Air Serbia has extended its record passenger run on its first transatlantic operation, to New York, with figures exceeding that of its previous best result achieved in 2018. According to available data so far provided to EX-YU Aviation News by the United States Bureau of Air Transport Statistics, the Serbian carrier welcomed 19.210 passengers on board its Airbus A330-200 aircraft on flights to and from the Big Apple from January until April, representing an increase of 11.5% on its previous best result set five years ago. The figure also represents an improvement of 15.2% on 2019 and is up 53% on the same period last year.
Air Serbia also achieved record high load factors on board its aircraft. During the four-month period, the average cabin occupancy rate across all its New York flights averaged a high 89.3% on its two wide-body aircraft, which can seat 257 and 268 passengers respectively. As a result, the airline has recorded one of the highest load factors on flights to and from JFK Airport among European carriers. Average loads have improved 9.3 points from 80% in 2018 and are up 13.5 points from 75.8% during the same period in 2019. Last year, the average loads stood at 69.7% for the four-month period.
Air Serbia's New York route performance, 2023
The airline’s CEO, Jiri Marek, recently said the carrier would further grow its operations to New York if it had spare capacity. This summer, it is maintaining up to one daily flight between its Belgrade hub and the Big Apple. Two months ago, the carrier also introduced operations to Chicago, while services to Miami are being evaluated as its potential third destination in the Unites States. The US Department of Transportation recently approved a wide-ranging codeshare agreement between jetBlue and Air Serbia, which will see the US carrier place its designator code and flight numbers onto its Serbian counterpart’s services between Belgrade and New York, as well as between Belgrade and Chicago. On the other hand, Air Serbia will place its flight numbers onto 26 jetBlue destinations from New York to other points in the United States and the Dominican Republic.
Excellent. Will be interesting to see what the results are like from May when Chicago started.
ReplyDeleteI doubt there were significant number of Chicago transfers on this route.
DeleteVery interested to see how ORD is performing, although the flights just started and will take some time to develop.
DeleteConsidering that many flights from ORD are sold out, I assume the route is performing well.
DeleteJU code-shares are generally useless and the same applied for BEG-ORD with B6. They were unreasonably expensive with horrible travel times. I doubt many flew with them to Chicago. All of these are new passengers as well as those taken from the LH Cartel. On top of that there are many, many transfers especially from TGD, SKP, ATH, KRK and even ZAG.
DeleteThey never had codeshare on B6 to Chicago or any US destination. They just signed a codeshare agreement with B6 last month and are yet to add them.
DeleteThey had an interline with B6 which included ORD, same with AA. You could book BEG-JFK-ORD on JU's website.
Deleteits great news that the long haul is a success. It seems to be what is feeding Air Serbia success, since they have no competition and there is great demand since the balkan region has barely any long haul routes.
DeleteCOVID:-)
Delete..."It seems to be what is feeding Air Serbia success,..."
DeleteWhat is feeding Air Serbia's success is their flights to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi and Kazan (of last year). As the only airline in the continental Europe that flies to Russia, it is now transporting half of the travellers from EU (and US) to those destinations (the other half being carried by Turkish).
Interesting that 2018 was the busiest year and not 2019.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know why? What happened in 2019 for numbers to go down?
DeleteWas it 2019 when they didn't fly during February due to the airplane maintenance?
DeleteCOVID:-)
DeleteCOVID started in 2020
DeleteThe route people in the comments here said would be empty :)
ReplyDeleteGreat result overall. This route has matured really well.
ReplyDeleteThose numbers in 2023 are crazy.
ReplyDeleteAnd the summer numbers are even bigger
DeleteThis route may go more than daily next summer, if they have the planes.
ReplyDeleteHow many weekly flights could they operate in 2024?
DeleteI think 10x weekly is realistic.
DeleteIf they manage to find a plane.
DeleteAnd crew...
DeleteRecently, crew that joined last year have started A330 training.
DeleteHow do you know this?
DeleteBecause two of my friends became crew last year and they started A330 training just a few days ago.
DeleteHaving adequate crew for the past couple of months hasn't been the issue, it's attaining aircraft that is the bigger problem.
DeleteActually JU had to wait for the training of new crew to be completed since many older ones quit. Now that was resolved so BEG is the real problem.
DeleteWhat impact will the jetblue codeshare have on the numbers?
ReplyDeleteAnd also when will the codeshare start?
