Air Serbia is set to become one of just a few European carriers allowed to operate into Russian airspace after most European nations imposed a blanket flight ban on Russian-registered aircraft, resulting in reciprocal measures by Russian authorities. Air Serbia, which maintains eight weekly services between Belgrade and Moscow, has seen its flights sell out on the route until Thursday, with the airline now beginning to schedule its wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft on select dates this week in order to offer more seats. Before adding more capacity, flights from the Russian capital to Belgrade were sold out until Saturday, with exception to Wednesday where few seats remained available. Aeroflot, which maintained eight weekly flights from Russia to Belgrade, and Nordwind Airlines, which operated a two weekly service, have been forced to suspend their operations to the Serbian capital, as their aircraft are no longer able to navigate the airspace bans in order to reach the city.
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said yesterday, “We are shutting down EU airspace for Russian-owned, Russian-registered or Russian-controlled aircraft". Macedonia and Montenegro will also join in on the ban. At this point, the European Union has not blocked foreign carriers from using its airspace for flights destined to Russia. However, this could change. The closure of European airspace to Russian airlines and vice versa has had immediate impact on global aviation. Air France said it was temporarily suspending flights to and from China, Korea and Japan, while it "studies flight plan options to avoid Russian airspace, in compliance with French and international authorities' directives". Finnair said a Russian retaliation on Finland's airspace ban would prolong flight times so much that it would not be viable to operate its Asian flights.
In addition to Moscow, Air Serbia is currently operating a one weekly service from Belgrade to St Petersburg. During the summer season, the carrier also runs flights to Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don, while it plans to inaugurate services to Sochi from June. However, most of the latter destinations are dependent on Russian transfer passengers heading to Western Europe. European Union member states are highly likely to stop issuing Schengen visas to Russian citizens. Russia is one of Belgrade Airport’s biggest markets, with Russian citizens permitted visa-free entry into Serbia. During the pre-pandemic 2019, a total of 329.543 passengers flew between Belgrade and Moscow.
I'm surprise they didn't scheduled A330 on the route.
ReplyDeleteToday is the first working day since all of the bans and sanctions were introduced. So it is possible that today they revise some things
DeleteWell at least it seems they are sending the A320 today.
DeleteThey have now started scheduling A330.
DeleteYes, for now tomorrow's flight and one of the two flights on Wednesday with A330.
DeleteI guess Aeroflots A330's, both series 200 and 300 will now be easy to lease. Only, Air Serbia would need first to register birds as YU-ARC etc. while still in Russia, and then fly them for a paint job. Then, Air Serbia could use them on ORD, YYZ (and DME as long as it can).
DeleteThat ain't gonna happen.
DeleteAs much as JU is going to profit from this, that's how much Finnair is going to suffer. They are already canceling flights to Tokyo and Seoul while Singapore and Thailand flights have to go all the way around. This will be a disaster for AY as they will lose a ton of transfer passengers to Europe.
ReplyDeleteYou guys realize that any financial transactions with Russia (including ticket sales) are going to be severely restricted. That was one of the reasons why JU pulled out of BEY.
DeleteNot surprised about the increase in demand. They are the only ones allowed to fly there.
ReplyDeleteCurrently, A3, LX and TK are also maintaining flights to Russia.
DeleteI can't find on LX site that they offer flights to DME.
DeleteFlights are probably sold out. Today's at least. From tomorrow, I think they are cancelled.
DeleteBut LX 1326 is today operating normally, at least for now.
Greece close its airspace today so Aegean is banned from Russia until further notice.
DeleteI assume there will be a lot of pressure on Air Serbia to suspend these flights.
ReplyDeleteUse A330 as much as possible, or lease additional a321 just for that route. Russian lines are literall gold-mine for AirSerbia right now
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAnd Europeans are mainly hurting themselves, as Asians and Americans keep flying over Russia. And while Germany has stopped North Stream II, the US keeps buying oil fm the US.
ReplyDeleteGood opportunity now for LX, JU and TK to profit fm these bans, I am sure JU could deploy A330, same as LX could even use B773
While Swiss was operating yesterday, I think they cancelled today's flight from Zurich to Moscow.
DeleteI checked few random dates in March and all LX flights to SVO have been cancelled.
DeleteSwiss flight to Moscow will be operating normally today.
DeleteLX does not fly to SVO. They fly to DME.
