Air Serbia has added 22 new destinations to its network this year with another to be launched next month, however, the carrier’s CEO, Jiri Marek, has said the carrier has “several exciting plans in the pipeline” for its route map. Speaking to “The Pavlovic Today”, Mr Marek said, “We are constantly expanding our network - only several days ago we added a new route in Portugal, the popular destination of Porto. That is our 23rd new destination introduced in 2023 alone. Air Serbia is continuously working to enhance our route network and forge strategic partnerships that benefit our passengers and expand our global reach. In terms of route expansion, we have several exciting plans in the pipeline”.
Commenting further on the carrier’s route development plans, the CEO noted, “While I cannot disclose specific details at this time, I can assure you that we are actively exploring opportunities to connect travellers to even more destinations across Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. This expansion will not only increase connectivity but also offer passengers a broader range of options for their travel needs”. He added, “Air Serbia remains committed to growth and innovation, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the travel experience for our passengers and connecting them to exciting new destinations around the world”.
Mr Marek emphasised that forging closer ties with partner airlines form part of the carrier’s growth strategy. “Partnerships are a key focus for us. By collaborating with other airlines through codeshare agreements and alliances, we can provide seamless connections to destinations beyond our network. These partnerships enhance the travel experience for our passengers, enabling them to reach a wider range of cities and regions with ease. Additionally, we are continually evaluating opportunities for closer cooperation with airports, tourism boards, and other stakeholders to promote travel and tourism in Serbia and the surrounding region. These partnerships aim to create a more robust and attractive travel ecosystem for both domestic and international travellers”, the CEO concluded.
Air Serbia route development Summer 2013 vs Summer 2023:
Number of scheduled flights
Amount of scheduled capacity
Number of scheduled destinations
Bravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteI am going to fly then for the first time in couple of weeks. Let’s hope for a good experience.
Delete^ which route?
DeleteGood luck! We went this summer and which the attendants and pilots were great the service was sub par. They also were 3 hrs late leaving Belgrade so we missed out connecting flight and it was a mess.
DeleteI just flew from Belgrade to NY, it was great.
DeleteI flew BGD-NY 2 weeks ago, plane crew showed up AFTER time we were supposed to take off. Were late more than an hour, and considering train doesn't stop at JFK terminal 4 barely made it to connecting flight. Crew/pilot didn't even say sorry, they are becoming dangerously unreliable.
DeleteI wonder how many new routes we might see next year
ReplyDeleteThey only miss the Middle-East, Caucasus and Romania now basically.
DeleteGuangzhou, Shanghai, Kampala, Lusaka...
DeleteLol
DeleteHopefully fleet expansion will be in line with network expansion.
ReplyDeleteThey should lunch flights in Africa like Lagos, Rabat, Marrakech
ReplyDelete"actively exploring opportunities to connect travellers to even more destinations across Europe, Asia, Africa and North America."
DeleteHi Lagos guy, long time no see!
DeleteSouth africa is the most important route first in africa. hopefully they start with that.
DeleteSouth Africa is falling apart at the seams. Constant power blackouts, crime, and corruption.
DeleteThe change in ten years is staggering.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteImpressive
DeleteIndeed
DeleteWithout Dane none of that would happen. It's a shame they didn't bring him back. He was great in crisis management. He wouldn't allow for six months of delays to happen.
Delete^ you are right he would have thrown money at it that the company didn't have. Like he did during his tenure which resulted in the company going near bankrupt in 2017 and having to change its entire strategy. Great success!
DeleteHe saved the airline in 2013. Yes there was a cost but that was a reflection of horrible state airline was in. Air Serbia didn't change entire strategy, just removed business class and intoduced buy on board, just like many classic airlines in Europe during that period. Easy to prove Dane chages during 2013-2018 era significantly exceed those post 2018: He introduced new livery and brand, Airbus feet, explored regional jet use on long/thin lines in 2016, introduced widebody and launched JFK, focused on regional expansion and BEG as a hub, expanded leisure/charter destinations, massively expanded codeshare/interline, launched and expanded online ticket purchases. Most importantly, massive passenger growth in 2014 and beyond was number 1 driver behind BEG airport concession.
DeleteWhere could this destination be?
ReplyDeleteI think we will definitely see one of the Caucuses added, plus one China destination and possibly one in North America.
DeleteMarek also mentioned Wroclaw as a possibility recently.
DeleteWhy not Tenerife this winter? On summer other Spanish route could be Alicante?
ReplyDeleteIncrease of 45 routes in 10 years. Impressive.
ReplyDelete-China
ReplyDelete-USA
-Morocco
-Jordan
-Egypt
-Slovenia/Austria (Graz/Maribor)
-Poland
-Czechia
I think Morocco is still an issue due to visas. I agree that Jordan is potentially interesting. Yes, visas are required but you get it at the airport in less than minute (just have to pay a small fee for it and you get it straight away).
DeleteRegarding Middle East Marek said in an interview here a few months ago that Beirut is on top of the list in the Middle East but that there are higher priority destinations in Europe before they launch it.
