Air Serbia unveils summer expansion


Air Serbia has announced the launch of three new routes, which will see the airline maintain four destinations each in Spain and Italy. Starting April 21, the carrier will inaugurate new scheduled flights between Belgrade and Valencia, as well as seasonal services to two new destinations in Europe - Bari and Palma de Mallorca, while summer operations to Rijeka will be restored after two and a half years. Flights between Belgrade and Valencia will operate twice per week, each Wednesday and Saturday, during April and May, and then on Thursday and Sunday from early June. The national airline will deploy an Airbus A319 aircraft on its third route to Spain. From June 5, until the end of the summer season in late October, Air Serbia will deploy its ATR72 aircraft on the Belgrade - Bari service with three weekly rotations planned, each Monday, Thursday and Sunday. The airline had previously operated charter flights to Apulia’s capital city, prior to the pandemic.


Starting June 11, the Serbian carrier will run flights between Belgrade and Palma de Mallorca twice per week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Air Serbia will deploy its Airbus A319 aircraft to its fourth destination in Spain, after Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia. So far, the airline has only maintained charter flights to Palma de Mallorca. During the 2019 summer season, a total of twenty charters were performed between the two cities, carrying more than 5.000 passengers. On the other hand, Belgrade and Rijeka will be connected twice weekly, each Wednesday and Saturday, from June 15 until September 17. Air Serbia introduced flights to Croatia’s biggest port city in June 2019, with the last flight operated in December of that year, after which they were suspended until further notice. The route will be served by an ATR72 aircraft.

DestinationLaunch date
ValenciaAPR 21
BariJUN 05
Palma de MallorcaJUN 11
RijekaJUN 15
Click on link for flight details

Commenting on the new network additions, Air Serbia’s Head of Sales, Boško Rupić, said, “We are happy that we are significantly improving and diversifying our network by carefully choosing new destinations, in line with passengers’ wishes and strategic plans for future expansion. With the latest additions, we are further strengthening our position, primarily in Italy and Spain, offering our passengers from the entire region greater choice when planning their trips and summer vacations. We are convinced that reactions will be positive, considering that some of the new destinations are becoming directly available from Belgrade for the very first time. In the following period, we will continue to develop in that direction, and we look forward to introducing more new routes”.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    This was to be expected. Wondering which new routes we might see

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      In 2020 they announced their planned new routes at the start of February so I think we will know soon :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:24

      Perhaps we see some regional routes. Ohrid, Mostar...

      Delete
    3. Yes, ohrid and varna/burgas might be very busy

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:00

      Like the article says, new routes are Valencia, Palma, Bari and Rijeka.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:09

      I think they will add also Varna, Krakow, Lwov, Chisinau...

      Delete
    6. JATBEGMEL12:26

      I don't think Lviv will be launched considering the looming crisis (threat of war) in Ukraine.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous15:27

      Bari should be year-round.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    How many new destination will they introduce?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    After all Air Serbia will be the only air carrier in ex-Yu.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      How? There are still OU and Air Montenegro.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:08

      But if that happens people will complain that the name is too aggressive and nationalistic for only functional airline in the ex yu 🙄

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:52

      Taking in consideration how agressively they open new markets OU will lose any chance (actually they have lost long time ago) to compete with them and YM2 is anyhow lost case.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:54

      If happens what? If you think about OUs bankruptcy you are very naive.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:59

      I am sure there were many who thought exactly the same about Malev, Cyprus Airways, Estonian...

      Delete
    6. Anonymous21:39

      Im really sure you dont know what are you talking about.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:03

    I guess they will also add some Airbuses to the fleet too

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      They will have to if they want to avoid wet leasing a plane like last summer.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:46

      New A320 would be a nice addition this summer

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:21

      Haha, they don't want to avoid, new CEO likes cooperating with his ACMI company

      Delete
    4. JATBEGMEL13:30

      @12,21

      Whats wrong with that? They needed short term capacity due to a short lived spike in demand. If they didn't make money from it they wouldn't of done it.

      You would also know that they are 2 aircraft down this winter compared to summer 2021. Had they leased additional aircraft long term this summer they would be sitting in BEG this winter decorating the airport for 6 months, which obviously is cheap? lease rates, maintenance, 0 income and additional staff, nothing really. Even better since maintenance is no longer done in BEG.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:04

    In my opinion they will introduce central and east European routes like they have been saying as this can be done with new ATRs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      Out of the list of top unserved routes, they could easily start Bologna, Trieste and Krakow with ATR.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:42

      Actually I think that all new introduced routes will be done with new ATRs.

