Air Serbia cancels hundreds of flights

Air Serbia has cancelled almost 300 flights since Monday through to May 25 as the airline deals with an unprecedented decline in demand resulting from the coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak. Under the orders of the Serbian government, the carrier has been forced to suspend all of its operations to two key markets - Italy and Switzerland, from which the bulk of the cancellations come from. Furthermore, the airline has suspended services to Beirut until early June. Other destinations to have sustained select flight cancellations include Thessaloniki, Prague, Helsinki, Ljubljana, Cairo, Tel Aviv, Sofia, Bucharest and Kiev, although more are expected. It is unclear at this point whether the United States’ decision to temporarily ban arrivals from Schengen Zone countries will impact on the carrier’s New York route. So far, it has cancelled one return service between Belgrade and New York, in mid-April.

Late last week, the airline acknowledged it was experiencing a slowdown in bookings as a result of Covid-19. “Somewhat lower demand has been recorded for March and April, similar to other airlines. Air Serbia will continue adjusting its capacities based on demand and new circumstances on the market, following the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and national authorities, while the safety of our passengers and crew members remain our utmost priority”, the company said. At the same time, the Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency said it had registered a 10% decline in overflights between March 1 and 10 when compared to last year, following record figures in January and February.

Thousands of flights have been cancelled worldwide as airlines struggle to cope with a slump in demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Ryanair will stop services to and from Italy from Friday until April 8. Norwegian Air Shuttle has also said it will cut about 3.000 flights in the next three months, about 15% of its capacity, while the Lufthansa Group has cancelled a total of 23.000 services during April alone. Alan Joyce, Qantas’ Chief Executive Officer, said, “I think this will be a survival of the fittest”, as the Australian carrier outlined drastic cost cutting measures that include suspending almost a quarter of all international flights, asking staff to take unpaid leave and sacrificing his own salary for the next three months. “We know we can ride this out but not all airlines around the world will”, Mr Joyce said.

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