Air Serbia will be increasing its frequencies on flights to Germany starting in August, outstripping its volume of operations prior to the pandemic as confidence in air travel begins to return and competitors take time in resuming services. Starting August 1, the Serbian carrier will maintain ten weekly flights to Frankfurt until the end of the summer season, up from last year’s daily service. The airline has also managed to secure more favourable slots at Germany’s busiest airport. It comes as Lufthansa is yet to schedule any flights between Frankfurt and the Serbian capital before the start of the 2020/2021 winter season in October. Similarly, Air Serbia will serve Berlin ten times per week, up from seven weekly services during the summer of 2019. easyJet does not plan to resume the route before September 2.
Starting this June, Air Serbia will also increase its operations to Switzerland, wiith two daily flights to Zurich, increasing to three daily in mid-summer. Air company's CEO, Duncan Naysmith, said, "We continue to carefully monitor the situation and proactively adjust our traffic to demand. Destinations in Switzerland and Germany are extremely important for us, primarily because of the large number of Serbian citizens who live and work in those countries, but also for business people and tourists. We are closely monitoring developments regarding the lifting or extension of travel restrictions to all destinations we fly to, and we will further adjust our flight schedule in accordance with the changes". Overall demand for air travel is still nowhere near the same levels as prior to the start of the pandemic, however, the Serbian carrier has also increased frequencies on several existing services earlier than originally planned.
Since resuming operations on May 21, Air Serbia has reinstated flights to ten cities, with a further fifteen to be launched next week. A handful of destinations originally planned to resume during the second half of the month have been moved for July including Rome, Milan, Venice, Nice, Barcelona, Kiev and Tel Aviv. Germany is one of the carrier’s biggest markets, with the airline serving ten cities in the country from Belgrade and Niš.
You snooze, you lose. Let's see what Lufty does, JU's timetable is pretty good and their FRA-BEG flights are better timed in the afternoon as they arrive around 22.00 unlike LH's which are around midnight.
ReplyDeleteW6 are quietly resuming operations to HHN, so let's wait and see. You might see BEG-HHN anytime soon....
DeleteMaybe even FRA considering Wizz is looking to take Lufthansa slots.
DeleteAre the INI - HHN popular?. If it isn't they could have a try at BEG with it.
DeleteHopefully they can get slots that allow for actually accessing a gate in FRA and other airports. I really hate it when they make passengers from BEG and other Ex-Yu airports to take the bus from the plane to the airport. Feels a little degrading and wastes a lot of time when using transfers.
DeleteIt's good that they are using the opportunity of there being less competition but it is bad that there is less competition.
ReplyDeleteI really do think that JU has a lot of potential before Lufthansa comes to BEG.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the new slots?
ReplyDelete07.00 departure in stead of 07.30 which they could only get in winter, not summer.
DeleteWhy is it better?
DeleteWell for starters now they can have morning flights in summer and in such a way offer convenient, two-way, connections to destinations that are only served at night like Beirut (when it comes back), Larnaca, Krasnodar... On top of that, with a 07.00 departure they can offer connections to ATH which leaves BEG at 12.20.
DeleteWill they be able to keep these slots once everything returns to normal?
DeleteYes, they got these slots because airlines started cancelling flights to FRA.
DeleteWow this is actually great great as it shows that JU is not sleeping. I still think it's a shame they didn't launch BEG-SZG before Wizz did. Now it's too late.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like they have retimed Nis-Salzburg to compete against Wizz. Starts 1st of July.
DeleteSmart move.
Deletethey better use that rotation for some other destination.
Delete^ ?
DeleteSo basically they're compensating the previously announced new routes that were never materialised with the German additions. W6 style a bit. Not bad.
ReplyDelete10 German cities is just a lot. Probably a huge gasto community by now.
Of course its the gasto community. And I assume they get a few transfers from other ex-Yu markets with big gasto communities.
DeleteIt's not just about gastos anymore, JU has a hub in BEG and they offer a growing list of onward connections. With both FRA and TXL going 10 weekly they will be far more competitive in markets like SKP, TIA, ATH, SKG, IST, KRR...
DeleteIn other words, every 4th JU destination is German - 25% of its network. That's huge.
DeleteHuh? JU flies to about 40 destinations and they only have four in Germany: Berlin, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart and Frankfurt. It's about 10%, not 25%.
Deleteyeh as if ATH and especially IST have no Berlin flights .....
DeleteThey do but you should have learned by now that many people fly based on price, not whether that is a nonstop flight or not.
