Air Serbia puts focus on secondary destinations for growth


Air Serbia has added ten new destinations to its Belgrade network over the past month, all of which have been secondary cities in markets it already serves, with future expansion also expected to include similar additions to its route map. “We are glad that we have significantly improved the functionality of our network by carefully choosing destinations, in accordance with the wishes of passengers and the company's strategic plans. The great demand and load factor of flights in the coming period show us that we have made the right move and we are glad that we have provided passengers with an even better selection of summer destinations”, the company said.

The Serbian carrier has put a particular emphasis on Western Europe in its latest expansion, with the airline currently studying additional secondary cities in that part of the continent. Based on data, unserved secondary destinations in Europe with solid demand from Belgrade Airport include Manchester, Krakow, Catania, Porto, Turin, Marseille, Napoli, Palermo, Bilbao and Birmingham. The Serbian carrier now serves the majority of major Western European markets, with exceptions being Portugal, Ireland, Iceland and Finland, the latter which it attempted to maintain in 2019 but ultimately discontinued operations due to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. It decided to permanently discontinue flights to the Finnish capital, and instead provides connections through its codeshare partners Finnair and airBaltic.

The airline’s network expansion in 2019 and 2022 marked a departure from its previous strategy, which was aimed at adding more frequencies, rather than destinations. Several years ago, the carrier said, “With many of the destinations that we fly today, we want to add frequencies. We don’t see a lot more opportunity for new destinations, because our network in Europe is set". However, late last year, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, noted, “The reaction on the market is key. You basically see an opportunity and go after it. We proved that during the pandemic. We launched a couple of new destinations and some of them we launched in the course of two weeks. I think this flexible model will stay with us in the next five years, where you will still have to react very fast to all the changes coming. The biggest undiscovered truth of Covid is that change is possible and that the speed of change is incredible”.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:01

    What I find interesting and surprising is the amount of demand of all these Spanish and Italian cities. Would not have thought.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:03

      Manchester and Birmingham are also somewhat surprising to me.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      There is a huge Serbian population in the Birmingham and nearby Coventry area.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:16

      Interesting, didn't know that. I thought most were based in and around London.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:52

      In Birmingham there is also a community of Hungarians originary from Vojvodina, they a Hungarian passport for many years, of course they speak Hungarian and they don't look like Serbs, but they have a positive attitude toward Serbia and few relatives there ... it's not a surprise to find so many from the ex Yugo in Birmingham.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous08:05

      “They don’t look like Serbs but they are positive towards them” will you please clarify what did you mean by that

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:03

      Hungarians: particular evident accent when they are speaking English; Serbs have various accents when they are speaking English but not that evident.
      The main difference is that Hungarians when they are abroad don't stick together that much with other Hungarians; Serbs abroad are so community oriented: "Serbs with Serbs" that you can't miss them wherever you go.
      Talking with both: most Serbs have the "know it all" mentality meanwhile Hungarians not to such extent.
      Don't want to offend anyone.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    No problem but they also need a plan to sustain and develop all these routes. The last new route that actually stuck around is Oslo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      Yes. They have tried and suspended a lot of routes. Helsinki, Hamburg, Geneva and Ohrid come to mind. They really have to work on making new routes work.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:14

      I believe that Air Serbia has never flown to Ohrid. It was only during Jat Airways time.

      For sure they introduced many more routes than they suspended so it practically means that new routes do work.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:14

      Varna, Budapest, Beirut, Cairo...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:16

      They did fly to Ohrid. Launched in 2016, suspended in 2018
      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/02/air-serbia-to-end-ohrid-operations.html

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:17

      Oh thanks, I must have forgotten it.
      My bad.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:42

      You can add Nice to the list as well. Wonder how Wizz Air is performing on this route.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:44

      W6 is doing really well on BEG-NCE route. That's why Air Serbia ended it. Couldn't compete.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:52

      What happened with OHD? Why did they halt the route very quickly?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:56

      They flew it while the route was subsidized by local government. When that stopped they stopped the flights.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous10:02

      How many cities could be added on the list of new destination that still successfully work?

      OSL, MAD, BCN, KRR & ROV (closed due to the war in Ukraine), VCE, LED, HAJ, JFK, SOF, TIA, ZAD, ZAG, OTP, BNX and newly introduced NUE, SZG, VLC, LYS, BRI, BLQ, PMI, AER...

