Serbia and China have finalised a mid-term cooperation agreement until 2025 which outlines when individual projects between the two countries will be implemented. Among them is the introduction of nonstop flights, which has been slated for the second half of next year. The Serbian Finance Minister, Siniša Mali, held talks with the Chinese Ambassador to Serbia regarding the future service, noting the two sides must now work on details for flights from Belgrade to either Beijing or Shanghai to be launched. He noted there was a strong desire from both sides for the service to be introduced.
Recently, the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, held talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, during which he expressed the need for nonstop flights between Belgrade and China to be established. Mr Vučić said a service between the Serbian capital and either Shanghai, Beijing or Guangzhou is necessary due to strong demand and asked China’s leader to look into the matter. “President Xi said he is taking considerable notice of the request. When he says something like that, you can expect for his words to be put into action within a short period of time”, Mr Vućić said. He added the flights could be operated by either Air Serbia or a Chinese carrier.
China has emerged as one of the top unserved markets to and from Belgrade since visa restrictions between the two countries were mutually lifted in 2017, with travel reaching a record high in 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 145.248 passengers travelled between the two countries in 2019 (excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan). Of those, 62.518 flew to or from Shanghai, or around 43% of all China travellers. It was followed by Beijing with 52.123 passengers and Guangzhou with 14.087 travellers. Air Serbia’s CEO, Dunacan Naysmith, recently said the airline was continuing to look into options at expanding its long haul network, with the Chinese market being of interest. Air Serbia has a codeshare agreement in place with Air China between Vienna and Beijing. Last year, the Serbian carrier renewed its Special Prorate Agreement with Hainan Airlines enabling passengers to reach Beijing from Belgrade via Brussels, Berlin and Moscow.
The Chinese ambassador is a super nice lady!
ReplyDeleteAnd she speaks Serbian fluently :)
DeleteShe was a diplomat in Belgrade back when NATO illegally bombed Yugoslavia in 1999. This is not her first post in Serbia.
DeleteTo me it is looking more and more obvious that Air Serbia will get second A330 next summer season.
ReplyDeleteThat would mean one route to China and another probably to Canada.
DeleteIt could mean Air Serbia getting second A330 for flights to China while Toronto-Belgrade could be operated by Air Canada.
DeleteBest case scenario would be to have the Chinese fly to Belgrade and then the second JU A332 to be used to boost JFK to 7 and then launch both ORD and YYZ.
DeleteHonestly, if I were JU I would be more afraid of UA on ORD-BEG with their B788 than AC which is less competitive and dangerous.
DeleteGood, we need those flights and I hope it's a Chinese carrier that launches them. We need to have access to their domestic and regional network.
ReplyDeleteAlso with the expansion at BEG there will be room for more long-haul flights.
I also hope it is a Chinese airline rather than JU.
DeleteThe codeshares and SPAs with those Chinese airlines make no sense.
ReplyDeleteEspecially the one with Air China which includes waiting in Vienna for hours.
DeleteI think 3 times per week BEG-PEK/PVG could work. The longer you wait to introduce these flights, the more difficult it will be. Before the pandemic LOT was expanding in Asia, Chinese carriers were starting more and more Eastern European routes, the chances to establish yourself on the market were getting slimmer and slimmer.
ReplyDeleteDoes China-Serbia bilateral allow for potential Air Serbia flights to China ?
ReplyDeleteYes and unlimited code-shares to china.
DeleteWhat would be the makeup of passengers on these flights. Would it be mostly leisure transfers, business passengers, ethnic even?
ReplyDeleteYou can have all three. The majority of Chinese people living in Serbia are near and around Shanghai and almost all use Aeroflot.
DeleteRemember that last year Air Serbia had to charter a plane to Beijing for Serbian students stuck in China. Also there was a chartered Hainan Airlines flight to Belgrade to transport Chinese workers to Serbia. So there is obviously all sort of categories that would use these flights.
DeleteMakes sense. If you can get passengers to one destination and then quickly transfer them to neighbouring capitals, which Air Serbia is the only airline in ex-Yu in a position to do, then this could work. All exYU capitals, as well as places like Tirana, Bucharest and Sofia could generate the demand required to fill a widebody 3-4x times per week.
ReplyDeleteTK flies to more destinations in the Balkans than JU.
DeleteObviously but proportionally to their sizes JU isn't doing bad at all.
Deleteto me it seems like:
ReplyDeleteDear Serbian taxpayers, brace yourselves.
