Air Serbia will maintain the most flights this June out of all the airlines operating across all former Yugoslav markets. The carrier has scheduled a total of 1.652 flights (return service included) ahead of Croatia Airlines with 1.444 and Wizz Air with 1.220 operations (this includes Wizz Air Hungary, Wizz Air UK and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi). In addition, the Serbian carrier plans to operate a number of charter flights to Egypt, Greece and Turkey during the month. The carrier recently noted the gradual relaxation of travel restrictions has resulted in increased demand, with the airline to restore service to three destinations this week, as well as launch new flights to Rostov. Gradually, Air Serbia plans to reintroduce more routes during the month.
At this point, the airline has 196.304 seats on sale on scheduled flights for this June. Tivat will become the busiest route for the Serbian carrier next month, with 103 flights planned each way between Belgrade and the coastal city and a total of 23.628 seats on sale. In terms of capacity, it will be followed by Zurich, with Switzerland recently relaxing entry requirements for its residents and citizens arriving from Serbia, then Podgorica, Paris, New York, Moscow, Tirana, Istanbul, Athens and Larnaca. Overall, during the month, the Airbus A319 will be the most utilised aircraft type in its fleet with 970 flights, followed by the ATR72 with 550, the A320 with 92 and the Airbus A330-200, which will run a total of forty operations.
The coming month of June will also see Air Serbia restore an additional two routes to Russia and launch operations to Rostov, its fourth destination in the country. Commenting on these developments, Air Serbia’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Jiri Marek, said, “If you want to be a successful regional carrier you cannot concentrate just on the region because if you develop proper frequencies in the region you need to also look at what you will fly beyond the region to offer connections. We serve the majority of the European markets and we were also looking for some niche outside of our natural catchment area. Russia for us is an interesting example of that”. He added, “Not only can citizens between our two countries travel without visas but also, for example, Krasnodar, which was a success story for us in 2019, did not have a lot of connectivity to the region and Europe. At the time, you either had the option to fly via Istanbul or Moscow, where Moscow is in a way a bit of a backtrack. So, Krasnodar turned out as being very successful. That’s why we were planning to launch Rostov in 2020 before Covid, however, we had to cancel that. But now we have been able to announce it, not just because it was in our plans but also because we see immediate opportunities there because operations to Russia are now very restrictive and it is not easy to get permission to fly there. Turkish Airlines, which served Rostov and Krasnodar, with the latest developments had to suspend flights. Recently, Montenegro announced there would be no PCR test required for Russian citizens and Montenegro and Greece have also been popular with Russian tourists. They still can’t enter Italy, France and Spain which were their main markets. So, we saw an opportunity there, designed the schedule so we could connect these flights to Montenegro, Greece and Cyprus and we strongly believe it will work”.
Good to see they are starting to recover
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia always seem to look to the east for some obvious reason. No presence in western Europe. Very much a regional airline and will remain that way unless they can see beyond their traditional roots.
DeleteWow what a comment and oh so wrong. The majority of their network is in western Europe. You might want to actually read the article before writing absolute rubbish.
DeleteOut of the three newest routes they launched in the last year, two are in Western Europe, even though there are entry restrictions in both.
DeleteJU seems to be balancing between the two sides which makes sense since they are after transfers going between the two sides
DeleteWhy would an airline have to operate exclusively routes in Western Europe or exclusively in Eastern Europe? There is no iron curtain anymore. Certain airlines in the region who do not see anything east beyond their country are on their death bed.
DeleteUnexpected
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines should read the last paragraph.
ReplyDelete+1
Deletebut too busy launching 1 weekly seasonal split-prague.
That operates for a grand total of 12 weeks.
DeleteI think there are several opportunities they should still chase up.
ReplyDeleteSuch as?
DeleteI think they could look into Ukraine, potentially expanding operations in the region, long haul and the Middle East where I think there are a lot of opportunities but is a region they have kind of neglected completely.
