Air Serbia recorded strong results on its first transatlantic service to New York in 2022, as well as its busiest first quarter performance on the route in 2023. The carrier welcomed 74.916 passengers on flights between Belgrade and the Big Apple last year, up 2.3% on the pre-pandemic 2019, according to data provided to EX-YU Aviation News by the United States Bureau of Air Transport Statistics. The annual average cabin load factor stood at 81.9%, up 2.4 points on 2019. Notably, Air Serbia had one of the highest annual load factors on flights to and from New York’s JFK Airport among European carriers, ahead of the likes of Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss, LOT Polish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Finnair, Turkish Airlines, SAS Scandinavian Airlines and ITA Airways. In 2022, Air Serbia uplifted 3621.9 tons of cargo on the route, up 104% on the pre-pandemic 2019.
Air Serbia's New York route performance, 2022
Air Serbia's New York route performance, Q1 2023
During the first quarter of this year, Air Serbia handled 14.113 passengers on its New York service. The figure represents an increase of 64.8% on the same period last year. The airline also saw a high load factor during the first quarter, standing at 89.3%. Notably, in March of this year, almost all flights from the US’ largest city to Belgrade were sold out, with the average load factor standing at 99.8%. High loads were also achieved from Belgrade to New York, amounting to 98.8% in March and 95.9% in January. This summer, the airline has increased weekly operations between the two cities to daily for the first time.
Last month, the Serbian carrier introduced its second transatlantic service, to Chicago, with the route also performing well. “Flights from Chicago to Belgrade have sold out very quickly. As we move forward into the season, we also see that flights from Belgrade to Chicago are also filling up. We are satisfied with this route. We will continue to grow on the American market. We are considering Toronto and Miami, which we have already mentioned many times, and after that we hope there will be enough destinations in North America in the years to come”, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said. The Serbian carrier is awaiting approval from US authorities to place its designator code and flight numbers onto 26 jetBlue destinations from New York's JFK airport.
"Notably, in March of this year, almost all flights from the US’ largest city to Belgrade were sold out, with the average load factor standing at 99.8%. "
ReplyDeletewow this is insane!
This is why they needed Airbus A330-300.
DeleteBecause of 1 month? Amazing strategical thinking.
DeleteMarek said it is out of the question for him and it remains so.
They never had this kind of result even when they had fewer flights than they had this year.
Delete@09:09
DeleteDon't be stupid.
E190 was out of the question - now flying to Cologne.
A321 was out of the question - two are coming.
Only stupid people never change their mind
👋
Let’s achieve double daily to New York.
DeleteCargo figure is impressive too
DeleteMarek never said E190 and A321 are out of the question, but he did say itr for A333 and it won't change.
DeletePitty for you.
Amazing!!! So happy to read this.
ReplyDeleteBravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteAnd record 1-2 hrs delays as well! This use to be a route with impeccable on time performance but not anymore. Nowadays rarely a flight leaves Belgrade on time most likely because waiting passengers from their collapsed (delayed) European services. Yesterday they announced the Embraer addition, today the collapse and delays seem even worst during the morning departure wave.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't take long for someone to spit on their result.
DeleteRegarding delays this morning
"Due to this morning's (Thursday, 22 June 2023) malfunction of the X-ray baggage inspection system at the Belgrade airport, today there may be significant disruptions from the planned flight schedule of airlines departing from the Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, including Air Serbia. The changes occurred during the morning wave, but are very likely to result with subsequent phase lags throughout the day and evening"
It's probably an X-ray machine dedicated only for Air Serbia. Other airlines (Lufthansa, KLM, Austrian, Wizz) had their morning flights depart on time.
DeleteSo that's today's excuse, blame the delays on the Airport
DeleteNo, you are right. They made it up and the airport said "yes no problem Air Serbia, just make it up". Some of you people are really crazy and your hatred it unhinged.
DeleteIt is not spitting it is a constatation of facts. Spitting would be if delays occurred once in a while and then would be mentioned as observation but delays are daily occurrences on both ORD and JFK flights. By the way in our country there is always something that must go wrong ... police / X ray / luggage belt / no pilots, no mechanics, late catering, ATC ... what a great justification and way to have nobody responsible for nothing. Vuk dlaku menja a cud ne.
