Air Serbia sees unprecedented Russia demand


Air Serbia is recording a significant increase in passenger numbers to and from Russia as it continues to be one of just a few European airlines still able to operate into the country amid the war in Ukraine. A notable surge in demand is being felt on flights from Moscow in particular, with its upcoming eighteen services, up until March 15, all sold out. Few tickets remain on flights thereafter, up until April 1. This is despite the Serbian carrier almost doubling its operations to the Russian capital as of tomorrow, with fifteen weekly rotations planned. It is also deploying its wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the route each day the jet is not being utilised on its New York service.

Russian media have suggested the Serbian carrier has already filed for additional frequencies on its Belgrade - Moscow service with the Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport (Rosaviatsiya). Furthermore, Russian press notes Air Serbia will expand its fleet by leasing additional aircraft from minority shareholder Etihad Airways in order to cater for the unexpected growth in demand to Russia, since the 2022 summer season is approaching and traffic will be increasing on a number of other routes in its network as well. However, Air Serbia has not commented or confirmed these claims. Rosaviatsiya has called on Russians wishing to return to the country to do so via Belgrade. 

The surge in demand for flights to and from Russia is also having a spillover effect on other European airlines and their operations to the Serbian capital, as they shuttle Russian citizens to and from Belgrade. Meanwhile, Russia's national airline, Aeroflot, has cancelled nearly all international flights from March 8, because of what it called "additional circumstances" impeding its operations. Domestic routes and flights to neighbouring Belarus will continue unchanged, the airline said. The measure is believed to have been introduced to avoid Aeroflot aircraft being repossessed at foreign airports. European lessors have been given until March 28 to repossess all aircraft on financial lease to Russian carriers, however, this will be difficult to achieve.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Getting more aircraft seems like the only way they will be able to increase flights in summer on other routes but also keep these high level of operations to Moscow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      They would have needed more aircraft even without these extra Russian flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:26

      There are rumors going around that they might get some aircraft from Etihad. I guess A320s since they plan on getting rid of them once and for all.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:30

      How about starting Shanghai now that Aeroflot is out of the picture?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:57

      It's not the right moment to even think about it, it's better to be patient and to see where this whole situation in the world goes

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:30

      This is the perfect moment to think about it.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:54

      Seeing how things are going Aeroflot is done. JU should be ready to launch China when they reopen, or find new partner for China ASAP. They are already missing on Australia getting open because Etihad is at weird state of business.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:03

    They must be earning good money on these.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    Wow they sold all flights from Moscow for the next months. That is impressive.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:11

    Well I can't fault Air Serbia for making most of the situation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      We can't but we can blame them for skyrocketing prices to other destinations from Belgrade because Russians are buying all the seats and JU is barely adding flights. I guess that's why foreigners are also profiting in Belgrade.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:28

      I haven't been looking at the fares on other routes. Makes sense, but they should add more flights then.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:43

      I think they are doing it on purpose because like this they are earning more money (short-term) but they are annoying their customers.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:54

      One way fares for BEG-CDG next week:

      07.03 36.765 // 29.114
      08.03 45.592
      09.03 29.114
      10.03 29.114
      11.03 58.539 // 29.114
      12.03 7.340 //17.109
      13.03 12.636 // 22.641

      So why didn't they increase CDG to 14 next week if prices are so high? They just added the Saturday morning departure and that was it. I guess locals are flying with their competition now while JU is busy carrying Russians.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:59

      Well AF should start their operations, it's high time.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:45

      Or Air Serbia should add capacity to the route. They don't even fly double daily. With more CDG flights they will have more transfers from other destinations helping them rebuild their shattered network.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous14:44

      'shattered network' please explain.

      Delete
    8. JATBEGMEL16:12

      @11,45

      I wouldn't exactly say shattered network. Their frequencies have definitely improved. Their is currently a better mix of flights throughout all their waves that weren't there a month ago. Restrictions are also slowly being lifted so that will help. JU's fleet is currently smaller than last year, so their fleet is fairly busy currently.

      Problem with JU is that their seasonal flights start much later then they should, same goes for new destinations as well, which means new leases will come in much later. The later arrival of aircraft doesn't allow them to react as quickly as they were able to when JP and KK went bankrupt.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous04:06

      People seem to not understand basic economics. When demand is high and supply is low, the price goes up.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:11

    Yesterday morning JU upgraded LJU to A319 because of transfers from Moscow. That said, now it seems like the March increases elsewhere are because of Russians and not because of their sales team doing a good job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      Yes.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:28

      If your flights are full why would sales team had to do more in that regards? Not sure what your point is

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:44

      My point is that planes are full by chance because of geopolitical circumstances. They are not full because their sales team did a good job. We saw their january market share at BEG, that is how good their sales team is.

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    5. Most probably JU doesn't have enough aircrafts to meet this unexpected and suddent demand increase.

