NEWS FLASH
Air Serbia sees the Oneworld airline alliance as a potential option for membership but has no plans to join at this point. Speaking to the “AIRzaehlungen” podcast, Air Serbia's CEO, Jiri Marek, said, "Never say never but at the moment, and with the current structure of global alliances and their offerings, we see no possibility for a smaller airline because we would have to contribute more than we would get. I would say Oneworld is pretty flexible and could be an option if I look at what benefits I get from an alliance but right now we see any kind of membership in an alliance as a limitation". Air Serbia recently signed its biggest codeshare partnership with Oneworld member Qatar Airways. Once fully implemented upon regulatory approval, the codeshare will cover over forty routes. Oneworld has thirteen members, only three of which are in Europe. They include British Airways, Iberia and Finnair.
It's a shame that JU Alliance department is usually useless as we see from expensive and illogical connections they sell (except this QR deal). They could have pushed QR to arrange a codeshare with BA in LHR since QR owns a share in them and even with AA which has good relationship with QR and even flies to Doha
ReplyDeleteIt’s silly to think that this QR deal had much to do with JU head office.
DeleteIf Naysmith wasn’t in charge at QR it is highly unlikely we’d see any deals happening.
Naysmith in charge of QR 🤦🏻♂️
DeleteThe particular department in charge of making code share agreements happens to report to the CFO.
DeleteHe happens to be the CFO.
The deal happend less then a year since Naysmith took over the role in QR
JU Alliance apartment doesn't exists.... all just pretending to be Managers but the sad truth is that there are just copy/paste writers filling contract template with numbers other departments provided.
Delete*department
DeleteI don't get why JU has resisted or at least has not been more active in joining an alliance.
ReplyDeleteIt is a win win situation for most participants, and I would think, even more so for a small carrier such as JU.
And also if they do join One world, this would be a great step to counter the dominance of Star Alliance in the region.
Perhaps for local leisure travellers it is all the same as they would primarilly look at prices (rightfully so) but, by joining an alliance, JU would definitely be able to capture more North American traffic (e.g. the ones who collect miles via Americal Airlines) and also regionally, business travellers who can freely decide which carriers they fly with. And these two groups are the ones that bring in the most bucks.
Best to grow alone until the point oneworld invites them/initiates the discussion. I’m not sure they would benefit so much. After all, OU is but a feeder now
DeleteOU is the best example. They’re in *A and have not made anything from it. One of the most sought after coastlines and they still fail to take advantage of that partnership. OW is definitely a better option for JU since LH is trying to push them out of Germany, aside from S7 in Russia, IB covering the western Mediterranean, and AY in Northern Europe, there is no viable connections for the southern/eastern European market. Although they have to play this strategically since they have a tie up with TK and with QR, plus minority shareholder EY. All of which have their own alliances and plans. Down the track JU will be sponsored by QR to become a member in OW and that is when it will be the right time to join. They will have US to East Europe coverage as well as Canada and be able to feed traffic on a 2 flight itinerary where BA and AA are unable to do so.
DeleteI sometimes think that OU would be doing much better had it not joined the Star Alliance and just did things on its own.
DeleteOne world would be a perfect fit for AS now.
ReplyDeleteThat's ludicrous. It's the worst fit for ASL. The only possible fit is SkyTeam - given the collaboration with AF and KLM (18 flights to CDG - codeshared, plus 14+ flights with KLM and ASL individually for AMS). Further connecting onto Delta at JFK (where DAL is dominant for connections, and AAL is relatively inferior - it uses JFK as a OND airport, while Philadelphia and Boston are the main hubs), would further strengthen ASL's position in N. America. Moreover, SkyTeam has a hole in eastern Mediterranean that Tarom isn't filling (particularly given ASL's great network in Croatia and Greece). Finally, if Oneworld were to be a the option, the connections should be through MAD or HEL for the most part because Serbian citizens need those awful airside transit visas through the UK, so BA is not a viable option - plus IAG doesn't even care to fly to BEG (didn't Vueling just leave?). Oneworld would be the most terrible idea for ASL and let's hope they're smarter than that. Star Alliance would make more sense even, but then you're running into the possibility to be eaten up by LH.
