Air Serbia has tentatively scheduled the resumption of flights to three destinations it has not served since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March of last year. The airline recently put on sale flights from Belgrade to Madrid, Tel Aviv and Venice. Services are scheduled to resume from the start of the winter season on October 31, although changes remain likely. At this point, the Serbian carrier plans to run two weekly flights on each route. This is compared to five weekly rotations to Tel Aviv and three to Venice in the winter months leading up to the start of Covid-19, while the published frequencies to Madrid remain at pre-pandemic levels.
On the other hand, the airline is yet to put tickets on sale for flights from Belgrade to both Geneva and Rostov-on-Don for the upcoming winter. Services to Geneva were launched last summer season and compete directly against easyJet. The route is maintained as a year-round service. Flights to Rostov were launched this June, and the airline has said it is pleased with its performance, with a high volume of transfer traffic recorded so far. “Great demand and passenger load factor on the new route [Rostov-on-Don] showed us that it was a good business decision. We will continue to monitor demand and adapt to the circumstances on the market quickly”, the airline’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Jiri Marek, said late last month.
Air Serbia will continue to grow its frequencies and capacity in the coming month with the airline to operate 2.330 flights (return service included) in August, up 5.6% on July. This does not include the carrier’s charter network, which is at record levels this year. It will have 281.798 seats on sale within its scheduled network next month, up 4.6% on July. The largest volume of flights will be operated to Tivat, followed by Podgorica, Paris, Zurich and Tirana, while similarly, the largest number of seats will be made available to Tivat, Podgorica, Paris, Zurich, Moscow and New York.
I don't understand why they have not restored Madrid so far? Spain is open and they are already flying to Barcelona.
ReplyDeleteWith what equipment? Fleet is operating at full capacity. Between MAD and BCN it was more logical to resume BCN in the summer.
DeleteMy conclusion is that Air Serbia was completely unprepared for the return in demand this summer. They didn't have their fleet ready and did not find alternatives for the aircraft they retired.
DeleteThat's true. Thankfully they just returned an ATR back to fleet which hasn't been in operation since December.
DeleteWhich one?
DeleteYU-ALT
DeleteThanks. How many aircraft are now in operation? Is the fleet being fully utilized?
Delete18 planes now in use. 10 A319, 1 A320, 1 A330, 5 ATR72s and 1 B737
DeleteThere is only one aircraft that is not operative and that is A319 YU-API which hasn't flown in almost 9 months.
DeleteThey desperately need more ATRs in general. It's an aircraft that does well for them.
DeleteRe MAD/BCN discussion, it is also important to note that they have competition on BCN route from Vueling while on Madrid route they don't. So it would not be smart to leave the market to the competition and not resume flights.
DeleteI thought they retired all of the Boeings?
DeleteAnd why isn't the A319 (YU-API) flying?
Thanks.
It is the B737-700 leased from Smartwings
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/06/air-serbia-eyes-smartwings-jet-wet-lease.html
Ahhhhh .... ok.
DeleteThanks.
Thanks.
DeleteThere is a reason why they have more competition to BCN, it's because it's a much larger market. I am almost certain that Wizz Air will introduce BCN next year so it's good JU stayed present on this market this year. They need some cheap brand publicity since they don't invest in marketing.
DeleteIt has nothing to do with a larger market but with Vueling having a base in BCN.
DeleteMadrid was performing better than Barcelona prior to the pandemic.
Your last sentence is not true. Highlighted by the fact that they had more weekly fights to Barcelona.
DeleteUntil when do they have the Smartwings 737?
ReplyDeleteIt was written here until the end of September.
DeleteConsidering all the Israeli carriers have resumed BEG, it would be time for them to return there.
ReplyDeleteI hope GCA and ROV will be staying in the network this winter.
ReplyDelete^ GVA you mean?
DeleteYes, sorry mistyped.
DeleteI'm sure they will. They haven't finalized the winter network yet. As we have seen with Ryanair that just this week put tickets on sale for many routes for the winter.
DeleteI wouldn't be surprised if easyJet outperformed them on the Geneva route and it becomes seasonal.