      Delete
    3. We had bologna from niš. Subsided.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:05

    I would love if they started Amman. The country has been open for quite some time, you only need a PCR test, visa on arrival for Serbian citizens without any need of registration, and good transfer potential via BEG to other destinations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      And they could also sell it in cooperation with tour operators for tour groups.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:06

      Why?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:08

      ^ well he gave you a reason...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:15

      The issue with AMM might be that it is a long rotation by JU standards.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:16

      So? They can operate it during the night like they did Beirut.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:10

      Shorter than MAD

      Delete
    7. JATBEGMEL12:42

      @09,15

      AMM was to be launched in 2020 but was canceled with the rest of the destinations on that list.

      AMM was still able to capture some Euro destinations but not all despite being a longer rotation. ROV and now VLC are another 2 examples of this as well.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:05

    To me it seems like it will be a good year for JU.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:07

    I hope they will also restore Tel Aviv. Israel has reopened for all tourists for all countries. You just need to have been vaccinated.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:13

    Great news

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous09:19

    I think they might start Lviv and Chisinau from their 2020 expansion plans. Possibly add Krakow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:20

      And all will probably feed Montenegro their routes well too like Russians last year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:43

      I also think Air Serbia is getting back to the original plans from 2020

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:21

    Nice. I doubt we will see something exotic although I would love to see them start Tbilisi, Baku or Yerevan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:45

      Not this year but it's definitively on their agenda, as you can read the text above JU will focus mainly on European market and regional routes.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:23

    Good to see the expansion. I just hope it pays off.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:34

    Looks as if it will be a strong year for JU.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:34

    Great news

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:35

    Long haul seems to be about the only thing they are not developing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:37

      Maybe in 2023.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:40

      Additional long haul routes planned for September this year. Let's see if that plan still stands.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:25

      Air Serbia always has regional and short haul network changes as their priorities. By the time Air Serbia is ready to talk about long haul, A330 leasing prices will be higher and they will say: too bad, we really wanted to expand long haul but we can't afford it now.

      Delete
    4. JATBEGMEL15:44

      ARA lease cost was roughly double than what they pay now and they still launched JFK.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:37

    Nice! Looking forward to expansion in 2022

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:37

    Everything seems to be on the right track even with virus situation.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:40

    Looks like a busy summer coming up

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous09:43

    Nice way to start 2022 :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous09:43

    Good start JU. Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous09:44

    Chisinau would be a good choice. They have a massive diaspora especially in Italy so that's the market JU is going for.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:50

      There is huge Moldavian diaspora in France as well, same goes for Ukrainian diaspora in Italy and France so Lviv as a new route also makes sense.

      Delete
  22. Hopefully cheaper flights to Sarajevo

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous09:59

    I would like to see Lisbon in their timetable

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rotation is too long, but I would love to see it to.
      Wizz had it planned last year but nothing came of it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:04

      Pandemic was a reason for cancelling LIS with W6 the same like TKU

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:00

    In 2020 three routes were shortlisted but didn't make the cut in the end: Valencia, Budapest, & Oslo. They went with Oslo later on. I wonder if Valencia or Budapest may be launched.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:12

      I know they tried to make a go of BUD before and failed but I think this time they have a stronger chance.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:29

    Well done Air Serbia!!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous10:29

    Great expansion. Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous10:38

    Great to see Valencia become a year round route!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Great!

    We are expecting more wesetern Europe and Italy destinations.
    What are you waiting for Bologna/Florence/Pisa, central Italy is craving for flights. Very reasonable.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous10:45

    It's interesting that Bari has the most frequencies out of the new routes

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous10:46

    Amman coming up for 2022 expansion, while for long haul I guess we`ll know more in the matter of weeks when Vučić goes to China

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:49

      It's not coming up. It's written in the article which destinations are launching in 2022.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:19

      ^ There will be more new routes announced soon :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:23

      Please refer to the last sentence in the article which leaves the opportunity for further expansion in 2022.