DeleteGermany has stopped North Stream 2 certifications but whole time EU is buying natural gas through existing pipelines.
DeleteDoes anyone know what equipment Swiss is using on today's flight to Moscow?
DeleteThey will be flying the A220 today.
DeleteTodays's flight LX 1236 has been cancelled.
Deletehttps://www.flughafen-zuerich.ch/en/passengers/fly/flightinformation/departures/1027541
Did you guys honestly think Lufthansa would let any of its satellites operate flights to somewhere if it can't fly somewhere? Even though Swiss have not closed their airspace.
DeleteSwiss will close airspace this afternoon, effectively ending their neutrality.
DeleteTheir neutrality ended long time ago ...
DeleteSwiss will cancel flights to Moscow later today they'll hold a conference on flight ban after swiss had chat with french and the germans and the EU. Canada has ban on Russian airlines and so does Japan and South Korea plans one. US is talking to EU and it is quite likelly they'll also have a ban on flights on Russian airlines. EU is pushing for topughest sanctions on Russia and will coordinate with US, Canada and Japan to have most effective sanctions possible. In Europe, only few Blakan stetes will have flights to Russia, Serbia, Norh Macedonia and I think Montenegro. I am not sure for how long as EU will pressure all of you to susspend flights to Russia. Quite possibly If Serbia fails to comply, EU will suspend EU talks with Serbia.
DeleteWhat a big loss ROFL
DeleteThe EU should block Air Serbia from flying through E.U airspace to Russia.
ReplyDeleteIt won't be doing that. EU will leave humanitarian corridors through Air Serbia and Turkish Airlines.
DeleteWhy would the EU do that? It would be catastrophic PR for them in Serbia.
DeleteWhy would be that catastrophic PR, it's not like flights via Belgrade will make any significant difference, but it would still provide chance for people to fly to and from Russia. TK will probably keep flying too
DeleteEU wants to keep Serbia aligned with it. Serbia also has good relations with Russia and China. Any action against Serbia would just push it further away, increasing Russian and Chinese influence in the heart of Europe. I doubt this is something the EU wants.
DeleteThat maybe can push BEG-PVG/PEK flights.
DeleteSu had many transfers from BEG.
I think their Thursday flight is also filling up. Prices are going up.
ReplyDeleteOne way business class ticket currently 750 euros!!
DeleteSam price on the evening flight as well.
Delete*same
DeleteThere are probably just one or two empty seats left.
DeleteThey are definitely milking it
DeleteNot that fares were not expensive beforehand either.
DeleteAirSerbia could profit a lot from these flights, until they are forced to suspend them probably.
ReplyDeleteThey should exploit it while they can.
DeleteI hope by exploit you mean offer more flights such as increasing LED or bringing forward AER. Using the situation to drastically increase fares could backfire on them, considering they intend to increase their presence in Russia.
DeleteGulf carriers will continue to profit from this greatly.
ReplyDelete
DeleteTurkish as well.
As in every country, some will benefit.
Delete* conflict
DeleteArticle makes a good point about Air Serbia's operations to secondary Russian cities. This depend a lot on transfers. Wonder what will happen with that.
ReplyDeleteNot just secondary routes but Moscow and St Petersburg too see quite a few transfers.
DeleteAeroflot definitely had the more transfers.
DeleteAir Serbia has regularly sent A330 to Moscow over last few months. I expect they will do the same again.
ReplyDeleteIIRC those were chartered flights introduced for the production of Sputnik V vaccine. The flights were usually numbered JU9060/9061
DeleteThis will be the first time they use the A330 in regular operation (flights JU65x)
What happens now with the Russian cap on flights to/from Serbia? Will it be enforced?
ReplyDeleteIt would be funny if they kept that.
DeleteI assume there will be increased cargo on this route too, with usual supply channels now disrupted.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the demand from the direction Moscow-Belgrade as high as the other way around?
ReplyDeleteYes. Everything sold out until Saturday.
DeleteIt says in the article
Delete"Flights from the Russian capital to Belgrade are currently sold out until Saturday, with exception to Wednesday where few seats remain available."
All passengers booked on Aeroflot over the next few weeks will be moved to Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteIt helps that the two airlines have a codeshare.
DeleteHope it can work out for JU.
ReplyDeleteI doubt this will last for too long
ReplyDeleteWhat? The war or Air Serbia's flights?
