Air Serbia schedules first China service

Air Serbia has scheduled its second long haul destination and its first service to China, with a one weekly flight to Tianjin to launch on December 9. Services will be maintained each Friday, departing Belgrade, and each Sunday on the inbound from Tianjin. Flights will be operated by the airline’s two Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Further flight details can be found here. Tickets are now available for purchase through the airline's website. 

Commenting on the new addition to its network, Air Serbia's CEO, Jiri Marek, said, "In spite of the still limited international air traffic with China and strict rules imposed since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, our airline has succeeded in obtaining all the necessary permits and completed all preparatory activities, so that we can launch flights to Tianjin in December. Air Serbia is not a stranger to China. In 2020, we operated dozens of special cargo flights, transporting hundreds of tonnes of medical devices and equipment to Serbia. I am convinced that our direct service will help boost the already strong economic and cultural relations between the two friendly countries". He added, "Our ambitions in regard to flights to China do not end here. We hope that we will expand our network to other strategically important cities in the near future, such as Beijing and Shanghai. We will continue to closely monitor the status of Covid-19 related restrictions and promptly react on new opportunities, once the market access limitations have ended. The ground time that Air Serbia aircraft will be spending in Tianjin is not optimal and comes as the results of a combination of various Covid-19 restrictions still in place. We will continue to work to improve that in the future, whenever such an option becomes available".

The port city of Tianjin, which is Beijing's main maritime gateway, has a population of 13.9 million people. It is the fourth most populous city in China and the twentieth in the world. It is also one of China’s largest trade hubs, with a free trade agreement expected to be signed between Serbia and China by the end of the year. There has never been a scheduled nonstop service between Belgrade and Tianjin, although several special charters were operated over the past year from the city to transport Chinese workers to Serbia. Tianjin and Beijing are linked with high speed train service, which takes approximately half an hour.