Air Serbia sees busiest month since start of pandemic


Air Serbia handled over 100.000 passengers last month, marking its busiest since February 2020. The average cabin load factor across its network stood at 62%, well above the European industry average. The busiest destinations from Belgrade during May were Tivat, Podgorica, Paris, Moscow, New York, Zurich, Istanbul, Athens, Amsterdam and Berlin. The airline maintained flights to a total of thirty destinations during the month. Air Serbia also saw an uptick in the number of passengers utilising its premium business class lounge at Belgrade Airport, setting an all time record for the month of May with 2.329 passengers using the facility, compared to 1.915 in May 2018 and 2.052 travellers in May of last year.

Commenting on the results, Air Serbia’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Jiri Marek, said, “Given the obvious changes in demand, we can say the situation is developing in a positive direction. We are optimistic regarding the recovery of air traffic in the coming months, with a dose of caution, of course, as there are still numerous uncertainties”. He added, “Thanks to our flexibility and quick reactions to changes on the market, we have managed to achieve results that are above the industry average, even in current circumstances. We are focused on the possibilities and we are trying to seize every opportunity that presents itself”.

Last month, the carrier said it was “cautiously optimistic” about the upcoming peak summer travel period. At the time, Mr Marek noted, “We would like to position ourselves, and we are positioning ourselves, as a regional leader in the wider Balkan region, or let’s say the majority of ex-Yugoslavia. We have multiple scenarios which we are constantly developing and finetuning to be ready for the market opportunities to enter the niches and secure our strong position in the region”. This June, Air Serbia will operate over 1.650 scheduled flight operations, making it the biggest airline operating out of any single former Yugoslav market.


Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Congratulations

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    62% load factor is really good in these circumstances.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:04

    Good news: Loads are solid and things are returning to normal.
    Bad news: no more excuses for Toronto expansion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      I think the best option is to wait until next summer season for everything to get back to normal and then start Toronto and possibly another long-haul destination.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:18

      I think that depends more on Canada and its psychotic covid policy. Also I think China is a bigger priority than Canada.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:25

      More bad news for Air Serbia Toronto service procrastinators: calls for easing of Canada quarantine rules are increasing and rules are expected to be changed soon; vaccination rates are now almost the same in Serbia and Canada; Toronto starts reopening in about a week.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:27

      How is that bad news for JU?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:37

      China will not open up nearly as fast as Canada. Option "to wait one more year" didn't work for OU and sure as **** is not going to work for JU. Bonus kick in the groin for procrastinators: Air Canada is no longer tied down by domestic and EU restrictions mentioned during Air Transat merger and is expected to come back with a vengeance to leisure destinations in Europe from next spring. Budapest is expected to be served by three class A333. Does JU really want to wait to compete against it in BEG?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:52

      AC is anything but competitive especially when you take into consideration their shitty product and nasty relationship with the passengers. There is a reason why the government is protecting AC so much. JU will be fine.

      Also I don't think you can compare JU and OU.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:06

      Anon 9:52 you may need an update. Rouge 767s are gone from passenger service for good. Those A330-300 are mainline Air Canada brand, in a great shape and configuration.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:28

      Lol their onboard product is a disaster.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous14:10

      Who gives a damn if their on board service is not great. My friend, people from greater Toronto area are dying for that direct service for over 3 decades now... Do you really think they will give a s**t if their crappy chicken is or beaf is tasty, if you give them a 8hr non stop service!? Especially old grannies and grandpas who speak no English and just want to arrive to their families without taking the dreaded connection through Fra, Lhr or CDG??

      You are out of touch buddy.. But that's ok, i don't mind AC flying to BEG. They have more then one 330 if s**t hits the fan and goes mechanical.

      Delete
    10. Apsolutely agree with you above...

      People that have been waiting for decades for direct flight to Toronto do not care about the product...Just the flights. when they do start the flights it will be amazing for so many.

      Of course, I will prefer Air Serbia.

      But Canadian travel restrictions are unreal and idiotic.. The pressure on the government to change this , but they still dont even talk about it...

      Delete
    11. Direct flights will also help expand Serbian business I'm Canada.