DeleteWith such high load factor it makes little sense to me for JU to share revenue with B6 or even further promote transfer through JFK. Transfer flights usually have lower yields than point to point so JU would be reducing its profitability if a lot of people were to start taking advantage of this codeshare. It makes real sense in case JU wants to make it 10x weekly or double daily in the future
DeleteNo my friend, what JU needs to do is to add seats to this market if loads are so good. With B6 codeshare there will be even more passengers. If they keep the same number of frequencies then flights will be full and transfers will be extremely expensive. Time to consider JFK as 4 weekly in winter.
DeleteIt's quite simple. Raise the price if demand is high to lower demand
DeleteThat makes zero sense since prices are not low. That means there is room for additional flights, there is no logic in becoming even more expensive as it just irritates your customers.
DeleteJU 500 / 501 is the only option where the cheapest economy ticket still gives you two checked pieces of luggage, plus standard carry-on and personal item. No other transatlantic airline offers this without additional payment (plus transfer somewhere in Europe).
DeleteFor us who regularly travel JFK-BEG, even if it is $150 more than competition, it is well worth it (we'd be spending as much on two checked bags, plus the nuisance of waiting for the connecting flight).
Congratulations
ReplyDeletePreservence paid off.
ReplyDeleteThat explains why it is next to impossible to find tickets to/from JFK.
ReplyDeleteIt is now surprise. Their huge network is feeing these flights.
ReplyDelete* no surprise
DeleteDo you really believe that the real word to be used is "huge" for a mid size airline???
DeleteYes, it has 80 destinations. It is big for Eastern European standard. Jealousy will eat you alive.
DeleteHow can I be jealous when it is the airline of my country too? I am just realistic and can't say that the JU network is huge as you said. Their network is fair size but not huge. Huge would be TK, Delta, EK, and the likes of those.
DeleteActually, JU would qualify as a decent mid size carrier globally. It now flies to more destinations then for example Etihad does.
DeleteAir Serbia currently operates 29 to 30 aircraft, that's not a small number. It is realistic to expect them to have 35 to 40 planes next year.
DeleteThe number of destinations might be impressive, but what they need is to increase frequencies on recently launched routes. I get that saying: "we will add the third flight per week to some city in Germany" is not as sexy as "we will launch a new exotic destination", but that is what Air Serbia needs now.
DeleteAir Serbia launched Barcelona with just two weekly flights in 2019. Without checking, I think Air Serbia now operates BCN 8 or 9 times a week. Frequency increase does happen on routes with enough demand.
DeleteAnd that's the way to go. They should focus now on the frequency increase... It's not like there are plenty of low-hanging-fruits around...
DeleteVery good result. Especially important that they are filling up business class too.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteMost flights from New York to Belgrade have been sold out throughout June and July. I think this year will be turbocharged in terms of passenger numbers.
ReplyDeleteThird widebody is a must
ReplyDeleteShould have already been in the fleet.
DeleteI would say fourth is a must with planned PVG, CAN increase of TSN, JFK and ORD in 2024
DeleteThe fourth wide-body has already been secured. The only problem now is still the supply chain. This is why the third is not yet online. It is stuck in the queue for refurbishing.
DeleteI assume cargo has also increased a lot.
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.
ReplyDeleteRoute has been profitable for several years. Considering Air Serbia has significantly decreased costs, secured lower costs at JFK, while passenger numbers have kept growing, it is no surprise.
DeleteI'm glad this route is doing well.
ReplyDeleteGood results indeed
ReplyDeleteThey need more A330s ASAP.
ReplyDeleteQ4 of this year.
DeleteExactly, they are late.
DeleteQ4 starts in less than 2.5 months. There was no info if leases have been signed. It takes about 2.5-3 months under normal circumstances to do A330 inspection and fix, livery paint, cabin/IFE and ferry to BEG.
DeleteWe better hear all of this is starting or those two A330s will get delayed into 2024.
First of all it is one A330, not plural. Second Q4 encompasses 3 months, one of which is 5 months away. Third you won't use any of the flights, so why do you care. This time last year you had 1 long haul route and there was no indication a second would start anytime soon. Now you have 3. Calm down a bit.
DeleteI am not AŠ so I do and will fly Air Serbia. Two are needed to expand to China and then MIA/YYZ as already talked about by Air Serbia.