DeleteThe X ray machine broke down around 8 oclock. It will cause delays on all airlines that have flights past that time. These things happen at airports. You sound like an extremely frustrated person.
DeleteIndeed I am frustrated (and everyone should be!) with the way how they treat their passengers lately. it is daily chaos and all they are only looking at announcing their success stories about new flights, improved LF while hiding the real issues they have.
DeleteBut they didn't announce it. Had you bothered to read the article you would see the source of the information.
DeleteIt seems to be some people come here only to express their huge frustrations no matter what is the topic of the day.
DeleteAre they paid to do it so or they come from friendly neighbouring countries which can't stand JU success it is beyond me.
And how many rows of X ray machines they have? more than one so why does it have to impact the flow of passengers if one line goes down?
DeleteThe whole system broke down. Not one x ray machine. Read what they wrote!
Delete@frustrated anon
DeleteIt really is as simple as not flying with JU so it's issues wouldn't affect you in any way and you'd achieve internal peace. I almost never fly JU and I don't find the need to post my frustrations about it looking out of my LH window. I'd recommend the same for you, might be better for your mental health
Jesus, is this really who we are as a people? Anon 09:35 may I submit my Serbian passport to you and bank statements to prove no affiliation with “friendly neighboring countries” ? Why are you people so incapable of processing objective criticism without writing it off to some ultranationalist sentiment
DeleteYou came here to spit on the airline in an article about their passenger results to New York.
DeleteFor the frustrated who spread their negativity around, the article is about 2022, they achieved success and no delays, so please dare to read and respond something related to the topic. What is going on in 2023, we know and we have enough space to express our "concern" for poor passengers who suffered.
DeletePeople are miserable on here . LH is constantly delay as all other airlines and nobody cares . Last Tuesday I was flying BEG FRA and they canceled flight 1 hr after boarding . I rebooked for BEGMUC same day and flight departed 30 min late. Like why get upset about it, nobody cares about those delayes.
DeleteAnonymous09:04
DeleteThe statistics state that no more than 5% of daily flights were canceled and no more than 45% of planned daily flights were delayed. Now, tell me, how is that a collapse?
AS had a terrible week that they mostly caused themselves, but its far from a collapse.
Exactly. As for concerned guy, he proclaimed he won't be flying Air Serbia so why does he care?
DeleteWhy is normal when LH or JU or anyone else cancel the flight, what's wrong with you? That's not normal and no one pretends that's normal. You can see outrage on social networks whenever it happens, even government stepping in like in UK last year over LHR issues, so the people don't perceive cancellations as normal. And thank God for that. Please, correct your opinion on this topic.
DeleteWho said it was normal? Just a temporay issue, cancellations are reduced now that more planes are joining the fleet.
DeleteHow does the RASK look like?
ReplyDeleteYou expect an airline to release RASK for a particular route? Or for the US Department of Transport to release this data?
DeleteYes I do - called financial report of an airline
DeleteNot a single airline releases RASK by route in any financial report. Certainly you can see in their financial report which route brings them most revenue and you will find New York at the top.
DeleteRealy ??? They are comparing the load factor of Air Serbia with maximum in the summer of 2022 of 6 weekly flights with the load factor of airlines who most of them fly even in winter daily or twice a day and more !
ReplyDeleteWho is "They"? Air Serbia didn't write the article.
Delete@9.09 I find it interesting that you ae irritated that they had a high load factor. LOL.
DeleteYes really because these other companies have much bigger population, even 10 times bigger than Serbia.
DeleteSo, yes it can be compared.
Anon 09:11 your comment is unfortunate since the majority of Air Serbias passengers to New York are not Serbians , they are albanians, montenegrins, north macedonians, bulgarians etc. The same goes for all other airlines that fly to New York. Lufthansa or Turkish airlines passengers are not exclusively Germans or Turks .
DeleteIt really is besides the point. Their home markets themselves are much bigger. And no, the majority of passengers are not transfers. It was published a few months ago that 60% of passengers on this route are P2P and 40% transfers. So the majority of passengers are P2P.
