Air Serbia negotiating Yekaterinburg service


Air Serbia is in discussions over the introduction of flights to Yekaterinburg, Russian local media report. The talks are said to be in their final stages and, if concluded successfully, services should begin in late November or early December. The Serbian carrier has not commented or confirmed the potential route launch. The head of the Ural Tourism Association, Mikhail Maltsev, told reporters at a press conference that negotiations were underway with two European carriers. The other is believed to be Wizz Air, which plans to commence operations from Budapest to Yekaterinburg. If the Belgrade service goes ahead, the south-western Russian city would become Air Serbia’s fifth destination in the country. It already serves Moscow, Krasnodar, St Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don, the latter two recently being upgraded from seasonal to year-round operations.

Russia is one of Belgrade Airport’s biggest markets and despite the coronavirus pandemic has continued to perform well. Currently, Air Serbia, Aeroflot and Nordwind Airlines maintain flights between the two countries. Demand over the past year has been driven primarily by Russian tour operators selling packages to Serbian mountain resorts. With numerous markets still closed for Russian travellers, relaxed entry rules into Serbia and visa free travel have made the country a popular choice. Since mid-August, Russian travellers have also been visiting Serbia for coronavirus vaccinations as the country has enabled hotels to book jab appointments for foreigners. With Russia only administrating vaccines from one manufacturer which is not approved by the World Health Organisation and the European Medicines Agency, demand has grown to undergo the procedure in Serbia where the jab manufacturer can be selected.

Indirect traffic between Serbia and Russia in 2019


Air Serbia has previously described Russia as a strategically important market for the airline. “The Russian Federation represents a strategically extremely important market for us. Services to Russia enhance the flow of trade and strengthen the long-held and friendly bilateral relations between our two countries. Our flights have also been carefully scheduled to offer business and leisure guests from Russia seamless connectivity over our Belgrade hub to key destinations in the Balkans and Southern Europe, where we have an extensive network of flights”, the company previously noted. During the pre-pandemic 2019, there were over 2.950 passengers flying between Belgrade and Yekaterinburg on a single itinerary, based on OAG data. Air Serbia currently codeshares on Aeroflot's service between Moscow and Yekaterinburg. 



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    It would be a good addition to the network.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    How long would the flight take?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:04

      almost 4 hours

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      Not bad. Thanks

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:43

      The flight time is such that it can fit perfectly into their departure waves. Good for transfers.

      Delete
    4. JATBEGMEL11:17

      Will be interesting to see if they will schedule the flights for regional/Balkan transfers or European destinations.

      Delete
  3. Nemjee09:03

    Interesting that Red Wings is listed on beg.aero with one weekly flight from Ekaterinburg. I guess they are waiting to see if/when JU launches it for them to do the same.

    Such a shame that there are all these restrictions. Serbia could really use all the extra cash from tourism.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      Had they approved all the routes that Russian airline applied for, it would have greatly helped BEG, the tourism and hotel industry. But the main priority is to help Air Serbia it seems.

      Delete
    2. Nemjee09:19

      It's also a shame that they blocked Ural as they would have offered connections via Moscow to other points in Russia and the CIS. I guess it's good that Nordwind does it as well.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:25

      They blocked Ural, S7 Airlines, Anadolujet... they are out of control.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:43

      @ anon 10:25

      Unfortunatelly, they are not out of control, they have been controled 100%. Otherwise, we could have all that Russia flights.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:05

    Makes sense if they are doing well on the Russian market.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:06

    Interesting choice

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:06

    Have there ever been flights between these two?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:19

      Well, there might have been some by Montavia.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:23

      Montavia?

      Delete
    3. JATBEGMEL10:39

      Montavia I believe was an agent (?) that worked with Gazpromavia years ago. They used to fly VKO (Tu-154) and AER (Yak 42) to BEG, every Saturday.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:38

      They flew a number charters to Russia with leased aircraft, even Il-86.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:07

    I think they will have a lot of spare capacity this winter so launching a couple of new routes makes sense.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:24

      Will they have spare capacity? They have relaunched many routes compared to last winter.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:27

      Is their entire fleet now in use?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:29

      Yes it is

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:34

      They should get those SSj100s that Sukhoi has been chasing them to get and can schedule them only on Russian routes :D

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:07

      No, it isnt, YU-API is not flying

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:14

      YU-API is no longer part of the fleet. It has been written numerous times.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous12:04

      Interesting how they retired YU-ALV but they brought it back. Only goes to show how desperately they need more ATRs.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:59

