Belarus in talks over Air Serbia flights


The Belarusian Ambassador to Russia, Vladimir Semashko, has said his country is negotiating over the potential introduction of Air Serbia flights between Belgrade and Minsk. It comes over a month after European Union member states, as well as Serbia, banned Belarusian carriers from taking off, landing or overflying their territories following Minsk's forced diversion of a Ryanair flight in June. “In order to meet the needs of people, we are working to attract more foreign air carriers. Such work is being carried out with the national airlines of Serbia, the United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan and Qatar”, Ambassador Semashko said.

Belarus’ national carrier Belavia maintained flights between Minsk and Belgrade prior to the airspace restrictions. It was quick to restore its pre-Covid frequencies on the route to three weekly, increasing to four weekly rotations over the winter months. In November of last year, Air Serbia and Belavia concluded a Special Prorate Agreement (SPA), which enabled the Serbian carrier to sell tickets to Minsk from any point within its network via Belgrade in partnership with the airline. As a result, the Belorussian carrier was also able to sell tickets for destinations within Air Serbia’s network via Belgrade.

Growing tourism and business ties between Serbia and Belarus had helped boost the performance of the Minsk - Belgrade service, however, Belavia also relied on a significant number of transfer passengers on the route. In 2019, over 3.000 travellers between Minsk and Belgrade were connecting passengers, while in 2020 the figure increased, despite the service not operating for two months due to Belgrade Airport’s closure. In both 2019 and 2020, points in the former Soviet republics were its most popular connecting destinations to and from the Serbian capital on Belavia's service. In 2019 these included St Petersburg as number one, followed by Almaty, Moscow, Kiev, Nur-Sultan, Batumi, Kharkiv and Baku. In 2020, Kiev came out on top, significantly ahead of all other connecting destinations. It was followed by Yerevan, St Petersburg, Almaty, Moscow, Kharkiv, Odessa and Nur-Sultan.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    These would be a good idea. This summer Belavia was planning something like 5 daily flights to Tivat. Air Serbia could benefit from all of these passengers especially since the are no restrictions for Belarussians in Montenegro. It is doing the same at the moment by handling Russian passengers to Montenegro since there are no flights.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    I don't think Air Serbia has any spare capacity and Minsk isn't a short rotation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      Flight time is around 01.40 so block would be around two hours. It's about the same as Copenhagen or maybe Berlin.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:06

      That would mean plane would be out of base for around 5 hours.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:08

      So?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:09

      They barely have planes to cover current network.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:10

      I'm sure they have capacity for a night rotation.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:28

      Re-activate 1 B733 (it still has resources left and didn't get the well deserved farewell!)

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:54

      Is that even possible?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous14:14

      Highly doubt it. Last I heard they plan to send two B737s to Africa but I don't know if its true.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    This route would bee perfect for a 100 seat plane, which Air Serbia does not have

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:10

      I think potential demand would be much bigger because of restrictions towards Belarus. They can easily deploy A319/A320.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:04

    If Kiev didn't work for them, I don't see how Minsk would.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      Because people from Belarus have few alternatives to fly to Europe at the moment.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:05

      If Kiev didn't work for them then I don't see how Rostov or Krasnodar would.

      Oh wait...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:44

      +1

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:04

    Belavia seemed to have found a niche on the Belgrade route as a transfer airline to ex-USSR.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:15

      Yes, they performed really well.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:05

    Good idea

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:07

    hm I‘m not sure if introducing flights to Minsk would be a smart idea, it could be very risky for Serbia-EU relations, Serbian Government even agreed on the EU sanctions.

    However, this is a good opportunity for making profit, many travelers from Minsk would transfer at BEG, also Montenegro could profit as well because it is popular destination among Belarusians.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:35

      True dat.
      And will Air Serbia react if EU says something like; hey hey hey guys, slow down and keep calm.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:36

      Read the article. Air Serbia isn't introducing flights, they are just being pursued by the Belarus government.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:51

      I read the article. I'm saying at some point if AS seriously considers, or announcing MSQ, what will they do if EU says; cool it.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:07

    Which foreign airlines are left in Minsk at the moment?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      Russian airlines, Turkish Airlines and surprisingly Iraqi Airways.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:11

      FlyDubai flies to Minsk as well.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:13

      I'm certain TK is profiting big time from the situation.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:14

      Any idea what equipment they send to Minsk?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:15

      The moment EU imposed sanctions I thought JU could jump to the opportunity as a bridge to Europe. ExYu didn't publish any of those comments.
      JU should wet-lease another plane if not too late in the season.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:16

      A320/321 and B738

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:20

      They are operating double daily flights to Minsk.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:34

      What demand could Iraqi Airways see to Minsk of all places???

