Judging by these increases I think they will have to get one additional aircraft.

It is good to see them increasing Scandinavia ops. They will have daily ARN, CPH and three weekly HEL all year round. They are just missing OSL.

OSL is a no brainer if Norwegian gets bust.

Do we know when the extra flight to SOF will operate? I suppose it will be a 00.30 departure from BEG, hopefully it connects to MAD and BCN.

By the way, I was looking at some flights to BCN in August and some are already fully booked while some are on the A320! Maybe we see an increase there?

As for Dubrovnik, I think we might see a drop in demand to the Croatian coast after the waterpolo incident. I guess JU could easily redirect those flights to MNE.

Norwegian's long-haul division might go bust, their short-haul one is safe as it's extremely profitable.

Well with Norwegian and FInnair both flying daily to DBV and SPU out of HEL, JU could get some transfers.

This is gonna be a crazy summer plus all those extra charters ...

Yes, drop in demand. JU should start Teheran and increase Moscow instead of flyin to DBV.

Clearly demand for more flights to Balkan capitals. Not surprised about SOF and ZAG.
SOF was initially launched as 9 weekly and was a clear success for JP too.
Lets hope JU can cope with this sudden, massive expansion and avoid a Vueling scenario in 2016, where they expanded like crazy and had serious problems in summer.
Anyway, best of luck ASL!

Doubt they will go up against Norwegian on OSL flights.

Why would such a mini thing decrease demand?

Nope. They are perfectly equipped with current fleet.

Any chance of them going back to GOT?

Anon 09.15

Nonsense, another plane is coming before the summer season.

Not exactly. An extra 22 weekly frequencies not including charters.

My above comment was meant for anon 9.15.

Shame there is no increase for Amsterdam. I guess transavia is hard to compete against.

New flights are still not available on GDS.
I think they will restore the previous SOF timetable - late night departe/early morning outbound.
There was an "agressive" Facebook ad in Spanish promoting Belgrade as a destination.
I think there will be more demand from MAD and fewer from BCN due to lack of flights.

Anon 09.15

A group of athletes being attacked just becuase they are from Serbia is not a small thing. Most tourists refuse to go to areas that are dangerous for them. The only place where Serbs can feel safe in Croatia is Istra. I wouldn't be surprised if many tourists are redirected there by tour operators. Good thing that JU is adding RJK flights.

With Red Wings staying in Belgrade I think there is no market for JU to add flights.

And OU is snoozing....

Vueling's problem was that they expanded way too quickly outside of their home base.

I hope SOF is timed to offer connections to JFK.

OU is flying to ATH and they recently launched OTP.

Amsterdam is maxed out, they can't add flights even if they wanted to. AMS has a movement cap which was imposed by the eco-talibans. I think it's 500.000 take offs and landings.

Btw as for Transavia, I think they found some additional slots because BEG is not being reduced to 3 weekly this summer, it stays as five with a random schedule that's all over the place. One of their departures from BEG arrives to AMS after midnight.

I'm really interested to see how their Helsinki flights will work out 3x per week year round.

I think it was reported on here that charter traffic will be up some 10%. There is no way they can run all those flights with their current fleet. I am curious to see what they plan for Turkey. AYT was quite strong last summer with triple daily flights.

"Eco-talibans"? Oh please

Three is minimum to offer normal connections to Balkans and Middle East. I think it will do ok.

I meant they snooze in SOF, OTP is a good beginning though.

So BEG will have close to 70 extra flights next summer? How will they cope in terms of infrastructure? That's 10 flights a day!

Norwegian long-haul and short-haul are in the same group. And Norwegian is cutting mostly short haul at the moment by closing a lot of bases...

Their load factor in 2018 was just slightly above 80%, which is a disaster for LCC. For example, FR had LF 96%, EZY 93% and W6 92%.

Yes night flight 21.40-00.10. It's new.

I think the decrease in the ATH, SKP and LED are all logic.
ATH because of A3 increasing frequencies and equipment.
SKP because of the W6. W6 is becoming absolutely dominant as a carrier in Macedonia.
LED because of KRR and fewer demand compared to SVO.

The other increases were extremely logical: Scandinavia always with demand.
Clearly demand for the Croatian coast and SOF because of both transfer and O&D.

I like the JU plan for 2019. Very well conducted.

+1
New route manager seems to be doing a good job.

Very nice developments from JU this summer.

Anon at 09:06
What exactly do you mean by "extremely profitable" short-haul for Norwegian?
Do you have any data to back your claim?

Considering they shrank for 2 years it was time to grow again.

Athens is being reduced because the flight departed BEG at 07.30 and relied on local demand and connections from JFK. Return flight barely had any viable connections. It was a disaster from day 1. The plane is redirected to another route where they can make much more money.