DeleteThe flights
DeleteI'm hoping the war ends very soon.
Delete+100000 13:04
DeleteThey key for Air Serbia will be to make this a long-term success. Sure momentarily it is going to be full but it needs to keep that momentum.
ReplyDeleteIf JU is the only airline in Europe Russians living in Europe can reach to fly back to their homeland. Then it sure will be a success.
DeleteYes but in situations like these there will be less diaspora flying. There will also be significantly less business travel.
DeleteThere will be less Russians flying and going on holiday in general. The sanctions are going to hit ordinary people the most, like in Yugoslavia during the 90s.
DeleteExactly the rubble lost 20% of his value when it opened on Monday morning. Going on holidays makes no sense for the average Russian and especially as flights tickets will be very expensive. These flights will serve business and family visits mainly.
DeleteThey might go on holiday to Turkey.
DeleteThere will not be a lot of leisure travel, for sure. But there is some fixed level of not so low demand for European flights, due to numerous connections Russia and West have built during last three decades (families, education, health, business...). For now, it doesn't seem that complete isolation is the aim, having in mind other forms of traffic are unaffected by sanctions, except for certain number of people around Putin.
DeleteJU has usually been quick to respond to most situations. Let's see how they do now.
ReplyDeleteSomething tells me those Sochi flights won't be operating this summer.
ReplyDeleteI assume Serbia will become a more popular destination with Russian passengers considering they can enter it without a visa. And probably the only place in Europe at the moment where they won't face racism.
ReplyDeleteEU had already sanctioned Russian citizens from entering EU before these sanctions by not permitting in anyone vaccinated with Russian vaccine.
DeleteSpeaking of, seems Covid no longer exists.
Delete^lol true
DeleteI'm assuming Nordwind passengers will also be transferred on Air Serbia flights too.
ReplyDeleteThey will also probably transfer all booked passengers from Slovenia and Croatia too.
DeleteThis is short term, for those tourists that found themselves stranded in these countries momentarily.
DeleteIt looks like all commentators on this forum agree, this is a good opportunity for JU to capitalize on the situation. This is exactly what other carriers did during the 90s when they took over the market share from the Ex-YU republics. It took decades for the EX-YU airlines to recover their market share (some still haven't).
ReplyDeleteWhile there will naturally be less people flying between Russia and the EU, that number of passengers will be a lot more than the load factors that JU has had over the last decade from Russia/EU. We can expect a significant increase in traffic over the next few months. I hope Vinci is ready for this.
+1
DeleteAnon 10:32 probably one of the best comments I have read on this forum. BEG airport might want to hurry up with the renovations. It might become one of the busiest airports in Europe over the next few weeks. Same for the other airports in Ex-YU (like SJJ).
DeleteOne of the busiest in Europe?! C'mon bro, take it easy, nice and easy.
DeleteWhile some foreign airlines may continue flying to Russia, it will become increasingly difficult to do business there. Most people won't be able to make payments with their cards because they are no longer accepted through Swift.
ReplyDeleteI see a lot of foreigners on social media trying to leave Russia today and most are mentioning they are booking Air Serbia flights.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense
DeleteEU definitely won't let a company from Serbia profit from this. Unless EU company can somehow exploit a situation, the EU doesn't allow anyone else to do that.
ReplyDeleteLet's see.
DeleteIf the Eu does not want these flights to happen, then they should compensate Air Serbia for the losses . Serbia should demand billions of euros!
DeleteDon't you think billions would be an underestimate? Quadrillion sounds more fair.
DeleteIf they want JU to stop flights they should pay that much compensation.
DeleteIf not JU should continue.
How dod Aeroflot crew work yesterday's flights?Did they exceeded their duty hours?
ReplyDeleteDid*
DeleteCrew rest extends duty times, which is how crew operate those ultra long haul flights for example.
DeleteFor cabin crew, if a crew rest compartment is not available, seats are blocked to accommodate rest. For the flight deck, if only 2 pilots were onboard, rest is taken in the flight deck, in turns of course.
You can't extend duty times if only a normal crew complement is on board (2 pilots in case of flight crew). You need 3 or more pilots for those extensions.
DeleteI was supposed to meet my russian friend in Belgrade next saturday for one week,
ReplyDeleteI come from EU , she comes from Russia.
We booked this trip 1 month ago, before all this shit .