DeleteNeither would I. JU does not deal well with the competition and on this route there really is no need to fly with JU unless you are transferring somewhere via BEG. You are flying from the same airport, the service is more or less the same and the prices on easyjet are much cheaper.
Delete+1 last anon
DeleteHow many flights does JU have to Geneva and how many easyjet?
DeleteJU has just two flights per week and easyjet had 4. So choosing easyjet is a non brainer.
DeleteYep seems like they are being well and truly outperformed by easy. This winter easy will keep 4 weekly on this route and have 6 weekly from the end of November. Meanwhile Air Serbia hasn't even put tickets on sale.
DeleteNot a good sign. Looks like it will become a seasonal route for Air Serbia.
DeleteIt's not uncommon for Air Serbia to do that with new routes. Operate first year year-round because they get an incentive from the new airport they are operating to and then turn it seasonal the next.
DeleteDidn't they only start Geneva when it looked as if easyjet would not come back?
DeleteYes. They planned to start it first in 2018, started ticket sales and then cancelled it. Then they randomly announced it last summer when it looked as if EasyJet would discontinue the route. Same was done with Oslo. They started when it looked like Norwegian would not come back, but they eventually did.
DeleteYup, they did last Anon. They thought the same for DY and OSL. However DY is much easier to beat than easyJet which has a strong brand and active marketing, two things JU doesn't have. I wouldn't be surprised if GVA becomes seasonal. Of course for us passengers it's always better to have competition.
DeleteThe difference being that they are performing really well in Oslo and they are constantly increasing it. It's now at 4 weekly. Norway has now also lifted quarantined requirements for Serbian citizens (this is for non-residents, they actually had to go to hotel quarantine!)
DeletePeople always complane how AirSerbia is expensive, but my experience is different. So, would anyone give some comparison on Genève route?
DeleteAir Serbia has better slots than EasyJet on the Geneva route for diaspora wanting the travel to BEG for the weekend. There is a Friday evening outbound from Geneva and a Monday early morning inbound, so no need to take time off work. If you book a few weeks in advance prices were on par with EasyJet, taking into account that EasyJet now charges for all but the smallest carry-on bags. In-flight drinks and snacks are way cheaper on Air Serbia as well. Another advantage of Air Serbia is seat comfort and space. I don't get how EasyJet out performed them on this route. I fly the route at least twice a month. Really disappointed that Air Serbia seems to be suspending it.
DeleteHow many routes does Air Serbia currently have?
ReplyDeleteI think it is 40 now.
DeleteNot bad at all
DeleteWill Kraljevo-Vienna finally come back in winter?
ReplyDeleteThey don't have any flights on sale between Kraljevo and Vienna in winter.
DeleteThat's a shame. Their network from Nis is also woeful. In winter they basically will have 2 routes.
DeleteLet's wait and see. Remember Kraljevo-Thessaloniki was only announced a month before it started.
DeleteI read yesterday that a group of civil society in Nis complained that JU is not fulfilling its contract on the tender that they won for INI flights. If they got 2.5 million euro for that tender then that would be enough to lease an entire airplane bre!
DeleteNo surprise that routes out of INI are failing. 0 thought was put into choosing the destinations.
Delete@ 10,04
YU-APK joined the fleet when JU 'won' the tender.
Air Serbia is pretty retarded at times. In stead of flying half empty to HHN they should have put a greater focus on charters. Barcino flights to AYT are sold out. What's crazy is that JU blocked Egyptians from flying to INI yet they are ignoring this market.
DeleteAnd still no Cairo :( makes no sense to me
ReplyDeleteTo me neither. Cairo is popular with tourists and they could get transfer passengers too. Plus Egypt is open to the entire world.
DeleteIt has been discussed before. It's a long rotation and many Egyptians can't enter anywhere in Europe so it makes transfers less likely.
DeleteHope it eventually returns to the network.
DeleteCairo will come back sooner or later. It hasn't been discontinued.
DeleteFingers crossed. Hoping to go there in November :D
DeleteBEG should work on bringing MS, their A220 would be perfect for BEG.
DeleteMS?
DeleteEgyptair. They call their county Misr down there.
Delete^Misr Um al Duniya = Egypt is the mother of the world !
