Air Canada considering Belgrade service


Air Canada has expressed interest in introducing flights between Toronto and Belgrade. According to the “Aviatica” portal, the Canadian carrier said, “We are still reviewing our network schedule for certain destinations, including Belgrade. We are looking into it at this moment”. It comes a week after Air Canada scheduled seasonal flights between Toronto and Zagreb starting next June. Just last month, the Canadian Ambassador to Serbia, Giles Norman, said bureaucratic conditions for the launch of flights between Belgrade and Toronto have been met and that it is now up to the carriers to decide whether they will launch the transatlantic service.

Air Serbia has been interested in commencing operations to Canada for several years and has previously held talks with Toronto Pearson Airport. “The introduction of a direct flight between Canada and Serbia would be highly welcomed by the large Serbian and regional diaspora in Canada, as well as by businesses from both countries as it would encourage the further expansion of growing economic ties between the two nations”, Mr Norman said. He added, “Certainly, in the Southern Ontario area around Toronto there is a large Serbian diaspora. We don’t have exact figures, but it is over 100.000 people. So, it is very vibrant and economically active. It would be a good route. The diaspora is very active, and flights would facilitate the commercial and people-to-people ties between our two countries”.

Canada is one of Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport’s largest unserved markets, with 61.232 indirect passengers traveling between the two on a single ticket in the pre-pandemic 2019, based on OAG data. Flights between Belgrade and Toronto were the busiest citypair between the two countries. In 2019, Toronto was Belgrade Airport’s third busiest unserved route after Shanghai and Beijing, as well as the busiest in North America. Overall, there were 40.856 passengers travelling between the two cities. The majority of travellers flew in combination with Air Canada and Air Serbia, with passengers shuttled by the latter to several European points such as London Heathrow, Amsterdam and Zurich and then continued their journey with Canada’s national carrier. They were followed by LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa and Air France. The single most used feeder airport to and from Toronto was Warsaw with around 19% of passengers traveling on the route with LOT Polish Airlines through its hub.


Comments

  1. Vlad09:03

    If the mammoth that is AC manages to launch this flight before JU, then it will truly be a massive lost opportunity.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:06

    This would be great. Air Serbia has dragged its feet for too long.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    Does Air Canada have a codeshare with anyone to Belgrade?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      On Lufthansa from Munich and Frankfurt.

      AC 9166/9167
      AC 9334/9335

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:16

      Thanks

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:55

      True they are Star Alliance.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:09

    It would be a better option than Air Serbia because they would provide inter-Canada connections.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      not only to Canada but to the U.S. as well.

      Delete
    2. Vlad09:25

      Serbian nationals still require a transit visa for Canada, though.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:14

    Well, the market is certainly there.. It it just the matter of Canada lifting those idiotic measures...but once that happens, it will be a great opportunity.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:16

    I hope this materializes. It would be fantastic to be linked with Canada in addition to USA.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:44

    I think this will happen as AC knows JU is sniffing around Toronto. I think they want to launch these flights before JU does. If they do it then JU will most definitely give up and hopefully focus on ORD instead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous01:48

      There are no indications Air Serbia will focus on ORD. Keep in mind they negotiated USA flights back in 2015 and could have started ORD back then or at any time after. There were no frequency limitations as far as I remember. Nothing was stopping them, yet Air Serbia didn't want to start ORD, so why would they now?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:33

      It doesn't even matter. Air Serbia has only one wide-body aircraft which is already in full service. As long as Air Serbia won't acquire a second wide-body, there will not be any more long-haul destinations.

      Delete
  8. I would lease another A330 and start

    BEG - PEK - BEG 1 p/w
    BEG - PVG - BEG 1 p/w
    BEG - YYZ - BEG 1 p/w
    BEG - YUL - BEG 1 p/w
    BEG - OED - BEG 1 p/w
    BEG - MIA - BEG 1 p/w
    and then see how they perform.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JU520 BEGLAX10:08

      Lease another A330 and operate 3 weekly YYZ and 3 weekly PVG.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:10

      One weekly flights are extremely inefficient. Better to focus your attention on larger markets and to further boost JFK to 10 next summer.

      Delete
    3. Serbia - Canada bilateral agreement allows maximum 2 flights p/w (per airline) between them.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:24

      Actully it allows more but it's based on reciprocity in other words if AC wants 3 then JU has to get 3 as well. Best way forward would be for JU and AC to sit down and agree to join forces on BEG-YYZ.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:37

      In this new age of open skies and liberalisation we have an ASA that restricts access to direct flights to only two carriers, JU and AC. Shame on the Canadian government for agreeing to this. They're a sufficiently forward thinking country to know better.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous15:36

      Are they really forward thinking like that? They have extremely restrictive ASAs with many countries starting with the UAE, Turkey and Qatar.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:53

      @Uros:
      Which airport is OED?
      Do you mean ORD?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous16:50

      OED is Rogue Valley in Oregon. I guess there must be a Balkan community there JU could be carrying.

      Delete
    9. There’s too much at stake for AC if air Serbia picked up this route. They have tried year over year and AC is staining in the way.