SKP and LED are probably cut because they needed planes elsewhere. Same way why Tirana and Bucharest are mostly operated at night. In OTP's case that's really good as an Atr can't make it there and back in time during the noon wave.

Nice

I hope the new routes hold up. Great to see that Barcelona is already sold out on many dates. My guess is many tour operators migrated from Vueling to JU.

+100000

VY is horrible, their schedule is a disaster! Imagine arriving to BCN at 04.55! I think they will reduce or cancel Belgrade after JU entered the market.

It was suspended when Air Serbia was launched. Jat used to fly it seasonally.

They used to fly it in some horrible triangle via Stockholm or it continued to Belgrade via Stockholm. And I think the frequency was twice per week.

It goes to show that this route would have been very successful for Wizz Air had they started it from BEG. Oh well. You snooze you loose.

They really should come to Gothenburg, there are so many serbs here or wizz should upgrade to 4/5pw im tired of going via malmö sometimes...

They really should come to Gothenburg, there are so many serbs here or wizz should upgrade to 4/5pw im tired of going via malmö sometimes...

At one point it was even linked to CPH which on some days was also linked to ARN. :D

Same as Berlin. I guess FKD and FMM are more important for them. LOL

And they surely snooze in Serbia.

JU will be flying to

ZAG
RJK
ZAD
SPU
DBV

there were rumours that 2 more destinations in Croatia will be flown by JU

OU will be flying to

BEG

And not only that but they are reducing SPU-BEG next year. They are the only airline to reduce BEG next year.

You can't have so many new routes opening and frequencies adding every year

Another A320, YU-APK, will be coming soon. What I do not know if it will be an additional aircraft or will it replace some of the existing ones.

Vueling also has major issues with shortage of air crews and ground personnel/operations staff.
As a result every summer in BCN they have massive delays, cancellations and disruptions of all kinds.
So for summer 2019 they are cutting about 30 destinations from BCN!!!

You mean this year (this summer) ;)

Yes, you can see everything in their corporate presentations. They are available online.

Their corporate presentations only show huge losses and constant need for recapitalization.
So do you have any real data for your claims?

Yes Anon 09:50
This follows canselations that they made in the last couple of years.
A total of 49 routes droppped so far!

1. Accra
2. Amman
3. Ancona
4. Belfast City
5. Bergen
6. Cardiff
7. Ciudad Real
8. Cluj Napoca
9. Constantine
10. Djerba
11. Dortmund
12. Dresden
13. Eindhoven
14. Frankfurt
15. Groningen
16. Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen
17. Kaliningrad
18. Kazan
19. Kos
20. Krasnodar
21. Larnaca
22. Leeds
23. Leipzig
24. Ljubljana
25. London
26. London
27. Lourdes
28. Luxembourg
29. Maastricht
30. Moscow Sheremetyevo
31. Newcastle
32. Pamplona
33. Rabat
34. Rhodes
35. Riga
36. Rotterdam
37. Sal (Cape Verde)
38. Samara
39. Sofia
40. Southampton
41. Stavanger
42. Strasbourg
43. Tallinn
44. Thessaloniki
45. Trieste
46. Verona
47. Vilnius
48. Yerevan
49. Warsaw

It really isn't that many, an airport of its size could easily handle 10 extra flights. All is needed is a bit more handling staff and possibly extra security.

A lot less connecting passengers for JU from SKP after the massive expansion of W6. Unless a Macedonian absolutely has to fly to LHR or CDG does no longer need to connect with JU in BEG.

Anon 09:49 do you know which A319s have their leases expiring during 2019?
Many thanks for any info.

This is going to be one busy summer for BEG.

Check their presentations before long-haul was launched.

It also shows how limited the market in SKP is. Hopefully it keeps on growing so more airlines add flights, not just JU.

Excellent news.

Keep in mind there is a high chance that JU will get those routes from Nis. That means 1 aircraft based there.

Looks to me like Air Serbia is preparing for some long haul expansion in 2020 with this year's summer network.

Long hawl has been operating for years now. The economic environment and the performance of a company changes from one quarter to another.
So Norwegian for the last few years is loss making.
That is the company we are talking about and not the one from 2013.

Key will be making MAD and BCN work in winter.

There are rumors it will happen this year.

Think it's too late at this point. But let's wait and see.

Vinci constantly saying how they will help Air Serbia introduce new long haul routes means they will probably give Air Serbia some discounts or incentives for launching long haul flights.

@anon 09:43

Exactly.

I got impression that they were very stabborn and spiteful with introducing BEG-BCN flights and now that opportunity is gone.

Well done JU!

ASL could easily launch flights to YYZ, ORD, PEK, PVG and even DEL.

