Air Serbia has said it plans to introduce new routes, increase frequencies on existing destinations and upgrade its services this year, noting that 2021 has made it “quicker, more flexible, more cautious, but also braver”. Entering the new year with a new CEO, the company said, “We have big plans when it comes to upgrading our services and offering the best possible user experience, with a special focus on digitalisation of operations, i.e., the modernisation of our mobile application and website. We are planning to boost frequencies to certain destinations, introduce new routes and offer many new exciting experiences for our passengers”.
Air Serbia will begin introducing several new routes from Niš and Kraljevo starting tomorrow, although it is also expected to add new destinations from its main hub in Belgrade over the coming twelve months. Furthermore, the airline plans to renew its turboprop fleet, develop a new booking engine that will first be available on the mobile app, and then on its website, as well strengthen cooperation with partner airlines. It has also acquired new software which will help it respond to evolving conditions with optimised pricing information, helping it to drive incremental revenue opportunities. The carrier has outlined plans to restore three routes from Belgrade which were halted since March 2020 due to the pandemic, among which are Madrid, Venice and Nice.
The company noted, “We are leaving 2021 behind us but not the lessons it taught us. It was a year of frequent changes to travel restrictions, but we also changed and developed in accordance with it, and despite the difficult circumstances, we achieved good results. In early December we surpassed 1.5 million passengers handled in 2021, which represents an increase of as much as 76% compared to the whole of 2020. We hope to continue growing at this rate in the future as well”. The airline had previously said it expects to make a full recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and operate at pre-2020 levels by the start of next year.
Looks as if it will be a good year for Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteOf course, they receive a lot of taxpayers money they can play with.
DeleteAt least they do something positive with taxpayers money and try to expand and improve service. Unlike some other airline that get taxpayers money and do nothing with it other than pay wages to staff.
DeleteYes. Good point. 24 million euros for 2 years is a very sweet deal for them. Who would mind 1 million euros every month? Some airlines are dead hungry nowadays and not receiving a single penny from the government...
DeleteThat money is covering ten routes which start to launch tomorrow and cover the losses they will generate.
DeleteThat's nothing compared to the subsidies the railway company gets and personally I don't know anyone that takes the train in Serbia.
DeleteThey have a much stronger support from the government. Airlines in EU usually do not get get such strong support. Also, politicians are quite involved with Air Serbia.
DeleteWhat is the point of your repetitive comments? Who cares what airlines in the EU usually do or don't?
DeleteI would say they bring 3x more tax money to the budget compare to what they get. It is very much less then any new company starting a business in Serbia . Plus tax payers owe them over 80% so they deserve way more money . They did a fantastic job during pandemic and they continue to fight through it while others are struggling.
DeleteCologne is already scheduled from Nis
DeleteSo? You have Istanbul and Ljubljana which are scheduled from Nis and from Belgrade.
DeleteAnonymous 09:20
DeleteOf course, they receive a lot of taxpayers money they can play with.
9:20??? Anti Air Serbia troll factory is starting to slip. Twenty minutes to copy/paste this is unacceptable. They are not effective anyway, but doing nothing for 20 minutes just shows what kind of amateurs we are dealing with.
Which new routes can we see? Some of the ones they planned for 2020 or something completely different?
ReplyDeleteCologne would be a smart choice.
DeleteIf they wait for too long Wizz will bring it back.
DeleteI'm hoping they return Ohrid. There are no entry restrictions, people are going there more and more on holiday and they could get some transfer traffic too.
DeleteThey should pay more attention to the Iberian Peninsula.
DeleteI hope they bring back plans for Amman. Entry is permitted in relation to Covid, Serbian citizens get visa on arrival and they could get quite a few transfers.
DeleteDoes anyone have the planned timetable for AMM from 2020?
DeleteLet's hope for error fare with their new search engine :D
Delete^ Here you go
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/p/air-serbia-belgrade-amman.html
From what I remember it was a split schedule, 23.15 and 23.45 departures from BEG.
DeleteAimed at transfers.
DeleteHopefully Sarajevo gets daily flights at least, even though double daily would be optimal on days when Air Serbia operates JFK flights.
ReplyDeleteIssue is that SJJ is closed at night so JU can't make it work there. Before covid they had a Friday departure at 07.00 to SJJ so it connected to JFK in both directions.
DeleteSarajevo Airport hours from April will be from 4 am to midnight
DeleteI still think that's going to be a problem for JU since their first regional flight leaves at 23.45. I think block to SJJ is 50 minutes so they would arrive at 00.35.
DeleteI think it's a shame they can't have overnight flights to SJJ.
JU could go after regional connections from SJJ since it's practically not served from SJJ.
DeleteSplit morning and evening flights would work well connecting SJJ to destinations such as ATH, SKG, SKP, TIA, SOF, OTP, LCA, ROV, KRR, as well as LHR and JFK.
