Air Serbia recorded its busiest month this July since its rebranding in October 2013, by handling over 400.000 passengers. The figure represents an increase of 47% on the same month last year, when it welcomed 276.191 travellers on board its aircraft, as well as an improvement of 9% on the pre-pandemic 2019 when it handled 372.839 customers. Its passenger share at Belgrade Airport stood at a high 55% of all travellers. Several destinations saw strong growth compared to the same month last year, while the likes of Madrid, which was restored this summer, immediately reached pre-pandemic traffic levels. However, it should be noted that many destinations were impacted by travel restrictions last year.
Commenting on its performance, Air Serbia’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Boško Rupić, said, “The results we achieved in July are a good indicator that we made correct and timely business decisions when it comes to scheduling for this summer season. Here I primarily refer to the strategic launch of new routes to leisure destinations, including those in Italy and Spain, which were most popular among passengers this summer season. This result is also a consequence of additional growth in charter traffic by approximately 37% this season, compared to 2019”. He added, “We will continue to keep a close eye on market demand and boost our capacities on the most popular routes in our network. We are certain that the stable growth trend will continue in the coming months”.
Air Serbia’s CEO Jiri Marek noted that the airline expects to exceed pre-pandemic figures in all key performance indicators during next year. “We do not want to return to pre-pandemic levels, we want to surpass them in 2023 at the latest. In some segments, we have already achieved this”, Mr Marek said. He added, “In these circumstances, we can no longer adhere to long-term planning. We monitor our network on a daily basis and adjust it for the upcoming few months. As a result of this flexibility, we can react quickly, i.e., increase or decrease capacity. We have enough staff to do so. When it comes to flight cancellations, in July that figure stood below 0.3% of all of our flights, which is significantly less than the majority of other airlines”.
Very good result
ReplyDeleteThere are some really positive developments coming out of JU lately.
ReplyDeleteLCA <3
ReplyDeleteNot surprising. They have 10x weekly to LCA. How many did they have before the pandemic? 3x I believe?
DeleteBefore covid they used to have daily night flights. Then covid hit and I think last summer they had 5 or 6 with daytime flights for the first time since 2013.
DeleteLet's see what they do this winter and if they managed to position themselves on the island. Hopefully they don't become one of those seasonal carriers down there.
I believe there will be a lot of transfer passengers even during winter, especially from the east.
DeleteGood to see strong demand.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much profit/ loss they have made this quarter?
ReplyDeleteI am most certain they did not have a loss in this quarter. This is when all carriers make money, problem is the money they lose when winter comes. Seasonality is their biggest problem.
DeleteSo we can conclude that BEG also had a very strong month.
ReplyDeleteHoepefully over or close to 700.000 passengers.
DeleteThis would mean BEG will surpass 3 million passengers during August.
DeleteYou mean July?
DeleteNo I mean in August. By the end of June they had 2,142,306 passengers. So it's impossible they reached 3 million in July.
DeleteDamn 2.1 is really not a lot. Hopefully numbers keep on rising
DeleteConsidering Serbian citizens could not travel to EU during first quarter and to Germany until June it's a great result.
DeleteIt's not a great result but it's an ok one.
DeleteIt is a great result as its recovery rate is well above the European average.
DeleteEven if they had 700% growth he would say it's not good.
DeleteIf they had over 400000 passengers and handled 55% of BEG, then BEG had over 730000 passengers in July. That is great result, right?
DeleteYes but keep in mind JU also has flights from Nis and Kraljevo which are included in these 400,000+ passengers
Deleteanon 10.34 Not true Serbian citizens couldn't enter EU during Q1. EU had union-wide regulations for short time in 2020, since then each country has its own set of rules.
Delete400.000 passengers in just one month. Thats how many passengers LJU had in 6 months.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to get even busier in August.
ReplyDeleteI also think August will surpass July.
DeleteLooking at that list, it's interesting that both ZAG and DBV are there but not SPU. What went wrong there?
ReplyDeleteIt's growth could be 26%.
DeleteOf those 400,000 passengers how many were the charter passengers ? Goodmorning Admin and thanks a lot in advance .
ReplyDeleteCharters were very strong. I believe around 5% of passengers.
DeleteWhat is the average load factor?
ReplyDeleteIt probably wasn't great if Air Serbia didn't want to share.
DeleteTrue
DeleteIt has to be pretty good considering their numbers?
Delete@anon10:48
DeleteNot necessarily. I flew to FCO 10 days ago, plane was half empty, and on the early morning flight no less. It is only one flight, it could be an anomaly, but i still find it quite strange that in peak season the A319 was half empty
Serbian citizens no longer have entry restrictions to Italy?
DeleteYes it is just one flights @anon 11.26 so you really can't conclude anything.
DeletePeople here were also saying and seething how their market share must be bad yet it is at 55%. They were also seething at the CEO how he isn't renewing the fleet. Then he started renewing the fleet. Then they were seething how long haul routes aren't being launched. Then they announced new long haul routes etc.