      YU-ALV was flying for Air Corsica and now for an American Airline, YU-APG went back to lessor in Ireland, YU-ARA went back to Abu Dhabi but YU-API is still in BEG and officially still in the ASL fleet

      Delete
    9. Anonymous15:51

      https://www.airfleets.net/ficheapp/plane-atr-727.htm

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:14

    What other destinations could they launch in Russia?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:36

      Destinations listed in the table in the article.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:36

      Still nothing on INI-Russia market, could it work?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:43

      Plenty of big cities in Russia that could still be served. Novosibirsk comes to mind.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:45

      @9.36 it would be best to have a Russian LCC launch these flights.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:51

      @ Anonymous 09:43, could the A319 make it to Novosibirsk?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:12

      It could. The flight would be around five and a half hours.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:12

      I think Sochi could become extremely popular among Serbian holidaymakers. It's probably cheaper than Spain or Italy.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous10:14

      It's not in people's habits to go holiday in Russia. They actually want to go to Spain and Italy.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous10:18

      Habits change all the time. If Sochi is promoted adequately there will be demand.

      Delete
    10. Nemjee10:54

      And there might be some people that might want to go to Sochi for holidays. After all, just because they might offer a new destination doesn't mean all others will be terminated. Holiday market is expanding every year and we can see that with the number of flights being offered in summer.

      Delete
    11. JATBEGMEL10:55

      Jat was flying to AER prior to the rebranding. I believe as regular charters.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous11:32

      @10:55 yes it has and it was mainly while we had several Serbian construction companies working on the construction of various objects for the winter olimpycs.
      In my opinion opening a direct flight with Sevastopol for tourism would be a better choice than Sochi. It is cheaper and the coast / sea is much nicer than the Sochi riviera.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous12:48

      No international flights in Crimea

      Delete
    14. Aэrologic13:39

      You mean Simferopol (SIP).

      Sevastopol has only a military airport, Belbek.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:17

    Great news. Hope it happens

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:19

    Does anyone know what are the loads for Air Serbia's new Rostov flights?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:23

      They would not be extending them if they were underperforming.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:21

    flights to Russia have great potential.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:23

      Because their competition is blocked there, that's why they are rushing to expand there. Finnair, LOT and now airBaltic all launched Dubai because of booming demand but JU introduced one weekly charter. Meanwhile flydubai and Wizz Air are booming to BEG. I really can't understand JU.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:25

      Why are you surprised? We had an article about it a few days ago.

      #geneva

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:29

      What does Geneva have to do with it?

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:22

    Almost every week we get good news about new airlines/routes in Belgrade :) nice

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:25

    Good ties should be utilized as much as possible.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:25

    Good luck

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:27

    If they launch flights then a Russian carrier will be able to expand? Probably more flights from SU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:29

      More likely Nordwind.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:27

    I'm happy to see Air Serbia getting a bigger and bigger piece of the Russian market.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:28

    Is there any indication when the frequency restrictions between Serbia and Russia will be lifted? I think airlines are still limited to 14 weekly flights between Moscow and Belgrade (14 by Air Serbia and 14 by Russian carriers)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:32

      It's Russia's doing. Not the other way around.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      Shame Russians are not allowing more flights to Moscow. There seems to be more than enough demand. Air Serbia often has extra charters to Moscow.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:36

    Seems they managed to find a good portion of transfer and point to point passengers on these Russia flights.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous09:38

    Unexpected but great to see.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:40

      Why unexpected? Demand for Russia is strong.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous09:42

    Yekaterinburg has a very limited number of flights to Europe so this is a great addition. I guess Turkish Airlines could loose some transfer passengers heading to western Europe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:52

      TK is basically the only non-Russian airline that can serve transfers to Europe. The other used to be Belavia but not anymore.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:53

      Turkish seems to be flying to every Russian city.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:57

      They fly to Kazan, Krasnodar, Moscow, Rostov, St Petersburg, Samara, Sochi, Ufa, Voronezh and Yekaterinburg.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:00

      You should see their destination list in Germany :D

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:05

      13 cities served in Germany.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:10

      ^ massive diaspora.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:32

      Gotta love the extremely regulated market, so great for passengers.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous09:53

    Is Air Serbia preparing some other new routes for this winter?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:01

      I doubt it. Someone said their plane has an almost 24 stay in Dubai which is a charter destination. It means they have no plans to utilise the fleet effectively this winter. Let's hope for next summer.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:03

      It's probably done like that because of minimal rest for crew. Cheaper than keep crew there for 7 days.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:06

      We don't know the return flight schedule yet.

      Delete
    4. JATBEGMEL11:00

      The flights are listed on the BEG website. Arrival and departure from/to DXB is at 1am.