DeleteThis time last year there was more than indication a second line would start, in fact Chicago was announced more than a year ago:
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/07/air-serbia-to-launch-chicago-boost-new.html
During normal times in 2016 it took 3 months for prep + time for DCV paperwork to get YU-ARA ready. This time will take a lot longer. YU-ARA schedule:
https://ibb.co/5FWDTbt
The leases have been signed for the two additional wide-bodies. However, the first one is still in the queue for refurbishing, since supply chain constraints are still pretty bad (in the aftermath of COVID). The second one hasn't even been picked up yet. The first one was meant to be online by July, and there is no information when it will actually be ready. Realistically, Q3. For both, before the year end, most likely.
DeleteUnfortunately, they will have both missed this season.
Still, JU is doing great with what they already have (plus the dozen wet leases for the season).
Any idea on what percentage of pax are O&D, and transfer?
ReplyDeleteThere was some info recently that about 55% is O&D on this route overall.
DeleteWhich route provides the biggest feed to New York?
DeletePodgorica and Tirana.
DeletePodgorica and Moscow. Skopje and Ljubljana is also popular, Ohrid, Vienna and Rome as well.
DeleteTirana doesn't seem as popular this year as was the case pre pandemic. It'll be interesting to see the full statistics at the end of the year.
Očekujem četvrti nedeljni let sledeće zime, kao i osmi i deveti sledećeg leta. Ključ uspeha je puna biznis klasa koja je neretko rasprosata a cene karata idu i do 7-8000e. Moraće da porade na razvoju biznisa i na letovima za ORD.
ReplyDeleteNa letovima za ORD je business klasa puna.
DeleteМислим да је 8 летова недовољно у сезони, JU мора гурати минимум 9 недељних летова, 10 би било најбоље како би нудили што више преседања на В6.
DeleteТакође време је да знатно повећају регионалну мрежу како људи не би више морали да лете преко Беча са Austrian чије је услуга постала јако лоша а особље јако дрско.
Ja ne znam kad OS osoblje nije bilo drsko.
DeleteMorace mnogo da porade na "razvoju biznisa" - leteo sam u maju, zaista je bilo puno ali su pre leta zamenili Romeo Bravo za Romeo Charlie, skinuli troje putnika koji su kupili biznis karte i prebacili ih u ekonomiju (jer Charlie ima manje biznis sedista). S obzirom da su navrtat nanos skinuli Charlie-ja sa servisa, uopste nije radio entertaiment sistem, nisu imali torbice sa dzidza bidzama i cak nisu imali ni odstampane jelovnike za biznis jer su bas promenili jelovnik i nisu im stigli meniji. Ali kao sto rekoh, biznis je bio pun, tako da ocigledno da je demand ogroman pa moze da prodje i Air Srbijina falicna biznis klasa.
Delete^ Slazem se, moraju jako da porade na premijum usluzi koja je jako skliznula u poslednjih godinu dve. Steta, bili su medju najboljima u tome.
DeleteSa obzirom da ovih dana i nedelja Romeo Bravo ide više u Čikago, a Romeo Charlie u Njujork, mora da Čikago ima više biznis putnika.
DeleteJa sam leteo pre 3 nedelje u J clasi i bilo je fantastično. Mnogo bolje od AirCanade sa kojom sam leteo u Martu . Za svu pohvalu od početka do kraja leta. Hrana 4 od 5 zvezdica .
Delete@Anon 10:24
DeleteNe da nisu skliznuli nego su dodali gas. Imaju i dzidza bidze i jelovnike i ostalo. Izvestaj sa dokazima takodje iz maja:
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/05/trip-report-air-serbia-belgrade-chicago.html
Good performance, nice to see it has developed well. It s an important flight for the whole region
ReplyDeleteHow many weekly frequencies JU had to JFK in the first four months? Thanks in advance.
ReplyDeleteIt varied per month. It has more frequencies during increased travel period like first half of January.
DeleteGreat results in passenger and I presume cargo numbers but there is a steep decline in punctuality of flights compared to 1/2/3 years ago when almost every JFK flight used to be on time. Now +/- 1-2 hours delay is the new norm and that causes a lot of misconnections and waiting on passengers fro other flights.
ReplyDeleteIt does not cause misconnections. JU waits for delayed passengers 99% of the time.
DeleteYea in Belgrade but what about once you land in JFK or ORD and your connecting flight is no longer there due to JU delay? What is that called?
