Air Serbia had one of the highest average cabin load factors on flights to and from New York’s JFK Airport in September among those serving the US hub. Since restoring operations between Belgrade and the Big Apple on June 6, the Serbian carrier handled 26.121 passengers on the route. Out of the 31 airlines flying to JFK’s Terminal 4, among which are Delta, jetBlue, Swiss, Aermexico, Emirates and Singapore Airlines, Air Serbia tied with KLM for having the highest average cabin occupancy rate of 67%. In second place were Etihad Airways and Egypt Air, while South Korea’s Asiana came third. The Serbian carrier operated a total of 71 flights to New York from June 6 to October 28, outstripping its frequencies compared to the same period last year.
Commenting on its New York operations, the airline’s Vice President for Americas, George Petković, said, “We are very satisfied with the achieved results, which are a good indicator that, despite the coronavirus pandemic, the flight to New York is operating well and represents one of the strongest routes in Air Serbia’s network. The US is a very important market which is made available to Serbia and all of Southeast Europe thanks to us as the only airline in the region with a scheduled nonstop flight over the Atlantic. According to data from the New York airport, we are also at the top of the list in terms of on-time performance, i.e. take-offs up to fifteen minutes from the planned departure time”.
Since the start of the winter season, Air Serbia is maintaining two weekly flights from Belgrade to New York. This will increase to four weekly from December 16 until January 4. All flights are operated by the carrier’s Airbus A330-200 aircraft, which features eighteen seats in business class and the remaining 236 in economy. The lease for the A330 runs until May 2021, after which the airline could extend it or replace the jet. Last year, the Serbian carrier handled 72.902 travellers between Belgrade and New York, while this year, up until October 28, it welcomed 35.094 passengers on its flights, although services did not operate from March 20 until June 6.
Congratulations, not bad at all.
ReplyDelete" The lease for the A330 runs until May 2021 "
ReplyDeleteIt will be really interesting to see what JU will do in that regards.
Get better conditions and lease one more.
DeleteHope YU-ARB comes they can add more flights.
DeleteGet 2 767s or upgrade to the A350-1000.
DeleteWhy would they get 767s which are being retired from fleets. And why would they get a Boeing widebody when their pilots and crews are already trained for Airbus.
DeleteA350-1000 lol
DeleteB767? Really?
DeleteWhy not? The 767 is a perfect plane. Ask Ukraine International about it.
DeleteGuys, please do not feed 767 troll
DeleteWhy would they pay for transfering pilots from A332 to 767, that is a lot of money. And 767 is plane as old as A310, should they fly A310? Ps. A310 would be cheaper because of Airbus platform for pilots
DeleteWhat about A330neo?
DeleteIt would be a lot more logical than 767. But I think JU does not have money for neo
DeleteThis lease expires but a renewal was already agreed upon and JU will get a 50% discount on YU-ARA.
DeleteOf course 767 is a lot cheaper. There is a significant number of airlines still using them today:
Delete- Austrian
- Air Algérie
- BA
- Hawaiian
- JAL
- Rouge
- Ethiopian
The ASL livery will look stylish on the 767.
It would also look stylish on the A351 yet it doesn't mean there would be commercial interest for them to introduce it. By the way, Rouge retired the B767 and so did BA and ET.
DeleteIs the A351 too expensive for JU? Those were the prices in 2018:
DeleteA350-900: US$317.4 million (2018) A350-1000: US$366.5 million (2018)
I doubt they will take another widebody any time soon. They will have more costs after retiring 737s and ATR-200s, losses will increase in the next years because of current situation and they will need to pay another part of loan.
DeletePretty much every doom and gloom predication made by people in the comments here turned to be completely false so...
DeleteI think the best possible fleet for AirSebia would be 10x A321xlr and 10x ATR72. The arguments about the tanks, cargo, capacity... all included
DeleteLOL Anonymous 10:57. Do you realize that the cost for one new A350=1000 might be the whole price for the company??!!!
DeleteBiel Cielo, does JU really cost only 370 million US dollars?
DeleteAnon 12:55, are you for real? Komercijalna Banka was just sold with the valuation of 465 mln euro for the entire bank. The price was established at 6 times estimated earnings (profit) of the bank for 2019. How much would that be for JU?