Not really. No Chinese owned company in Serbia is receiving subsidies so a Chinese airline wouldn't either. Even when Hainan flew the money came from China, not Serbia. So please embrace reality when writing on here.
DeleteAnon 09:17 absolutely correct. Plus the flights are a national interest project for both China and Serbia to supplement the belt-road initiative.
DeleteI'm just waiting for the EU to complain because BEG is finally after 30 years starting to get it's old market share back. A lot of EU countries profited heavily from the 90s by taking over the destinations that used to belong to JAT and made billions.
As a "dear Serbian taxpayer" I am 100% behind this project.
DeleteThe EU will be silent on this because German companies need China to push their export based economy and to avoid a new recession.
DeleteDear Anon 09:10
DeleteCan't wait to co-fund this route. Money well spent.
Sincerely,
Serbian Taxpayer
I would prefer they focus on USA/Canada and leave this route to one of their Interline partners.
ReplyDeleteCould the China flights have more passengers than JFK?
ReplyDeleteIf Air Serbia wants to to China they need an other widebody possibly an other a330 or a brand new a350
ReplyDeletewhy not A380? lol
DeleteBecause Belgrade doesn't have a gate for the A380, that is why.
DeleteDon't run into conclusions that fast. New gates are being built. Its not a big problem to add one floor above one of gates for A388 upper deck loading :)
DeleteThat would be great!
DeleteWhat is obvious is that there is political desire within the Serbian government to start flights to China.
ReplyDeleteJust like JFK which was purely a political project, but is now viable.
DeleteExactly and JFK worked out just fine because there are connections on both ends. The same would be the case with these China flights.
DeleteI really hope the Serbian government has many many more of these, as you would call them, political desires. I, for one, am fully behind government's drive to widen the intercontinental network because to me, it's not so much a political, but an economic project with more than obviously overall benefits.
DeleteWould be nice to see Air China in Belgrade again
ReplyDeleteThey used to fly to BEG?
DeleteYes, back when they were known as CAAC. They started in August 1972.
DeleteAnd JAT started in December 1971 as charters Belgrade-Beijing
DeleteNice. Thanks for that
DeleteBtw did JAT only fly to Beijing or did they also fly to Shanghai?
DeleteOnly Beijing
DeleteBack then there were restrictions on how many flights and to where you could operate, especially countries such as China, India etc.
DeleteWith Air China the flights could make a stop in Budapest and continue to BEG. Possible 5th freedom on the BUD-BEG segment would be interesting because it could replace Air Serbia's route to BUD that was suspended years ago and cold feed other flights as well.
DeleteTheir BUD flight is already operated via Minsk isn't it?
DeleteAt the moment none are operated. We will see what happens when Covid calms down.
DeleteThose flights won't be possible anymore as Air China will be unable to fly from Belarus to any European country due to sanctions.
DeleteShanghai is much more logical route to BEG then PEK.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it make more sense to operate this route PVG-PEK-BEG twice per week.
Delete@ 09,14
DeleteIt would make sense...in the 1970's when aircraft didn't have the range.
With todays market, routes like you suggested is a great way to lose money. Kind of why Hainan couldn't make BEG-PRG-PEK work.
Good luck.
ReplyDeleteOnce these flights start it will be interesting to see if Aeroflot will be affected.
ReplyDeleteBoth VIE and BUD have direct flights to China, not sure if this route will be 100% sustainable inspite of the visa abolishments. Lets wait and see.
ReplyDeleteI don't see why they would not be sustainable. There are large Chinese investments and projects in Serbia being built by Chinese workers, Serbia is the only European country with no visa requirements for Chinese people, potential onward connections to the rest of Southern, Central, and Western Europe, genuine friendship between both countries.
DeleteBUD flights are also subsidized.
DeleteI heard that only 1% of China will visit Serbia in the next 5 years.
DeleteAnon 10.25
DeleteThats 14 million Chinese in 5 years, 2.8 million annually... Bitte come and spend money :D :D :D
Great news about these flights. I can't wait until they are finally loaded into the system.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope sooner rather than later.
DeleteUnfortunately politicians over everything. Even though there is already a massive ex-yu diaspora in ORD and YYZ waiting to be connected with BEG, Chinese market suddenly becomes a top priority. Serbian Government constantly pushes JU on the wrong side. First Sukhoi jets and now begging Chinese authorities to inaugurate flights. 👎👎I’m still skeptical about profitability of these flights, yeah I know there are Chinese workers and tourists in Serbia, however some European countries like Croatia have more Chinese tourists but they still haven’t considered non stop flights.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day, if Serbia’s main interest here is tourists from China then it is more logical to let some Chinese Airline fly to BEG with Chinese speaking crew members.