      Delete
    11. Anonymous10:06

      ^ True

      Delete
    12. Anonymous10:25

      @Anonymous 09:11: Hamburg works, but only for Wizz. The A321 are well utilised.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    What they need is to really focus on their fleet and do a long term strategy of what they want to do with it. Then continue adding more new destinations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:19

      Agree

      Delete
    3. JATBEGMEL11:40

      We already see this happening. ATR fleet will be fully renewed by the end of the summer season, narrowbodies are all Airbus. Short term wet leases for the extra demand for the summer charters.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:06

    Which of the new destinations they added will be operated during the winter?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      I don't think they have loaded any of them into the winter schedule yet. I think they are looking at what will actually work. But I think they said Bari, Palma and Sochi are seasonal.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:21

      None are in the system for winter. But they will be added.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:22

      They may also add some completely new routes in winter.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:27

      Such as?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:41

      You will have to wait and see ;)

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:50

      Anon 9:15 is right. PMI for instance is quite seasonal as an airport. The year-round flights are to Germany where many pensioners live in the island.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:15

      Almost all these new routes will be cut in winter, knowing JU

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:07

    There isn't a lot of capital cities left for them to add so not surprising they looking at secondary cities.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:09

    Admin, what is happening with YU-APN?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:56

      Will join the fleet in the next few days.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:06

      It can't come soon enough

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:35

      No one is allowed to write what the reason is? He arrived in Belgrade a month ago ...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:44

      No one is allowed? What are you talking about it.

      Cabin had to be refurbished. I don't know what the reason may be that it is taking a month but maybe staff shortages at Jat Tehnika or maybe it is taking longer to get seats from the manufacturer considering there are shortages everywhere in the world. It could be anything.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:00

      I didn't mean anything bad. Everything in your answer is assumptions, that is, you do not know the exact reason. We have 3 leased planes in wet-leasing, and "our" plane does not fly. Well, they didn't find out a month ago, they will need new seats ...

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:11

    What about unserved destination from 1st European league?

    Lisbon maybe? Budapest? Munich?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      I doubt Munich will be launched against Lufthansa.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:16

      What is the difference between flying to Munich from Belgrade or flying to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Vienna, Zurich etc where they also face serious competition?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:17

      I guess it's a question if there is lot of point to point demand to Munich. I'm pretty sure majority of Lufthansa passengers to Munich are transfers.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:26

      Frankfurt is bigger hub for transfers than Munich, but it still does not seem to be a problem for JU to fly there.

      There are many people from Serbia living in Bavaria and P2P traffic would be also important part of this route. We see now that from BEG to Bavaria we have LH flying to MUC, JU flying to NUE and W6 flying to FMM.

      Somehow Air Serbia not flying to MUC remains the mystery.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:34

      During covid it was the best chance for them to launch Munich but they didn't. Did Jat Airways fly to Munich?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:39

      Yes,they did.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:41

      They did but they ended it a long time ago. I think in 2009.

      Delete
    8. JATBEGMEL11:42

      BUD is apparently being looked at. It was one of 3 destinations that didn't make the final list to be launched in 2020.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:18

    Well it is a good thing all this growth , but not so good the 1+ hour delays in many destinations almost everyday . The management has to do something about that .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:22

      Yes, they have to have more aircraft, which require more pilots, cabin crew and mechanics... But you see that is common sense, except not to people who are in charge over there

      Delete
    2. JATBEGMEL11:45

      Everything is being delayed at BEG, even foreign carriers. You have flights from foreign carriers coming in on time to BEG but departing late.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:29

      Please stop looking for poor excuses and for trying to justify JU with regards to delays. If you look at FR most airlines are on time or ahead of time; JU flights on the other hand are constantly delayed and that is the case if you look East and West. They have a tight rotation schedule, lack of planning and overall it reflects in poor execution. People there just seem not to care to get the plane in the air on time.

      Delete
    4. You are not being honest, just look around and you will notice delays in every single airport like we have never seen before. I was in MUC the other day and almost 80% of flights are flashing red .

      Delete
    5. JATBEGMEL13:11

      @12,29

      Did you cross check FR24 and the BEG website? JU has adjusted a few of their departure times, while FR24 is showing them as delayed. ZAD today for example has a changed departure time, beg.aero shows it as on time while FR24 has it delayed.

      Delete
  9. Seasonal varna/burgas is a must!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:41

      They tried Varna a few years ago but it didn't work.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:47

      It didn't work well because of the inconvenient schedule unfortunately :(

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:48

      They were in the middle of the night right?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:00

      Yes, and arrival was at 1 in the morning and return 1 hour later approx. Their idea was to have connecting flights with the morning wave from BEG but the problem was the inbound late flights. If they copy the SOF schedule which remained basically untouched since 2014, it will work out quite good. Issue is that there are many other destinations in the afternoon in BEG and might need more planes.

      Delete
    5. Why wizz did not start black sea, even maybe constanca...