Busy year in general.

Note that in the article about Nis flights a couple of days ago there is a paragraph about how the government will subsidise the arrival of Chinese, South Korean, Indian, Japanese and US tourists.

Etihad has offered another A330 to JU. It's up to JU to decide if it wants it or not.

They need to find a way to improve their sales so that their summer seasonal routes can survive the whole year.

I'm surprised Ohrid didn't work out for them. Would be nice to see them back.

They are making cuts on short haul, but that doesn't make it necessarily not profitable. Cuts go along with selling and leasing out 737s and NEOs which are probably easier to sell compared to 787s. My guess is that they believe their long haul operations will work and are willing to give it more time even though it makes losses. Also, you can imagine how badly giving up long haul not long after launching it could affect their shares and reputation.
Someone above mentioned their poor LF, but their high costs are by far the biggest problem. I guess O'Leary is right when he says Norwegian is a low-fare but not a low-cost airline.

I would like to use JU, its just that from SKP (for destinations in western europe i use) conecting via BEG is either with long transfer time or when this is similar then the equipment is an ATR or when thats comparable, then the other connection is cheaper.
I believe it ok for both sides- BEG reducing the frequency and pax from SKP not really being upset about it.

I guess it makes sense for JU to go after markets with more passenger and higher yield than SKP. They are keeping it as 12 weekly which still isn't that bad.

If EY offered that A330 under similar terms with YU-ARA we are better off leasing one from the open market.
JU pays way more than the current market rates for YU-ARAs lease.

+1000

It makes no sense to fight over a poor market with a super low fare rival such as W6. So it is wise to focus elsewhere like Scandinavia.

Or nearby Thessaloniki and Sofia. Those should be their priority.

It's interesting that nobody had noticed that Transavia would have flown five times weekly in July and August instead of three weekly during last high summer season.

If I was to book today a flight three months away I would hesitate to do so on Norwegian.
They are in really bad shape right now and I wouldn't want to take that risk.

They are increasing Thessaloniki. SOF is a bloodbath between W6 and FR so JU would have to rely just on O&D passengers.

right, funny how OS and OU are adding flights to SKP. must be good for them

i also think that the cut of one frequency is not because of lack of pax, its to accommodate the new routes

i think it was a decision between Rijeka and Ohrid. I really hope Rijeka's flights are not after midnight like it was last time with OHD

So don't risk it Dejan, book your flight with JU instead.

Read the comment at 09.23.

Anon 10:08 no idea... What I keep hearing is that YU-API and YU-APJ are horrible pieces of metal and that they should be replaced. That does not mean they will be replaced...

Once I get more info I`ll post it here.

Rijeka will be operated in the afternoons
https://www.exyuaviation.com/p/air-serbia-belgrade-rjeka.html

lesson learned

Odlican povratak Er Srbije na nove destinacije i znacajno uvecanje letova na pet - sest starih u ovoj sezoni. Ovakav trend se uklapa u strategiju VINCI Airports. Ipak Nacionalnom prevoziocu nedostaje veoma ozbiljan investitor. Veci broj regionalnih aviona, umanjenje broja zaposlenih. Agresivnija komercijalna sluzba... Jednom recju privatizacija. Za veci broj ljudi ovo izgleda ''svetogrdje''. Ipak dosadasnje poslovanje Er Srbije pokazuje da zbog nedovoljne flote, prekobrojnog broja zaposljenih u odnosu na broj sedista flote, sezonskih devijacija... Bez promena nema bolitka. Vreme uzimanja od poreskih obaveznika i nosenja zastave na repu i u Srbiji se uvidelo da nije dovoljno. Ipak sezonska poboljsanja samo sezonu prave uspesniju. Vlade Srbije ocigledno od ove godine agendu civilne avijaciju i infrastrukturu postavlja shodno razvoju, turizmu, investicijama i buducnosti komunikacije Srbije sa svetom. Er Srbiji reorganizacijom biznisa i odgovornosti tek zapocinju. Poceli su sa dobijanjem imena svoje drzave Srbije. To jeste dobar pocetak i uslov da su poslovnost i odgovornost temelj da krila bogate Srbiju. A ne da joj zavlace ruke u dzep poreznika...
Sa nadom za razvoj kompanije Air Serbia ostajte u dobru.
U izcekivanju preksutrasnje prezentacije plana, mape razvoja Beogradskog aerodroma od strane VINCI Airports, veliki pozdrav.
Kraljevo // Sydney.
Radovan,

SOF has direct flights to MAD and BCN on FR, W6 and FB, I doubt anyone would be flying that route via BEG. JFK on the other hand is a great opportunity as tickets ex SOF are not that cheap.

So how many total flight in a week will JU be doing?