1. You can see China is the top unserved market from Belgrade and Shanghai and Beijing are top unserved cities from Belgrade.
Delete2. Croatia has talked about China flights for several years (there have been many articles here). Most recently Croatian PM has said that flights need to be established but that a political decision (yes political decision) needs to be reached for them to start.
okay I totally understand your point of view but I honestly think JU should prioritize ORD and YYZ, it is more logical to connect diaspora with their homeland in the first place than random tourists from the another side of globe.
DeleteFlights between BEG and China will happen sooner or later, I’m not denying it, but I still don’t think it’s right time to do that, and keep in mind that China is still closed because of Covid, next year will be probably the same...
That same diaspora would switch to Lufthansa over JU if it could save $10 on a fare. On the other hand flights to China would have a more varied passenger structure. At the end of the day if JU won't launch ORD then I could see someone like UA or AA do it.
Delete1. It's the Russians pushing the SSJ, not the Serbian Government.
Delete2. Chinese market isn't suddenly a top priority. As noted with a previous article, Serbia-Canada agreement only allows 2 per week. Not enough for an extra A330. Canada and China seem to be the next step for JU before ORD, with China likely more favoured due to pax flow, cargo and the fact they can operate Chinese routes for than twice a week.
3. Difference with Croatia is that OU isn't expanding and fails to react to events surrounding them ie collapse of JP, FR base in ZAG etc. OU out of all the ex-YU carriers has the biggest demand for long haul flights, at least on tourism alone. The Croatian market waits for foreign carriers to launch long haul routes as OU is incompetent to do so.
4. JU is not intended to be exclusively a 'diaspora express shuttle'. O&D is an important factor, however not a determining one.
China flights are natural like sun rising on the East. Basically, these flights are part of BRI (Belt Road Initiative). Chinese Tourist are absolutely at the bottom of the priorities. This is all logical evolution of technological economic development of the East.
DeleteThis is a major move.
Croatia Airlines has problem of making independent decisions. Their hands are politically/commercially tied with Lufthansa. Unfortunate.
I fully agree with the fourth point - JU is not supposed only to cater to diaspora, but it should also take into account what the Serbian market (and Serbian citizens) need.
DeleteCommercially, it makes sense. This is peanuts for China. However, it would also make a strong political statement. EU is not too thrilled about 16+1 and China may be weighing the decision in light of stalled ratification of
ReplyDeleteChina-EU investment deal.
Rather than anything political, I think it would work in general because the demand is there. And considering China's growing investments in Serbia, the need for flights will only increase.
DeleteIndia, USA and now potential China? BEG is on fire!
ReplyDeleteWith all these potential long-haul additions, I guess JU should lease additional two A330, one 300 and the other 200.
DeleteIt might me an overkill, but YYZ, ORD, PVG and ORD would create one great long-haul network.
It would be something like:
JFK - 3-4 in winter, 7 in summer
YYZ - 2 in winter, 3 in summer
ORD - 2 in winter, 3 in summer
PVG - 3 in winter, 4 in summer
PEK - 3 in winter, 4 in summer
Mislim da bi za početak bilo realnije realnije:
DeleteJFK X7
YYZ X4
ORD X3
PVG X2
PEK X2
I za to bi im trebala još 2 A330.
If there would be someone with big cohonas in JU they should introduce two additional A330 (not NOW NOW but soon) and start the following -
Delete1. Daily JFK
2. Chicago 4 PW
3. Toronto 4 PW
4. Beijing 3 PW
5. Shanghai 3 PW
6. Tehran 3 PW
7. Mumbai 3 PW
Daydreaming. Air Serbia had only one long haul destination since 2016. They will likely add just one more A330 and one destination in China.
DeleteYeah, not a chance those destinations or frequencies will happen.
DeleteMeanwhile sicne 2016 JU has grown its regional network which will make any future long-haul additions a much easier task. They managed to consolidate their position in many, key regional markets.
DeleteHow much does a flight from BEG to wither Beijing or Shanghai last?
ReplyDeleteAround 10 hours to Beijing and 11 to Shanghai
DeleteRotation would be similar to the one to New York I believe.
Delete@17,07
DeleteRotation for both PEK and PVG is a few hours longer than JFK. Both can't be done in 24 hours as can JFK.
H2 2022 seems realistic. Both in terms of time it take to prepare these flights and the Covid situation.
ReplyDeleteYes, China is expected to open to the world next summer, finally.