DeleteMisr = Egypt
Um = mother
Duniya = world
The only arab sentence i know
:D
Interesting, thanks.
DeleteCAI is being sold for Winter 2021. Tuesday, Friday and Sunday from Belgrade; Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from Cairo. However there has been no official announcement that they are resuming CAI.
DeleteNot on their website.
DeleteThe amount of charters they are operating at the moment is crazy and from what I've heard all these flights are packed to the last seat.
ReplyDeleteToday alone they have 16 charters, which on a Wednesday which is the slowest day is pretty amazing.
DeleteAnd 7 of them are to Hurghada!
DeleteThere would be even more flights to Hurghada if Air Serbia had the capacity. But they didn't and they told tour agents who requested more flights that they don't.
DeleteCrazy. They should have wet leased another plane. This is easy money.
DeleteImagine had they not leased the 737 from Smartwings.
DeleteAntalya also has a lot of flights.
DeleteHurghada has several daily flights each day. On Sunday they had 9 flights.
DeleteThey didn't have to lease an extra plane. They have A319 YU-API which has been sitting at the hangar since November 2020.
DeleteWhat's wrong with it? Stored or mechanical issue?
DeleteI think it is just stored.
DeleteI highly doubt they just stored it. There must be some issue with it. Why would they not bring it out of storage instead of leasing a Smartwings plane? Does not make sense.
DeleteWould be interesting to know if they are still paying the lease for that AC that is parked for 9 months!? Seems very similar to the story we had in the past with ANH ... that one became a donor plane and never flew again after it entered the hangar.
DeleteYU-API is in long-term storage so it would cost a lot to make it operational again. The plane was not in the best shape to start with. They should have leased capacity from elsewhere even on a short term basis (two months). There is enough demand in charters to justify it.
DeleteYU-API is returned to leasor and waiting for new company, stored
DeleteI do believe YU-API is a power by the hour lease so if they keep it on the ground they don't pay for its use.
DeleteAnd then you read here how JU gave up on Greece because of competition. Lol yeah, especially now that Ellinair is out. JU just moved to more lucrative charter markets (lucrative = safe and reliable, since Greece may ban Serbian citizen at any point like it did last year). Wizz isn't doing that well on their flights to Santorini - lots of available seats for August, the peak month.
DeleteJU didn't give up on Greece, it was pushed out of Crete. Big difference.
DeleteAegean and Wizz Air are making a killing on HER-BEG.
As for Wizz Air to Santorini, don't forget that the route was upgraded to A321 just last month. So far this month average LF to Santorini is 82% from what I was told.
Will there be any new routes this winter?
ReplyDeleteCurrently none but who knows.
DeleteGVA will be replaced by LYS.
DeleteLYS? Are you sure?
Deletewow Tirana now in top 5 in terms of frequnecies.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite popular this summer. And Albania has absolutely no entry requirements.
DeleteIt's in the top 5 in terms of frequencies but capacity wise no. I'm assuming most flights are with the ATR?
DeleteThis week 7 flights are operated with ATR, 3 with A319 and 1 with 737-700.
DeleteNice to see they are also operating jet engine aircraft on this route. Demand must be good.
DeleteIt would be nice to see TIA finally get upgraded to the A319 permanently, at least the midday departures.
DeleteGood news!
ReplyDeleteWhen will Italy lift the ridiculous entry ban?
ReplyDeleteDoubt before next summer.
DeleteThis is a good sign because these three were not on sale until recently.
ReplyDeleteStill no news about resumption of city JU served three decades ago? YYZ?
ReplyDeleteNext summer, best case scenario.
DeleteWhen would tickets go on sale?
Delete(not to mention with what plane).
Would be nice for at least Christmas charters twice a week to test the route, since they have the capacity to do so. Problem perhaps will be staff, as they will need to hire crew.
DeleteIt could push their cause with the Canadian authorities for additional frequencies if the route does well.
Good idea.
DeleteMy friends from Toronto tell me that 4x weekly in summer, and 2x weekly in winter would definitely work. Plus all the ex-yugo transfers.
How come that nobody is mentioning the latest happenings at JAT Tehnika and how it can potentially influence the operations of Air Serbia? I think some planes are to enter scheduled maintenance at end of the summer and that was done at JAT tehnika but now they lost their EASA license so who will be doing the heavy maintenance and at what cost?
