equipment from the Airbus A320 aircraft to the larger A321. On the other hand, as of last week, Flydubai has deployed its new 166-seat Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet on its Belgrade service. Commenting on the equipment upgrade, Jeyhun Efendi, the airline's ‎Senior Vice President for Commercial Operations, said, "We are the first airline in the Middle East to fly this aircraft to Belgrade. It is a very efficient machine. We have new seats in economy and business class. One of the biggest features on this aircraft are ten flat bed seats in business class. The aircraft also has 156 seats in economy, which have been upgraded and feature a new in-flight entertainment system. These seats are actually used on long haul aircraft by other airlines".

Egypt Air's subsidiary, Air Cairo, will increase its operations from Hurghada to Belgrade from four to five per week this summer, starting May 14. The airline, which maintains year-round operations to the Serbian capital, told EX-YU Aviation News, "The tourism market is returning and we saw a good summer in Belgrade last year, which will be exceeded this coming season. We have been operating to Serbia for several years and we have a good name with tour operators as a charter carrier". Air Cairo also has seats on sale for individual bookings on this route. Commenting on its future plans, the airline noted it would consider introducing flights from Sharm el Sheikh to Belgrade and would coordinate future operations on this route with Egypt Air Express, which itself will open a base in the holiday resort town with the arrival of its new Bombardier CS300 aircraft from November onwards.

Serbia and Morocco are still expected to establish flights after the Serbian Foreign Minister met with the Prime Minister of Morocco in Rabat last week, where the matter was discussed amongst other things. The Moroccan Prime Minister noted, "The recently signed bilateral air agreement and the discussions on visa exemption for ordinary passport holders will develop tourism ties between the two countries". Last year, the Moroccan Ambassador to Serbia said the kingdom's national carrier had expressed interest in introducing flights between Casablanca and Belgrade during the 2018 summer season. On the other hand, Tunis Air will maintain two weekly flights from Tunis, as well as charter services from Monastir, to the Serbian capital. The two countries signed a new Air Service Agreement last December in order to better regulate air traffic and boost bilateral cooperation. The deal allows for carriers from each state to codeshare on the others' services.