DeleteShanghai, Beijing, Toronto and Chicago could work with the A332.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that any other airline is interested in flying long haul to Belgrade.
But for that you would need 3 A330s in the fleet as you also have New York flights.
DeleteIs there any indication as to when China may open up?
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the flights to start.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't having flights to both Beijing and Shanghai be a bit too much?
ReplyDelete^ "The Serbian Finance Minister, Siniša Mali, held talks with the Chinese Ambassador to Serbia regarding the future service, noting the two sides must now work on details for flights from Belgrade to either Beijing OR Shanghai to be launched."
DeleteIt appears to me in the past couple of years Air Serbia did everything they could to prevent long haul expansion, esp to ORD and YYZ. I'll come back to this.
ReplyDeleteNow that avoiding expansion is indefensible, they chose China as the next destination and government gears are in action.
China made a decision to keep strict border controls until mid next year so the timing for route launch is sync with that decision. We just have to wait to see if JU will get to fly to PEK or PVG. There is a small possibility JU will get one route and Chinese carrier will get the other. Routes are long, esp BEG-PVG-BEG and would not fit in a 24h window. Makes me wonder if recent talks about JU returning to DXB is really a filler for China schedule.
Going back to YYZ: Air Canada was recently mentioned here as interested in launching BEG. JU can't/won't launch both China and Canada, so it seems path is now clear for AC to launch BEG in 2022. US airlines will probably need just a few more years to launch ORD-BEG.
Alot of the comments here is as if there isn't any pandemic or any restrictions in travel. Sure, travel has been picking up in BEG, however it is not anywhere near 2019 levels, neither is JU back to their full schedule, and it looks as if in September things will slowly start getting locked down again, judging by what Kon has recently said in the media. In Portugal it has already started.
DeleteYou failed to mention that since JFK was launched, JU went into consolidation after massive losses. 2019 was the first time since rebranding they did any major expansion. 2020 is self explanatory (hopefully).
The fact that ARB arrived means they have intentions in keeping long haul, it seems that JU doesn't think the time is right at the moment to go for another long haul expansion. As with AC and US carriers, they have extra capacity (aircraft + staff), JU doesn't. Its a massive difference.
Of course there are pandemic restrictions. I specifically mentioned China will keep them in place until mid 2022, when JU is expected to launch China. If Air Canada launches Belgrade, it is not likely to be before late spring/early summer 2022. It seems possible BEG will next summer have JU with JFK and PEK or PVG and AC with YYZ.
DeleteOther than JFK, Air Serbia went into first major expansion during the summer of 2016, when they got Adria's CRJ900 (for free) to test the waters for a number of new routes like Kiev and Hamburg.
Extra capacity in North America should be viewed not at this point in time but with May/June 2022 as a starting point. Demand will increase by then. On the other hand, AC Rouge fleet had some 25-26 767's mostly for Euro leisure seasonal routes, now they have zero. AT/AC merge didn't go through so they can't count on AT fleet. Let's hope A333 fleet will be sufficient for AC to launch BEG in 2022.
Serbia should not forget other destinations in the East.
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia next year could try Belgrade-Yerevan and Belgrade-Tbilisi with the A319 twice a week.
Spicejet flies Belgrade-Yerevan in two and half hours, thats the same or less time than Belgrade-Rostov!
Does anyone see cargo potential of this route?
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia doesn't have dedicated cargo aircraft. One-way cargo potential is there but it has to be viewed together with passenger demand.
DeleteNot dedicated cargo airplane but passenger airplane which has certain cargo capacity. It đeans that company like DHL or Schenker simply buy space i cargo compartment of passanger planes (I import goods in such way). This service is not like express DHL service what arrive in 3-4 days but service executed within cca 10 days combining airplane and truck transport, for cca 40% less money in comparison with express delivery. I.e. plane is always 100% LF, if there is less passangers there is more goods on board and vice versa.
DeleteWhat about Honk Kong? I think it has big potential for flights from BEG.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering what the frequencies between PEK/PVG and BEG could be.
ReplyDeleteGreat news
ReplyDeleteIf these flights launch, Aeroflot would be most affected on their Belgrade route. They carry the majority of Chinese from/to BEG.
ReplyDeleteIs it true that the majority of the Chinese living in Serbia are from near the Shanghai region?
ReplyDeleteYes-mostly they come from Zhejiang Province which is situated in the Southwest of Shanghai.
DeleteInteresting that Serbia's Green certificate can be issued in two language forms.
ReplyDelete1. Serbian and English
2. Serbian and Chinese