Serbia to launch domestic flights in 2022

The Serbian government has approved subsidies for ten routes it has deemed to be of public interest, which will include a four weekly domestic service between Belgrade and Niš. It will mark the resumption of scheduled domestic flights for the first time since the dissolution of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2006. As previously reported, the government will also subsidise two weekly rotations from Niš to Hahn, Cologne, Ljubljana, Istanbul, Athens and Tivat, with the latter two to be operated on a seasonal summer basis. Furthermore, it will finance two weekly flights from Kraljevo’s Morava Airport to Istanbul, Thessaloniki and Tivat, with the latter two to run over the summer months.

The new subsidies will come into effect on January 1, 2022 and run until December 31, 2023. The Serbian government will organise an international tender to select an interested carrier or group of airlines to maintain the flights. The tender conditions are yet to be outlined. The state’s previous contract to subsidise flights from Niš and Kraljevo, which came into effect in 2019, and was awarded to Air Serbia, has been terminated. Under the previous agreement, the government financed services from Niš to Baden Baden, Bologna, Hahn, Friedrichshafen, Gothenburg, Hanover, Ljubljana, Nuremberg, Rome, Salzburg and Tivat, as well as from Kraljevo to Vienna and Thessaloniki. However, the coronavirus pandemic resulted in the suspension of most routes, the majority of which have not been restored since. Air Serbia is currently operating two weekly rotations from Niš to Hahn, as well as a two weekly service from Kraljevo to Vienna, which is scheduled to run until December 30.

The Serbian government has defined routes of public interest as being eligible for subsidies, as they either lack commercial interest, carry less than 100.000 passengers per year, or are insufficiently served by other means of transport. The aim of the subsidies is to stimulate travel, boost tourism, business links and improve the local economy. Air Serbia’s flights out of Niš and Kraljevo are sold at low cost fares. Passengers on these services are unable to accrue miles through the airline’s loyalty program and no business class tickets are sold. The value of the contract is expected to amount to some 8.5 million euros per year.