JU110 BEG SJJ 0700 0755
JU111 SJJ BEG 0825 0915
JU114 BEG SJJ 2030 2125
JU115 SJJ BEG 2155 2245
What's up with SJJ not operating 24h? Is it an airport or a supermarket?
DeletePlenty of airport aren't open 24 hours a day.
DeleteTry having a scheduled flight to FRA landing at 3am.
Great comparison
DeleteGood luck. Focusing on transfers will be the best thing to defend yourselves from LCCs.
ReplyDeleteCool
ReplyDeleteHope the ATRs they are getting are newish.
ReplyDeleteBetween 8 and 11 years old. Three in total
DeleteActually from what I've heard they are getting 6.
DeleteWill they again wet lease B737-700 like last summer?
ReplyDeleteIf need arises, yes.
DeleteSeems like ATRs will be the future of their regional network.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense sticking with the ATR then introducing a different aircraft type altogether.
DeleteNot only that but they have a massive market within the ATR's range. They can send it comfortably from Istanbul in the east, Italy in the west, Prague in the north and Athens in the south.
DeleteHonestly it's nice to see an ex-Yu airline expanding, adding new routes and growing its fleet. There is too much stagnation in the region, virus or no virus.
ReplyDeleteAny concrete news on the new atrs?
ReplyDeleteDo we know the number of orders and the age of them?
5-6 are coming.
DeleteJust looking from birds perspective, it seems to me that AS proved more nimble, more flexible, more aggressive, more proactive than all ex-YU (live or dead) carriers. Not monitoring Tarom or Bulgarian (they seem dull a bit, but I might be biased). Not sure about new CEO, but lets give him a chance even though I think Mali eyes all the bigger moves for SNS. What still amazes me is that Croatian Airlines turned into a 'Hulk' version of old Yugoslav JAT, precisely something they bashed for last 30 years, anti-YU sentiment. These guys now are a definition of 'freeloaders' on taxpayers. Amazing. I now think it was designed like that all along, LH is the master behind the scene and that is it.
ReplyDeleteBiggest chance of survival, AS, then CA since taxpayers will foot the bill due to national identity and LH feeding, Montenegro, sooner or later under some AS sphere of influence especially if new elections move it more into Serb world.
@SF
DeleteAgree fully with all criticism about OU as they fully deserve it. They were in the best position in the entire ex-yu to have big, competitive, efficient and profitable airline. And they did absolutely nothing. But please, don't ever again compare than with JAT Yugoslav Airlines. JAT was a giant, OU is a midget. JAT had its own huge network and fed it on its own, OU network is shamefull and their sole purpose of existence is to feed LH. JAT was proactive, OU is inert. JAT was full of capable people and professionals, OU is full of incompetent uhljebs. JAT was NOT SUBSIDISED by the state, OU is constant sucker of taxpayers money. The two are incomparable.
"JAT was NOT SUBSIDISED by the state"
DeleteYeah, sure same as MALEV, TAROM, Balkan Bulgarian, Interflug, ČSA, LOT...
@An.12.10
DeleteI don't know how old are you and where are you from, but :
All airlines you listed were airlines of the Soviet "block", Yugoslavia was not Eastern Block country
All airlines you listed operated Soviet made aircraft, JAT American made fleet
All countries you mentioned had hermetically closed borders (so called iron curtain), Yugoslavia had fully open borders and was considered West in free traffic of people
All countries you listed had SINGLE airline company, which you mentioned as well, there were FOUR airline companies in Yugoslavia
All countries you listed had PLAN economy, where all economic subjects were controlled by the state, Yugoslavia had MARKET ECONOMY where every single subject was doing business on its own
Ninety percent of the traffic of the airlines you mention were within the East, ninety percent of the JAT traffic was with the West
JAT used to take any market opportunity, cargo flights to Africa, charters to Tahiti, Nepal, Carribean, on its own with its own subsidy Air Yugoslavia, and for Italian, German, UK and other tour operators
And posting next time, please check some facts before writing propaganda characteristic for people who know nothing and are brainwashed by both local chauvinist bosses and global Liberal capitalism bosses
Ok and? You proved what?
DeleteIt is completly not true that JAT was devoloped by the private capital, or as you said, not by goverments money. Every national airline in that time had protected market, weak competition and state support in terms of subsidies.
All of your comment is just pointless...