      Delete
    9. Anonymous15:43

      Why Iraqi Airways? The same way soembody can ask "why Air Serbia? What do THEY wanna do in Minsk???".
      Iraqi has great middle east coverage+India+Africa. So, the same way how Air Serbia could feed its network with few weekly rotations (from my point of view, should be night flights every day), same way Iraqi feeds its own network with few weekly rotations.
      Plus, for them, Minsk IS an European destination, the same way how Belgrade is REAL EUROPE to Iranians and Indians :)
      So, have a bit broader image and be a bit open to other parts of the worlds.
      Imagine if JU opens flights to Baghdad and Tehran and then people on some "mideastaviation.com" forums starts asking "why THEY?" :)
      And we know why. But they dont.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous17:14

      Iraqi Airways is only there for political reasons. Now that Belarus is sanctioned for the Ryanair incident, they are taking in Iraqi refugees and let them cross the border with Lithuania in a bid to destabilise Lithuania and the EU. Lithuania is not normally a recipient of refugees, so they can hardly accommodate the influx of Iraqis from Belarus. You might think it's a stretch, but this is actively happening and the EU has ordered Frontex to strengthen itself in Lithuania. This is the very only reason why Iraqi Airways is flying to Minsk.

      Delete
    11. JU had flights to Baghdad. On wide body DC-10. And JU had flights to Teheran. On at that time state-of-the-art brand new B737-300. And no one called names any company or any nation from anywhere. Then, all over ex-yu, some primitive people took the control and brought us all where we are today

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:13

    Potential cash cow route

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:37

      I hate those. ;-)

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:17

    Of course they should do it !
    No competition, hello is anybody awake ?
    If the EU is not happy then say its a humanitarian route to support the Belarusian people .
    Which would be the truth by the way .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:23

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:33

      We are not part of Eu so what's wrong if they are not happy? On another note it is a shame that Serbia supported the flight ban imposed by EU .

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:39

      Not sure EU would buy transfer flights via BEG to Tivat as 'humanitarian'.

      Delete
    4. It's "humanitarian" towards the Montenegro turist sector.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:24

    Would be in line with JU's strategy of reacting when new opportunities present themselves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:28

      But politics is here heavily involved.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:23

      Politics ruin everything.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:24

    Are European airlines allowed to fly to Minsk?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:31

      European airlines, not..

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      *eu airlines

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:36

      Most of them are, but their respective governments are advising tem not to do so. Add to that the industrial solidarity with Ryanair because what Belarus government did is areckless and ridiculous act breaching international air traffic agreements and regulations. Even no matter the political story behind it, just getting it down to the air traffic matters, its unacceptable.

      And I am not happy if Air Serbia grabs this opportunity. It would be a bit predatory and taking advantage from something which is not good for the air traffic as a whole. Air Serbia would be perfectly fine at this moment without these flights.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:52

      Well, if you look at this from another angle, what would Belarus have to say if France snatched a French citizen from B2 flight to London.

      Nothing. They wouldn't even care.

      So it's the EU acting predatory, arrogantly and in trying to extra-territorialize its laws and 'ideas'.

      Too bad they didn't receive a blanket overflight ban such as LO is enjoying.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:03

      From Russia.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:07

      They signed conventions and they breached them. First, they used force to coerce the crew into forced landing, and then their official reason for grounding was proven to be false. What they did is political abuse of the airspace usage rights. But I will stop here and hope you will read further from those more knowledgeable on the matter than I am. https://www.ejiltalk.org/aerial-incident-of-23-may-2021-belarus-and-the-ryanair-flight-4978/

      Delete
    7. Vlad11:37

      "They signed conventions and they breached them. First, they used force to coerce the crew into forced landing, and then their official reason for grounding was proven to be false. What they did is political abuse of the airspace usage rights."

      So basically the same thing the EU did to Evo Morales' plane back in 2013?

      Pot calling the kettle black.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous14:13

      +100

      Delete
    9. Anonymous14:17

      +100

      Delete
    10. Anonymous17:15

      Absolutely not the same. Cannot compare in any kind of way. And you leave out the most important fact that a private Morales plane is not a scheduled passenger flight with hundreds of uninvolved and not guilty passengers who are endangered and taken hostage against there will although they absolutely had nothing nothing to do with anything that the Belarussian government was after.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous17:21

      @Vlad

      No, that was different. What happened to Evo Morales was that some countries closed their airspace for his aircraft. That's allowed and harmless. What Belarus did was making up an active bomb threath to make sure the plane would land in Belarus AND they used military force (fighter jets) to force the plane to land. Absolutely unacceptable.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous19:41

      There are many examples when Western and other governments diverted civilian jets to arrest a suspect. US i think tops the list.