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:05

      I don't know why Constanta is one of the few Romanian airports with much fewer flights. A couple of years ago there were many flights in summer connecting it to Western Europe and holidaymakers and it is the 5th largest city in Romania! TK seem to be operating there with their 4 weekly IST service so JU may also consider it as it will have fewer competition.
      What Constanta is lacking imo, is the massive tourism and warmer beaches :(

      Delete
    7. Anonymous18:06

      Constanta is an ugly, industrial city without attractive tourism actually ...

      Delete
    8. Anonymous23:40

      Really? Haven't been there. I think the beaches next to it also not seem to have gained popularity either. I mean Mamaia is the Romanian Riviera for some reason but doesn't seem to please the likes...

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:27

    They are running out of routes to launch in the West. Maybe time to focus on the East?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:29

      The decision to focus on the west this year turned out to be a smart choice.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:32

      More like luck :)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:07

      Not much on the East either. Russia blocked, Ukraine in the war, Belarus blocked... I guess they may try some Caucasian destination. I would also like to see them more in the North Africa and Middle East.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:30

    I'm glad they are expanding but it should come at the cost of them completely pulling out of the Middle East.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:34

      Amman was supposed to be added this summer. I still don't understand why they decided not to launch it in the end.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:40

      Either fleet shortages or poor loads. There isn't any other explanation.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:06

      I think it had more to do with the fleet. Even with all the wet leases they still have an inefficient number of planes.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:21

      Then they shouldn't have launched so many new routes. What would they have done if there was no war in Ukraine and they continued flying to Krasnodar, Rostov and had more flights to Moscow?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:28

      KRR and ROV were night flights and at that time of the day they do not have problem with fleet shortage.

      Delete
    6. JATBEGMEL11:57

      AMM was also a night rotation. ROV had a midday departure (13:40) and a 20:30 departure, not midnight.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:41

    I can't believe they are considering Bilbao, the capital of the Basque Country in Spain! Not only is it the wealthiest region in Spain but also worth visiting. They have the surf beaches just outside the city and you can easily take the metro to go there. They have those extra yummy pintxos (huge tapas) and also there is the elegant and posh city of San Sebastian not so far away.
    Bilbao used to be quite industrialised in the 80s but has now changed like a lot. I have visited this part of Spain 4 times and it has got nothing to do with the rest of the country. They can compete with AF and LH. What I remember is that it's not a very cheap airport for LCCs but maybe ASL can afford it. Really excited about this one and of course Catania. Many capitals in the area already are connected to Sicily so why not from BEG?
    OPO and KRK are also good options. MRS is small Morocco and Middle East lol. Besides, if they already do BCN and doing quite well not sure why it is needed. NCE would make more much more sense.
    But, it does seem they are looking to expand quite a lot in Italy and Spain, which is not bad at all.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:46

    Maribor next

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:57

      Would there be sufficient demand?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:59

      I'm sure that 1 daily ATR flight is viable

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:05

      1 daily? To Maribor?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:11

      No way amigo

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:16

      Ljubljana is almost sold out every day (tickets go for 250€+ one way) so I think at some point Maribor is an option. For sure 3x weekly at first but surely Maribor has a potential to go to daily at some point

      Delete
  14. Anonymous10:35

    Is anything going to happen with the long haul network? New routes, widebodies, etc, etc,

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous11:11

    Please start BEG-MBX

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous11:13

    What about secondary destinations in the region? Mostar, Ohrid, Portoroz, Maribor?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JATBEGMEL11:58

      Would be great to see OMO and OHD next, as well as SPU going year round.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous11:31

    After flying to RJK, PUY, VCE, LJU and TRS flying to Portoroz makes no sense at all.

    Mostar and Maribor have no potential for JU flights. Even OU does not fly to OMO anymore and EW also stopped.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:59

      Maribor has great potential for BEG flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:41

      Why?
      Is there Serbian diaspora? No
      Are there any big industrial centers in order business activities could initialize it? No
      Are there more transfer passengers than from LJU? No
      In very close surrounding there are LJU, ZAG, KLU and GRZ so there is nothing big JU can offer
      Absolutley no sense at all.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:40

      MBX would serve Graz as well.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous20:28

      GRZ is served through VIE and LJU.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous20:38

      LJU is already far from GRZ, on the other hand from Maribor airport to Graz is 40 min

      Delete
  18. Anonymous12:52

    Seasonal scheduled flights to HER, RHO and CFU for summer season '23 should work.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Also a while ago I remember there was an article about expansion in the central/eastern europe, mentioning Krakow and secondary destinations in Bulgaria/Romania, I wonder whether that is now on the cards!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous13:06

    I think now for Air Serbia is better to try to stabilize current schedule, because they have every day big delays, deploying leased 30 years old B737 to scheduled service, ect

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JATBEGMEL15:00

      Wet leases were from the start going to be also used for scheduled routes.

