Air Serbia handled 654.959 passengers during the first quarter of 2023, representing the company’s strongest start to the year in almost three decades, if its predecessors are taken into account. In comparison, during the pre-pandemic 2019, the airline reached the half million passenger mark on April 20. The carrier’s solid performance was coupled with a high load factor for the slower months of the year and a particularly strong showing in January and February. During the first quarter, the airline operated a total of 7.961 flights from Belgrade, Niš and Kraljevo, with 2.756 services in January, 2.410 in February and 2.795 in March. During that same period, the airline launched one new route - to Budapest - in mid-March. Zurich, Paris and Vienna were among the busiest destinations.
Air Serbia passenger performance, Q1 2023
Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, recently said the preceding winter season outperformed the airline’s expectations, and that the carrier would have considered adding even more new routes to its network this summer had it foreseen such strong demand. Furthermore, the carrier has said it has reduced the seasonality in its network. “Historically, we always had a problem with the low season in winter. However, this winter season is very specific and we were brave to put up a massive schedule, in order to maintain high connectivity options. It has paid off very well”, Mr Marek told EX-YU Aviation News recently.
Air Serbia anticipates handling between three and 3.5 million passengers this year. “The demand for our flights is very good and constantly growing. During the summer season, which is traditionally the busiest, we will be flying to more than twenty destinations we did not operate to last year. We believe that the months ahead will bring new records for Serbia’s national airline, and an even better flight experience for our passengers. With such a strong start to the year, we expect not only to exceed three million passengers this year for the first time, but also to possibly reach three and a half million”, Mr Marek said.
Well they did amazing let's be honest, but ever since summer schedule started the delays are just getting worse and worse.
ReplyDeleteWhy's that? Lack of fleet?
Lack of fleet but also bad relationship with Jat Tehnika. They are focusing on foreign carriers because JU treated them really badly.
DeleteAlso JU can't find enough people to work in HQ and crew is changed all the time.
^ Regarding Jat Tehnika you are talking nonsense.
DeleteHow can they focus on someone if they are contractually obligated to do it in certain time period? Balkan at it again
Delete^ No it is just nonsense. Don't trust everything someone writes in comments on the internet.
DeleteHow many atrs, a319 and a320 do they need for the full summer schedule? It seems they are stuck with only 2 a320s
DeleteNo, I am not. I know what I am talking about. Jat Tehnika and Air Serbia had a very difficult relationship so Tehnika is giving others like Sun Express a much higher priority.
DeleteAlso management refuses to improve work conditions and salaries and that is why no one wants to stay.
You are indeed talking nonsense and like you said the other day you made your conclusion by looking at flightradar and if foreign airlines are coming to Jat Tehnika.
DeleteAnon 09.07
DeleteYU-APO is finally back this morning, it did not fly for a week.
YU-APH is in Istanbul and won't be back in another month. YU-APS was supposed to arrive by now but no one knows when it will arrive in the end. There is a lot of confusion going on.
Also second A330 is still not flying which is a problem for Moscow.
Didn't they already announce YU-APS? What's going on in that front?
DeleteYou are confusing me with someone else. I did not write that post. You can see this morning that Jat Tehnik successfully serviced a Sun Express plane that left for Izmir in the middle of the night. They can do a good job when they have a partner who respects them.
DeleteThey said YU-APS would probably arrive in March and be in operation in April. The plane is painted. It's arrival depends on the lessor.
Delete-alw and-ape are out of service as well
DeleteYU-APS in Erfuft now probably waiting for it to be finished. I honestly don't know why there are such delays. Summer is starting already.
DeleteJU is starting TLV and ESB today, FCO at noon tomorrow and their fleet is in this state. YU-APA did not fly from December!!!!
Not a single Air Serbia flight landed late at their destination this morning. Some of you live off drama. Instead of saying congratulations for a record number of passengers handled.
DeleteWow i totally forgot about YU-APA, are they are-building it completely? It's been 4 months now!
DeleteI don't know but this is becoming a serious problem. Remember that it took them 7 months to fix APB!
DeleteAnn 9:14, Today marks the first day without any mayor delays after a while
DeleteThe issue with heavy maintenance that JU does at Jat Tehnika is lack of spare parts caused by supply chain issues which results in planes being out of service for longer.
DeleteDoes anyone know why I spotted AS’s tail yesterday at AUH maintenance. It was where Qantas’s A380s are stored (or getting repaired, I don’t know) and a few of Norwegian’s dreamliners. I’m pretty sure it was AS’s tail though I might be mistaken.