      With yyz-beg you are not looking at BEG only, but rather seamless connectivity to all of the Balkan cities as well as the Middle East.

      At would loose big $$
      It will be either AC or nothing.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous17:27

      Full code share between AC & AS would be beneficial for both airlines for Euro-Med, and N. America connectivity.
      Of course this could not happen as *A would not allow it.

      Delete
    11. @Anonymous 15:53 : I meant ORD (Chicago) not OED. Sorry, it was typo.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous02:12

      Shame on Canadian government? What are you taking about? Governments around the world protect their own interests. Air Serbia should have started 2 per week service. True, two weekly is not very efficient. To increase utilization of the second A330, Air Serbia could have planned to increase JFK service to 10-11pw (6pw with 1st A330 and 3-4 with a 2nd A330), or to introduce ORD at 4pw.

      Couple of months later Air Serbia could have used actual numbers to propose increase in frequency to 3 or 4pw, next year to 5pw etc. Keep in mind SkyGreece started YYZ-ZAG with just one per week service back in 2015. It then grew to two with Air Transat, then going to 3pw, then Air Canada Rouge joined and by 2019 there were 7 weekly YYZ-ZAG services combined AT+AC. Air Serbia should have learned from that.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous10:19

    Serbia-Canada market is big enough to justify non stop flights. AC has a wide network and they could offer connections beyond major domestic destinations such as Vancouver, Winnipeg, Montreal... I could see this going as 4 weekly in summer with the A330.

    They have an interline with JU via various European airport and they already cooperate with the loyalty program. Hopefully they would also cooperate with JU in BEG.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:37

      +1

      Delete
    2. I agree partly. Serbian, market, same as Croatian one, is big enough to justify nonstop flights. In summer. In winter, combining these two markets, no matter which airline, or which way, linked flights or transfers, could and can work fine as well. Since Croatia Airlines is total failure, and Air Serbia obviously not going for the second long haul service, Air Canada will probably spread its Balkans network adding BEG, and operating YYZ to ZAG nonstop and to BEG nonstop during the summer, and then link flights and operate YYZ-ZAG-BEG in winter, either triangle or via ZAG both ways. Like JAT, real JAT did, long long time ago

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:40

      Does AC even offer triangle flights anywhere? It's a public secret that JU will be getting a second A330 next year. They can easily launch this as two weekly and mess up AC's plans to dominate on the market.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous01:41

      It is not a public secret JU will be getting a second A330 in 2022. However it is a fact that every year since 2015 when Air Serbia announced New York service, many comments here said that JU would get a second A330 "next year". It is also a fact Air Serbia didn't get a second A330 in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and so far in 2021. They had enough chances.

      Delete
    5. Triangle to santiago and buenos aires...

      Delete
  10. Anonymous10:25

    Plot twist:
    Westjet launches 2 weekly YYZ-BEG!

    Then you would have a similar situation like with SU and N4. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. West jet, but from calgary

      Delete
  11. Omg please asap

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous12:42

    It's interesting that LOT has so many transfer pax on this route.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous12:45

    Finally. I think it's just a matter of time before AC or JU start these flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:46

      Or both 2-3x per week

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:46

      and a codeshare would be good.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:55

      JU and AC have an interline agreement to my knowledge.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous12:46

    Yes please!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous13:00

    I dont think that AC will serve Belgrade ever .
    Why should they fly to two neighbouring destinations at the same time ?
    But i hope JU get its act together, lease their second A332 and start Belgrade-Toronto 3x a week and also Belgrade-Chicago 3x a week .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:37

      Huh? So what if they are neighboring destinations? Do you honestly think anyone will drive 4 hours to ZAG to catch a flight when there are so many one stop options?

      Delete
  16. Anonymous13:24

    Somehow I don't see the Canadians just handing over the market to Air Serbia. Maybe both Air Serbia and Air Canada will launch flights, two flights each?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:27

      JU does not have the possibility now as they are focusing on their business model in Europe and rest of the short haul destinations.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous01:26

      JU does not have the possibility now? Now that the lease rates more than halved? Now that the pent-up demand is set to explode?

      Air Serbia "lack of long haul expansion" apologists are relentless. Dane Kondic would have launched Toronto long time ago unlike current "managers".

      It's Air Canada's turn.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous03:01

      I didn't realize there were turns.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous04:09

      Air Serbia management has the same problem. They don't realize a lot of things.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous13:24

    I actually think Toronto will perform better than NY.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:26

      Me too. Much bigger diaspora.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:33

      Agree. Toronto has true potential

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:58

      huge balkan diaspora in the greater toronto area. in the range of 300,000+.

