Air Serbia will restore operations to the Russian and Israeli markets at the start of August as its number of operated flights increased by 100% over the weekend. The carrier has tentatively scheduled the resumption of daily services to Moscow and two weekly flights to St Petersburg starting August 1, while three weekly operations to Krasnodar will be reinstated on August 3. Russia’s aviation authority last week said it had extended its ban on international flights until August 1 due to the pandemic, however, in the past few days, Russian health officials have recommended the resumption of international services at an earlier date.
Operations to Tel Aviv are scheduled to resume on August 3 and run three times per week. Israel plans to lift a ban on international arrivals from August 1. Changes remain possible. Air Serbia has been rebuilding its network in the past few months, with the carrier recently returning to the Spanish market and resuming seasonal operations to Nice on the French riviera. This week will also see the Serbian carrier introduce a new service to Oslo, on July 16, while it is also increasing frequencies on its flagship route to New York from three to four weekly flights. The Serbian carrier has, at this point, confirmed the launch of its new seasonal service between Kraljevo and Thessaloniki on August 1. Flights were initially due to commence in late March.
Over this past weekend, Air Serbia was among the forty busiest carriers in Europe based on the number of operated flights when compared to the last weekend in June. However, the base number of operated flights was low. The list, compiled by Eurocontol, was headed by Ryanair, followed by Turkish Airlines, Wizz Air, easyJet and Lufthansa. Air Serbia positioned itself just behind Aegean Airlines and Brussels Airlines but ahead of Belavia and Emirates. Air Serbia has recently also reopened its premium lounge at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport which was shut on March 18 due to a slump in demand and usage resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. As the airline restores more services, lounge access is provided to Air Serbia’s and Etihad Airways’ business class passengers, Etihad Guest platinum and gold members, as well as all travellers who purchase a lounge pass online, at the airport or through the airline’s contact centre or website.
The share of Air Serbia flight tickets sold online in June increased to 34% of the overall number of tickets sold, by 9% year-on-year. It is estimated that due to the coronavirus pandemic and the importance of maintaining social distancing, a change in passenger habits occurred, therefore, instead of every fifth, now one in three Air Serbia passengers purchased their ticket online. “The growth trend when it comes to online sales is not surprising at all, considering that it is a method of shopping that is available 24/7 and is completely contactless and safe, which is a major advantage during the coronavirus pandemic. Air Serbia is quickly innovating and digitalising its operations, aiming to improve the efficiency and quality of service. It is my pleasure that I can announce a nice surprise for our passengers during this week already, specifically in the domain of digitalisation”, Air Serbia’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Jiri Marek, said.
Departing Belgrade
| Destination | Resumption date |
|---|---|
| Frankfurt, Zurich | May 21 |
| Vienna, London | May 24 |
| Ljubljana | May 29 |
| Paris, Amsterdam | May 31 |
| Sarajevo | June 4 |
| Banja Luka | June 5 |
| New York | June 6 |
| Sofia, Tirana, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Copenhagen, Athens, Prague, Bucharest, Istanbul | June 15 |
| Zagreb, Brussels, Berlin | June 16 |
| Stockholm | June 17 |
| Split | June 28 |
| Milan, Zagreb | July 01 |
| Thessaloniki, Rome | July 02 |
| Venice, Larnaca, Dubrovnik | July 03 |
| Madrid, Barcelona | July 11 |
| Nice | July 12 |
| Skopje | July 14 |
| Oslo | July 16 |
| Moscow, St Peteresburg, Zadar, Pula | August 01 |
| Krasnodar, Tel Aviv | August 03 |
Departing Niš
| Destination | Resumption date |
|---|---|
| Hahn, Nuremberg | June 16 |
| Salzburg | July 01 |
| Hanover | July 02 |
| Baden Baden, Friedrichshafen, Gothenburg | August 01 |
| Bologna | August 03 |
| Ljubljana | August 04 |
Departing Kraljevo
| Destination | Resumption date |
|---|---|
| Vienna | June 30 |
| Thessaloniki | August 01 |
Comments
Maybe time to keep quiet and just hope for the best since global depression is just about to start?
Shocking to see these delusions of grandeour!
"while three weekly operations to Krasnodar will be reinstated on August 3."
Hahaha, you are so funny!
If you are Silver Member of EY FF and fly on EY flight you can have access to lounge and you have right to have one 1 piece of check in luggage free of charge.
All these benefits have been anulled if you fly on JU flight. It seems that only benefit of being Silver member comparing to the regular membership (so called Bronze card) is check-in prirority. There is no even boarding priority.
They could / should change it in order to attract passengers.
+1000
Cause you could buy a ticket and then not be allowed to fly.
Anybody who doesn't wish this planet to become uninhabitable in the future?
of it started YYZ right away as those low fees are in contract for the next 5 yrs
+1
Also complete ban for Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Belarus, Montenegro, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Portugal, Sweden and Romania.
People from Serbia, US, UK, Norway, Russia would have to go to 14 day quarantine.
So things are getting worse for the tourism and airline sectors.
Source: www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
I don't expect them to be very loose and relaxed with whom they allow to travel and they will try to protect their populations.
So better to book a ticket and a hotel really close to your departure dates to make sure you do not get banned from traveling there.
Just my2cents
Unlike QR, JU doesnt have large numbers of widebodies and surplus crew to venture out in new long haul routes. YU-ARA between JFK rotations is also operating cargo flights, so that capacity isnt available.
The other issue is JU's finances were never good to begin with, along with their expensive aircraft leases and now issues with restablishing its short haul network that is further eating into its finances. I also assume that JU will have losses in refunding tickets to the planned new destinations that wont launch this year amongst others.
Launching and adding long haul is expensive during best of times. There are only a handful of opportunites in a lifetime like the one expected during the recovery phase in the months ahead when competition is weak and shrinking, lease rates are low, airport incetives/slot availability is high, A-1 is affordable, demand is slowly coming back and governments are willing to sign the blank check. This is a byers market.
If they miss this opportunity, people in 2025 will look back and say: what were thinking back then? Now it's impossible to launch a new long haul route!