DeleteFlights to JFK and ORD mostly arrive on time or with a small delay. Also very few passengers actually connect there so it's not a problem overall. It was reported here that 19% of JU's passengers connect in JFK.
DeleteAlso many flights from ORD are delayed because of the mess there. It's a horribly run airport.
Lately it happens more often that not that the connecting flight is also delayed. Once delays start in the morning it continues the whole day. There really isn't alot of room for JU to fix that during the day as timetables are tightly scheduled. JU, as with most airlines, wait within reasonable time for connecting pax as rebooking pax isn't an easy task and could become expensive for the airline.
DeleteJU is transfer heavy on the BEG side, not the US. Even if we take into account the few pax that could potentially be inconvenienced with a late arrival into the US, both JFK and ORD have a tonne of frequencies per day to wide range of cities across the US. Delayed arrival into the US isn't really an issue.
L O L I picked up my grandparents @ BEG a few days ago, they flew AA/JU CLE-JFK-BEG, they spoke with many people on the flight which included the following flight combos: JFK-BEG-SKP/TIV/TIA (JU/JU), MIA-JFK-BEG (AA/JU), PHX-JFK-BEG-TIV(AA/JU/JU)...
DeleteI'm sad they didn't get a full code-share with AA as they are a major hub, more flights in the USA than JetBlue, hubs in ORD, JFK and MIA, LAX, PHX... but an interline is good and I see it is producing many results, no matter what people say:)
I also know and have seen many known people flying AA/JU CLE-ORDorJFK-BEG, they are well aware of the route, price is usually fair if not the cheapest (when booked ahead of time), etc.
My friend paid CLE-BEG-JFK (AA/JU) last minute to come last month, $1450 RT, cheapest for last minute and there was one seat open.
CLE-JFK-BEG* & and major airline* sorry ^ :D
Delete"Yea in Belgrade but what about once you land in JFK or ORD and your connecting flight is no longer there due to JU delay? What is that called?"
Delete... so many of you people are clueless on here, this is why I don't like comments, so Balkan.. instead of assuming, why not ask? This isn't the case for most people... most connections leave @ least 3 hours @ ORD or JFK...
The flights I've booked over the years for myself + friends + family, the transfer time @ JFK and ORD is anywhere between 3 and 6.5 hours... worst case for my mother, her flight left BEG 1.5 hours late, arrived into ORD 0,75 hours late (I think this is assumed in the "flight time"), and she still made it with no problem. EVEN IF they miss their next flight, I told her she has an evening flight 3 hours later... this is good about these interlining/ codeshare deals.
Er Srbija slej
ReplyDeleteJaas grl. Slej ol dej!
DeleteCongratulations! Anyone can give feedback of operation to LISBON? JU has allocated 308 slots in Porto (OPO) 2nd Biggest Airport in the North Region for W23.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/06/air-serbia-considering-second.html
Delete308 slots? That is 14 weekly slots.
DeleteIt's not 14 weekly, it's 308 for the whole winter season so that's 2 weekly.
DeleteYes 2xw! Waiting to see more detailed information about this in future. Hope to don't be on same dates of Lisbon operation.
DeleteWinter season has 22 weeks. 308/22=14
DeleteSo it’s 14 slots weekly.
They should now work on improving in-flight service. JU used to be, without doubt, one of the best airlines in terms of on board service and catering on flights to New York. Now not su much.
ReplyDeleteThey neglected passenger service in favour of profits unfortunately.
DeleteIn Europe not so much, which is why standards have slipped so much.
DeleteEconomy class is decent with JU, it's business class that needs more attention. Standards dropped the moment Etihad management left JU. Alot of cost cutting had to be made to stabilise finances, however that is complete and the airline is finally profitable. It's long been time for them to start looking at ways to improve the business service. Its all about planning and organisation and this isn't one of JU's strong points.
DeleteIFE is atrocious and outdated so they need to fix that.
DeleteMany don’t even work on ARC.
DeleteThey really need to rehaul and make uniform the 330-200 aircraft cabins including new seats and larger and newer display screens. Let's hope that this becomes one of the focus areas in the winter when they would presumably service aircrafts.
DeleteThey should be careful with their on time performance from 14 July they had around 40min delay on BEG-JFK and around 1 hour delay on JFK-BEG
ReplyDeleteAll of those flights landed in JFK with 20 minute delay or less.
Delete@13:00 so you think it is good image to be constantly delayed? Look at the arrival board and see how other carriers perform; mostly on time or ahead of schedule so 20 min delays are not really something to be proud of.