      How about placing more aircrafts to Moscow, and temporaly wet lease aircrafts to CDG etc?
      (Air Baltics must have a few A220-300 available, but I don't enough about the politics in the region...)

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:19

    I wonder if BEG will manage to welcome 500.000 passengers in March. If yes then that could push them past the 1 million mark in Q1 which would be great. Anyone know how many they had last Q1?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:27

      They had 283,000 pax during Q1 last year.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:30

    If so called crisis continues in summer we could/should see hourly flights to Beg. If they are smart they can become hub for eu-russia flights. Let's see what they can do

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      The current situation is so unpredictable and horrifying, nobody knows what could we see in the summer, let's just keep it easy .....

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:41

    I sincerely prefer to remain neutral but it does sound that Serbian Airlines is making a profit outta this war in Ukraine. Anyway, enjoy while the sun is still shining....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:43

      Demand dictates prices. All airlines still flying to Moscow, like Turkish, Etihad, Emirates and Qatar have increased their fares.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:47

      The way you're calling the company says you are far from prefering to remain neutral.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:47

      'Serbian Airlines'?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:26

      Air Pink charters

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:37

      Are they flying charters to Moskva?
      The biggest plane they have is Embraer Legacy 600, which seats 10 pax.
      Don't think that's making much of a difference.

      Delete
  9. And what will happen if EU decides to get banned all Russians citizens from their territories? Maybe Air Serbia must have that in their mind and make some cautious moves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:59

      So just because of a hypothetical scenario JU should miss this opportunity to earn some extra cash?

      Delete
    2. I didn't say that. Just be careful on leasing some airplanes that might not be needed later. And waste money by that.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:45

      There are many Russians with dual citizenship, and also many foreigners still need to come and go from Russia, despite the war.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:51

    Well this cannot be an excuse to lease additional aircrafts, nobody saw this Russia demand coming.

    Let's not forget that starting from June JU will expand its network massively and introduce numerous charter flights.

    They should acquire A320s ASAP, the clock is ticking !!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:00

      Don't forget that it's not just about Russian demand, BEG has been recovering since January but JU decided that it wasn't the time to have extra passengers. They are waiting until March or April to do it. You have to understand that JU doesn't have to think about profitability.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous10:12

    Lufthansa seems to be profiting. Next week Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday they are sending the A321 on FRA-BEG.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I do not think AS is opportunistic even though I feel very sorry for Ukraine as a nation that is bleeding now. If AS can provide this link to Russia, under the radar without rocking the boat too much then they can utilize this situation and benefit greatly. But situation is very fluid and sanctions will last, and last. I also think EU might turn a blind eye to Air Serbia link to Russia (even though they can not ban it) as a means of keeping some travel channel open with Moscow. One thing Ill give to AS is that they are very proactive, nimble and tend to respond fast other than other ex YU airlines. They clearly and slowly are going for top spot not only in ex yu region but balkans too. Long road, yes, but they are moving in right direction.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. notLufthansa21:53

      war profiteers. Russians in dire need to get home, and foreigners running out of Russia. War generated demand. War profiteering. End of story.

      Delete
    2. like all the foreigners who profited from the war in Serbia

      Delete
  13. Anonymous10:43

    Maybe Etihad is involved cause of possible issues with European lessors and incurances. It's possible it will be cheaper (or only possible) to send AC leased from lessor from a country that didn't impose sanctions.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous10:46

    Lot of non-Russians are using the flights to and from Russia as well. These flights are helping a lot of European and Russian families to get home. A lot of journalists are also using the flights as well.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous10:48

    Air Serbia needs A321.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:22

      Odavno ja pričam da bi trebalo da nabave 2 A321.Rat u Ukrajini i velika potražnja ka Moskvi je samo dodatni razlog. Sledeće nedelje u određenim danima A330 leti i 2x dnevno za Moskvu.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:16

      Lepo i sta ce da rade sa tim A321 tokom zimske sezone?
      Letece jednom ili dva puta nedeljno, mislim da to nije isplativo, treba im eventualno jos jedan A320 i jos jedan sirokotrupac, i time su pokrili potrebe za vise linija odjednom.

      Delete
    3. Ne slazem se. Bez obzira na sadasnju situaciju sa Rusijom, mislim da JU treba barem jedan 321. Ljetna sezona vapi za avionom većeg kapaciteta, uglavnom za chartere, ali i ZRH, SVO... Zimi bi se moglo probati Zanzibar, Sri Lanka (1 stop), Tenerife, Hurghada... Mislim da bi moglo biti bar 5-6 letova tjedno, sigurno ne 1. I naravno, još jedan 330 za Kinu i Chicago ili Toronto

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:12

      A321 would be problematic for maybe two and a half months. That is in November and from mid-January to March. Outside these months there is more than enough demand to fill an A321.

