Air Serbia handled over 300.000 passengers on scheduled and charter flights this August from its hub in Belgrade, as well as its focus cities of Niš and Kraljevo, but says it is cautiously planning for the winter as Covid-19 rates surge across the continent. August marked the airline’s busiest month since the pre-pandemic 2019. During the second quarter, the airline’s market share at Belgrade Airport stood at 52%, which is an increase of nine points compared to the same period two years ago. Within its scheduled network this August, the airline offered the most capacity on a two-way basis to Tivat (67.274 seats), Podgorica (20.598 seats) and Paris (17.360). This September, the same three routes will see the most capacity.
Commenting on the results, the carrier’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Jiri Marek, said, “We are extremely satisfied that the trend of stable growth during the past few months continued into August as well. The results achieved show that a very good and successful summer is now behind us. On the other hand, we are aware that the situation with the coronavirus pandemic is deteriorating in certain countries, as well as that travel restrictions are being reimposed more frequently. For that reason, we will make plans for the coming period with a dose of caution, focusing on carefully observing the developing situation, and reacting quickly in accordance with the existing measures and demand on the market”.
Air Serbia has also seen a significant increase in revenue from an unlikely source. Its Premium Lounge at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport is handling the most passengers since it opened its doors to the public in 2015. It comes as a result of the airline concluding agreements with Qatar Airways, Flydubai and the Collinson Group, enabling their passengers to use the facility as well. In July, the lounge welcomed 4.669 travellers, compared to 2.532 in 2016, 3.067 in 2017, 2.462 in 2018, 2.608 in 2019 and 540 in the pandemic-stricken 2020. The carrier noted a large number of passengers are now also choosing to purchase access to the lounge while buying their ticket, as an ancillary service offered by the airline.
If they can renew the fleet they will become LOT of ex yu in a few years with croatia going bust and with slo and bih market open
ReplyDeleteSure...
DeleteQuite possible this could happen. Like LO created a hub in BUD they could end up doing the same on LJU. Base 1-2 regional aircraft there and with market demand for seasonal services add a wide body. There will always be the chance to utilise BEG-LJU as a feeder in case of aircraft failure or similar.
DeleteThey can't do the same because they are not an EU carrier. So they can't base a plane in an EU country and fly to other EU countries unless they got special permission.
DeleteAnn 12:31 what they can do is buy the ou aoc and have a subsidy once ou goes bust (let's be honest, they don't have many years to spare), or just open a new entity either in croatia or slovenia. I know it sounds bullshit and probably won't happen but its the perfect scenario
Deleteanon 13.30 - cannot JU operate somewhere without governmental subsidies?
DeleteAnon 14:18 if JU can not operate without subsidies in a market like BEG what makes you think that they can in LJU?
DeleteHopefully restrictions for Americans in the EU could mean good news for JU. Netherlands, Belgium and Germany have even introduced mandatory tests for vaccinated Americans. Seems like Western Europe is going crazy with its unpredictable policy towards covid.
ReplyDeleteHow will that help JU? They will go to countries like Portugal, Finland, Spain, UK which have all decided to keep their borders open to Americans.
DeleteWell for starters airlines are already cutting their USA networks. KLM has cut something like 3 or 4 destinations for this winter. Less competition means more opportunity for JU.
DeleteBut JU is one of the airlines reducing JFK frequencies like it indicates here in the second paragraph - https://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/08/air-serbia-to-launch-beijing-service-in.html
DeleteFor JU it's a standard reduction my friend, they did it every year even before corona. KLM and others on the other hand are forced to reduce their flying to the US because of government imposed restrictions on air travel. Lufthansa already said that they expect a really bad winter season.
DeleteNo it is not standard. Read the link. They operated 4 weekly flights from middle of December to middle of January. This time they will operate 2.
DeleteUS isn’t at 80% full vaccination. This will continue to happen as there are still too many wild cases. Plus most of EU is in the same boat. Once they reach the 80% then there will be a stabilisation in restrictions.
DeleteIf they had more than 300.000 in August it means BEG had over 600.000 passengers in previous month.
ReplyDeleteAmazing result!
Yes really good month for the airport and JU.
DeleteMNE remains their top market, which may represent up to 35% of their traffic.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense especially since it was one of the few markets that had no restrictions in place. I think Albania and Bosnia were the only other ones.
DeleteCapacity wise it represents 29% of their traffic.
DeleteWell done!
ReplyDeleteBut can anyone tell me why on flight radar jet smart is canceled all the time, did they stop flying the route for ever or just for unknown time?
What are you talking about?