DeleteThe whole equity of LH group is valued at 4,6 bln euro and the company made 2 bln euro profit in 2019.
Anon 10:33 almost all of these airlines you mentioned are retiring it. B767 would be bad for JU
DeleteWhat's wrong using the retired aircraft for a couple of years until the rest of the fleet is upgraded? The 767 is an extremely reliable and the aircraft that best suits JU.
DeleteAnon 9:25
Delete-The 767 is a perfect plane. Ask Ukraine International about it.
LOL, please call Boeing and tell them to stop making 787, 767 is perfect!
Lol do you even know how much it would have cost JU to get b767? Another a330 is the best option
DeleteThe best answer to all those who critisized opening BEG-JFK route.
ReplyDeleteNobody criticizes anything. This spike happened thanks to Corona and the EU banned flights.
DeleteJU has had quite good loads to JFK for a very long time. With or without corona. The question is whather they make money from the high LFs.
DeleteIt is real easy to have relatively high load factors when you sell tickets below cost and thus you subsidize travelers from the US to Greece, Albania, Israel and Croatia.
DeleteBrilliant strategy!
^ You obviously have never looked at their fares, especially for this summer.
DeletePoor guy. He really thinks JU has dumping prices on JFK flights.
DeleteFYI ==> Greek citizens can't fly to USA before spending 14 days in Belgrade first.
JU prices to JFK from Greece is always the cheapest option.
DeleteI hope their tourists are grateful that we offer them such good prices.
Anon 10.11 actually they can if they are green card holders or have a residence permit for the US. Greek citizens going for holidays to the US can't enter. US introduced a mandatory quarantine for all those transferring at a Schengen airprot, that does not apply to JU or BEG.
DeleteRandom dates when JU has the cheapest price from ATH to JFK
Delete4.12 - 19.12
LH = 354 EUR
KL+AZ = 369 EUR
AF+KL = 371 EUR
BA = 434 EUR
JU = 473 EUR
Really Air Serbia is the cheapest.
Because TripAdvisor is American and we are talking about JFK today and you mentioning Greece and ATH, it is worth mentioning that the reviews are going down from Greeks travelling to and from JFK via Surčin.
Deletehttps://www.tripadvisor.com/Airline_Review-d8729096-Reviews-Air-Serbia
The management finally started answering but have now stopped. Americans trust TripAdvisor a lot and this must change! Reviews went from 3,5 to 3.
Haha at least now we know how KL got to such a high LF in JFK. They are dumping all around.
DeletePoor Dutch people. They sponsor now Greeks flying to JFK
DeleteLOOL
Well, they will need to dump prices now that their bailout was voted down. let's see who runs out of money first, them or Swiss as both have enough for the next two months or so.
DeleteSurprised. It would be great if they are considering one more A332 for ORD, LAX, PVG or YYZ. Do not forget that BEG was one of the unserved routes from PVG with biggest demand. The second A332 should be in normal livery!
ReplyDeleteI hope this one will return to normal livery soon
DeleteMe too. I really dislike the Serbia Creates livery. The standard one is much nicer.
DeleteBoth are quite boring and mediocre in my oppinion.
DeleteThey should have a special livery in my opinion, but not on a plane which is single in its type. And special livery should be more attractive than this one.
DeleteNow would be the best time to start preparing ORD, YYZ & PVG, it takes time and work to make such routes regular and profitable - but it's a good investment. We have never seen such low prices for widebody aircraft! Plus it's like the aviation industry has just clicked on a reboot - providing a more levelled playing field in terms of market share.
DeleteAnd guess how much JU have money? And how much they need to repay? And what about aditional costs after retiring 737s and older atrs?
DeletePeople think those 733s are cheap to operate. First of all they are older now, there are not as many spare parts and they need to be taken care of more often than new aircraft.Not to mention that A319s are more fuel efficient.
DeleteThat is not a major problem when i say they will have aditional costs after retiring them. These 3 737s and 2 ATRs 72-200 are owned by JU. So that means after they retire them, there will be aditional cost for aircraft leasing.
Deletegood job JU
ReplyDeleteSeems like JFK is paying off.