ReplyDeleteJat Tehnika will get their EASA license back next month.
DeleteThey don't need EASA approval to perform maintenance on Air Serbia fleet, as aircraft are registered in Serbia.
Delete@ 12,20
DeleteThat is not how it works. Regardless of where the aircraft is registered, the airline still has to follow the regulations of the country they fly to or risk being black listed.
Besides, it leaves a bad reputation to the airline using maintenance companies that don't conform to international safety standards.
True
DeleteThe earliest Air Serbia plane is scheduled in late September, they will get things sorted by then. Getting certificate frozen temporarily is not uncommon, especially outside EU where thy are very strict with rules
DeleteGood decision, although Venice seems like an odd route to bring back considering the travel restrictions and winter period.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Rome and Milano first.
DeleteRome and Milan have been in operations for months now.
DeleteTrue. Didn't have my morning kafa yet.
DeleteNice news but I am wondering why didn’t JU expand their network in other cities such as Tuzla, Mostar, Nis, Kraljevo, Cluj-Napoca or even Pristina in order to attract more transit passengers via BEG.
ReplyDeleteTo operate these flights, adding 2/3 ATR would be ideal.
For many of these destinations a 30 seater would work.
DeleteLike uncle Rodney mentioned in the past.
@11:35
DeleteWhat do you mean by 2/3 of an ATR? JU needs 2-3 small aircraft for this kind of regional network.
Ok, then tell me which 30-seat aircraft exist ? I don’t think it exists anymore
DeleteSaab 340
DeleteDoes Adria still have those Saabs lying around?
DeleteMaybe JU can grab a few on the cheap.
Stay far away from these Saabs that Adria had.
DeleteSmaller regional cities that can be served from BEG with the Saab 340 are:
DeleteMostar
Tuzla
Osijek
Zadar
Rijeka
Varna
Burgas
Cluj-Napoca
Craiova
Timișoara
Szeged
Kraljevo
Niš
Would be nice.
DeleteNoone has ever had success with 30 seater props unless the routes are heavily subsidized or part of much larger network. None of which would be the case for any cities mentioned above. ATR 72-600 would be the only way to go. Low operating cost and can cover anything within one hour range from Belgrade.
DeleteAny word on MSQ?
ReplyDeleteIt was mentioned here as a possibility a few weeks ago.
I know the EU wouldn't look kindly on that, but I think it would work considering Belavia is banned.
No demand from and to KBP? Windrose will be flying 2 weekly in winter and SkyUp gave up very quickly. What about JU?
ReplyDeleteWould be nice to see KBP back in JUs rotation.
DeleteThat or LWO/KIV.
DeleteWhat about BEG-KIEV?
DeleteIf they return to Kiev they should fly to IEV instead of KBP.
DeleteIt's much closer to the city center and more competitive.
They should have used the void left by Belavia and opened Minsk as well as Kiev.
They may have been "surprised" by the surge in demand, but it is still better to be cautious and remain conservative. If anything has been proven, it is that we have no idea what is yet to come. When this Covid ordeal ends, sadly there will still be planty of unused planes to lease, numerous airlines are shrinking and will not be returning to pre covid operations.
DeleteHope, Air Serbia wil have three more aircrafts up to therty seat in fleet. And one or two Tprop aircraft for cargo traffic. Connection to regionals city's like Nis, Mostar, Kraljevo, Banja Luka, Cluz, Osjek, Ohrid, Tuzla, Kukesh, Temisoara... and Trebinje and Saranda when come to be ready for trafic. Balkans world is in change. Regional service have to be too.
ReplyDeleteTim will tell.
Rod.
Hope, Air Serbia will have three more aircrafts up to therty seat in fleet. And one or two Tprop aircraft for cargo traffic. Connection to regionals city's like Nis, Mostar, Kraljevo, Banja Luka, Cluz, Osjek, Ohrid, Tuzla, Kukesh, Temisoara... and Trebinje and Saranda when come to be ready for trafic. Balkans world is in change. Regional service have to be too.
ReplyDeleteTime will tell.
Rod.