DeleteIt is YU-ARA you saw. It has been sitting in Abu Dhabi with JU livery for 3 years now.
DeleteYes, they even took off the "Serbia Creates" livery and now it is in its original form collecting dust in Abu Dhabi.
DeleteWhat's wrong with YU-APA?
DeleteLack of spares? Something else?
It is still early April and we experience daily delays on the vast majority of flights.
Summer is coming! :D
No delays today
DeleteYU-APS should be arriving today to BEG from ERF.
DeleteAccording to BEG that flight was again delayed. Don't know why. Hopefully Marek steps in and saves the day. After all he needs that plane more than anyone. His whole legacy depends on it.
DeleteLegacy? Really? That word is tossed around much too much nowadays.
DeleteWhat is taking so long to fix YU-ARC?
DeleteIt is not broken. It is on D check and they said it will take a month and a half.
DeleteI think Turks are delaying its EIS on purpose so as not to compete with them on the Moscow route.
DeleteVery good result
ReplyDeleteI think they could reach up to 3.5 million.
ReplyDeleteSo far they are on track.
DeleteI fly at least 4-5 times a year from BEG to YYZ and most times it is not with Air Serbia simply because I cannot get good connections or because I'm collecting Star Alliance points. I'd much rather fly with JU but those are the two main reasons I am not.
DeleteAC and JU cxld their interline contract and there is no way to connect from Canada to any JU flights. AC cxld around 5000 issued tickets whis is unheard but Canadian system is corrupted and no much you can do as a passenger.
DeleteWhen airline cancels interline it proves system is corrupted? Interlines and codeshares get cancelled all the time all over the world. Are you okay?
DeleteWhat does cxld mean?
DeleteCold.
DeleteGreat results. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteHope this upward trajectory continues
ReplyDeleteWith 20 new routes it certainly will.
Delete22 actually.
DeletePlus they will probably launch Beijing and Shanghai in Q4.
DeleteExcellent. Good luck, AS. It seems you’re on the right track.
ReplyDeleteVery impressive results. Its always good to see the actual figures on black and white and disprove all the torrents of negative "well-wishes". Good growth and exciting new route dimension opening up in 2023. Step by step, JU in continuing to transform into the strong regional player, with expected new markets and growth in volumes.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSomebody is doing something right.
DeleteDid Air Serbia record profits too?
ReplyDeleteThey did say their revenue has seen double digit growth compared to 2019. They post annual financial results.
DeleteThey publish their financial results in July. Operational results are very important and a good indicator of the health of an airline and the market it serves.
DeleteThis statement "an even better flight experience for our passengers" means a lot and is absolutely necessary but quite honestly I don't realize what have they done and what actions were taken to enhance the flight experience with ASL The other day my friend flew to BEG (early morning arrival) and they were waiting 45 min for their luggage to show up on the belt. When they asked what was going on the reply was that they are in the process of sorting out transfer luggage.
ReplyDeleteThat has nothing to do with Air Serbia. Their handling is done by Belgrade Airport.
DeleteIt has to do with JU because they shut down ASGS.
DeleteThat happened 7 years ago. Get over it. Most airlines don't have their own dedicated handling subsidiary.
DeleteSo your friend waited for luggage. It happens at every airport sometimes. I waited at Budapest an hour and a half for my luggage to get to the belt. Reason? Flight landed 45 minutes ahead of schedule and they had no one to handle luggage (and this was in 2019).
DeleteWell they need to address this if they want a “better passenger experience”. You can’t just tell disgruntled passengers: “not our fault”. This typical avoidance of responsibility, that is so prevalent in the Balkans (especially in SLO where I live!), doesn’t fly in many places from where these passengers might originate. My opinion, at least.
DeleteWow the friend waited for the luggage. At an airport. Awful, poor friend, no one understands them as no one experienced that before.
DeleteNo they don't need to address it because your friend's experience is not common. I had my bag the other week already on the carousel when I arrived and it took me 3 minutes ftom the plane through empty passport control. These things happen from time to time at all airports.
DeleteAnd in any case the airport is opening an automated baggage sorting facility soon. I'm all for criticism when it is due but there really is no need to turn every fly into an elephant.
DeleteAnd no one said that? Dude it’s 45 min, not 3 hours. It’s an airport.
DeleteYou are making it sound as if everyone is waiting for bags endlessly which really isn't the case, especially at BEG.
