Air Serbia opens second base


Air Serbia will open its second base in Niš today, after winning a tender, valued at five million euros per year, to carry out scheduled air services declared to be of public interest from the south-east Serbian city. The carrier will inaugurate flights to Nuremberg this evening with an Airbus A319 aircraft, which will be stationed at Constantine the Great Airport. It will be followed by the introduction of services to Bologna, Tivat and Hanover tomorrow, Gothenburg and Hahn on July 17, as well as Ljubljana, Budapest, Friedrichshafen, Salzburg, Rome and Baden Baden between August 1 and 3. The development marks an end to Air Serbia's single base model. Furthermore, it will see the carrier serve Ljubljana, Rome and Tivat from both Belgrade and Niš. The subsidised flights will also result in the airline's return to Budapest after four years and Gothenbrug following a six-year hiatus. The new destinations will see the Serbian carrier serve a record ten airports in Germany, as well as four in Italy and two in Austria.

Tivat has so far proven to be the most popular destination amongst travellers from Niš, with the route to be served three times per week during the summer. In a statement, Air Serbia said, "Our aim is to enable the citizens of Niš to fly under the most favourable possible conditions to these twelve destinations on offer. The flights will be performed using an Airbus A319 aircraft in Air Serbia’s livery. We will provide Serbian hospitality to our passengers at the best possible prices". The new services from Niš top off a significant summer expansion for the airline, which has seen it add a total of 21 new routes. Air Serbia's General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Jiri Marek, said, "We are very pleased to be connecting Niš to Nuremberg, a new destination in Germany and the first that we will serve from the south of Serbia. With this flight today, Niš Constantine the Great Airport is officially becoming a hub for our aircraft alongside the Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. We are certain that better connections to Germany will contribute to the strengthening of commercial activities and tourism between our two countries".


In another first for Air Serbia, its Niš flights will mark the launch of operations to a number of secondary airports, which are primarily served by budget carriers. However, Niš Airport has said the twelve routes are not aimed against low cost carriers Wizz Air and Ryanair that have been serving the city for several years. "These low cost airlines won't be chased out. Traffic from Niš will continue to develop and there will be more demand and the need for more carriers", Niš Airport said. It added, “Southern Serbia’s connectivity will be significantly improved with these new routes and we are certain planes will be full on all services, considering the excellent conditions offered by the airline”. Constantine the Great Airport saw a second consecutive month of growth in June by handling 29.832 passengers, representing an increase of 2.7%. During the first half of the year the number of travellers declined 4.9% to 165.658.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    So seems they didn’t schedule TIV three times per week by accident if it’s the most popular route.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      Ljubljana is also shaping out to be very good.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:09

      No surprise. Only LJU and TIV make sense

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:33

      Budapest is selling worst of all.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:34

      ^ you actually have no clue.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:16

      Under 50% loads for the middle of July is not good at all.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:14

      Actually i do. Budapest is the worst performing route so far. Followed by Salzburg and LJU.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:17

      Interesting how you only know the worst performing. For example yesterday on TV, Nis Airport said Ljubljana was performing very well. But I guess we should believe you.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous14:49

      The best performing are Tivat and the German destinations. There's no secret about it.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous19:16

      As I learned three weeks ago they had flights to/from Budapest without single seat sold on some dates in coming weeks. There was a bit of panic because of that in JU but hopefully they managed to sell some. I gave a friendly advise to market South Serbia in Budapest. Hopefully they did something.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous20:05

      BUD is by far worst performing route... Let's wait and see as it materializes

      Delete
    11. Anonymous22:24

      Would Athens bring better load factors than BUD?

      Delete
    12. Anonymous23:36

      Of course. I don't know who was the idiot behind that route.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    Flights are soo cheap still. Anyone knows the loads of the flight?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      Nis Airport said yesterday that some flights have nlbeen solf out.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:05

      35€ in the hight of the season for the same day departure is a good price.

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

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    Bravo JU,
    Bravo INI,
    Bravo tax payers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      Someone was bound to get the tax money, might as well give it to a local company.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:16

      Agree, they should give more for flights such as BEG-ORD, BEG-YUL, BEG-YYZ, BEG-PEK.
      Far more useful than INI-FDH or HHN.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:30

      Or not waste the tax money in the first place?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:31

      Do you think Wizz Air's Skopje flights are also a waste of tax payers money?

      Delete
    5. non 9.03 / 9.30

      Feel free to stop paying your taxes if you feel the state is not spending them according to your personal preferences.

      Feel free to start a career in tax authority and become the head of Serbian treasury, so that the state can spend the taxes it collects according to your personal preference.

      Feel free to do anything that doesn't go in the textbook of internet trolling.