Deleteexactly and JU is gonna top Ryanair/Easyjet/Pegasus when it comes to prices. Tz Tz
DeleteAnon 09.27 I thought that by now we wouldn't have to discuss such basic things on an aviation portal.
DeleteI fly often BEG-FRA and there was always many people on transfer flights from Greece and Albania
DeleteMy Greek friend lives close to Frankfurt and she told me that when she flies back to Athens you can rarely find a one way ticket without luggage for less than €100 on Aegean. Usually return is 250 to 300 Euros.
DeleteWhat are the entry requirements regarding Corona?
ReplyDeleteIt's surely is not like you can just buy a ticket and fly to Germany.
If you live in Germany (residency), if you have German citizenship or if you work in Germany you can. The majority of people traveling to/from Germany to/from Serbia fit one of the three.
DeleteSo they will have 20 flights just to Berlin and Frankfurt. Plus they fly Hahn, Friedrichshafen, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Hannover, Karlsruhe, Nuremberg....
ReplyDeleteCorrect, that's 25% of their network. Impressive!
DeleteMaybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea for them to start Munich
ReplyDeleteI doubt they could compete against LH.
DeleteThey should have started Salzburg/Innsbruck.
DeleteToo late now with Wizz.
DeleteWizz is only 2 pw so I wouldnt say its too late.
DeleteBut what's the point? Wizz will be significantly cheaper.
DeleteYou mean like they charge 29.000 to BVA without luggage? Wizz might be many things in BEG but cheaper is not one of them.
Delete@ 12,55
DeleteWizz 'being' significantly cheaper still hasnt brought them much success on a fair few routes they competed with JU.
Wizz focuses on O&D while JU would also have the transfer traffic to boost loads. 2 pw isnt that much to begin with.
Good news
ReplyDeleteI simply can't believe LH won't resume FRA-BEG before winter.
ReplyDeleteThey will probably eventually schedule it for August or September.
DeleteThey're a total mess.
Deletelol if they are a mess what are the exyu airlines then?
DeleteLH is about to cut 22,000 jobs
DeleteThat's what I said few days ago and I was convinced at that time it is "only temporary" and that flights will be back in LH system "soon".
DeleteObviously LH continued to decrease flights to BEG. Even MUC is now only one daily.
Well it was something like three weekly a week ago so it means they increased it.
DeleteNo, it was double daily
DeleteLOL. The route was definitely NOT double daily a week ago. Have you heard of this pandemic thing?
DeleteIt was. I was following their flight schedule every day as I have their ticket to BEG.
DeleteNow you can keep looling
It was not scheduled as double daily. I looked at their schedule last week.
DeleteLast week they changed it.
DeleteBefore the change it was double daily (MUC) and in the middle of May there were still direct flights FRA-BEG double daily.
Now only daily MUC remained
I see that from 19.06 LX increases Belgrade to daily. I guess loads are good.
DeleteFrom August Russia reopens for international flights. Do they expect transfer passengers to Germany too?
ReplyDeleteWhere does this info come from about Russia reopening international flights? Sitting in Russia and until now Rossaviatsiya hasn't announced anything on this topic. Everything is nothing more than a wish from many of us.
DeleteThe only thing they have left to launch in Germany is MUC.
ReplyDeleteHas JU ever flown to Munich?
DeleteThey did up until 2008 I think. In 2007 I flew BEG-MUC on YU-ALS and it took us 2 hours and 45 minutes. Hell on earth.
DeleteOr they could try and make Hamburg work.
DeleteBefore crisis they cancelled HAM as it did not work
DeleteGood to see some growth but it's a drop in the ocean.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what is the reason for this decision. Is it because of the lack of Lufthansa and easyjet?
ReplyDeleteI like Lufthansa and I have been flying with them on a regular basis since 2006. Unfortunately the quality of their product has deteriorated while fares have become more expensive. On top of that, their behavior during the bailout negotiations was disgusting and they behaved like a bully. I am happy Air Serbia is finally upping their game and making their life a bit more difficult in Belgrade. I am sure Lufthansa will bring forward their FRA-BEG flights otherwise they risk losing all of their point to point passengers. Let's not forget that until now they had a more convenient schedule on the market.
ReplyDeleteFRA-BEG
LH 11.05-12.55
JU 09.50-11.40
JU was not flying in the morning from FRA whole summer. Only few days weekly in winter
Delete5 star Lufthansa is worst than Air Serbia! Okay NEMJEE whatever you say....
DeleteThere is very little difference between JU and LH short haul product.
Delete5 star Lufthansa recieved their 5th star because of a planned product they were going to launch, contradicting the requirements for that 5 star rating.