DeleteI strongly believe they are fully aware of visible fleet shortage and its negative impact on airline reputation among travelers and strongly hope they are working very hard to fix it and secure spare metal for unexpected circumstances. At the end of the day, it will pay off heavily!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if they are aware of it. If they were aware of the fleet problems they wouldn't be talking about Miami, Havana, Shanghai and so on.
DeleteThey handled more passengers than what other national airlines in the region will handle for the first half of the year.
ReplyDeleteAnd today they are launching Tel Aviv. Good luck :)
ReplyDeleteAny info on the load?
DeleteAnd tomorrow they launch Ankara.
DeleteThey are also launching ESB tonight or more correctly tomorrow morning at 00.30.
DeleteIf they increased frequencies to TLV before it launched then advanced bookings must be strong. The other day I was passing by Metropol and a bus load of Israelis with luggage came out. I guess they came with Arkia.
DeleteTLV will be a route that will benefit from the large volume of Russian nationals who have moved to Serbia in the past year. You will see.
DeleteCould be, flight out of BEG was quite full with just one transfer passenger. It could be Russians who are living here.
DeleteDon't forget that Israeli companies are quite strong in the construction sector so there will be quite a lot of premium demand
What was the average LF?
ReplyDeleteBravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteGood result
ReplyDeleteAll things considered pretty good.
ReplyDeleteNicely done JU.
ReplyDeleteLoads are solid
ReplyDeleteGood result. Now looking forward to seeing how Croatia Airlines and Air Montenegro performed in Q!
ReplyDeleteAny idea how much OU should have had?
DeleteI doubt over 350,000 passengers. We will see at the end of this month when they usually report their Q1 numbers.
DeleteUnfortunately, Air Montenegro is completely useless and irrelevant. Their presence has little impact on the Montenegrin market, let alone others. Which national airline in the 21st century does not offer the option of connecting flights or is unable to conclude a single codeshare because the technology they bought does not allow them to do it? Air Montenegro.
DeleteSad but true
Delete@Ano 10:03 Technology is allowing MNE to have codeshare agreements, but IATA code which they are trying to 'take over' from YM is delaying all the progress and making a tremendous negative impact on airline further development. Government of Montenegro should finally start dealing with this problem and finish YM story once for all.
DeleteI really hope they succeed in Budapest this year. Beat of luck to them.
ReplyDeleteIf they succeed in Budapest then they will succeed on other routes too.
DeleteHope so is well, as someone who often using mini bus to reach Pancevo from Budapest, air link network betwen BEG and BUD it's so welcoming.
DeleteNice numbers
ReplyDeleteWonder how much charter flights will bring passengers this year considering a number of former charter destinations have been turned into scheduled flights.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for the day Antalya becomes a scheduled route. Could work year round.
DeleteIt won't become scheduled route because JU does not want to share those passengers with Turkish Airlines :)
DeleteSpeaking of charter traffic, JU is experiencing such unprecedented capacity shortage that Partizan fans had to fly on Trade Air to NCE for the match tomorrow.
DeleteAir Serbia's fleet is struggling to stay in operations so they didn't have a spare A319/320.
It seems that they don't have major issues and delays today at all, great job! However they really need some extra dry lease aircraft asap.
ReplyDeleteNo! What they need is for their fleet to keep on flying without breaking down every other day.
DeleteExcellent. I hope that in 2024 they will reach 4 million passengers.
ReplyDeleteI know it has been written/said before but I can't find it now. How many passengers did JAT have as its record?
ReplyDelete4.531.000 pax in 1987
DeleteThank you
DeleteStill a way to go to catch up.
DeleteInteresting, jan was just 18k bigger than Feb. Orthodox holiday are in Jan, i would expect bigger difference. So should we say Rus, Ukr made so much on Rus-Srb-Tel Aviv so much ?!
ReplyDeleteIn February there was Statehood day holiday in Serbia and I don't remember people ever travelling in such huge numbers so it probably contributed.
Delete@13:43 +100!
DeleteTravel will be huge this May day too. Speaking as travel agent
DeleteThis means BEG probably had around 1.2 million passengers in Q1
ReplyDeleteOr 1.3
DeleteGood result in either case :)
DeleteI few on YU-APL from Madrid last week. The plain was full (100% LF). Passingers were buying a lot on board from Elevate menu. It was surprise to me that AirSerbia is performing so good. Congratulations!
ReplyDelete