Air Serbia poised to unveil new routes for winter


Air Serbia is expected to shortly announce the launch of new routes which will be added to its 2022/23 winter season network. It follows the addition of several new destinations. Earlier this week, the carrier commenced services to Malta, marking its return to the island after three years. Air Serbia has also scheduled a limited holiday service between Belgrade and Pula for late December and early January, while it began ticket sales for its second long haul service, to Tianjin, yesterday. The flights will mark the first time a Serbian carrier has maintained services to China since 2000. In addition, the airline will operate new holiday flights between Niš and Zurich, which could be extended if the route proves to be successful.

The airline is expected to schedule its service between Belgrade and Tel Aviv, as recently reported, which would see it return onto the Israeli and Middle East markets after over two and a half years. Furthermore, another route is planned, which has previously never been served from the Serbian capital on a scheduled basis. The airline’s network growth is part of its ambitious plan to add around a dozen new destinations to its network by the end of next year, the majority of which will be announced at a later stage for the 2023 summer season. “We are convinced that this winter season will be dynamic and that we will achieve better results than those of autumn and winter of 2021”, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said recently.

The carrier has put a greater emphasis on launching popular holiday destinations, as there is greater demand for leisure travel in the waning days of the coronavirus pandemic. New routes to Spain and Italy have performed well this summer and are subsequently being increased for next year, with services between Belgrade and Barcelona to more than double from four to nine times per week in 2023. Additional frequency growth on other routes is expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks. “We will continue to work on expanding our destination network primarily to tourist destinations, which has proven to be a complete success this year”, Mr Marek recently noted.

Air Serbia handled over 2.3 million passengers during the January - October period, with over 250.000 travellers welcomed last month alone. In October, the airline operated 2.815 flights, slightly down on 2019 pre-pandemic levels when they stood at 2.907. During the month, passenger numbers on charter flights increased 97.6% on three years ago. The results we have achieved in 2022 show that passengers enjoy flying with us. In the first ten months of the year, we carried over two million passengers, almost a million passengers more than in the same period last year. We plan to strengthen our fleet and launch new routes in the upcoming winter season, offering our passengers even greater comfort and better connectivity”, Air Serbia's General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Boško Rupić, said.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:01

    They are really on a roll :O

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:01

    Bravo Air Serbia!!! 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:01

    So we can expect some holiday destination?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:02

      Yes!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:04

      Nice. Looking forward to it.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:45

      Here we go YYZ!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:46

      ^ did you even read the article?

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:02

    Will they have enough planes for all these new routes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:14

      More planes are coming next year.

      Delete
    2. JATBEGMEL14:47

      Rumour is that JU executives will have a weekend retreat in an undisclosed forest on Rtanj mountain, where they will pray to the aircraft gods by chanting by a fire and dancing around a dead cat in hopes that new destinations can be served with the current amount of aircraft in their fleet. JU has never brought in aircraft for route expansions, media controlled by the illuminati want you to believe aircraft are coming but there are no aircraft on the market.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:40

      JATBEGMEL thank you for this insight into how crucial decisions are made at Air Serbia! That approach is the only way to explain how is once weekly TSN service with long layover superior to twice weekly YYZ without layover restrictions.

      Delete
    4. JATBEGMEL18:44

      @17,40

      Always there to help :)

      On a serious note, I think the yield they will pull out of TSN can not be matched by YYZ, not even close, especially in the winter. TSN one way fares for December are higher than the return JFK fares, while barely 24 hours have passed since sales were launched. And it most likely will further increase due to capacity restrictions into China. Not to mention the cargo that will be transported on the route, especially once the FTA between Serbia and China comes into effect. It's possible that this alone will probably make up for the long layover time in TSN. I don't think Canada and YYZ can match this at this very moment.

      JU has been very proactive lately, so I think we have some surprises coming. Long haul will definitely grow, Marek expressed intentions on having up to 5 A332's in the JU fleet in the next few years and they will need somewhere to go to. YYZ will definitely come. For such a small airline as JU is to be announcing soo many new routes is impressive in itself. There is only so much they can do at a time.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous19:35

      Thank you for this update. All joking aside, I do wish success to all Air Serbia long haul services. I do question YYZ omission. Toronto should not be a year-round service until all other steps are exausted: launch summer seasonal 2 per week, then expand season by starting earlier and ending later, then ask for frequency increase, find a codeshare partner in Canada, then add Christmas special limited service in Dec and early Jan, then upgrade to larger equipment (if JU ever goes for A330-300 or 787-9) and only then the last step should be year-round service, and only if justified.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:03

    My guess would be Algeria as well?
    They could really do with Aviolet brand here, paint one or two (older) aircraft in different scheme and sign a contract with tourist agencies and offer packages directly through aviolwt website (or special holiday tab on their website)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:05

      I think visas are required no?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      Algiers has been served from Belgrade on a scheduled basis. My guess is Riyadh (FlyNas were charters).