JAT office in New York was at Fifth Avenue, Rockfeller Center, on the same square/yard with Air France, Lufthansa and American Airlines. JAT was the only European airline to maintain scheduled traffic to Cleveland. JAT and KLM were only two airlines to have traffic rights and maintain services between UAE and Australia. Eastern European airlines used to operate twice weekly on IL62 to North America, or not to operate at all, while JAT had 2 or 3 DAILY flights on DC-10. JAT was financing its development from its profits, with Bank loans, and in cooperation with other ex-yugoslav companies, for example Prva petoletka Trstenik which was producing parts for Boeing aircraft. I did prove my point, and that is that JAT was HUGE, FAMOUS, and PROFITABLE airline which absolutely cannot he be compared with Balkan, Malev, Tarom, Interflug and the likes. So what you wrote is completely not true, including that my comment is pointless. I just wonder which category of brainwashed out of the two I mentioned you belong
DeleteAnother huge pointless comment. Still, JAT was financed by the state as every national air carrier at some point.
DeleteMy comment was not written to cause any arguments etc. JAT was clearly years ahead of any eastern European (Iron Curtain) airlines at that time. Not sure how it was financed, but I have to say there was clear cronyism in Belgrade HQ, hiring of relatives, a bit of that, I know for a fact. So it was not like BA, or KLM, meaning full market economy, but it was not like those Interflug, Malev, Balkan etc. And yes you are correct, it was nearly global in reach with amazing routes. Not sure if it was profitable all the time.
DeleteTreba vratiti Budimpeštu, nema ograničenja a i dobra je turistička atrakcija.
ReplyDeleteУ овом тренутку нема потенцијала. Да би линија успела исто се мора постићи као и са Владом Републике Српске где су таксе и намети знатно смањени а са тиме и просечна цена карте. Нереално је очекивати да карта до Будимпеште кошта преко 100 евра. Није то Сарајево где им се може због лоше инфраструктуре. Београд и Будимпешта су повезани добрим аутопутем а за коју годину и брзим возом.
DeleteДруга могућност је да се ова линија врати али искључиво због трансфера. Нажалост мрежа Ер Србије је још увек слаба да би се изборила са много већим играчима тамо. Ако ЈУ настави овако да се развија онда ће за 3-4 године Будимпешта постати врло реалан извор трансферних путника.
If this ATR planes materilized it would be fantastic. Also I hope that they will do something with their in flight service, because this chips and baby water combination is really disrespectful.
ReplyDeleteAnd what else do you expect? You always have Lufthansa which offers nothing but small bottle of water.
DeleteWell for starters they could offer wet wipes if they are giving you chips. What are 140 passengers supposed to do after they are done eating them? Stand in line to wash their hands in the toilet or wipe them on the seat cover?
DeleteOk, they can offer wet wipes, but what else do you expect for a European airline to offer you in economy in terms of catering for average prices? What they offer now is more than what you get on most European airlines nowadays. Plus if you are hungry you can buy additional food and you can even preorder a hot meal.
DeleteThat doesn't mean if LH service is bad, that JUs service has to be the same.
DeleteIt's not just LH, it is 98% of European airlines. Only exceptions are TK, SU and A3. Everyone else offers buy on board with no or minimal complimentary service.
DeleteWet wipes are an absolute must and it's not a massive expense for the airline.
DeleteBtw a friend of mine flew on LO recently and they have considerably improved their onboard product. Now they offer some sort of a bun (choice between sweet or salty), chocolate, drinks... After years of trashy service they have decided to go the other way.
Just because LH Group has decided to destroy their onboard product doesn't mean everyone else will do the same.
Btw as far as JU is concerned, offering free coffee and/or tea on morning flights could be a good thing. It's something similar to what SAS does on all of their flights that depart before 09.00.
Anon 09.44
DeleteThere are airlines out there with a hybrid product like Finnair which still gives you free juice and I think coffee/tea, Icelandair offers free drinks, TAP has a regular onboard product and so do AF and KL.
Tarom discussed switching to BoB but don't know if they went ahead with their plans.
Air Montenegro offers drinks and a snack :D
DeleteAnd ironically they get their catering in Belgrade.
Delete"snack" on Air Montenegro is a piece of sweet bread.
DeleteYes and you get the snack despite the flight being 35 minutes.
DeleteAnd you get it on JU as well. Your point?
DeleteOn JU you get a tiny little cake and a tiny little bottle of water which is meant for kids... it even writes like that on the bottle hahaha
DeleteYou get biscuits or you get chips. Quit complaining.
DeleteNot to mention their customer care strategy. Do not respond to phones, emails and not to mention law obligations when flights are delayed from more than 3 hours
DeleteI flew with Iberia and Air Malta in past few months. Cabin crew goes around with plastic bottles filled in with tap water offering small plastic glass of water who wants, so not even to everyone.
DeleteChips and small bottle of water are absolutely enough for the flights. Whoever is hungry or thirsty can order more, prices are more than affordable comparing to many other companies.
And anyone who wants luxary is free to bid for business class, but please stop complaining on everything just because it comes from Serbia or is Serbian (and this goes to other Serbians who are actually ashamed of who they are).
And comment for site owner: please include likes/dislikes on the comments so we can simply express our opinions. Tnx :-)
People are complaining about Lufthansa so this has nothing to do with them complaining about JU just because it's Serbian.