ReplyDeleteOh yes
Deletehighly doubt that with 67% LF any route is "paying off" but u know
DeleteAnon 10.04 but you do know? They can make a profit with 20% if they are charging a premium for people to fly. Since JU isn't cheap to JFK I doubt they are losing money.
DeleteIf they ars not cheap that doesnt mean they make money. OU was always the most expensive option to fly out of Croatia and still it is losing 10 million a year.
DeleteYes they were most expensive but it's questionable if they managed to fill those seats.
DeleteThis last Saturday the flight (from BEG) was packed again.
ReplyDelete35.094 passengers in the year of corona without any flights for 3 months and a decimated network thereafter is a really good result actually.
ReplyDeleteTiha voda breg roni.
ReplyDeleteTime to start ORD.
ReplyDeleteResults would be even better if they had a codeshare partner in the US.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIf they had codeshares the LF would be higher and they could fly daily to JFK, ORD and other places.
DeleteConsidering the competition that is really good news. Good on them for using this current situation to their advantage.
ReplyDeleteReally happy to see BEG-JFK becoming successful
ReplyDeletePeople should not forget that JFK was among the first routes JU restored, much before transfer passengers could use it from other cities.
ReplyDeleteHas Austrian resumed flights to New York?
ReplyDeleteTo Newark yes
DeleteWith much reduced schedule and exclusively operated by the small and ancient fleet of B767s.
DeleteAncient, but with style ;) OS is indeed and will remain the airline of Central and Eastern Europe.
DeleteAir Serbia can say the same about B733...Ancient, but style :-)
DeleteNice try.
Just flew OS 2 weeks ago, mediocre to say the least...
DeleteOS has better at least real window seats in bussiness on 767, and better in flight entertainmet system.
DeleteBetter than A332 you mean?
DeleteThe B733 is on its way out and is not the backbone of JU's operations. That said, OS' B767 is not going anywhere anytime soon and it is the backbone of their long-haul fleet, especially now when all the B777s were grounded.
DeleteNice try though.
Seat pitch:
DeleteJU 32
OS 30
Comfort is much better at JU.
People do not understand how bad the situation is at OS. They just suspended seven, yes seven, destinations from November. Germany and Switzerland and Belgium introduced travel restrictions for Austria. Demand has collapsed, flights are being cut left and right and losses are accumulating. It's bad, very bad in Vienna.
DeleteI was there few weeks ago and it was a ghost town.
DeleteOS has 31 seat pitch on 767 and 33 on 777. 1.5 centimeters more are not going to make you more comfortable on flight as better food, better IFE system...
DeleteAnon 11:58 Can confirm. Had a hellish 5 hour transfer alone. It was surreal, kinda scary but interesting at that time. Just 1 year ago i could have never thought i would have VIE for myself. As the nightly OS Balkan flights bank neared, the gates around me were slowly filled by my fellow countrymen and neighbours...
DeleteMany people continue to nag about pitch etc., but they continue to flock OS, because the price is the most important factor in their decisions and because other airlines are not that much different in their offer. Sometimes I even think those complaining were never actually onboard, but are just fanboys of the competition.
DeleteOS seatpitch on the 777 is 31, not 33.
DeleteI'm also certain that most people that have a meltdown whenever there is some positive news from JU have never flown with them.
DeleteAnon 17:20. You are probably right, but to me they usually nag about financial performance of JU rather than service:) And in order to comment on financials of an airline on an aviation forum they don't need to fly it.
DeleteOS head to toe blood red uniforms are scary. Their cold, smileless service made me feel I was in the flying version of The Shining movie. Couldn't wait to get out.
DeleteAnon 17:20
DeletePeople here just have a conversation about their expirience on board these two airlines. By using your rethoric i can then say "people have meltdown when somthing positive is said about OS". Overall, you seems to me as only person which has a "meltdown" because somone is not sharing your oppinion about JU.
Amazing comment 22:08!
DeleteIf you don't agree with them, they begin searching for other airline's temporarily, new stuff such as slashing routes or cutting staff to survive because of Covid and it's all doom and gloom. They forget about the billions of euros pumped since 2013 and with a breakeven project that has never made it to profit.
But yeah, lets compare ourselves to a Star Alliance company with 90 airplanes and 120 destinations and a worldwide hub.