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:08

      It's either gonna be Tunisia, Algeris or KSA in my humble opinion

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:08

      Why bring back Aviolet brand?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:11

      The idea about Aviolet is not as bad as you think.
      Instead of phasing out old A319 they could repaint them, use them on cheaters and/or lease them out as those planes and their conditions don't really matter as much on non-scheduled flights

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:59

      'Cheaters' hahaha. Don't people reread what they post here?

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:08

      I think its more people not having edit button available :D

      It would be fairly useful especailly with ever-growing number of users on here @exyuaviation

      Delete
    8. JATBEGMEL13:15

      Aviolet will be a perfect way to increase expenses for a airline trying to reduce them. Especially since for decades they haven't made a single Euro in profit (without government intervention in some form). All with 0 value to the airline.

      Seperate livery is an expense. Seperate uniforms is another expense. Inflexibility with the fleet unless Air Serbia aircraft fly charter routes and Aviolet aircraft fly scheduled routes. Is Air Serbia not allowed to fly charter flights? What good reason is there to bring back the Aviolet livery on aircraft other than 'it will look nice'? But why spend money on newer aircraft and new destinations when we can paint aircraft for the fun of it in different liveries and dilute the airline brand.

      At a time when JU is trying to lower the average age of the fleet, keeping older aircraft is a stupid idea, to put it lightly. There is a reason why airlines seek to keep a young fleet.

      I doubt Tunisia will be added. Travel between the 2 has not recovered since the Arab spring in 2011. Illegal migration has forced Serbia to alter its visa regime, with visas returning to Tunisian nationals after 60 years of visa free travel. Algeria is worse.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous13:57

      Algeria is interesting location, beautiful Country, few operators from West and very expensive.
      Aviolet is not that interesting as it was, better Aviogenex.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:04

    So if it is launching in winter it will be year round destination, plus holiday/leisure route. My guess is something similar to Malta.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:06

    The pace they are going at, they really will have 100 destinations by the 100 year anniversary in 2027.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:08

    Amman?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      Amman has been served from BEG in the past, both by JAT and Royal Jordanian.

      Delete
    2. And RJ even flew with widebody, L1015 Tristar

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:10

    The surprising thing about Air Serbia is that if you give them 100 planes they will manage to utilize and fill them all. You can't say that for any other balkan airline we had in the past 30 years


    KUDOS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:11

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:31

      @anonymous 09:10 , please relax ! They can't fill 18 planes and they will fill 100 ?? With a load factor at 70% , please come back to the real world !

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:08

      LF and yields are improving, important thing is for them to grow.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:10

    Just out of curiosity, why are they scheduling all these new flights a month or less before they start? Used to be months in advance in the past.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      Because booking behavior has changed. Most people are now booking tickets just a week to 10 days before they travel.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:13

      I think they found a niche, just like with china flights it creates some kind of urge of passengers trying to book it last-minute.

      At least that's how I see it with me. When they announce a new route for next month I'm always "oh this city looks nice, let's go and try it in 3 weeks"

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:13

      It could also just be a case of bad planning, but that wouldn't happen in balkans :P

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:21

      Yes, Anon 09.13, this could be a sign of bad planning if the flights remain empty and tickets not sold. Unfortunately for you, this is not the case! Bravo AirSerbia!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:16

      Considering their new Tianjin flights are sold out already on some days, I guess it's not such bad planning after all :)

      Delete
    6. JATBEGMEL13:57

      Covid has really changed pax behavior to booking tickets, as mentioned above by @anon 09,13. Airlines across the globe really screwed the passengers over by massively delaying refunds, pushing vouchers and having unstable schedules, while many countries had frequent changes to entry requirements. Although alot of that has changed back to normal, it still has left a bad experience with millions around the world, who are reluctant to book in advance as previously. JU even commented about this. It is also a big reason why airports across Europe were in such a mess this summer, as demand suddenly jumped with insufficient time to bring in adequate staff to handle the demand (AMS and LHR being the worst).

      China is massively underserved due to Covid restrictions, driving up ticket prices. I wouldn't be surprised to see ticket prices to TSN being 3 times that of JFK. For December, a one way fare to TSN is more expensive than a return ticket to JFK. And we still haven't mentioned cargo.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:14

    I would personally love to see EVN in their network but I kind of agree with the comments above, it’s going to be tourist as well as transfer route. Tunis or Krakow maybe?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      I wouldn't really call Krakow a leisure destination :D although I would like it added to their network.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:18

      Well it’s quite popular during Advent and winter time, Serbs love Krakow !