DeleteIf there was a dislike button you would get one now for spreading fake news.
I really do not see what is a point, when someone says that JU's service is crap, someone immediately says look at Lufthansa. Fact is that for the price of ticket, the service is really, really bad for a legacy carrier. And point of commenting is to say that, so the company maybe in its strategy for 2022 improve this. Just maybe
DeleteThey say look at most other carriers in Europe because you are making it sound as if only Air Serbia offers BoB and small snack for free when it is almost every European legacy airline.
DeleteAnonymous 09:27
Deletechips and baby water combination is really disrespectful
No need to get all vexed about Air Serbia, neighbor. If you call that disrespectful, your Ryan and Wizz "not even baby bottle of water" service is genuine human rights violation. Start filing human rights complaint with the UN and EU.
What about expansion of long haul?
ReplyDeleteProbably at the end of this year, maybe next. Depends on the restrictions, government pushing it, passenger numbers...
DeleteThey shouldn't rush it if they can reach pre-covid pax numbers that's good enough.
Hope it will be a very busy year.
ReplyDeleteShould be better than 2021.
DeleteMy guess for the new routes would be Chisinau, Krakow, Lviv, Varna, possibly even Cluj-Napoca (ATRs) and then Lisbon, Tbilisi, return to Helsinki & Cairo (Airbuses).
ReplyDeleteI think JU's expansion will play a key role in pushing BEG ahead in terms of Balkan performance. This year already BEG has managed to keep up with SOF which was ahead for a few years now. Since 2022 is going to be a busy year for BEG with so many new additions then I hope it will be ahead of SOF and SKG.
ReplyDelete01-11.2021
SKG: 3,136,044
BEG: 3,044,000
SOF: 3.0147.617
In recent years, Serbian airlines are developing very well! Air Serbia, Air Pink, Prince Aviation. I have a question outside the topic of JU. Aviolet for now is suspended or is active?
ReplyDeleteAviolet is not an airline, it just a brand name of Air Serbia's to differentiate charters from regular flights.
DeleteBasically the same as Anadoloujet is for TK
DeleteYes, but does it still exist? Or not already?
DeleteMaybe now they leases A319 from JU.
DeleteAviolet's job was to distance the B733's from the Air Serbia brand. B733's are no longer in the JU fleet and there is no reason for the Aviolet brand to continue.
DeleteAnd it was distanced quite well. They were using those birds to the maximum in scheduled service. I think that Milano and Berlin saw more 737's than A319.
DeleteIt made sense in the beginning when Air Serbia's A319s and A320s featured dedicated business class while economy had pillows, blankets, menus with choice of two meals even on all flights lasting over an hour and a half.
DeleteLots of great work has been done at JU in recent months and I think the airline is well set up to exploit several key opportunities and grow and make BEG into a decent hub for the region. Let's hope 2022 brings work on fleet renewal, further expansion and making the offering more efficient. That will really have JU on top of its game.
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia's planned Balkan network for summer 2020 before corona hit:
ReplyDelete1. LJU x17
2. TIV x24
3. TGD x21
4. TIA x14
5. ZAG X14
6. ATH x14
7. SKG x14
8. SKP x13
9. OTP x9
10. SJJ x7
11. DBV x7
12. SOF x7
13. SPU x6
14. BNX x5
15. PUY x3
16. ZAD x3
17. IST x3
Wonder if we will see similar frequencies this year or next. From the list, Istanbul is now well above plan (seven weekly)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGood morning and happy new year to everyone! Does anybody know about the a319 APJ? Is it going to be returned to the lessor? Thanks a lot!
ReplyDeleteMaybe soon.Prior new year this plane operates test flight.From BEG to BEG!
DeleteThey could consider MBX as LJU seems to work well for them. With MBX they could also make the southern Austrians use MBX as they did in times of Yugoslavia.
ReplyDeleteMBX is dead. They can't even fix the runway lights, so airport can only be used during daytime.
DeleteYupp. Daily DC9 worked back in Yugo times, but now they could operate MBX with ATR aircraft.
DeleteIs there a chance to see Ryanair resuming STN-MBX or give it to JU instead?
DeleteLove the cover photo. JU departing from Rijeka. Hope they come back one day
ReplyDeletePlease stop complaining. I fly throughout the US every month. Some flights are five hours long and they serve absolutely nothing.
ReplyDeleteI prefer that "Nothing" to smelly smashed eggs I once had "luck" to eat on morning DOH-BEG. And on JU flights you can anytime get relatively cheap and very tasty sandwiches.
DeleteSerbia keeps winning!
ReplyDeletePlease, bring back Florence that was already scheduled before covid.
ReplyDeleteOr at least Bologna.
Central Italy destination would be a win win
Let see IS Helsinki on list..
ReplyDelete