      The only difference here was that the guy was a Western agent with computers full of 'компромат' i.e compromisable material about organization or protest, sources of financing etc.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:27

    Departing BEG at 23/00 and departing Minsk at 4:30, so pax can transfer to European cities.
    Would work a charm as there is no other alternative

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:16

      I think it would have to be a split schedule they can pick up passengers in both directions.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:40

    Belarus might want the flights but I doubt Air Serbia will bite the bullet. Not worth the issues they may have for operating these flights.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:41

    In my opinion, Air Serbia should rather look into some of those markets Belavia received good feed from for their Belgrade flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:44

      Caucuses could be a good opportunity.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:26

      Yes, Yerevan and Tbilisi.
      No visa required between Serbia-Georgia-Armenia .

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:16

      I hope they consider it.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous21:10

      I believe it could be as successful as some of the Russian routes.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:45

    They should give Kiev another try rather than Minsk. Much bigger market.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:03

      They should give LWO or Chisinau/Odessa another try.

      Kiev market is over-saturated.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:04

      They tried it already twice and it did not work quite well.

      Additionally they would have now competition on BEG-KBP route that would make it even less profitable.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19:46

      I really don't understand how they failed. Obviously didn't do their homework well.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous21:10

      Well SkyUp failed too.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous21:11

      But Windrose is doing well, even increasing flights. I guess they have the right aircraft for this route. Plus Skyup failed in the middle of a pandemic. Air Serbia failed at the height of commercial aviation and travel.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous10:00

    When did Belavia start flying to Belgrade?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:03

      2012

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:04

      via Budapest first and then it went nonstop a few years ago.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:05

      Did they have 5th freedom between BUD and BEG?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:41

      Yes

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:45

      ^^
      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/09/trip-report-belavia-belgrade-budapest.html

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:00

      Good one. Cheers

      Delete
    7. Anonymous21:09

      Seems like a relatively good airline.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous10:24

    Mislim da ove godine novih destinacija neće biti. Trebaju sve analizirati i sledeće godine krenuti u veliko širenje. Pokrenuti sve rute koje su bile planirane za prošlo leto,obnoviti stare ukinute zbog korone i eventualno dodati neku novu ukoliko se ukaže potreba. Dodati 2 A330 za Toronto,Čikago,Peking i Šangaj, 1 A320,2 A321 i 2 ATR-a.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:45

      Bravo.

      Delete
    2. To bih bilo sjajno.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:15

      Ne verujem da mogu sve to. Najvise sto ocekujem je drugi A330 za Kinu i jos jedan A319.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous11:25

    It looks like most of the commentators on this forum agree that it is a great idea for JU to continue the route. It wasn't too long ago that the EU imposed sanctions on Serbia, remember how that felt? Remember how everyone took JU's market share?

    This is an OPPORTUNITY for JU to make some serious money and fill seats as a TRANSFER hub!

    It would take the EU politicians MONTHS to comment and Serbia can respond with "Hey it's been 2 years and the EU didn't open even 1 chapter on accession." In those few months JU would make more money than it would have in YEARS on that route.

    Someone tell Jiri to pick up the phone and start making some calls.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:55

      I agree with you but at the time Serbia was the victim of sanctions (1992-1995) there was no foreign airline that was flying to BEG.

      Unfortunately we had only BEG-TGD and BEG-TIV flights operated by JAT.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:01

      +100

      Delete
  20. Belavia now have lack of unemployed 737s.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:05

      What do you mean? Where are they using them?

      Delete
    2. Mean excess. Start to write about AS...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous21:09

      I still don't understand

      Delete
  21. Air Serbia must act now on this route as well as other potential routes. Serbia is years away from becoming an EU member and potential for many new routes exists in North America as well as Asia. Management must be pro-active now and lobby the government to lease more planes . Why wait until next year for expansion? Gvozdje se kuje dok je vruce.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:05

      But each new route requests money and the fleet is streched as it is.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:08

      Isn't one A319 still grounded?

      Delete
  22. Anonymous17:31

    Would JU flight from/to Belarus be actually allowed to overfly EU + UKR territory? I thought scheduled flights via EU+UKR territories to Belarus are banned? If still banned, routing could only be from BEG to airspaces of Kosovo, Albania, Libya, Egypt, Turkey, Black Sea, Russia. Flying time something like 6 hours or bit more..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:39

      Belarussian airlines are banned not flights to Belarus.....

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:40

      And im curious, how do you get straight to Libya from Albania?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous20:20

      It's meant as a euro-med flight. With lotsa stops. Just like a bus route on ibarska magistrala.
      Pax can jump on & off.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous21:08

    It would be nice but I doubt these flights will happen.

    ReplyDelete