      Delete
    6. Ti si I dalje toliki smor sa tim porezom i koliko ti daješ para AS. Kao da zarađuješ milione eura . Trebaju da te svi ignorišu na ovom sajtu. Ja lični mislim da je vlada uložila velike napore i razvoj južne Srbije i da je ovo veoma dobar poduhvat u koje ulažu pare.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:20

      Nor the tax authority nor the treasury decide on how the tax money is spent, but the government does.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:03

    New era in ex YU aviation begins. Congratulations to Serbia for this impressive feat!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:06

    We will see huge delays at BEG due to insufficient fleet to support the network. 1 aircraft less at an already tight schedule. They should have prepared better, but seems none expected the neo order cancellation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      Stop hating, ANK returned to service and AND is coming back on the 22nd.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:13

      I am not hating. I even take my family to vacation based on a JU scheduled flight, so I have to be worried since recent delays were huge and happened too often. The fleet is overstretched and its a fact!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:21

      Most delays are caused because of airport and airspace restrictions. For example AMS delays them by 30 minutes and that disrupts the whole regional network on the way back. What can JU do? Fly against the ATC instructions?

      Delete
    4. It is quite clear that JU has a problem to cover all flights. It is quite surprising as they have sufficient number of aircrafts. They are either getting out of service more than usual or somebody didn't plan regular maintenance properly and they have planes out in hangars the middle of summer.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous20:21

      MM I already explained to you yesterday why there are issues with delays. I can't remember when was the lst time JU cancelled a flight or linked it to another one. Their delays are because of ATC restrictions.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous21:05

      Look at foreign airlines in BEG today. Evening LX flight cancelled, A3 A321 to ATH delayed by 2 hours, U2 A320 from GVA 01.50 late, TK A321 to IST one hour late...

      Give JU a break.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:07

    Also as a first for JU - 'guests' are NOT able to earn Etihad Guest miles on flights to/from INI.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      Not really. You can't earn miles on lowest fare from BEG either.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:25

      Well, I've just checked, all flies from Nis, regardless of fare, are without miles/tiers.

      This quote is from AirSerbia FF page:
      -Miles are acquired on flights where Air Serbia is both operational and marketing carrier, and on flights operated by Air Serbia with Etihad Airways as marketing carrier (and vice versa). Not applicable for flights from/to Niš

      Also, I see some other changes, like change of date not possible even with fee on Economy Standard, snacks not listed in any of fares.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:32

      Ok didn't know it was for all fares. Don't get why they did this.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:37

      This is how you create PR mess.
      It is completely unbelievable, they had created lot of bad PR when they started cost saving mode few years ago, and still didn't recover fully. Now they are doing it again.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:43

      I doubt 98% of passengers will be concerned with frequent flyer points.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:55

      @Anon 9:43
      It's not only that, read what is written here, some other things are also different.
      In addition to that, even if you right, it is stupid decision. Because, if 98% will not care about this, there is no reason to cancel it.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:43

      Well from INI JU is a LCC.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous22:52

      They shold've rebranded then. AirSerbiaSouth or something.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:07

    Congratulations and good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:11

    They purposely chose these routes from Nis to enable LCCs to launch them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      LCCs could have applied for the tender if they wanted to. They didn’t.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:18

      Probably because the tender was structured in a way that not only would forbid them from applying but would also limit their potential of increasing service to the Serbian market.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:22

      It was perfect for Wizz Air but they didn't want to apply so JU had to.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:26

      Wizz management must have been blind not to see the perfection.
      Thankfully ASL management is much smarter and jumped at the chance!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:54

      LCCs - this is plural. Which LCC other than Wizz Air was meeting the requirements at the time the tender was published?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:14

      Wizz is preoccupied with VIE where they are engaged in a bloody war with other LCCs. They don't have the planes for INI.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:01

      They would had needed only one plane for the INI operation. And they have massive orders for NEOs.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:14

    When did Jat have it's last scheduled flight from Nis?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:15

    Next up Banja Luka base :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:15

      Kraljevo more likely.