DeleteOneWorld would be an amazing fit for JU - and JU for OneWorld - *IF* they get a good codesharing with AA going and AA starts PHL-BEG *AND* if UK finally drops the ludicrous visa requirement for Serbian citizens. Like it or not, BA carries the heaviest OneWorld weight in Europe, and JU would need a robust line to LHR, which will be FAR easier to carry without the visa regime in place
DeleteDon't forget the rumored BEG-MIA flight. If that happens, the possibility of joining OneWorld becomes even higher. AA has a fortress hub connecting all points to Caribbean, Central America, and South America.
DeleteNeither AAL's PHL-BEG, nor ASL's BEG-MIA are high (or any) priority for either airline - PHL-BEG will NEVER happen, there's simply no demand or any chance of that line succeeding while BEG-MIA would not have enough OND traffic for more than a few flights a week (the Serbian diaspora working in MIA would not leave Miami during the winter which is when they make the most money, for example). The UK visa req isn't going anywhere, especially given the current climate re war in Ukraine. Again, SkyTeam is the only viable option in this moment which would imply mostly schedule adjustment to the sunny parts of Europe where AF/KL/DL don't fly. Oneworld is dead on arrival. So I have no clue what is "amazing" about it. No Oneworld carrier even has a remote interest of flying to BEG except Qatar vs. SkyTeam's 2 major carriers plus Tarom.
DeletePlus the current daily flight to LHR could connect onto VA
DeleteWas JAT ever linked with any of the alliances or did they have any special links with other airlines?
ReplyDeleteIt was a bit different in the 70s and 80s, but who were their major partners?
The big three alliances formed after JAT’s prime
DeleteI know that Jat Airways was somehow part of Star Alliance (of course not a full member!) as you could have collected their miles on JU flights to Germany.
DeleteAnd you can collect American Airlines Miles on Etihad, but that doesn’t mean they are in an alliance.
DeleteDoes AA have code share with EY?
DeleteJU had it at that time with LH.
Uh, it was not bit diferrent, it was much much much diferrent. As somebody said already, there were no alliances at those times. But JAT had closest cooperation in several aereas and/or something similar to today's code-shares, and/or interline agreements, with Pan Am, Alitalia, Air France, KLM,Air India, Varig, Libyan Arab and Iraqi Airways.
Delete@11,56
DeleteIt wasn't with Star Alliance, but Sky Team. Jat Airways was going to be sponsored by AF and OK for a Sky Team membership. Jat Airways never went ahead with it.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2009/09/jat-to-join-skyteam.html?m=1
What Marek is essentially saying is "offer us a good deal and we will join OW and fill the gap you have in Euro-Mediterranean coverage". Clever.
ReplyDeleteBut how? It would be a 3 stop minimum from North America via hubs like MAD or HEL since Serbians need transit visas for the UK. It would be a rarely unwise decision.
DeleteOnes who fly to the US and Canada do not need an airside transit visa for the UK. And its 80+ percent of all transfers
DeleteThat's fine, but 3 daily flights to CDG and 2 daily flights to AMS already solve for that. BA has no interest in flying to BEG, that's clear. Why screw up something that's already there vs. creating something out of scratch that may not work. Also, JFK is not a standard AA hub, but it is a true DL hub, so that would work well as well, plus DL is hungry for Greece/Croatia connectivity. Finally, with ITA going to LH, there are additional opportunities to link up with SkyTeam.
DeleteWould be so great for JU to become Oneworld member! It would connect the Balkan with South America throughout Iberia that is serving every destination there!
ReplyDeleteI was personally using their services to Chile 🇨🇱, but without alliance transfers are more expensive and complicated.
Isn't Turkish flying to Santiago nonstop from Istanbul now?