      Also look at TIV or AYT in summer. So many planes departing at more or less the same time. You could replace two A319s with one A321.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:30

      +1

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:47

      S obzirom da se šire na istok i da će imati povećan broj transfernih putnika ne bi trebalo biti problem napuniti A321 i tokom zime pogotovu za Cirih,Pariz,Frankfurt,Oslo,Podgoricu,Moskvu...Da ne govorimo o partnerima i povećanju kapaciteta od 140 na 200 putnika po letu. Mogu se zaraditi lepe dodatne pare.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous17:15

      Плус Истанбул који дивља у последње време. Чак и Пегаз скоро ексклузивно шаље А321. Има ту простора али су сувише флегматични и држе се онога шта сматрају као оперативни стандард.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous17:23

      Svakako,zaboravio sam na IST. Danas i sutra rasprodati letovi iz pravca IST.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous17:53

      Не чуди ме, Руси су или приморани да откажу све летове а ТК не може баш све сам да одради. Вероватно се нешто прелило и на ЈУ. Надам се да ће добити ЈУ дозволу за додатне летове. Имам осећај да су тражили 21 лет а вероватно ће јаким данима имати и по 4 лета на дан.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous19:59

      TK is sold out Monday morning and Tuesday evening. ESB- BEG next Thursday is €185 one way.

      Delete
    11. JATBEGMEL23:37

      JU previously struggled to find work for their A320's (now only 1) let alone take on the A321. A320's in the winter would at most operate 2 flights a day. JU also has 4 main waves, 2 regional and 2 Euro-Med. The regional waves have alot of room for frequencies on ATR's let alone anything bigger. A319's struggle on almost all the regional routes outside 3 peak summer months. Outrageously high prices for regional routes keep most of the O&D demand away from flying, which is why the ATR's barely do daily flights, let alone double daily. Most of the Euro-Med routes again are not operating at least daily. Unless this changes, I don't see a reason really for more A320's let alone A321's.

      PC does well as their prices are competitive. Pretty much same service as JU, just 30-40% cheaper. TK tickets with luggage and inflight catering can be cheaper than JU's Economy Light fares!

      Delete
    12. Anonymous06:55

      A321 can be efficiently operated from mid-May to the end of October. Issue with JU is that their commercial department is useless when it comes to stimulating sales. We saw their performance in January. Market was there but JU ignored it. I don't know but to me it seems like things have not gone smoothly for JU since Marek took over. Maybe he is still finding his way around the office so he can't focus on key things like getting his team to sell those empty seats.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous11:16

    no doubt, we are facing the same situation like with covid 2 years ago. the only difference is the opposite direction. BEG is to become the major ex-territory russian hub in europe. all airlines will increase BEG. JU must react immediately. 1 or 2X 330 is a must have equipment to be acquired ASAP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:30

      Foreigners have already boosted Belgrade, JU is being attacked on all fronts. They need to step up their game.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:47

      Lufthansa Group is fighting back in Belgrade. They want to prevent others from taking their market. In April they will have close to 11 daily flights. Lufthansa is boosting FRA and MUC to 14, Swiss is boosting BEG to 18, Austrian Airlines to 21 and Eurowings is resuming STR.

      In May Eurowings is adding DUS and LH is resuming the third daily from MUC.

      What is JU doing? Nothing or as we say in Serbia: presipa iz supljeg u prazno.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:12

      A friend of mine just boarded BEG-MUC on the CRJ and says that LF is around 90%. Mostly Serbs onboard.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:22

      beg muc was always served by cr9 in winter due to low demand

      Delete
    5. I keep saying that it is time for Air Serbia to launch MUC.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous15:20

      Winter before covid MUC BEG was A319/320.

      Delete
    7. JATBEGMEL18:54

      For some stupid reason, JU waits for end of May to return seasonal routes and early June to launch new routes, which means that new leases probably wont arrive for another 2 months. They are 2 A319's down compared to last summer as well.

      As for MUC, it will be hard for them to compete with LH and Wizz on the same market, with no partner in MUC, higher fees in MUC on top of a terrible pricing structure. LH has an excellent network to the Balkans from MUC, while JU frequencies in the region are disappointing. They would never fill an A319, while the ATR isn't competitive on the route, which is why I guess they went for SZG instead.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous20:00

      NUE as well, let's see how that one goes.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous12:06

    Lufthansa and Air France have had HUGE increases in LF from Belgrade due to passengers transferring from Russia. Sold out flights for the next few days and increasing size of airplanes to compensate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:30

      Fake News

      Air France doesn't fly to BEG.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:06

      Anon @12:06 just got burned pretty good.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:40

      Anon @12:06 did you mean SwissAir? They looked pretty packed yesterday. JU810 to Paris was a couple of gates away and the line up was long, but that was JU, not AF.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:54

      LX was packed even before Russia, they started to boom the moment PCR requirements were dropped.