      Delete
    12. Assuming the demand to/from Canada is strong, the rules that they have in place are the same for many countries around the world. Australia’s has limited inbound capacity and ash arrivals must have a negative PCR test, plus stay in hotel quarantine for 14 days. Australia has also been extremely slow with the vaccine rollout, but there is hope that vaccinated travelers will be allowed out of the country in the next 6-8 weeks. We can only wait and see how that progresses.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:08

    Very good news. Interesting that Air Serbia yesterday operated 5 charters to Hurghada

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:19

      Why do they allow AirCairo to fly charter flihjts, but they didnt allow AnadoluJet to fly charters to Antalya?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:21

      Air Cairo is not a charter. It's a scheduled year round service. On top of that bilateral air agreements with Egypt and Turkey are completely different.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:09

    Finally some good news and positive developments.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:12

    Good to see New York among top performing routes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:33

      It's been like that for a while.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:17

    BEG-ROV 80 pax
    ROV-BEG 140 pax

    That's the flight tonight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      Very good loads for a brand new route in middle of a pandemic.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:27

      We are no longer in the middle of a pandemic but rather at its end.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:29

      The aviation industry would not agree with you. Global air travel is still way down.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:33

      And Serbian aviation would disagree with you. It's great results show that recovery has long begun.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:53

      Serbian market is doing quite ok. Luxair launched flights, KL is upgrading many flights to B737-700 and LH is sending more and more E95 from MUC. All that with travel restrictions from the EU.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:25

    This is a great result. I expect June will perform even better.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:40

    Every single airline in Europe saw its busiest month since the start of the pandemic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:42

      Not true actually.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:53

      And not with such high LF.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous11:18

    Load factor really is good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:26

      Marek said a few weeks ago that their LF on New York flight in May was 90%

      Delete
  11. Anonymous11:19

    How come Paris is doing so well for them considering all the restrictions?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:25

      Transfers probably

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:25

      No Air France, they surrendered the whole market to Air Serbia.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous11:29

    Could we see any more new routes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:58

      If an opportunity presents itself I'm sure they woll.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:15

      *will

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:15

      I can think of a few opportunities they have not used.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous11:59

    When will we get the financial results?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:04

      In July for last year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:05

      ^ Like every year

      Delete
  14. Anonymous12:17

    Not surprised their lounge had record visits since they made deals with Qatar and Flydubai and now they let priority pass too. Don't understand they didn't do this years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous16:28

    Bankrot Motenegra im je u mnogome doprineo biljim rezultatima. Evo ga A330 danas leti za TGD.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous19:28

    Tehran and Amman are so obvious that is hurts my eyes when I see that JU does not even try there two babies.
    Amman was in their plans, but have no idea why they just don't go with it already? And Tehran? It is so obvious that they must have it on their "to-do list" for long time now.
    Maybe too long rotation times? Lower yields per rotation time comparing to, lets say, Tivat?
    I mean, yeah, you can do 6 rotations to Tivat with A320 for the time of one rotation to Tehran, but sometimes I get a feeling that being so tightly connected to Montenegrian market gives to JU two "obstacles" - feeling of being in power over so smaller market and feelling of not wanting to expand as they have so many "hot cakes" so close to BEG.

    I am not sure, but lets see.
    Also as people mentioned - Toronto, Shanghai and one additional US route are a must in the nearby future.
    Just do more midnight flights to transfer markets - include to Athens, Thesalloniki, Tirana, Skopje and Larnaka also Bucarest, Sofia, Zagreb, Cluj, Cisinau, Heraklion and Constanca maybe.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous19:37

    Yerevan, Tbilisi and Baku are the first trio that should be introduced as soon as Covid relax a bit more.
    Lisbon flights with TAP code share to their South America destinations
    Madrid flightd with Iberia code share to their Central America destinations
    Additional one A330 (or even 2 in 2023?) with adding of Toronto, Vancouver/LAX, Atlanta/MIA on the west and Beijing, Shanghai/Seoul/Tokyo to the east.
    During winter times do chartes to Maldives, Cuba, Sanya, Canaries, Dominican Republic, Aruba/Bonaire/Curacao. Pick your choice.

    But if their plan (and the plan for Vinci) is to be a part of airport with 15 million paxs, they will need to start working on it ASAP.

    How I see JU fleet in 2030?
    7 A330
    10 A320
    10 A319
    15 ATRs

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Balkan baby20:10

      Quite optimistic with the 7 A330s.

      Realistically, Future long haul:
      Americas - Toronto, Chicago
      Asia - Beijing, Shanghai

      For this you need 3 A330s. And if this can be done be 2024, puna kapa.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:02

      3 je malo za 5 dugolinijskih ruta,4 bi završila posao.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous20:23

    Da li neko slucajno ima neku informaciju, da li su vraceni najmladji piloti na posao?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous13:26

    Tbilisi, Baku and Yerevan can work. Start 2PW with connections to JFK and see where it ends up. Also Amman as already mentioned in comments.
    Regarding West Europe-Dublin, Manchester, Stavanger, Lisbon and Madrid.

    ReplyDelete

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