      Delete
    2. As long as Republika Srpska government pays for it fine

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:16

    Just wonder how long this adventure will last?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      It’s a five year contract.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:54

      We will see if they stick it out.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:13

      Those 5 million will probably be up after two years considering the prices and the costs associated with the ops.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:16

    JU at 10 airports in Germany!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:19

      As more and more people enigrate to Germany, the more flights there will be.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:53

      Correction, emigrate

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:30

    What contributed to growth in June? The number of flights is more or less the same as last year.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:39

    Srecno AS. Izgleda da prodaja karata ide dobro,pa mozda i nece biti potrebno svih 5ml evra subvencije.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:52

      Na osnovu cega to zakljucujes?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:56

      Na osnovu rezervacionog sistema. Kada je pocela prodaja karata cene su bile oko 40-50 evra(povratna) a sada su na mnogim letovima oko 90-100e

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:07

      Ok, hvala

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:08

      Taj novac je njihov u svakom slucaju. Oni ce dobiti kompletan novac predvidjen subvencijom kako god da okrenes bila prodaja dobra ili ne.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:10

      Zasto bi im davali novac za liniju koja je profitabilna?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous14:21

      Koliko ja znam iznos subvencije je fiksan i ne zavisi od profitabilnosti linije. S obzirom na cene karata cak i ako LF bude jako visok (90% ili vise) bez subvencije te linije ce tesko biti profitabilne posebno u zimskom periodu.

      Delete
    7. Zato sto je ovo sema za generalno subvencionisanje JU. Troskovi jednog aviona i pet posada svakako nisu 5 mil eur godisnje.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous20:15

      MM
      To je onda skroz OK

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:44

    To me this route network is ok... Mix of primary and secondary airports. Wonder how FCO will perform.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:22

      Don't know why they didn't make codeshare with Alitalia on Nis-FCO and Nis-Bologna flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:26

      Why would they have a CS when whey are selling tickets for 70 euros. These flights are operating at a loss but loss is covered through subsidies. Why would they give any money to Alitalia for selling a few seats.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:13

      FCO might only work for connecting passengers. They need to partner with AZ and DL on that.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:47

    Do they sell business class on these flights?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:51

      No.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:58

      They don't because if they did they would have to open a catering unit in Nis and they would have to open a business class lounge. Not worth it for the few business class passengers they would get.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous09:52

    According to Nis Airport site it seems that tomorrow will be two flights to Tivat

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:56

      Wow that's impressive, especially because it's on A319s.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:21

      I've heard a rumour that in winter they will substitute Tivat with Podgorica. Not sure if it's true.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:24

      To clarify, I mean that in summer they would serve Tivat, while in winter they would serve Podgorica.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:29

      This would be nice ! They also should substitute bad performing routes with new ones .

      Delete
  18. Anonymous10:03

    According to the Fly from Nis FB page, there are still many negative comments and people for some reason are not happy with the current situation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:20

      What are they negative about? If you handed people in Serbia free tickets they would still find a reason to bitch and moan.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:47

      Here are some examples from their FB account:

      Aleksandar Mitic Koje promo cene?! Wizz i Rayan jeftiniji bez subvencije no ovi lopovi sa calmom.

      Daliborka Mehmedović Ali nema vise slobodnih termina. Sve je unapred prebukirano.

      Milos Bogojevic Koje promotivne cene karta Nis Tivat 13000 hiljada u jednom pravcu samo rucni prtljag jel su to te promotivne cene vec od 15e?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:18

      No one is forced to fly. JU is not a charity organization.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:47

      I really don't understand people who constantly complain about something. Promotional prices are for limited number of seats and even with subvention airline can't sell all seats at promotional price because they will make a loss that way.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:04

      For return flight in the second part of August is still possible to buy a return ticket for around 8000 din. This guy from the comment wan't to buy ticket for next week on obviously already almost sold out flights and complain about the price?!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous13:12

      It seems that the southerners are not well informed by the airline itself and don't really trust JU from what I see:

      Milan Drnozg Samo da nisu agencije pokupovale sva ta sedišta. Ceo avion je svaki četvrtak i petak rasprodat za naredna tri meseca. Te jeftine karte niko neće videti .

      Marko Spalevic Kakve laži . Kako vas nije sramota da postujete takve gluposti . I kakav je ovo aviončić , nesto bas zastarelo kako mi se čini . Na sve ste stavili monopolj djubrad lopovska ... a čak ste i to sve aero prodali ... debili ...

      Vesela Tana #AirSerbia najveci prevaranti i hostapleri koji postoje! Izbegavajte ih ljudi kako god mozete u sirokom luku, nazalost to je moja pouka od letenja sa njima.

      Dejan Sklizovic Ne, hvala, makar mi plaćali da letim, s vama nikad.

      ...............
      It seems they lost their trust and just speak good things about FR and W6 or flying from SOF.
      Is this why the prices are still that low in peak season? Why are they not trusting JU if they know they have a hub in BEG?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous14:15

      Само слога Србина спасава.

      There is a reason why that saying exists.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous10:03

    YU-APD is going to INI today and doing the flight to Nuremberg.