DeleteIf you are referring to Smartwings they are flying normally for Air Serbia. Today headed to Antalya. Yesterday it operated Antalya, Tirana and Milan.
DeleteAnd if you are referring to the second Smarttwings plane they returned it like it was mentioned here at the end of August.
DeleteNo, I am talking about a330 flying to belgrade from new york, and it's not even from air serbia it's Jet smart one. Might be flyght radar bug but anyway.
DeleteIt's probably some mistake. Jetsmart is a Chilean airline. It has no A330s in its fleet.
DeleteI've seen that, I'm pretty sure its a typo because the flight number is "JA501" when in reality it should be "JU501." FR24 probably automatically set the airline as JetSmart because their callsign is JA.
DeleteThat flight has been a glitch in their system for years. Mahan Air flights are still listed as well even though they don't fly to BEG anymore.
DeleteLet's just hope they aren't too cautious so it doesn't end up like this summer where they don't have enough capacity.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteTheir plans to launch Beijing in January doesn't exactly scream caution.
DeleteThey are talking about caution because they probably expect the EU to recommend entry ban for Serbian citizens. Although looking at the recommendation to ban Macedonian citizens, just one or two countries actually did it by introducing compulsory quarantine. Norway for example even relaxed entry rules for Macedonians so the bans won't be as severe as they were in January-June.
DeleteVery good result considering the situation.
ReplyDeleteWonder how much of the 300,000 were on charters.
DeleteOverall August was a good month for JU. They repaid the debt to Etihad Partners, they managed to get a shortterm wet lease of a B737 so it doesn't affect the schedule that one Airbus was out of action, they transported a lot of passengers, they extended their Russia flights...
ReplyDeleteAgree. There are some really positive developments coming out of JU lately. They are restoring the network and introducing new routes, signing new partnerships, adding aircraft when needed. Good job.
Delete@10:55 & @ 1:12 the sad thing is that quality of onboard product has deteriorated to the point where the product in business is a shame for JU. Luggage connection is another problem. Before you cheer up read the reviews on aviation forums.
DeleteDa,obro pročitajte recenzij. Polovina njih nije ni putovala već negoduju zbog nemogućnosti zamene karte,niko se ne javlja u kol centru i sl. A onda na kraju daju negativne ocene za hranu,zabavu na letu i sl.,totalna glupost.Zadovoljni putnici retko ostavljaju komentare.
Delete@15.17. You literally write the same comment on all news related to Air Serbia. At the same time the closest you've ever been to an Air Serbia plane is reading reviews about it.
DeleteAnonymous 15:17
DeleteQuite the opposite, Air Serbia made onboard product even better in July:
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/07/air-serbia-expands-premium-on-board.html
Recent online reviews are overall positive:
https://liveandletsfly.com/air-serbia-a330-200-business-class-review/
https://runningwithmiles.boardingarea.com/my-impressions-of-the-new-air-serbia-business-class-jfk-to-belgrade/?utm_source=BoardingArea&utm_medium=BoardingArea
@17.55
DeleteSamo pišem istinu i iznosim činjenice. Žao mi je što Vas toliko nervira uspeh JU.
^I think you misunderstood who he was responding to.
DeleteNice. In July they had 280,958 and now over 300,000 so they had almost 600,000 passengers in July and August.
ReplyDeleteGood to see demand returning
DeleteIf they think it's going to be a tough winter they should already be planning to stimulate demand. Why didn't they launch Abu Dhbai or Dubai for example? So many European airlines are. The chances of these markets closing or becoming restrictive are near 0. Serbia is not only on Abu Dhabi's corridor list but also on Abu Dhabi's green list, meaning you literally need nothing to enter. For Dubai you only need a PCR. Why didn't they look into Jordan where there are also no entry restrictions.
ReplyDeleteAbu Dhabi's green list means there is no quarantine when you enter. You still need to do a PCR test 48 hours before the flight and you need to register with the ICA. When you land you will do another test and then another test on day six.
DeleteDXB will be flown as charters this winter. A few European companies were doing this prior to Covid. FZ have retimed their BEG flights and will increase frequencies.
DeleteAMM was planned prior to Covid so I'm guessing it will come at some point.
Hope we see them expand even more.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the average load factor?
ReplyDeleteI think I read somewhere that on non charter business it's around 38%
DeleteMust've been the bullshit board.
Delete38% would be ruinious ...
DeleteHe is making it up. Air Serbia reported a 65% LF back in May, when there were few charters and the EU ban was still in force. For example at the same tine OU's LF was 39%
DeleteCongratulations
ReplyDeleteSmart that they finally contracted the lounge to other airlines too.
ReplyDeleteTook them only 5 years of strategic thinking to do so! ))
Delete