Croatia flight are scheduled to catch the waves for connex pasengers.

Like a lot!

Brvo Srbija!

This site wrote back in Dec about JU planning to expand to North America, Asia and Europe. We got Europe and Africa announcements so far. Are Asia and North America next?

Low fares + low LF is never going to work. Same as transatlantic at 150 USD/person, if you have almost no business class seats, which generally make the majority of revenue on longhaul flights.

Exactly. Nobody will take a night flight to MAD/BCN via BEG, when they can take direct W6/FR flight for a fraction of a JU ticket price.

Lease prices are subject to market. Would JU without EY be able to even afford an A330? Probably not, so whatever price they agreed upon at that time was realistic.

It's like getting a mortgage if you are broke vs if you have 10 houses already. Who do you think is going to get a better deal?

There were some rumours that with arrival of new A330 JU will be flying 3 times weekly to YYZ and 2 times weekly to PEK

I truly wonder how they intend to fill planes to MAD, HEL and KRR

What a great year for Serbian aviation. From the national carrier to the airports. Bravo indeed. Full steam ahead!

@Anon at 14:51

Correct, and there is more to the lease deal than just a price. I remember reports in early 2016 (when Air Serbia was getting ready to launch JFK) about other support Etihad is providing to get that route off the ground, including crew training at AUH and FCO, painting and reconfiguring A330 at AUH, ongoing maintenance, additional backup with Etihad equipment when YU-ARA A330 is out of service (as is right now: BEG-JFK service is operated by Etihad plane while ARA is undergoing maintenance in AUH) etc. When you have only one A330, that overall "we got your back" from EY is more important than just getting rock bottom lease rate on the market. But haters don't have smarts to understand that.

hahah puno parom napred!

Belgrade is getting, without Air Serbia, around 40 weekly rotations next summer season and together with Air Serbia it will be between 65 and 70 new weekly rotations!
And almost all of them are legacy carriers!
What a great result for Belgrade Airport and Air Serbia!

True, but it was long long time ago, during ex-yu times :) If I remember well, JAT (not Jat Airways, but Yugoslav Airlines) used to operate : -2-4-6- BEG-ZAG-CPH-ARN B727
-- --5-- BEG-ZAG-CPH-GOT DC-9
------ 7 BEG-ZAG-GOT-ARN B727
And during those times SAS also operated : 1-3-567 BEG-ZAG-CPH DC-9

Jat Airways did it as well later on, I think these Nordic triangles operated until the very end.

The same way they fill SKG, BEY, LCA... that is with transfers. JU will destroy OS in KRR because BEG is way more to the south so there is no need to overfly Crimea. OS has to fly much more to the south making the flight on the Embraer much longer. Ouch.

Yes, truly impressive really. I wonder if LO and U2 might add a few more flights before summer.

Red Wings operated 3 weekly flights last summer if I am not wrong, it will be 4 this year. They are also changing their schedule.

DME-BEG 16.10-18.00
BEG-DME 19.00-22.50

It's not a bad schedule especially since SU is moving its own evening flight to 20.20. Red Wings will have the most convenient evening departure out of Belgrade.

Funny how there is no direct competition on BEG-MOW.

Departures from BEG at:

00.45 SU
06.35 JU
13.10 SU
17.05 JU
19.00 WZ
20.20 SU
23.40 JU

34 weekly flights.

^^^

Speaking of AYT, I wonder if it is worth JU making it a seasonal destination rather than just keeping it charter. That is, block a set amount of seats requested by agencies and selling excess capacity.

Regarding API and APJ, there was rumours that they would be replaced by ex Rossiya A319's, one being reported as EI-EZD however that ended up going to RJ and is re-registered JY-AYY. Another rumour was that an ATR (VT-JCZ) that arrived from 9W in BEG last week was probably for JU however that flew out to Denmark a few days ago.

The lease rate for YU-ARA seems to be industry average. As of April 2018, lease rates for an A332 seem to be between 190-680.000$USD per month.

https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1399391

JFK seems to be doing ok for JU. They seem to be making money May-September since they're boosting it a second season to 6 pw. Another 1-2 A330's might be good for JU. EY is bringing out their A330's from their fleet that are around YU-ARA's age.

DEL could easily fit into connecting the European and North American banks:

BEG DEL 1315 0045
DEL BEG 0215 0530


YYZ should be slightly shorter than JFK. China (PVG) is something that would utilize the A330 almost 24h. Boost JFK to daily in peak season and 3-5 pw in the winter. Add in the possibility for a charter flight between rotations (AYT for example). Additional long haul destinations could help the seasonality of the A330 fleet.

Pre bih rekao 45 letova za Moskvu nedeljno. 21 SU, 21 JU i 3 leta WZ.