DeleteWell let's see how the new wunderkind of CEO performs in terms of financials.
DeleteTheir financials were rather good last year considering the sitiation. Of course there is no way to please you and you will always have to seek out something to spit on.
DeleteWhat's the capacity compared to 2019, maybe we can conclude something on their LF. Do they have more than 9% capacity increase this summer?
DeleteI would not be surprised if FCO on JU becomes a seasonal route
Delete^ stop writing nonsense
DeleteI will write nonsense for as long as I please.
DeleteGuys, Serbia Italy is an extremely seasonal and difficult market. Did you know that this summer JU quietly reduced BEG-MXP? There is simply no demand for so many flights especially when you look at the number of buses that go from Serbia to Italy every day.
DeleteProblem with JU is that they think that all that is needed is to schedule flights. They don't bother with pushing sales and to boost revenue like that. This year they had those bland ads that lasted for 3-4 days maximum and that was about it.
Keep up the good work
ReplyDeleteGood result. Quite surprised.
ReplyDeleteI mean surprised by the amount of passengers they handled, not that they had a good result.
DeleteCongrats. The huge demand for holiday flights and healthy local demand really helps them
ReplyDeleteSuper! Now they have over 60 destinations
ReplyDeleteHow many passengers could handle this year?
ReplyDeleteConsidering they are planning new routes even for this winter it is difficult to predict. I believe they will come close to 2019 levels.
DeleteNicely done JU.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting (and more important) to know what were the financial costs to achieve these operational results.
ReplyDeleteWe will know their financial results for this year in June 2023.
DeleteEncouraging results ahead of long haul expansion.
ReplyDeleteGood job, many airlines are in a worse off position than Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteImpressive. This is more passengers than some capital city airports in ex-yu have.
ReplyDeleteMore than most ex-Yu airports actually.
DeleteMore than what LJU had in H1.
DeleteSad for LJU :(
DeleteNo no no, its bravo LJU! Its growing explosively! Its getting new airline with one weekly flight! LJU keeps on winning!
DeleteWho's conparing airlines and airports? I mean what's the point.
Delete*comparing
Delete@anon 15:54 Try to understand sarcasm. And it is OK to compare.
DeleteI don't get this sarcasm and I think that's good news.
DeleteIf you don't get this sarcasim I don't think it is good news.
DeleteBoth BEG and JU are having a good year. I wonder how cargo did.
ReplyDeleteNot sure, but it would help if they could find money, willpower and place to convert those old ATR's into freight. Especially since China and Serbia are gonna be linked by two airlines directly.
DeleteI like that idea.
DeleteAre ATRs commonly used for all cargo?
DeleteThey seem kinda small. But perhaps they would be good for regional cargo distribution from. BEG.
BEG has 2-3 daily cargo flights on turboprops just not on JU. Others are making the most of this market. Air Serbia should make a deal with UPS to take over the cargo from Solinair. They can fly it on the ATR or they can use this extra revenue to boost the route to an A319. But then again this would require their sales and cargo team to be creative and we all know they don't like doing that. Am I right or am I right?
DeleteNot a single day goes by without some good news about JU. Great job Jiri!
ReplyDeleteHow many passengers did they have for the whole of 2019?
ReplyDelete2.8 million in 2019.
Delete55% market share? Wow! That's a lot.
ReplyDeleteYes it's a lot. Even bigger than during Covid.
DeleteBe interesting to compare market share of the national airline in Poland, Romania, & Germany for example. Anyone have any idea what LOTs share at WAW is?
Delete@anonymous 17:40 what's the point of this ? Some airports in these countries are served by 60 or 70 airlines while BEG is served by 22 ! So it is normal for the national carriers in these airports have lower share.
DeleteConsidering that Poland has a population 5 times the time of Serbia, it would be catastrophic it wasn't served by more airlines.
Delete@anon 18:22 Dude, it's OK to compare, it really is, even if the country is big.
DeleteBefore the plandemic, LH market-share used to be close to 70% at FRA. It should be around the same in MUC. TK in IST is probably closer to 80% since they chased away almost all competition.
Deletethey should think about joining an alliance soon.
ReplyDeleteThey should have already joined one. They have a lot to gain from being a part of one.
DeleteOneworld please
DeleteSkyTeam is the logical one as more than half of their codeshare partners are a member of ST.
DeleteBut TAROM is in SkyTeam. So I doubt they would take in another airline from a market just right next to it.
Delete@10,47
DeleteHaving RO next door isn't really a problem. SkyTeam have airlines in Spain, France, Netherlands, Czechia, Italy, pretty much all next to each other.
@10,08
Although JU would make for a great addition to oneworld, JU have the worst connectivity to oneworld hubs, which makes a oneworld membership pointless. British visa restrictions makes transiting via LHR not an option (unless transiting to the US, Canada or Australia with respective visas). MAD as the only other oneworld European hub in the JU network is served twice a week and they already have a partner there - Air Europa, which is in SkyTeam.
