Competition between Wizz Air, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Air Serbia is heating up over the Serbia - Norway market just days before the three carriers begin progressively linking the two countries. It all began two weeks ago, when Wizz Air announced its major network and capacity expansion from Belgrade would include two weekly services to Sandefjord Airport from mid-July, to fill the void left by Norwegian Air Shuttle which suspended operations between Oslo’s main airport – Gardermoen - and the Serbian capital due to the coronavirus pandemic. Just a day later, Norwegian shortlisted Belgrade as part of its new limited network of destinations, to resume this Saturday, albeit at a reduced volume of one flight per week. This was followed by Air Serbia, which announced it too was launching two weekly flights to Gardermoen Airport in mid-July. The three airlines have since continued trying to one-up each other, with Wizz Air rescheduling its service from Belgrade to Sandefjord, which is 120 kilometres from Oslo, in order to operate on exactly the same days as Air Serbia’s Norway service. Not to be outdone, Norwegian Air Shuttle has since scheduled four weekly flights from its Oslo hub to the Serbian capital from the start of the 2020/2021 winter season in late October.

Last year a total of 50.000 two-way point to point passengers flew between Belgrade and Oslo. In addition, a further 7.000 travellers flew indirectly between the two cities. Air Serbia is hoping to attract transfer passengers on its flights from Oslo, with services to Sarajevo, Tivat, Tirana, Podgorica, Skopje, Bucharest, Sofia and Thessaloniki timed to connect onto operations from the Norwegian capital. Collectively, the eight cities saw around 95.000 passengers to/from Oslo last year.

By mid-July, there will be a total of 934 weekly seats available each way between Belgrade, Oslo and Sandefjord. Wizz Air will offer 460 one-way seats per week on its Airbus A321 aircraft, Air Serbia will have a capacity of 288 one-way seats on board its Airbus A319 jet, while Norwegian Air Shuttle will offer  186 one-way seats on its Boeing 737-800 aircraft. All three airlines have previously operated these flights. Norwegian Air Shuttle launched the Oslo - Belgrade route in 2007 and maintained the service until the start of the coronavirus crisis in March. In 2008, Air Serbia’s predecessor, Jat Airways, launched short-lived operations between the two capital cities. In 2014, Wizz Air commenced operations between Sandefjord and Belgrade, but the service lasted just five months before it was terminated.