DeleteDo you understand what you are talking about? You compare EU countries with huge population and unlimited economical potential with Serbia, the country with less than 7 million people, out of EU and with very low GDP per capita comparing to EU conuntries.
DeleteAnd now that Serbia managed to have better results than Lufthansa or SAS and you dare to compare number of flights absolutely ignoring all above facts? Sorry, but your delusion is really huge.
Nobody forced LH, OS or LX to have so many flights to JFK, they decided it by themsleves, the same as JU did. And now we should not compare LF only because big and rich EU countries decided to have more flights?
I am astonished.
I really think that OP is wrong here. I think that LF of 99% in March is exceptional, no matter how many flights a day or week you have. It is a remarkable result, even if 5 flights a week
DeleteTrue that. I'm not JU fanboy, but this is amazing result. Unlike their operations, their operational results post-Covid are great.
DeleteGreat result overall. This route has matured really well.
ReplyDeleteAmazing result!
DeleteThose numbers in 2023 are crazy. I imagine that growth is fueled by transfer passengers? I really doubt such a big growth could have been achieved with P2P travel?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the launch of Chicago will impact their numbers to New York.
ReplyDeleteI doubt there were significant number of Chicago transfers on this route.
DeleteThere was an article here on exYu, about transfers on both ends of BEG-JFK route. Try finding it, if I recall correctly, the total number of transfers at JFK is not huge.
DeleteHave a feeling this route may go more than daily next summer, if they have the planes.
ReplyDeleteEspecially with the jerblue codeshare!
Delete*jetblue
DeleteBut I remember some experts in the comments predicting:
ReplyDelete1) route will never launch
2) sales are poor
3) they won't find an aircraft for this route
4) route will be discontinued within months
Don't worry. They will find something else. Just look at the comments.
DeleteI still can't believe that Air Serbia success creates such a frustration.
DeleteIs it one person or more of them I don't know but it is surely case for some specialist.
You can add the latest one
Delete5) Load factor was good because prices are probably low
No matter the airline has said New York is their most profitable route.
Don't forget that the airline and especially the JFK route are heavily backed by the government and does not come free. Srbe also need visas for the US
DeleteWhere is it heavily backed? Do you have any proof or just talking nonsense?
Delete@10.29 ok, if you say so. And the load factor is 98% in March while load factor on Zagreb-Osijek, a heavily subsidised route operated by heavily subsidized airline is around 0.2%. So everything is relative.
DeleteHahaha, yes, one single passenger on OSI-ZAG flight! It was actually a private jet for him 🤣
DeleteLoad factor is good because of Russians. Air Serbia also put 330 to the Moscow route with 2 hours connection in Belgrade between flights to New York and Moscow. So now is the fastest way between Moscow and NYC since Feb 2022.
Deleteif eventually the feeder flights do not get cancelled or delayed!)))
ReplyDelete"Notably, Air Serbia had one of the highest annual load factors on flights to and from New York’s JFK Airport among European carriers, ahead of the likes of Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss, LOT Polish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Finnair, Turkish Airlines, SAS Scandinavian Airlines and ITA Airways."
ReplyDeleteAstonishing result! Well done JU. Hope that we will see more than daily flights next year and at least x5 in the winter.
High load factor is not always a goog sign. That shows, that the prices were MAYBE too low.
DeleteFares on this route have never been higher. Inform yourself a bit.
DeleteInteresting that when there was an article about United's performance on the seasonal Dubrovnik route and its high load factor there wasn't a comment "High load factor is not always a goog sign. That shows, that the prices were MAYBE too low."
DeleteWe live in a universe where both statements could be (and are) correct:
Delete- High load factor is always a good sign. I mean, if you are looking for signs, there's no better sign than load factor. It is not always the sign that will lead you to correct judgment on route finances but as a sign, LF is the best.
- Dubrovnik is, for many reasons and for a long time, prestigious destination. Denying it is a bit unfair.
DBV for a long time didn't have long haul server. Then got AA. Then AA left, UA came.
DeleteDubrovnik is also a cruise ship destination .
DeleteCruise ship destinations also attract many airlines .
Dubrovnik is not well managed and positioned in Croatian tourism, it's too massive in my opinion and it could loose its appeal over time, becoming mainstream. But it is definitely prestigious destination.