DeleteIn 2020 I originally planned to go to Chile (but I did not due to obvious reasons), a return flight from Belgrade to Santiago via IST was offered for about 900 euros return (on a promo fare)
Joining SkyTeam would be a 2-stop transfer to South America through AMS, CDG or JFK where there are already daily services (3x to CDG, 2x to KLM, and soon 1x to JFK). For this to work you'd need a 2 daily services to MAD, which is, first of all, very far so aircraft utilization is a problem, there's no interest for daily OND, plus Iberia is showing no interest in flying (even Vueling left...). Finally, who flies to South America so much? The mutual interest is North America and eastern Mediterranean where both ASL can further grow, and SkyTeam could feed an ever-hungry Greek, Croatian markets and now even some Italian destinations, since LH seems likely to gobble up ITA.
DeleteTo Anon 14:02 - I never used Turkish for going to Santiago. Since AirSerbia started to fly to Madrid I always book two separate tickets: BEG-MAD and then Latam or Iberia to SCL. Since I have special/discounted tickets for AS, my total cost is usually 600€ return tickets BEG-MAD-SCL and vice versa.
DeleteTo Anon 14:14 - Well AS is flying to both Barcelona and Madrid so you have a plenty of options even with the current weekly flight to connect onto Ibearia flights to Latin America. A huge Croatian diaspora lives in Chile 🇨🇱, but also Argentina 🇦🇷 where Serbians are around 70 000. You would be surprised how many people from Balkan was using my connections to reach Latino countries.
I was flying both: Latam and Ibearia using Wednesday AS flights to MAD, but the problem is that the tickets are not connected and everything is at risk if you don’t manage to get to passport control and terminal change on time. It would be nice to have connected flights for sure 👍🏼
ASL flies to MAD 3 times a week, this would need to go up (and of course schedule adjustment would need to occur). Barcelona is not a hub for IAG, so it's besides the point. IAG actually cares so little for the Serbian market that the gave up the Vueling flight altogether. The point here cannot be South America if there's lower hanging fruit (which is the very hungry North American market), while connections can be made, as part of SkyTeam, via their hubs. Latam also hasn't been in Oneworld since 2020, and has a joint venture with Delta (and is likely to join SkyTeam just like Virgin Atlantic). Oh and this leaves an opportunity for ASL to connect with VA if there's a need to work up the LHR thing.
DeleteTo Anon 18:41 - Thank you for the response! I absolutely agree about the huge significance of North American market compared to Latin America. For me the cheapest flights from Europe to South America were from Spain, and because of specific situation with the AS tickets I was always using that connection. You are right about LATAM and Oneworld, I was not quite sure why they withdraw from the alliance...
DeleteBtw, does any of you know how many passengers fly from Serbia and South America, what destination is most visited (not including Central American states) and where do they connect usually?
No South American destinations were in top 10 in 2019. It's mostly China and NA, plus Lisbon. The article is here: https://www.exyuaviation.com/p/belgrade-airports-busiest-unserved.html. SkyTeam remains the best option, or keeping the status quo with good codeshares.
DeleteThank you! ✌🏼
DeleteNo to alliance
ReplyDeleteProbably best. Good codeshares or SkyTeam are the only sensible options for Air Serbia.
DeleteNo to ALL alliances.
DeleteInteresting late in 2022 we heard Air Serbia were exploring the Turkish Smiles & Miles loyalty scheme. I am wondering with this alliance whether it is more likely they would now look to link up with the Qatar one. This may be more of how they want to take their first steps with an alliance. I think whichever one they go with it has to be better than the current one with Etihad.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure even Qatar if you read some of the press see the benefits of being part of One World, let alone for Air Serbia. Maybe we are looking at this the wrong way and Qatar are thinking the best for them is having strategic codeshares, such as the way Emirates has gone and it hasn’t done too badly for them.
ReplyDeleteWhat do yall reckon are the chances of IAG buying out shares from the Serbian government? I note that Air Serbia remains profitable
ReplyDelete