      Arrival into DXB will be around 9am, departure back to BEG around 9pm.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous09:53

    Risky launching a new route in the dead of winter but good luck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:55

      It would begin just before holiday rush.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous09:57

    It's good that Russia, Montenegro, Switzerland and Egypt were the main contributors to the current Belgrade traffic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:22

      What do you mean? It is good of course, all traffic is good, but why those specific countries?

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:10

    If these start some Russian airline will also be granted rights to fly to Belgrade.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:22

      We have seen from the filings with the Russian aviation directorate that Russian airlines are very interested in launching new flights to BEG so someone will probably get their route approved by Serbian CAD.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:14

    Does Air Serbia's hybrid fares/model apply to Russian routes or is it like their New York route?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:21

      How do you mean "hybrid"? It's treated like other European destinations. You get a snack and water free of charge and can purchase anything more. For example at Lufthansa in economy on European flights you just get a bottle of water and that's it. Everything else you need to pay for.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:35

      The snack and water you get on JUs flights are not free, but rather included in the price of the ticket.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:40

      All meals on airlines serving meals are included in the price of the ticket. That rarely makes the likes of Lufthansa who serve nothong cheaper. Their prices have not been reduced compared to when they were serving meals, as you know full well.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:41

      What are you on about? All I said was (anon@16:35) that on JUs flights (as on all other airlines) nothing is for free. Everything you get is included in the price. I don't follow LH prices, nor do I particularly care about them.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:43

      The point is you are not charged extra for a snack and drink as you are on many other European legacy carriers.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous18:32

      Agreed. But that's different to what you wrote earlier.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous10:20

    Yekaterinburg is a beautiful city. Worth a visit.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous10:26

    If these start it means they will have 5 destinations in Russia. Will this be the most destinations they have on one single market?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:28

      Yes it is

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:58

      They used to have 6 in Croatia, thought seasonally.
      Right not, Russia has the lead.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous11:39

    Interesting that Krasnodar has fell out of taste a bit. Maybe because there is a flaw in the schedule as JU was not able to make a single flight arriving to Belgrade on time. I hope they do a better job with Yekaterinburg if that becomes a go ahead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:41

      What do you mean "fell out of taste"? And where did you get that from?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:49

      If it is not going to operate in winter that means there is less demand and that falls under "fell out of taste". This line used to be quite full in the past and was operating both in summer and winter.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:53

      But it is operating in winter. What are you on about?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:32

      It's not, they changed their mind. Flights are no longer in the system.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:34

      ^ Please stop making things up and spreading false information. Flights are in the system for winter. Each Friday and Sunday.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:38

      Flights are indeed in the system and bookable as seen in the screenshot.

      https://i.ibb.co/r5cdcDr/Krasnodar.png

      What was the point of you lying @anon 17.32?

      Delete
  29. Anonymous14:53

    Is this also part of the "man's strategic plan" ??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:57

      And what exactly is the issue with it? That they are launching new routes to a market that is performing well?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:00

      They are launching a new route? Really? No they are not, they are merely negotiating with the airport probably looking for some subsidies.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:01

      And? This is somehow a problem?

      Delete
  30. Anonymous18:12

    They should focus on important european destinations.
    Madrid for example.
    Belgrade is the only place in the Balkans without Madrid flights-even Tirana and Timisoara have them.
    And dont come with Albanian diaspora in Spain or other lame excuses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:16

      Your comment is false. There are no flights from Sarajevo, Skopje, Podgorica, Zagreb (in winter), Pristina or Ljubljana to Madrid. Also, Air Serbia flies to Madrid. Route is temporarily suspended because of Covid.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:24

      JU should work on it. Instead they concern themselves with stupid plans about flying to random places. This stupid airline totally lost its direction.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19:28

      So now that you admit your original comment was completely false, they fly where there is a market, demand and money to be made.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:36

      If they dont have demand for markets in Europe they better close down.
      In Yeka Diddle Doo they will not be profitable either.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous19:38

      So now that you admit your original comment was completely false, they resumed Barcelona and will start Madrid next March since there is a pandemic.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous20:17

      19:36 What an insanely ignorant comment

      Delete
    7. Vlad21:30

      Pretty sure anon 19:24 is the guy who's constantly crusading against Marek in the comments section. Did he fire you or something?

      Delete
  31. AS must be making plans to lease new aircraft. With flights to China starting right after New Year and now Yekaterinburg, I'm sure other new destinations are on the horizon.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Any chance someone will fly to Bari (Italy) from Serbia?

    ReplyDelete

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