DeleteLook at all 3 major NYC airport delays/cancellation numbers - massive delays this summer.
DeleteExactly right, nearly all flights out of JFK have been late when after 2 PM ET ... weather, traffic, etc. What is an hour delay really on an 9 hr flight anyhow... sheesh.... :)
DeleteEither on its short routes or its long routes :
ReplyDeleteJU should increase frequencies .
Alone by increasing next summer from twice a week to four a week as for example in Malaga or Lisbon, they could generate growth by 200 % !
Or Naples, Palermo, Catania from twice a week to triple weekly is a growth of 150 % !
Air Serbia talked about new or renewed loyalty program. Frequent fliers deserve better from Air Serbia. What happened to new loyalty system?
ReplyDeleteYes, they talkes about it and said it will be between 1 to 2 years before it is launched.
Delete"We are still in the early days, we are scanning the technology market, the vendor market and thinking about the business model, which is the hard part since questions like are we going to partner up with a bank, which one, which retailers and so on, come up. It is a very complex project, so we will probably develop something in the mid-term in the next year or two”.
MAY 15, 2023
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/05/air-serbia-plans-product-upgrade-rules.html
When will Air Serbia allow to its Silver Members lounge access?
DeleteIt was changed back in 2017 when they were going through crisis and never brought back.
The lounge is quite full as it is, I doubt access for Silvers is ever coming back.
DeleteI'm flying JFK - BEG RT in Sept., the price was amazing (under $1,000 US). And if I'm an hour late each way (current averages) it will be ok... :)
ReplyDeleteFirst time?
DeleteWouldn’t the A330-300 be much better for this route or is it to risky to lease it?
ReplyDeleteHere, the same guy again.
DeleteYou are really boring. Even if you repeat your wish for 1000 times it won't become true.
JU will keep flying A332.
Calm down. I know its been talked about here lots and we know what Marek said about it.
DeleteBut things change and JU adapts..so A333 could happen one day soon.
Performance numbers are great, but my dear Air Serbia managers. The crew spoils your image a lot. They are listless and very rude to passengers. I didn't believe the other when he told me how the flight attendants yelled at the passengers on his flight to TSN. I thought he was exaggerating. Well, I experienced the same thing on the flight to JFK a few days ago. During the 10-hour flight, neither the elder Stewart nor his colleague smiled. Talking to passengers via qrca, they don't leave the tail of the plane even when called. He talks to me and rolls his eyes. They act as if someone is forcing them to work, as if they are not there of their own free will.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, every positive article about Air Serbia is littered by varation of negative, envious comments. Always predictable. If the story is not fake why didn't you provide a date and FA names, they had name tags?
DeleteAŠ or disciples are really a sad bunch. Air Serbia and BEG numbers are obviously resilient to this type of smear campaign and blog vandalism. Clearly makes them stronger.
The details have been forvarded Air Serbia. There is no need to publicly name the crew here. Once upon a time JFK was flown by the elite and the crème de la crème of the crew. As an AS fan boy, I am very unpleasantly surprised. But that's why the pilot made such a fantastic landing that I'm still in shock, I've never experienced that without literally feeling contact with the runway. For him BRAVO
Delete+1
DeleteAir Serbia fans would send comments only to Air Serbia but not provide public fodder for haters. As a fan, you should know Air Serbia in 2016 had only 4-5 weekly widebody departures a week. Now it has more than double the departures - 11, while some crew, as with other airlines in post-covid times, left. Do the math.
DeleteI think that success of JFK to Belgrade route is based on the fact that many Russians fly from US to Russia via Serbia. There are no more direct flights from US to RU because of sanctions. But you could get to Moscow from Belgrade easily. When I flew this route in May 2023, more then half passengers were Russians like me.
ReplyDeleteFlights to JFK had over 70% LF from the launch. Loads were never the problem, initial yields were.
DeleteI was on Business class this week on BEG-JFK (YU-ARC) and some seats and screens were broken (1g and 2b could not be moved to lie-flat position).
ReplyDeleteFood was decent bit overall the service was not the best.
All business class seats were occupied, suprisingly, mostly serbian people.
Would'n A 330-300 be a better option on this rute in the near future?
ReplyDeleteThis same question has been repeatedly asked here for the past seven years. The answer is, Air Serbia will NOT get A330-300. They made their choice, and explained their reasoning.
Delete