DeleteThey should have launched ESB years ago.
DeleteLike where?
DeleteAmman is a potential destination. Jordan has reopened to everyone, you just do a test on arrival at the airport, get the result in 10-20 minutes and are free. They could benefit from lower European connectivity from/to Jordan at the moment at launch flights. Dubai is another example. It is wide open, Flydubai is doing extremely well on DXB-BEG route but Air Serbia could benefit from connecting traffic in the region and maybe offer even better prices to tour operators.
DeleteI think they are currently oberving the situation with Minsk and could possibly start flying there.
DeleteDXB is too far away - one plane would be in rotation for bit less than 12 hours and W6 started flying to AUH with lower prices and A321
DeletePlus Wizz is having around 100 passengers from AUH so it's not like they are making a killing. There is no more room with W5 and FZ.
Delete100 passengers is a great result considering quarantine requirments in Abu Dhabi which last until July.
DeleteIsn't there an exception if you are going to Dubai
DeleteYes, if you are flying with Etihad, but not with other airlines.
DeleteLol that's crazy especially since Wizz has a base there.
DeleteEntry without quarantine is allowed for country's on Abu Dhabi's green list and there are barely a couple of countries on that list, many of which don't even have flights to Abu Dhabi. But from July they will open to everyone like Dubai.
DeleteAnd just to note quarantine applies for Abu Dhabi residents too, so it's not just for foreign citizens. That's why an average of a 100 passengers is great actually.
DeleteI hope they revisit their plans to launch Amman like they planned in 2020.
DeleteDoes Air Serbia have the aircraft available to launch more new routes? Remember they are also flying charters and there are no Boeing aircraft.
DeleteThey can always lease one. There are many available on the market at affordable rates.
DeleteNumber of destinations are down, so are frequencies and numbers of charters. Looking at the way they are shuffling the departure times of a couple of destinations suggests they have some room for growth.
DeleteGreat news.
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with Mr. Marek and wish him to find many more markets like KRR.
Hmm just a small correction, KRR was not Mr Marek's idea ;)
DeleteI could not know it. Whose idea was it?
DeleteWhy would you need a name and surname... who cares
DeleteThere is a whole department that evaluates possibilities and he just approves them.
DeleteWhich is the case at all airlines across the world...
DeleteAnd Mr. Marek is on the top of that team?
DeleteHe is but KRR was proposed before he joined Air Serbia. Just because he has a team under him doesn't mean he should take the credit for everything.
DeleteMost pointless discussion I have ever read on here.
DeleteThen don't read it. Personally I don't mind it as it sheds light on the decision making process at JU. It's good to know that it's not a one man show but that there is a system behind it all. Mr Marek has changed many, many airlines in the past. It's likely he will leave JU the moment something better comes along. Good to know JU will remain proactive when taht happens.
DeleteFYI Mrs Djurdja was responsible for the KRR launch. Unfortunately that nice lady is retired now. Hopefully someone as competent as she replace her. :)
DeleteAnon@19.44 - I need to correct you. Mrs Djurdja had sales responsibility for KRR. But the person who first suggested it was Mr Nikitovic back in 2017. It was part of the then 5 year network development plan discussions with the network people in EY. It required changes to be made to the Serbia-Russia ASA and only then was it able to be subsequently launched.
DeleteShould also be noted that all of these people are from the old JAT. Unfortunately Air Serbia used Covid-19 to force everyone from that era to go into retirement.
DeleteAnon 01.12
DeleteBottom line it was not Mr Marek who came up with the idea but rather Mr Nikitovic who is his superior. Credit should be given where credit is due. Congratulations to Mr Nikitovic on this phenomenal business idea. Like I said, Mr Marek changed five or six airlines until now, I don't see him staying in JU for much longer. I think he's using this as an opportunity for some better job offer.