      Regarding delays, it's interesting comparing beg.aero website and FR24. The times don't always match. FR24 has had a fair few glitches showing the departures from BEG. I'm not denying that JU has had delays, but it's not entirely dramatic as it is made out to be. Not only that, but also foreign carriers have had on time issues in BEG, which could mean that BEG isn't doing well handling flights.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:10

      @15:00 what delay do you consider dramatic? I find +/- 45 min every day to key Europe destinations with a lot of transfers dramatic. Moscow is never on time +/- 1-3 hrs delayed is not dramatic either (mind you terminal / air space is not busy and TK is running 10 flights per day mostly all on time)? Come on the situation is not any better than it was with "joke about time" .

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:16

      Moscow flights are late because they are constantly targeted in bomb threats and require extra security checks. But somehow I'm certain that if there was a security breach and Air Serbia didn't follow strict protocols you would be the first here to spit at them and complain.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:05

      Rapid growth may have something to do with delays. Adding many new routes in a short period of time creates a lot of challenges. Air Serbia quickly grew network to some 59 destinations, over 70 if you count charters. Belgrade airport probably has over 100 destinations while they undergo major construction. Does anyone have exact numbers of destinations for this summer?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:08

      15:16 Jesus Christ! Are you for real, man?? Were there new bomb threats lately?? I thought this bs was just temporary!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:11

      Bomb threats are constant and daily. Not just targeting flights to Russia anymore but every aspect of life - schools, museum, tourist attractions, hospitals, airports, bus stations, railway stations, universities. Turn on the news. There are even plans how to prevent disrupting end of year exams at school because of expected bomb threats. All with love from Poland.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous18:16

      This is true... I don't understand how this cannot be properly addressed to the people in Poland and EU. This is shameful and nothing but the terrorism and it will hit Poland back sooner then they think... Then they will cry about it. Shameful, nothing else.

      Delete
    8. JATBEGMEL18:20

      @15,10

      I used the word dramatic to talk about the histeria in the comments here of JU being terrible because of their delays. Not all delays are due to JU. Standard practice in aviation is that on time is considered within 15 minutes of the departure time.

      YU-APD today left on time to CDG, landed 20 mins early into CDG, but left CDG with a 1 hour delay. Is that JU's fault as well? Why did APD need 70 mins to turn around in CDG? Naturally, the late arrival of APD meant IST was delayed as well. Thats not the only example.

      Today's ZAD departure was moved in advance, and it is not delayed as shown on FR24. Both airport websites show the flight being practically on time (11 mins late into ZAD). However, it took 50 minutes to turn the aircraft in ZAD when it should of been done in 30 mins.

      You should also know that SVO and LED are on a daily basis receiving threats. Procedures have been implemented that have drastically reduced delays. Turkey, unlike Serbia, is a NATO member, I don't think NATO members will bully Turkey as they are bullying Serbia. ME3 don't have issues of bomb threats on Russian flights as does JU. There is immense pressure for Serbia to choose sides, while Serbia is insisting on remaining neutral. Nothing we can do there, and JU has not been the only target of these threats the past weeks. That however is a whole different topic.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous19:00

      Anon 18:16 What's going to happen to Poland?

      Delete
    10. Anonymous19:04

      I already said multiple times here - Polish nationals and airlines need to be banned from Serbia. This can be justified by the lack of Polish govt's cooperation in regards to bomb threats. Polish citizens and companies are now a threat to Serbia. Tbh, Poland has way more to lose. Asseco's business in Serbia can easily be hampered and they can be forced to sell to a local company.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous20:35

      It's not even true those threats are exclusivly coming from Poland and you are proposing evicting Polish people from Serbia? Wow, just wow

      Delete
  21. Anonymous13:52

    Just please add also Helsinki on straight flights :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous15:52

    Companies swing strategy as leadership changes. I worked at non-aviation company where CEO pushed for cost cutting and increased profits. Board wasn't happy with results and they replaced him. New CEO announced push to increase marketshare using agressive pricing. It worked for two years but margin/profit plummeted and Board fired him too. New CEO then annouced going back to fundamentals and profits.

    You get the picture. New leader has to distance himself from the previous one by promising different approach. Will it work? If it doesn't they will eventually go back to the other model. Or the next CEO might decide to go with something else, like expanding long haul.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I think they should start OMO at least twice weekly with Atr. Being so isolated and with right pricing and connections it would work. I hope they restart HEL as they can have great connections with AY and work some magic with oneworld

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous22:10

    No Dublin also? Maybe I'm the only one creating demand, idk...

    ReplyDelete
  25. JATBEGMEL22:16

    A 4th wet lease seems to be joining JU next week.

    B734 from Greek airline Air Mediterranean.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Scott Peters00:23

    Worldwide delays are not making any sense. There are virtually no International tourist flying to Canada and delays are unbelievable so far.

    ReplyDelete

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