      Delete
  31. Anonymous10:56

    Congratulations Air Serbia on the expansion. Good choice of routes, focusing on leisure destinations which were very successful for JU in 2021.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous10:57

    Good to see at least one ex-Yu airline expanding.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous11:00

    Safe choices for summer.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Anonymous11:01

    Nice. I just wish they included Lisbon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:34

      Perhaps they will. Be patient :)

      Delete
  35. Anonymous11:01

    Split schedules for all routes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:11

      Except Rijeka :)

      Delete
  36. Congratulations JU! And shame on you OU!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:48

      You must be happy RJK is back!

      Delete
    2. I am happy with any new service at any ex-yu airport. I am also happy when any ex-yu airline grow. I would be happier if OU is developing the same way JU does. That's why I say congrats to JU and shame on OU. It has nothing to do with the new RJK service and me being happy or unhappy about it.

      Delete
  37. Anonymous11:11

    So 4 destinations in Spain, 4 in Italy and 6 in Croatia. Nice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous07:37

      Is SPU going to grew in frequencies this summer vs 2021?

      Is ZAD going to be given a chance again?

      Delete
  38. Anonymous11:11

    No wonder Spain is being added. Serbian citizens are welcome.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:14

      But it's completely opposite in Italy. Wonder why they opted for Bari and are restarting Venice and increasing Rome and Milan.

      Delete
  39. Anonymous11:19

    If RJK struggled 2 years ago, why return it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:21

      It did not struggle in peak summer, which is when they will be operating it this year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:12

      RJK will pay JU to fly there as before.

      Delete
    3. RJK has barely money to pay wages to its employees. It was paying to JU before, when situation was much better, for year-round, precisely winter flights. Peak season flights are full and do not require to be subsidized neither RJK has money for it.

      Delete
    4. Nemjee08:18

      I also don't think RJK is paying them. From what I saw the schedule was revised and fares are not that cheap. What Rijeka did was to give them massive discounts which is ok. RJK will now connect onto JU's entire network which is cool.

      Delete
  40. Anonymous11:36

    They should focus more in Greece , schedule flights to HER,RHO,CFU,JTR even VOL which has many Serbian tourists during summer in the Thessaly region .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nemjee08:20

      Greece is a bit more challenging since there is a lot more competition. You have both Wizz Air and Aegean which are going after the leisure market with their A321s. What JU could do is introduce nighttime flights to HER. After all Crete is home to some 600.000 people and has a massive diaspora.

      Delete
  41. Anonymous11:37

    With exception to Rijeka, I think these are the first time these routes are being operated out of BEG.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:48

      On a scheduled basis yes

      Delete
  42. Anonymous11:51

    Finally Spain! VLC is becoming quite popular, similar to AGP. Even CNN recently claimed it is better than Barcelona!!

    https://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/33204/why-cnn-thinks-valencia-is-one-of-the-best-destinations-for-2022

    From what I have heard, it is also becoming popular among digital nomads and is still cheaper compared to Madrid or Barcelona.
    Mallorca is the second Germany for years now. I love the island but way too many Germans in some places. I prefer to see locals but with 30 million arrivals in 2019, I cannot blame them and this is only by air. There are thousands of visits by boat.
    Bari is very nice, I have been there and also Lecce and its surroundings. There is a lot to see in the area. I was staying in a small guesthouse in Bari run by a very friendly Serbian lady. She told me that there is a Yugoslav community over there.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Anonymous12:11

    Launch fares are good

    Rijeka from 89 EUR
    Bari from 129 EUR
    Valencia and Palam from 159 EUR

    ReplyDelete
  44. Anonymous12:45

    Great to see that they are moving some destination from just charter to schedule service like Palma. Hopefully JU will do the same with Rhodes, Crete, Corfu... before they lost that market completely and for charter too

    ReplyDelete
  45. Anonymous17:05

    They could launch Portoroz with ATR. It has landed in Portoroz before.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Anonymous20:04

    Unexpected but absolutely exciting !
    Now JU will have four destinations in Spain, i dont know what i can wish more .
    It even is perfect for round trips to the Balearic islands.
    Flying into Valencia then taking the ferry to Ibiza (absolutely gorgeous!) .
    From Ibiza with ferry to Mallorca and flying back to Belgrade.
    Or flying to Barcelona and taking the ferry to Mallorca .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous00:19

      My goodness Ibiza is such a wonderful place.
      Much recommended!!!

      Delete

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