Hopefully they win over some customers for next year too. Many people had no other choice but to fly with JU this year on the route and used it for the first time. If they were satisfied with the product, they will come back.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteNice!
ReplyDeleteNice to hear some positive news for a change from wherever it may be. It gives everyone some glimmer of hope.
ReplyDeleteReally good result considering last year in September their LF was 78.9%. Now with a global pandemic, entry bans plus a significantly smaller network on offer, JU had 67%.
ReplyDeleteGood performance, nice to see it has developed well. It s an important flight in the region
ReplyDeleteIntroduction of second long haul destination will allow them to improve utilization during winter months. What are they waiting for?
ReplyDeleteAgree. And even though it might sound crazy, this current pandemic could prove an advantage for them when it comes to a second long haul.
DeleteGood results. Hope their numbers keep improving.
ReplyDeleteWhat is impressive is that there have been no major delays or cancellations for 5 years now and they have managed to keep these flights with just 1 aircraft. I remember the comments and hysteria when they launched and how flights would be delayed and cancelled.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Let's hope they keep it up.
DeleteThank you for those figures. Interesting stuff.
ReplyDeleteAny idea on what percentage of these pax were O&D, and transfer?
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that matters is profitability.
ReplyDeleteThey estimated JFK will become profitable after 5 years and they are surely on the good way to achieve that
DeleteI'm glad they stuck to it and that the route stayed part of the network. Good luck JU.
DeleteLOL dude, 67% load factor on long haul flight means it is highly unprofitable!
DeleteLOL dude have you noticed there is a deadly virus going around?
DeleteJFK makes them money in period May-end of September. It's the period after that which is problematic for them.
DeleteProfitability is NOT the only thing that matters.If it was, Wizz wouldn't make it to fifth birthday.
DeleteWizz was unprofitabile for 5 years?
DeleteCongratulations Serbia!
ReplyDeleteAnd when I remember all the comments on here how these flights will all be empty, cancelled in less then a year, that with one plane their flights will always be delayed and cancelled and all the other BS.
ReplyDeleteAre there any plans what they are going to do with this A330 from May?
ReplyDeleteIn winter they are keeping the same schedule as last winter which is amazing considering the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteVery nice that JU is improving it's position with regards to this flight. But the lack of engagement for the aircraft in the winter months is something they could work on.
ReplyDeleteSolid results in these bleak times.
ReplyDeletemakes for a good headline for sure but being profitable with 2/3 seats full on long haul is science fiction
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that many costs are cheaper now...Fuel, leasing costs, air control taxes etc.
DeleteAfter so many bad news from the region it's nice to see at least some goods news from our airlines. JU is on the right track in building this route
ReplyDeleteI still think they should have introduced Chicago first.
ReplyDeleteNew York is the single biggest market from BEG.
DeleteI hope they keep working and improving this route.
ReplyDeleteMany EU travelers are now flying to the US out of Belgrade. Yes, this is temporary, but even if 10% of them come back after corona, it is a big plus for JU.
ReplyDeleteAre there any Hungarian travellers?
DeleteI think the border crossing is closed but I saw passengers from VIE, BRU and ZRH onboard JU JFK flights. Before it was cut, there were also pasengers from BCN.
DeleteAre you sure about BCN? It would be crazy for both pax and an airline.
DeleteNice to see Air Serbia continue what AeroPut started back in 1927. They are really shaping Serbian aviation quite nicely. I can't wait for this to pass so that they can fully employ the extra two A319s that arrived.
ReplyDeleteIs it posible for JU to find codeshare partner in the USA?
ReplyDeletePossible yes, likely no.
DeleteBut it should be high on their priority list for croos- atlantic operations.
Swan song for aviation industry...
ReplyDeleteGreat, maybe next year they finally get another widebody and start flying to Canada, maybe even squeeze in ORD once a week.
ReplyDeleteDo you know what are the load factors for airlines flying from other JFK terminals, in particular Lufthansa, Alitalia, LOT, Air France, British Airways? I don't expect much, given the restrictions but would be interesting to know.
ReplyDelete767 is only 5 years older than the "modern" A320 (1982 vs. 1987).
ReplyDelete