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:20

      True, many even go by bus.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:16

    I dreamed that night that they were flying to two new Russian destinations.
    One was Samara. Let's see if it will come true🤣

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:21

      Two days ago I had dreams that they were flying to Kuwait.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:19

      I dreamed they would fly to Yekaterinburg.
      Maybe we all had the same dream. ;-)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:31

      Last night I dreamed they would fly to Maribor, Lagos and Toronto.

      Delete
    4. Prepelica13:27

      @anon 12:31 you made my day :D

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:22

    If it's a winter destination, then definitely consider amazing Tenerife, Las Palmas or Fuerteventura. Those airports have huge traffic, almost guaranteed nice weather throughout the whole year.
    Also they should hurry up with Israel. Many Israeli tourists are expected in Romania and Bulgaria during the upcoming months.
    For instance OTP-TLV up to 6 daily and 3 daily to SOF. Even VAR will have Wizzair and Israir almost daily in winter.
    Israel is a very important market. They also underestimated Barcelona and look where they went now to 9 weekly.
    TLV must be at least daily on my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      Doubtful it will be daily. In the article that is linked about TLV flights it says it will be 2 weekly.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:34

      Pity. Also what happened with El Al and Israir? Why did they stop operating to BEG? I remember there were many flights from TLV during Covid.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:51

      @09:22

      It's incredibly stupid they aren't trying to catch any of that market.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:28

    My initial thought was Lisbon, but TP did fly that route so that is out. Don't see them expanding along French riviera as NCE is more than sufficient. Spain turned out to be very popular this year so a southern Spanish add-on would seem logical now that they got to know the market well? Like Alicante or Malaga. Sicily or Sardinia could also be it. Don't see them venturing further in Egypt (Marsa Alam for example), I think that is covered. Dubai introduction also not as it is served by FZ though that would be a logical destination.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:37

      My money is on Spain too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:52

      It’s Spain 100%!

      Delete
    3. JATBEGMEL14:15

      I also think it'll be Spain. VLC started in mid April, which isn't usual practice for JU, since they mostly launched flights in the first week of June. Spain has been a big hit for them.

      11 tour agencies from Spain were recently in Belgrade, meeting representatives from 15 agencies in Belgrade. Air Serbia and Marriott Hotel were part of their 4 day visit. Places visited included Belgrade, Novi Sad, Fruska Gora, Sremski Karlovci and Topola. It is expected that more and more Spanish tourists will be visiting Serbia. Increased cooperation in tourism has been one of the factors driving up the number of JU's direct flights to Spain.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:37

      Sevilla ;)

      Delete
  15. Anonymous09:37

    When will they announce the new routes?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous09:41

    Always good to see an airline from the region continue to expand and add routes.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:49

    Good luck Air Serbia!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09:51

    They need for transfers ASAP Cluj-Napoca.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:23

      Not many O & D pax.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous10:02

    There is not many new routes left for them to introduce in Europe which can be viable in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous10:02

    I'm surprised to see they won't be flying to Doha for the World Cup.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:14

      The official carrier of the games is offering huge amounts of capacity, so there is no need for JU.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:18

    Said it before and I will say it again. Only proactive airline in the region.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:31

    I hope for some new scheduled flights to Greece even in summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:55

      Which routes could work for them in summer?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:55

      In Greece I mean

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:57

      All the destinations they serve as charters, especially Corfu.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:58

      What about Patras? I mean it is Greece's third largest city. I know Austrian flies there seasonally. Interestingly, Aegean has no flights from there.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:35

      Kalamata would be a great addition. And Ioannina on the ATR.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:51

      I remember reading here once that Air Serbia was interested in Ioannina. Or did I mix something up.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:57

      Indeed they were, just before Covid hit.

      "Air Serbia eyes Ioannina flights"

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/01/air-serbia-eyes-ioannina-flights.html

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:37

      That route is an absolute must.

      That northern area of Greece is absolutely underserved.

      Also it would provide a gateway to Southern Albania which is completely without an airport (except Corfu).

      Delete
    9. JATBEGMEL14:26

      Wizz has pulled out of BEG-JTR so I think this is a good candidate. Smaller aircraft plus possibilities for transfer pax could help JU do a better job on the route.

      BEG-CFU is another option. Not only for the charter market but could also serve Southern Albania.

      Zakynthos and Mykonos also come to mind.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous16:08

      Mykonos can literally work and have full loads also Corfu, Santorini, Heraklion, Chania, Rhodes and Kos are on the same levels. If they want to try something different they can go for Kalamata, Zakynthos, Mytilene even Patras as someone mentioned. Volos also can be a good choice as in the Thessaly region and coast there are a lot of Serbians especially during summer season. Greece can actually work and has big potential, let’s hope JU realizes it before Aegean or any other airline grab the chance.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:44

    Excellent result for October!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:47

      Anyone know what the passenger difference is compared to 2019?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:12

      I found them in the archives here you :D

      240.696

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2019/11/air-serbia-registers-busiest-october.html

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:13

      Thank you! Not bad at all. That's basically at 96% of pre-Covid level.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:16

      Impressive.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:21

      It really is impressive. They will end the year with 90-93% passenger levels compared to 2019. When you compare it to the only other remotely serious airline in ex-Yu which is at barely 70% of 2019 levels it is a good result. And one should take into account that Serbian citizens could not travel to majority of EU markets (especially the biggies like Germany and Italy) until midway through the year.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:47

    Portoroz?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:48

      I think they will leave POW to launch next summer.