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous13:25

    Cool. Hope it happens

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous13:53

    This would be really good news for BEG.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous13:53

    I really hope flights meaterialise sooner rather than later.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous13:54

    It will benefit the Serbian diaspora.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous13:56

    This route would be good for cargo too.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous13:56

    It's actually quite interesting how the region is moving once again with the long hauls.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous14:00

    Not just Serbian diaspora that will benefit but also other ex YU republics.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Nobody traveling to Canada.hotel jail awaits you.at a huge cost.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:12

      This would obviously start next year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:59

      Canada announced WEEKS AGO that they are removing "Hotel Jail" for fully vaccinated people. A problem will be that Serbian vaccination rates are still incredibly low (only 39% have had one vaccination vs almost 70% for Canada) PLUS the majority of Serbian people are vaccinated with vaccines that haven't been approved in Canada and probably won't be (Chinese, Russian). As a Canadian, I would love to see these flights happen and I think they would do incredibly will with not only the large Serbian population in Toronto, but I think these would be amazing for Macedonians that have to take 3 flights if they don't want to deal with the price gauging using Turkish

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:02

      Your data is completely wrong or out of date. Over 50% of Serbian population has had one dose

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:38

      Serbian ministry of health reported that 48.3% of the population is fully vaccinated.

      Delete
    5. Canada has a huge issue with vaccine. He is talking about the first dose, FYI a single dose is not good for travel, plus due to shortage of vaccine in Canada they are mixing vaccines which creates issues for travelers. Serbia is way ahead od Canada with the full vaccinated people. Also Canada restrictions are still in place for foreigners, nobody can enter plus if you are travelling with kids and you are fully vaccinated, kids are still to go to 14 days quarantine. Most terrible restrictions in the World . To my knowledge there was lots of talk between AC JU and Canadian authorities, aperently AC is demanding high ticket prices if JU is to start the route ( which is not sustainable for JU). Also crew issues as per current agreement they are able to operate 2x a week , which means they have to hire up to 4 new crew for 330. A huge expense for JU .

      Delete
    6. Anonymous20:49

      How else can AS fly a new route on a new A330 without hiring/training additional crew?

      Delete
    7. I was talking about the additional crew on the top of regular one if was to operate 2x a week .

      Delete
    8. Anonymous22:41

      But they can't ask for any of that since the bilateral doesn't allow them to. Best AC can do is restrict JU to two weekly. They can't ask for high fares or extra crew.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous22:55

      Yeah, Canada dropped the ball with Vaccination. It is still not allowed to enter for non-essential. Rules are vague, confused. Utter disaster. I know perception is that West has house in order but this is complete confusion. Deer in the headlights attitude.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous01:14

      LaneHotLane, that's just a lot of hot air. If Air Serbia wants to launch a new service it needs another A330. To fly both A330s at the same time they would need additional crew, that's common sense. But before that they would need another A330. Air Serbia just made a horrible mistake not leasing another A330 when they leased YU-ARB.

      Pricing discussion could potentially occur related to codesharing on YYZ-BEG. Looking at codeshare history between Air Canada and non-StarAlliance carriers from Europe, probability of JU-AC codeshare from day 1 of YYZ-BEG service is very low.

      Current vaccination rates have almost no impact on this discussion. AC recently announced return to ZAG in 2022 and vaccination rates are expected to be much higher by then.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous14:46

    If AC does fly to BEG it will be a HUGE loss to JU on it's flights to FRA/CDG and a host of other routes. I'm flying from YYZ to BEG today via LHR and hate it because of the 5 hour layover. As much as I love flying JU there is no way I would ever fly again with layovers if there is a direct line.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:38

      I think LH Group will lose much more than JU.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:59

      JU would definitely lose some pax to European cities where there are connecting flights to North America.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous17:33

    As I have mentioned before the new way of doing airlines business on transatlantic routes.
    It will be certain City pairs with significant diaspora and attractive leisure markets.
    It will be very interesting that downside would be on LH, BA, KLM, AF
    I see upside on LOT, Turkish, JU on Transatlantic routes.
    The reason for stall is that the pre-Covid model is getting revamped

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:04

      What is the new way of doing airlines business on transatlantic routes?
      What was the pre-Covid model?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous20:18

      He obviously means the hub-model ..

      Delete
    3. Anonymous20:28

      There's nothing new about the hub model.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous20:19

    Air Serbia wasted many opportunities to start Toronto flights. It is Air Canada's turn now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Both airlines could have started flights in the last ten years. So not sure who's turn it is now.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:43

      If was published here many times: ASA change was initiated by Serbia, not Canada. Air Serbia talked to Pearson airport couple of years ago. It was Air Serbia, not Air Canada, that made steps needed to launch a service. They never made an official commitment. It is AC's turn now.

      Delete
  29. Questions17:38

    Air Transat didn't publish firm list of destinations in the wider area for 2022. Are they coming back to Venice, Prague, Zagreb and Athens? If they are, how is that affecting Air Canada plans for next summer? Is Air Transat looking to expand destinations including Belgrade? What will be the impact of the bilateral if both TS and AC want to fly to Belgrade?

    According to some reports, Air Canada has listed preliminary schedules for 2022 flights to Budapest, Zagreb, Athens, Venice and Bucharest in the wider Ex Yu area. Prague is one notable exception. Is it possible BEG and PRG are being considered as the next destination?

    ReplyDelete

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