Anon 01.32. Yes, Mrs Djurdja and Mr Nikitovic were indeed the best ones from old JAT times - especially "Nikita" ... what a gentleman, decent man and a talent he is/was .... his presence will be sorely missed. And if Mr Marek has any ounce of smarts, he will do well to learn from an old fox such as Nikitovic.
DeleteDid Mr Nikitovic go into retirement? I really hope not, he was such a fantastic person. Very down to earth and with so much experience. I really hope he was valued in Air Serbia because they lacked such talent.
DeleteGood for them and good for BEG. I think their good relationship with SU is also helping them boost many regional routes. Wish them best of luck.
ReplyDeleteMore like Russian flight restrictions than Aeroflot.
DeleteHow many seats did they have last June? Seems like they are profiting from Wizz struggling to rebuild their network in Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteGermany removing quarantine helped a bit but since then they only increased Dortmund by one to five weekly.
Comparing to last June is pointless, they had just resumed flying after the lockdowns to a couple of destinations.
DeleteGermany removed quarantine but only for EU citizens and those having EU residence permit. It is still not allowed to ordinary Serbian passport holders to fly to Germany.
DeleteI think he meant in 2019.
DeleteYes but gastos can travel now and those made the vast majority of passengers on this market.
DeleteGastos could have flown all the time.
DeleteYes they could and then they had to quarantine on arrival back to Germany for 10 days.
DeleteFrom what I read they were removed quarantine for all ex YU except Slovenia and Croatia. Don't know if something changed since then
DeleteNot all the time.
DeleteUntil November 2020 gastos could have flown to Germany where they should make PCR. If it is negative after 24 hours they were free - no quarantine.
Starting from November last year until May this year they had to go 5 days in quarantine and after this period of time they could make PCR. If it was negative after 5 days they were free to leave the quarantine.
They had to be 10 days in quarantine only if they did not want to make PCR.
Well then you can obviously see how that would impact demand.
DeleteI'm very surprised at Wizz Air. I mean they fly to every single ex-Yu market yet they have less flights than JU and OU!
ReplyDeleteLower frequency
DeleteBecause almost all their routes are just 2 weekly.
DeleteI think only DTM from BEG has 5 weekly, all others are 1 or 2 weekly. DUS CEO said the other day that bookings are exploding right now so demand is recovering. DTM is not far from there so no surprise why they boosted BEG flights. Strange that the operate this route with A320neo from SKP and not with a plane from BEG.
DeleteIt's the same situation from all ex-Yu markets they serve. 98% of flights are 2 weekly hence the lower number of flights compared to JU and OU.
DeleteBelgrade is holding on really well when you take into consideration that there are 49 departures today compared to 27 at BUD.
ReplyDeleteI think vast majority of flights to Budapest were for tourists. Did they get JFK back? DL resumed ATH a few days ago.
DeleteDoes Hungary still have strict measures for entering the country?
DeleteBEG is definitely waking up. Last week they reopened terminal 1 and check in has also started in the middle area between T1 and T2. Until last week, all of it was closed and all check in was done at T2.
DeletePlease stop comparing Belgrade with Budapest.
DeleteBudapest is a 787 Qatari and B777 Emirates airport to begin with....
And has less passengers than Belgrade....
DeleteMaybe JU could try Budapest again?
DeleteAnon 10.07
DeleteSo what if they have those? We can say that BEG has the SU and TK A333 that come on regular basis on top of the JU JFK flight. BEG should always compare itself with airports that are ahead of it otherwise it will not move forward.
Nadam se da će se vratiti i na Špansko tržište uskoro.Barselona bi mogla da uspe uz pomoć turističkih agencija.
ReplyDeleteВуелинг планира три лета, могуће да су они покупили сав кајмак. Ако се не варам летови крећу сада у јуну.
DeleteNo excuse. They should try harder and work with tour operators for any market that has been reopened.
DeleteGovernment backed airlines are obviously doing better. GoS poured a lot since the Etihad divorce so it's quite normal.