    Today's loads:

    INI - NUE - 66
    NUE- INI - 82

    LF 51.4%

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:13

      Will they have any maintenance in Nis. What happens if the plane has a technical problem?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:19

      Same way Wizz Air fixes technicsl issues at bases such as BEG. They have an on call technician.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:46

      Most of the line maintenance can be done outside of hangar. Kind of like regular maintenance of the car, changing oil and tyres... You don't need a full workshop to do it.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous13:40

      This morning:

      INI-HAJ 60/144
      HAJ-INI 134/144


      I guess Wizz will feel this route since they operate BEG-HAJ!

      Delete
  20. Anonymous10:24

    INI numbers will explode this month.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous10:28

    It will be difficult to develop this airport, nonetheless lets wait and see how things develop. Its a very ambitious plan, only in 2 to 3 years will we be able to determine if this move actually worked out, nevertheless congratulations and good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:28

    If subsidies were given to Wizz Air comments would have been "well done", "wow", "magnificent".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:16

      W6 is notorious for their tiny cabin baggage allowance + brutally ovepricing checked luggage. Aop of all, if you buy ticket not much in advance, it may cost you brutally high. Not to mention that for example from Belgrade to Stockholm I rather choose to fly JU for 160 EUR o/w than 80 EUR for W6 to Skavsta which is actually 130 km away and requires use of this tiny luggage. If I check a bag it would make the price greater than with JU.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:35

    " Air Serbia's General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Jiri Marek, said "

    First time I hear of this guy at JU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:37

      He used to be at Alitalia.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:48

      Seems like half of Air Serbia's senior management used to be at Alitalia.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:03

      That is bad news for JU.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:06

      Interesting career - Malev/Czech/LOT/Alitalia...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:23

      Same as the CEO - both from Alitalia because Etihad didn't want either of them back. Not sure whatever happened to Etihad's strategy of developing Serbian talent during their 5 year management of the company. Seems like there are more non-Serbs in management positions today than their was in the earlier period of Etihad's management contract

      Delete
    6. Anonymous15:40

      What's interesting here is that this actual role of GM Commercial and Strategy has never previously existed - even during Jat Airways times. The top commercial role in the company has always been the Commercial Director position. They brought back a former Jat employee into this role, realised that she was well short of the mark and rather than get rid of her - as would happen in any other company - they invent a new role to bring in a foreigner over her and then still keep her there instead of get rid of her.

      WTF ??

      Delete
    7. Anonymous20:55

      This guy was never direct Etihad employee, so he couldn't "go back".
      He was hired from LOT for Alitalia and obviously stayed there after Etihad was gone.
      Additionally, it looks he was in charge of business segment that doing good job.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:37

    What sort of growth cam were expect at Nis Airport this year with all these new routes?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous11:12

    Second base, baby! Looking good. Let's have some fun before we move on to the third base!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:19

      Oh yeah, just keep on doing this, don"t stop now. Things will really hit the spot once we get to the third base!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:55

      Looking forward to the third base ;)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:03

      Getting to the third base has always been a goal of mine. My imagination is going wild with possibilities once we get there.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous11:38

    Why always the same destiantions: why not something like Nis - Lviv for example?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:39

      Or Nis - Odessa summer only?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:40

      What same destinations? None of these are operated from Nis.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous13:30

    Tomorrow`s flights from BEG and INI land at TIV with 10 minutes apart.

    BEG - TIV 147-4
    TIV - BEG 124

    INI - TIV 136
    TIV - INI 90

    Great job JU!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23:00

      And they were not willing to fly INI-TIV even with an ATR all those years??

      Delete
  28. I was curious about the prices (excluding luggage) from INI to the new destinations. Here are some examples, all of which are round-trip:

    INI-BUD RT in mid August - 49€ - late night arrival to INI yet you can spend the whole day in BUD
    INI-LJU RT in mid August - 60€
    INI-TIV in mid August - ranging from 90€ to 108€ - seems to be doing well
    INI-SGZ RT first week of Sept - 59€
    INI-FCO RT first week of Sept - 71€
    INI-HHN RT mid Sept - 36€ <-- Tricky destination with various daily flights from BEG to FRA.

    Really low fares! On many dates, you can easily grab a seat for 15€. I am wondering how those routes will perform in winter.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous17:40

    Overall this is a positive development for Serbian aviation and for the South. Hopefully this plan materializes and survives! Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous18:30

    YU-APD slece u Nis!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And Boeing is operating scheduled flight beg-txl. This summer will be a big challenge for asl.

      Delete
  31. Anonymous21:19

    I am not against subsidies for these flights but there should be made alternative arrangements if some destinations are not succesfull.
    Otherwise the whole thing will blow up very soon ..

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous14:58

    JU is building an empire.

    ReplyDelete

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