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:59

    Either Cluj or Krakow

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:14

      I think when they talk about holiday and leisure destinations they are primarily thinking of seaside destinations.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous11:29

    It must be Tenerife, two weekly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:51

      I think it might be too. Remember Smartwings wanted to introduce this route last year.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous11:31

    Dublin?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:50

      Doubt it. There isn't a large Serbian diaspora in Ireland, there isn't a lot of business or trade between Ireland and Serbia and Serbian citizens need visas to enter Ireland.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:29

      But there is a huge Croatian diaspora in Dublin. That might work.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:35

      Lol, it won't be Dublin.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:44

      We don't fly JU.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous18:39

      Who dat?

      Delete
  28. Anonymous11:49

    Can't wait to find out which ones.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous13:26

    Bring on Tenerife. I need to get away from the cold in January

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:02

      Bro, Tenerife is so cool. Been there 3 times already. They even have 2 airports, dude. The North part is very Spanish and local and the South is where the massive tourism and foreigners are. They have a beautiful volcano and you MUST visit the Loro Parque thematical park. It is considered one of the greenest of the 7 Canary Islands. Fuerteventura is very desertic but has very nice beaches in Corralejo - northern part. Very LGBT friendly destination especially Gran Canaria Maspalomas is where all the action is.

      Delete
  30. What happened with the announcement of the new long-haul flights in the Caribbean (Havana — yes, I heard about possible visa restrictions for Cuban citizens) and Southeast Asia (Bangkok, Bali, etc.)?

    There were plans for introducing these routes, considering the high number of Serbian travelers going to those destinations during winter season.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:04

      Havana was the only one being considered and given up on. The others were just listed in an article about demand from Belgrade to similar style destinations. They were never planned.

      Delete
    2. JATBEGMEL16:56

      South East Asia was in considered several years ago when YU-ARA joined the fleet. However, comments later by JU said that the problem there was the poor yields. We won't see South East Asia any time soon.

      Havana was put into serious consideration for this winter, but never was it mentioned it will be a new route, as was the case with TSN. One main consideration was potential transfer pax from Russia onto the HAV flights. However, Nordwind have relaunched flights to Cuba last month (Varadero and Cayo Coco) while more flights are expected to follow for this winter, so one large market for JU is gone. Serbian travel demand to Cuba doesn't justify direct flights on its own, as roughly 4.500 Serbs visited Cuba for the entire 2019. Visas reintroduced to Cuban nationals further diminishes O&D demand on the route, while Serbia is under close watch by the EU because of its visa policies aiding increased illegal migration into the EU.

      I don't think we will see anything new come from JU this winter on the long haul front. 2 A332's will be doing up to 6 flights a week during December (5 x JFK, 1 x TSN) which is still an increase from previous years. For the remaining 3 winter months, utilisation will practically be the same as previous years. I guess summer will make up for any losses made during the winter once JFK goes daily (7pw), ORD launches (2pw), plus TSN (1-2 pw) and widebody use on European sectors (IST rumoured)
      Perhaps next winter we will start seeing widebody charters. MLE I think would make for a better candidate.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:46

      Forget Havana bro, we have already moved onto dreaming bigger dreams! You've got a lot of catching up to do!

      Delete
    4. JU520 BEGLAX22:09

      Cluj-Napoca, Budapest, Varna, Amman, Yerevan, Tbilisi, Tunis, Beirut, Cairo??

      Delete
    5. @JATBEGMEL Thanks for a detailed insight! I was really hoping ro see Havana this winter but it is what it is. It would've profitable for sure given the fact that many Cuban citizens (currently) live in Serbia.

      Delete
  31. Is Tehran too far away? Large diaspora in the States and in Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous01:50

    YYZ!!!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous07:21

    When will we see Air Serbia fly directly to Sydney Australia? Would love to see their beautiful planes at Mascot Airport.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At over 15k km i don't see them doing it soon. Since it would mean getting a new type of airplane.

      Perth could make it(I think) on good winds, wishes and flying straight (which is impossible).

      Delete
  34. Anonymous09:47

    It’s high time for introducting a regular flight to Split! Is it likely to happend soon? Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous13:49

    Please AirSrrbia, come to Mostar. Connect the region.

    ReplyDelete

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