They are currently most alligned with Skyteam, but i see them as more likely to be courted by OneWorld which has zero presence in thr region and is actively seeking new airlines. Closest airlines are Finnair and BA/IB i think.
DeleteI wouldnt count out Skyteam as well though.
ASL has one key asset that everyone could use rn, and those are Russia flights, the lack of which impacted Skyteam a lot due to the loss of Aeroflot. They are very weak in eastern Europe, so ASL could be a good pick, though i think ASL longhaul ambitions could clash a little with ones from other airlines in the alliamce.
Somebody is doing something right.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations
ReplyDeleteThis is great but still unfortunate they have not resumed several destinations since Covid.
ReplyDeleteCairo and Tel Aviv will be back next summer season.
DeleteWill Helsinki ever come back?
DeleteNo, they said that they are ending that route for good.
DeleteShame. Interesting how Oslo is working out really well for them but Helsinki didn't.
DeleteThe Serbian diaspora in Finland is almost nonexistent while there is a sizable diaspora in Norway. Also Norway has much more tourists than Finland. More people want to visit it.
DeleteAnd HEL is ultra expensive airport
DeleteThat's why they should consider Turku or Oulu
DeleteI wonder what the all time July record is. It is obviously from JAT era.
ReplyDeleteJFK numbers will grow even more when they finally conclude a codeshare with a US airline.
ReplyDeleteThey are on it
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/08/air-serbia-negotiating-codeshare-with.html
Can't come soon enough
DeleteDont expect too much from it ..
DeleteJU codeshares are useless. Expect extremely expensive fares.
DeleteWell I booked a JU codeshare flight with ITA and price was good. Do you have any evidence to what you are writing?
Delete@anon 18:35
DeleteHow???? Please share your wisdom with us. When i booked i couldnt get a transfer flight on certain days (even though i could if i booked separately), and had to pay a very expensive ticket
I used Air Serbia code share flight with Air Europa via Zurich to MAD and with Aeroflot via Moscow to SPB, everything was great. On several occasions however I didn't opt for JU code share deal, but I guess it's usual to have better deals with some airlines and not through entire network. And yes, they have to widen the pool of partners, there are some not so distant destinations with bad or no connection with JU.
DeleteLook at the fares they offer with SK, AF and so on. Domestic flights in France are selling for €200 one way on a good day. Code-share with TK on BEG-IST is extremely expensive and not competitive and this is unacceptable since JU has a really bad schedule to Istanbul.
DeleteGenerally speaking these code-shares are expensive and are rarely competitive. Just look at the interline they have with B6 and AA and then compare the prices to the same destinations with AF, LH, KL and so on.
No one pays attention at JU to the results of these sales so the team doesn't care. It's more important to come across as if you are doing something rather than to be actually doing some constructive for the airline.
Charter ruels
ReplyDeleteBest way to make easy money.
DeleteThat's why most charter airlines go bust after couple of years :)
DeleteIt's different of you are a scheduled airline operating charters or purely a charter airline. It's also very important what kind of deals you have with tour operators.
DeleteMoscow did not register growth?
ReplyDeleteIt just shows select flights. And the number of flights from Russia are generally significantly down.
DeleteAs far as I understood from my friends living in moscow is that they still travel but they use Istanbul or DXB because much greater selection on transfers short waiting times better planes etc...
DeleteTamko se to radi. Izađu ljudi sa konkretnim brojkama i zapuše usta svima koji gledaju u kristalnu kuglu ili pasulj. U Avgustu bi mogli i do 450000.
ReplyDeleteTamko tamko.
DeleteCongrats on these results! Keep up with good work throughout the whole year :)
ReplyDeleteInterestingly Air Baltic carried the same number of passengers as Air Serbia in July.
ReplyDeleteDid they really?
DeleteWhat is the point? Another ex yu market?
DeleteIt is interesting to compare. Are we not allowed to mention other aviation markets at all?
DeleteIt is interesting. While comparing JU and ZAG doesn't have any (rational) meaning, comparing two airlines is just fine.
DeleteI wrote the original comment @16.18. Simply wrote it because I read about it just before entering this page since they published their July result. Considering they have a more than double the fleet of Air Serbia I did find it kind of interesting.
DeleteAgreed.
DeleteIt's an interesting piece of information so please keep on sharing them in the future. Please ignore these haters who just come here to complain and nag, they are looking for a fight.
DeleteOf course it is interesting to compare JU and BT because airBaltic has three bases in RIX, TLL and VNO. All these markets combined have more passengers than BEG, INI and KVO. So the fact JU carried more passengers than BT which is a good regional carrier only goes to show that they are doing something right.
Market seems to be recovering quite fast. This winter Wizz is boosting AUH to 4, LCA to 2 and FMM to 5 around Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI think that charters are at least 10% and could be more than 20% of 400K in July. Days with more than 10 charters are normal in July and August. One charter has 140 pax in one direction and 140 pax in other. It could be 80K from charters.
ReplyDelete