I don't think I will have problem to go back to my country.
Do you guys think that air serbia will close airlines ? Because I don't want her to be stuck there.
I don't think so. Serbia will never backstab Russia. Air Serbia will continue to fly as long as 3rd states don't block the existing flight trajectory.
DeleteYeah I think too, because Serbia has too much to loose by supporting russia and too much to loose by supporting EU.
DeleteBut still worried about the situation , if we are stuck in serbia for undetermined times...
Vucic said that he doesn’t want to take any sanctions against Russia. Until he keeps that line flights will be maintained and Air Serbia will definitely not them stop on their own. Why would they?
DeleteYeah but we can never know if EU makes some pressure over Serbia , like "if you don't sanction russia, you will never join the EU"....
DeleteNo sane person in both EU and Serbia believes that Serbia will ever join the EU, so that blackmail is off the table.
DeleteIf EU wanted, it could've incorporated entire Balkan by 2020 and the whole continent could've moved forward as one, but no, instead EU expects Serbia to act like its a member and jeopardize it's interests, while at the same time refusing membership and offering no alternative.
So no sactions will happen by Serbia and flights will continue.
Let's see for the next days if Serbia does something.
DeleteThe point is if there is no more planes from serbia to russia while we are in Belgrade, it will be hard for her to go back russia.
According to beg.aero JU just scheduled A330 for tomorrow !!
ReplyDeleteAlso for Wednesday 02.March morning flight they schedule A330
ReplyDeleteWe all knew it long time ago. War in Ukraine is not a reason.
ReplyDeletefor what?
DeleteHope we do not ever become part of that fake union called EU. JU did real well when they banned EU citizens to USA during covid and they are already doing fantastic job in scheduling additional seats to Russia while other's are struggling bcs of non sense politics.
ReplyDeleteEU did not ban EU citizens from traveling to USA.
DeleteThis will be a very unique opportunity for AS. I do not think Vucic will buckle under EU pressure as elections are coming. So if AS becomes one of the few European airlines that fly to Russia, this could be a gold mine not only for AS, but also real estate, banks, other businesses. Russians might realize this is the only European country where we can diversify and invest money. Sanctions imposed on them are draconian, so they have to act fast. AS should jump on this big time as should Belgrade based real estate agents, other businesses.
ReplyDeleteSo Serbia could become a place for rich Russians to come and have some money washed. Politicians will of course take their cut. What Russia is doing in Ukraine could also be said to be draconian.
DeleteBut true, for Air Serbia it will be great, but only if Russians are allowed to fly to Europe, that is, if their visas will be honoured in Europe.
a lot of 'ifs'.
This is bad for Serbian and other ex-yugos traveling to Russia.
ReplyDeleteHow for Serbians? other than full flights and more expansive tickets. All else is same, there might be even more business between 2 countries as Serbia remains the only one where Russians can do business, open accounts, buy real estate. One can argue business could increase.
DeleteWell, other than the more expensive flights as Air Serbia will become the sole carrier on BEG-Moscow route.
DeleteThere may later be some blowback against Serbia, and therefore AS, since there is great presure to join the sanctions against RU. Meanings people in the future may choose to boycot AS.
LOL. I guess they will boycott Emirates too then.
DeleteI wouldn't put Air Serbia and Emirates or Turkish in the same basket. Serbia is small fish compared to them. The same rules do not apply to the big guys and little guys out there.
DeleteAhhh yes, Westerners and their morals. While Croats are boycotting Tchaikovsky, rest of EU will boycott YU. Lets all cancel out anything that has to do with Russia.
DeleteWhat is YU?
DeleteIATA designation for Air Serbia.
DeleteI thought it was JU or ASL, and that YU is on the registration of the planes, as in YU-ALT. Am I wrong?
DeleteNah, youre right, i permutated J into Y. My bad.
DeleteOK, thanks man.
DeleteProbably JU wishes it had that second A330 right now.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think, will they risk it for the biscuit and ask the government to help them get one now?
Time for AS to lease two A330. Toronto, Chicago, Beijing and Shanghai, Moscow and Petrograd should all have A330 service!
ReplyDeleteIt's all nice, until EU countries and Turkey decide to stop all flights going to/from Russia.
DeleteWhat was the Load Factor for JU 652 to Moscow today?