ReplyDeleteAnd which Government didn't?
DeleteI wouldn't call it a divorce since they still own 18% of shares, have expanded their codeshare cooperation with Air Serbia and the top two positions in the airline are from Etihad.
DeleteSAS just yesterday received another round of millions from the three Scandinavian governments.
DeleteIt doesnt make them a government airline. They just received subsidies, something Wizz and Ryanair are enjoying since their foundation.
DeleteBiggest shareholders of SAS are Danish and Swedish governments who combined have nearly 45% share in the company, so it's a bit unfair to compare them to Wizz Air or Ryanair, who have to compete on a completely free market and can't rely on government subsidies to survive.
DeleteNo but Wizz could rely on Indigo investment fund which has billions, it's not like the lacked funds.
DeleteBut those are private funds.
DeleteYes and national carriers pay taxes locally so it makes sense for governments to protect their national assets hence the subsidies.
DeleteCould we see more new routes from JU this summer by any chance?
ReplyDeleteSomeone mentioned in the comments the other week that they are considering new regional, non ex-Yu routes. But I don't know if it is true or not.
DeleteI don't see which that could be. Budapest? Varna? They tried both in the past.
DeleteGood work Air Serbia. Let's hope the recovery will be quicker than expected.
ReplyDeleteAircraft utilization seems good.
ReplyDeleteWould like to see what their plans are.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed that this is demand returning and won't go the other way in a few months.
ReplyDeleteHope so especially with fears of a new wave in the UK and we all know how they have exported the virus to the rest of the continent.
DeleteThey could take BEG-NUE (previously WA had it) and renew INI-NUE again.
ReplyDeleteOn an ATR, NUE could work.
DeleteDidn't Wizz try BEG-NUE and left it soon after?
DeleteYes, it did. But with an aicraft 3 times the capacity of an ATR.
DeleteJU needs to capitalize on the opportunity that just opened up in Minsk. A lot of passengers from there need to fly to Europe, and JU via BEG is just the solution. Since the EU has no made an official position on it, JU should take advantage and start scheduling flights. Potentially huge opportunity for P2P and connections to TIV and Western Europe.
ReplyDeleteEU would not look kindly to JU operating BEG-MSQ flights.
DeleteGood to see slowly some positive developments.
ReplyDeleteHow many destinations are they serving from BEG at the moment?
ReplyDeleteWhat are the routes that still haven't resumed? And I'm not talking about the ones that they said the won't restart.
ReplyDeleteVenice, Barcelona, Madrid, Nice, Zadar and Kiev I believe. The others are starting this week and Milan on 19th of June.
DeleteAlso still not flying to HEL, CAI, RJK, MLA, BEY
DeleteExcept for Malta, I believe the rest have been terminated permanently and not temporary suspensions.
DeleteI think CAI also do not belong to the group of permanently terminated routes.
DeleteThere was an article 4 months ago saying CAI should have started again on 04.06. That is obvously not the case, but I believe that CAI will be brought back to JU destinations map.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/01/air-serbia-to-restore-mena-operations.html
Cairo is available for booking from 31st October, but I'm not sure if that is just an unrevised schedule.
DeleteLet's hope the EU borders are reopened in July and they can spread their wings further.
ReplyDeleteThis is good as it shows that JU is not sleeping despite all the challenges.
ReplyDeleteI hope that more routes can be reestablished soon
ReplyDeleteI believe they will announce resumption of Nice soon.
DeleteVery interested to see how Kraljevo- Thessaloniki will perform.
ReplyDeleteI assume well. Tour operators will be selling a lot of the tickets. Plus it's just 70 seats per flight.
DeleteNice, who do you think will be the tour operators able to sell these tickets ?
DeleteI know this is unrelated to JU but I just read that Aeroflot will be making their uniforms in Serbia. They were already making their shoes here but this is pretty cool.
ReplyDelete