DeleteOther than one pathetic self-proclaimed analyst site, no one labels airports as prestigious. So we know it's you.
DeleteThey should focus on Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, Montreal
ReplyDeleteI think Miami has more potential than any of those cities.
DeleteOf Course, Miami priority
DeleteRead the article: We are considering Toronto and Miami, which we have already mentioned many times
DeleteBelgrade, Montana does have an airport too.
DeleteCorrect, BZN airport. Just like the bigger Belgrade, they also have direct flights to Chicago.
DeleteThis is amazing.
ReplyDeleteThis shows that at least long haul can be very successful ans mark was right because the whole region has nearly zero long haul routes and its something air serbia and marek can capitalise on. To be the regional hub for long haul for the JUG countries plus the others. Maybe even provide and alternative for Hungarians and Austrians even.
Well done mark to get one thing right.
Now we need to connect to more big cities.
Sydney
Melbourne
Singapore
Shanghai
Johannesburg
Tokyo
Souel
Rio de jeniro
New Delhi
Mexico city
You mention mark twice, who is mark?
DeleteHe meant Marek.
DeleteThanks anon16:23 for understanding I made a mistake and what it was to set the first person straight.
DeleteSometimes the mistakes people make are small and people can read through them but choose not to. Slavs really need to do better
I didn't know everyone who commented here was a slav
DeleteIt's news about aviation of the former Yugoslav states which was a country for all South slavic (excluding Bulgaria) and are current slavic nations.
DeleteSo it's safe to assume most people are Slavic
AirSERBIA can really take advantage to Austrian or LOT, they should invest more on their long haul aircraft
ReplyDeleteAgree. It would be good for them to expand long haul fleet, and hopefully also invest in their long haul product.
DeleteSome people in the comments are so toxic. The airline has really impressive results to/from New York, a route which many were sceptical about and now you are just finding ways to kind of put that down and complain on things unrelated to the news.
ReplyDeleteVery good result. Especially important that they are filling up business class too.
ReplyDeleteSame with Chicago.
ReplyDeleteThird widebody is a must
ReplyDeleteInteresting. A big increase in cargo might be the reason this route is profitable now.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations
ReplyDeleteGood to hear. Those figure are very good
ReplyDeleteWith more flights this year and high load factor numbers should be huge.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the loads
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that matters is profitability.
ReplyDeleteGood news for Air Serbia. I'm glad this route is doing well.
ReplyDeleteWould be interesting to compare them with 1990 especially since JAT flew with a much larger plane
ReplyDeleteA330 is longer and has wider wingspan. DC10 has taller tail and wider cabin.
DeleteWhat much larger plane? If I recall the DC10 has a capacity of 245 seats.
DeleteDC 10 was 272 in two class configuration and 305 in all economy configuration.
DeleteDC-10, when joined the fleet, had 282 seats, 16 First Class and 266 Economy. When JAT started seriously developing long haul, approximately 1985, configuration was changed to 272, 36 Premium Business, and 236 Economy
DeleteSo Yugoslavia was a class based society?
DeleteEvery society every where is class based society. It's just the question is it overall richer or poorer and what's the wealth distribution among the classes, or simpler, is majority of people living decently, or not. In Yugoslavia, it was the case. Not so sure about today in ex-yu banana countries
DeleteAnd just one more info for @21.39 : While Eastern European carriers were flying on Ilyushin 62 to Havana, Luanda, Maputo, Harare, Hanoi..., JAT was flying DC-10 to New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Montreal, Toronto, Bangkok, Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney... Maybe this will help in answering your question
DeleteGood results indeed! I really hope they'll be able to overcome current difficulties and finish this year with even better results.
ReplyDeleteJasmineeeeeee!!! Dje si? Kako Dasinke? Kako "partner airline" kome ste u gu.ici?
ReplyDeleteBotovi koji ste me pljuvali kad sam pisao da OU treba letjet New York, dje ste sad?
There he is
DeleteBoring!
Deletewow incredible load factors between the cities !! new records for sure this year
ReplyDeleteBravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸.
ReplyDeleteThey will grow to at least five A330-200 in their fleet on the near future.