ReplyDeleteAll I can see is that if this situation is prolonged, it will hurt the airlines. As a travel consultant, here in North America, we have been receiving many calls. People are rethinking their plans on travel to Europe. There have also been many cancelations. Friday alone, I handled 8. Included in this are a number if families, which I included as one. So let's hope this ends quickly.
ReplyDeleteThis will not end quickly. He is fighting for survival, his own. That means he has to gain something on the field. Sure does not look like it now. So brace for this to last some time. These are draconian sanctions that will not be easily lifted.
DeleteAgree with both of you. Nobody truly knows if the battles will spillover to other countries. People aren't going to vacation with their families with such great risks nearby. Also for ASL, the load factors are great now as there are many foreigners that are basically stuck in Russia and are using ASL as a way out. Same thing happened with COVID when many airlines cancelled flights but ASL was still flying to/from NY.
DeleteThese European politicians are not very clever.
ReplyDeleteThey probably never expected Russia to retaliate or have never looked on a map.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for middle eastern and asian airlines to completely take over the market.
BS. Russian retaliation is worth nothing. Russia will bankrupt in few weeks. There will be no market in/out Russia.
DeleteAeroflot will not be able to fly in few weeks. Boeing and Airbus stopped delivering spare parts to Russia. Most of Russians airplanes are leased (probably will have to be returned to lessors).
Russian airlines will stay with just a fraction of their fleets: European aircraft lessors (AerCap,SMBC Aviation Capital, Avolon) must collect their aircraft from Russia by the end of March, that means hundreds of planes with an estimated value of 5 billion USD. Plus Rolls-Royce will suspend all its activities with Russian aviation by the end of February (today).
ReplyDeleteJU can benefit, however certainly not without consequences.
I dont think that Russia will give back aircraft but will confiscate them .
DeleteThey would be stupid to do give them back .
I guess that these aircraft will be lost for the ( EU-) leasing companies .
And what will they do with these airplanes without spare parts? They will be grounded in few weeks anyway.
DeleteHow do Russian airlines fly from Kaliningrad to the Russian mainland?
ReplyDeleteAlthough they use some sort of sea passage, it must belong to Tallinn air traffic control or Helsinki air traffic control
According to media they're using ''international airspace'' corridor. The Russian aircrafts are flying literally on the borders between two airspaces until they reach Russian territory.
DeleteHowever this corridor is also controlled by Baltic/Scandinavian countries. Kaliningrad is an exclave so I think there is some kind of exception because of a unique geographical position.
Air traffic control area isn't the same as territory/territorial waters. Russian planes fly in the international corridor, no ban there, even if air traffic control is from EU.
DeleteShame shame shame...
ReplyDelete^ Good job Air Serbia!
ReplyDeleteIn this strange world, I hope Serbia will manage not to get involved, seriously, for once. Let us be. We have had enough.
ReplyDeleteWhich lobbies have the most influence in western politics? Pharma, Defense, Finance, Tech and Energy. Co-incidently 4 of those 5 were winning big time since 2020 or will win big time like now Energy and Defense. Since a couple years we see an increasing framing in the western media world. With Covid we had censorship and propaganda in western media like never since 1945. Just poor co-incidence or strategy to achieve certain goals?
ReplyDeleteUkraines destiny will be the same as YU, it will fall apart. Tensions will calm down again and life goes on. Embargos are never hurting the political or financial establishment of the embargoed nations, they have more than enough to survive. Russia will increase business ties with China and others. Those who suffer fm an embargo the most are as usual the normal citizens.
It's good that Serbia is independent and I hope they will find ways to keep Russia flights going. Finnair will be hurt most, I think some YU destinations will either see no AY flights or with strongly reduced schedule during SUTT. Middle East airlines will benefit as I doubt they will implement embargoes as they need Russian airspace for some of their US flights.
I wouldnt wonder if the US provocates China that far, that they invade Taiwan. Then we would hve the perfect mess. Question is just who benefits fm all this mess? Strange times.....
Please, without the first and last paragraphs. This is aviation blog. not place for political conspiracz theorists.
DeleteIn next few days eu will ban air space for ju and thats it... few more flights will be allowed. Eu terror
ReplyDeleteany sources about that ?
DeleteJust logic
DeleteIf so, that would mean banning all Turkish flights, Chinese flights, Middle Eastern companies flights etc... Not gonna happen...
Delete