DeleteBel Cielo, what exactly makes them a five star airline? Nothing. Their long-haul product is especially bad, IFE outdated with limited selection of films and tv shows, their lounges are mediocre at best and the seats they have onboard are bad. On short-haul flights they are generally ok but medium and long haul is where they fall short of their five star rating.
DeleteYou are more than welcome to prove me wrong, I'd love to hear your opinion on this.
No it's okay NEMJEE, you are right and 20 million people that voted for them in skytrax awards are wrong.
DeleteYou still didn't answer my question though.
DeleteMust agree with Namjee, LH doesn't deserve a 5 star rating and we all know that Skytrax awards can be bought out. They are decent and ok but nothing spectacular to brag about and if something out of the ordinary happens they tend to be even rude.
DeleteThey are clean, cold and safe.
DeleteNo more, no less.
I agree with Namjee as well. Definitely not even a 4* . Very basic and super expensive fares that offer not much . Lots of outdated aircrafts and bad looking uniforms, does not apeal to me .
DeleteLufthansa is reliable and convenient, that's all.
DeleteLH's flight to FRA are/were mainly for transfers. JU'S FRA flight is a terminator flight. You are comparing here two different things
ReplyDeleteSo you are saying that JU doesn't carry transfers on this route? Go on, tell us what else your crystal ball says?
DeleteNo, LH flights to FRA were not mostly transfers. There were transfer passengers but JU had them also via BEG for flights to SVO, SKG, TIA, LCA, BEY etc
DeleteWhat is Air Serbia's largest market?
ReplyDeleteGermany or Switzerland I guess.
DeleteI think BEG to ZRH is the biggest market in all of ex-YU, not just Serbia.
DeleteWould be interesting to know the passenger numbers for last year for example.
DeleteFrom what I remember it was around 325.000 passengers.
DeleteI guess my memory is failing me.
DeleteBEG-ZRH
2019: 418.746
2018: 380.187
2017: 361.524
2016: 359.825
Top five markets in BEG in 2018:
1. ZRH 380.187
2. TGD 269.956
3. IST 261.766
4. SVO 256.277
5. FRA 246.458
Hvala Namjee, verovatno je IST postao broj 2 u 2019. godini jer je JU uspostavila letove za Istanbul. Rast ciriha je impresivan.
DeleteHope it stays this way and they don't change their mind.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad they are using every opportunity they can get at these times.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI'm not sure they will be able to sustain these frequencies without cooperation with Lufthansa.
ReplyDeleteWhy? There is a large Serbian community there, they offer connections in Belgrade and they have a pretty good timetable.
DeleteWhy did they do this only now? Frankfurt has been 7 weekly for years. The current corona bubble and lack of competition won't last forever.
DeletePeople were not sure about many things until now. Not sure Etihad was going to buy Jat (even Purger claimed it would make more sense to get OU), they were not sure JFK was going to happen, they were not sure anyone in TIA or ZAG would fly with them, they were not sure KR would work out, they were not sure... they were not sure ... but here we are today.
DeleteAnon 09.51 read the text more carefully. They couldn't get the slots they wanted in order to boost FRA.
DeleteWhy is anyone surprised? Are you forgetting they were also supposed to boost MXP to 9 weekly and that's not a typical gasto destination. They are obviously getting more and more transfers.
ReplyDeleteMilano is a gasto destination. It's one of Italy's richest cities.
DeleteYes but not enough gastos there for 9 weekly flights.
Deleteincrease JFK and take better slots if needed aswell for LHR
ReplyDeleteWhat is the way to obtain better slots at Heathrow? If i recall well, the slots AirSerbia has are inherited from JAT and can't be changed easily (for free that is)
DeleteRgds,8
You have to buy slots at Heathrow and they are very expensive.
DeleteIs there any point to change the slots in LHR considering that, due to the flight duration, it wouldnt fit into any of the waves?
DeleteThey could just increase the amount of regional flights connecting with it. That way, even JFK gets more regional connections.
Congratulations. Good to see a Balkan carrier thinking progressively, about the future and not stuck in the rut of post-Socialist economic doldrum.
ReplyDeleteAny other routes being increased?
ReplyDeleteConsidering the situation, we should be happy with this
DeleteThere is an additional flight to JFK on Monday
DeleteIt's good to see some growth. I hope that by the start of winter the entire network can be reestablished.
ReplyDeleteGreat news but I do think LH will be back, especially since the European Commission just issued recommendation to reopen EU borders for Western Balkans from 1st of July.
ReplyDelete