      Delete
    5. JATBEGMEL18:31

      JU810 is TLV, which hasn't operated since 2020.

      LH are sending aircraft they typically do to BEG.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous18:40

      Actually LH is starting to send the A321 more and more. Tonight's flight is with it actually and then three more times next week. I guess things are looking up for BEG.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous13:12

    Anyone know when the second new ATR is arriving?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:13

      Around mid-May from what I heard.

      Delete
  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous16:04

    A380 Etihad to lease?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Make it two, we have good twenty days 'till elections.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous18:40

      Sorry, BEG terminal can't take the A380 so they will have to stick to the B77W.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous04:36

      a380 in beg? even waw or otp dont operate such flights and you are mentioning this during covid times....crazy.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous06:56

      My friend Anon 04.36, have you heard of a thing called sarcasm?

      Delete
  21. Anonymous16:08

    Air Serbia does better not start to fly to China because the EU will sanction the Chinese also in not so far future .
    The politicians in Europe lost their minds, last year when they went rogue on Belarus i immediately thought this will go further and Russia will be next ..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:57

      Yes indeed their democratic means and methods tend to spread quite quickly. Double standards hurting aviation after deadly Covid will just ruin what is left.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:09

      Oh, yes. How dare those crazy Europeans go rogue on a country that ILLEGALLY detained a civil aircraft! I don't justify a lot of the crap the West does, but putting a halo on Belarus and Russia is ludicrous!

      Delete
  22. All planes Russia - Belgrade are full of passengers. Same planes go back from Belgrade to Russia full of cargoes supplies!!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Russian diaspora

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous22:40

    Quite uneasy profiteering from war, the entire corporate world is sanctioning Russia, and however neutral Serbia wishes to remain, it says a lot about any company still wishing to do business with Russia in this climate. That's all there is to say on that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:44

      Shell from the very non neutral United Kingdom yeaterday bought Russian oil and if you live in Europe and had heating on yesterday, it is likely powered by Russia. So like it or not, you are doing business with Russia too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23:46

      A fair point, and while I personally am not benefiting from Russian fossil fuels, there is a distinguishment between Shell having no other option but to buy Russian oil in this instance, and Air Serbia actively exploring and manipulating the horrible events in Ukraine to make more money. Ultimately they are a business, but there are some moral questions.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous00:25

      In business there are no moral questions. A company exists to make a return, profit. JUs core business is to fly people in their planes at the greatest possible margin that they can earn. Competition and other regulations sometimes keep fares under control.
      JU has not done anything wrong or immoral. Are all Russian people responsible for the war in Ukraine? Should the entire world impose sanctions on Russia? I don't remember sanctions on USA when the illegally invaded Iraq. So cool it with the moralizing and proselytizing..

      Delete
    4. Anonymous04:32

      moral vs business was mentioned here several times during the existence of this forum....even countries like south korea and finland have refrained or found alternatives not to participate in this....yet you have serbian air proudly pounding about expensive tickets to moscow.....it depends on how you look at it. Everyone will have their theory...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous04:49

      Сербиан Ер? Не зна ни како се зове фирма.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous06:07

      serbian air, air serbia or serbia airlines we are in times of war and dont act like being offended please....airline names do not really matter. But ok, Air Serbia established in the 20s is currently in a good position and the war in Ukraine is good for them. Hope you find my comment better.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:09

      All these "humanists" selectively coming out of the woodwork all of a sudden. :). When I read such comments it makes me even more satisfied that Air Serbia is coining it big time.

      Delete
    8. Anon 09:09 +1000

      Either they are fake concerns just to slam JU or hypocrites that ignored bombings of civilians in the middle east by the US and failed to say "everyone should stop flying to the US/UK etc...".

      Looking at the numbers of passengers and urgent need for civilians to get home, JU should increase to 6+ flights a day.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous12:58

    How about the backlash in the future when companies who do have a choice not to do business with Russia start to get cancelled. Think people actively avoiding Air Serbia et al, short turn gain for long term pain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:01

      LOL keep dreaming.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:03

      Yes I see people et al avoiding McDonalds for continuing to operate in Russia. Get real. The social media woriors will move onto the next thing in a week.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:30

      It's already starting to happen.
      www.bbc.com/news/business-60649214
      If people get an option not to fly with an airline seen to be helping Russia they will boycott it for sure.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:46

      @13:03, didn't take long.
      https://tinyurl.com/zddwdnsv
      Air Serbia really ought to consider it's position, tainted brand going forward?

      Delete
  26. Anonymous19:50

    Connected link
    https://tinyurl.com/5eta8jyy

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous21:06

    If EU is shooting into its knee, why should Serbia too? EU seems do not want to make money for US sake. Some countries are smarter and make money without counting on US or its orders. Applause.

    ReplyDelete

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