DeleteSpeaking of Jordan, didn't they schedule Amman last year and then just quietly remove it from their list of destinations?
Delete^ yes they did. They then transferred passengers onto TK and concluded a codeshare with them for Amman. Probably sales or yields were low.
Delete@9.19 you are right. I found it
DeleteMiddle East network
Commenting on the airline’s limited presence in the Middle East, with flights to Tel Aviv to resume this summer season following a three-year hiatus, Mr Marek said, “Looking at our ambitious growth plans and fleet plans you get to the point that you are placing your resources where you believe you will have the highest return. Beirut will most likely be the next to be considered but, at the moment, we have many other destinations on the priority list before we return to Beirut. That market is not what it used to be before we stopped flying there. Even before Covid, there were a lot of financial issues [in Lebanon] and we were relying very heavily on transfers from Scandinavia and Western Europe, like Paris, for example. However, if you see that we are flying year-round twice daily to Paris and we are looking at the option of increasing it to eighteen weekly or even triple daily flights in the summer, we lack capacity and if we introduced Beirut, we would not have enough seats. Due to high transfer share on the Beirut route, achieved yield would be lower and would jeopardise our point-to-point passengers on the Paris route. Beirut will be a nice addition, but we will first need to densify the European network which is performing well and currently achieving a high load factor. Beirut never had strong point-to-point traffic. Our growth prioritises routes with higher point-to-point demand”.
Interesting, thanks
DeleteThis will not end well. We have seen similar aggressive expansions in the past and most of those airlines collapsed at some point.
ReplyDeleteWell your hope dies last.
DeleteMy hope is just the opposite, as they are providing great travel options from my home airport.
DeleteAnon 9:10,
DeleteI know you wish nothing more than for JU to cease existing but unfortunately for you, JU is expanding very cautiously.
That is why they are leasing mid-age planes (lower investment) instead of getting expensive A220s. Lower investment.
JU is more profitable than ever and they paid 20 million euros into the state budget.
@ anon 09:10
DeleteAnaliticaru, ti li si?
On, on!
DeleteWhen will they announce the route?
ReplyDeleteThey announced Porto already. I don't think we will see more new routes this winter. The expansion they are talking about probably refers to next summer.
DeleteMy guess is that on their 10 year anniversary they will announce their 2024 summer expansion
DeleteDublin and Manchester please!
ReplyDeleteDUB would make my life so much easier! Not getting my hopes up but would love to see it.
DeleteDUB has no chance.
DeleteWhy not? It was reported Dublin is now among top unserved European destinations and there's sizeable diaspora of some Air Serbia's feeding markets. It's also not so hard to get a visa and it's much cheaper and faster than UK.
DeleteBusiness ties are almost non existing, no tourism and existing visa regime (there is not even Irish Embassy in Belgrade - Serbia is covered from their Embassy in Athens).
DeleteDiaspora got bigger, but not sufficently. For example Croatian diaspora in Ireland is much bigger, both countries are in EU, no visa regime and still OU cancels DUB this winter.
The Embassy is not important. I travelled to Dublin this year. You get the visa at the Irish Consulate in Belgrade, which is in the city center. Like the other annon said, the process is much easier than for the UK visa and a whole lot less expensive. It costs just 30 euros. The only reason that Ireland has visas for Serbian passports in the first place is because it is obligated to do so because it borders the UK.
DeleteI mentioned Embassy being located in Athens only as a sign how weak are relations between Serbia and Ireland. Of course that the visas are provided by their Honorary Consulate in Belgrade.
DeleteBeside weak political relations all the other reasons for not establishing BEG-DUB route at the moment stand.
Reykjavík?
ReplyDeleteI don't think there would be enough demand. Very small Serbian diaspora and Iceland is extremely expensive as a tourist destination. Almost no business links either.
DeleteWho knows? I agree that KEF is somehow exotic from BEG but maybe it would be the chance for W6. If it can fly there from Poland (ok, bigger diaspora) or BUD why not from BEG?
DeleteIceland is expensive, but I am sure there are people in Belgrade who can afford it.
In order for this route to work you need to be able to fill at least 2 A321s a week. It's not just about there are some people in Belgrade who can afford it.
DeleteIf we have 2 times weekly LIS with A321 together with 2 pw by JU (this winter changed to 3 pw) or 4pw to AUH with A321 why wouldn't we have 2 pw to KEF?
DeleteHow can you compare AUH with KEF?
DeleteKEF would maybe work for PLAY since they have transfers from North America (Hamilton being of particular interest for sure) and the A320neo. Seasonal flight to BEG in the summer could work out.
Deletehttps://www.nezavisne.com/ekonomija/privreda/Jos-jedan-aerodrom-u-FBiH-dobija-vezu-s-Beogradom/791518
ReplyDeleteOnly if JU gets the same conditions OU got in OMO.
DeleteI dont think Airserbia should be taking risks with Mostar, perhaps they should let a smaller airline, perhaps AirPink, test and possibly develop this air route.
DeleteI hope this expansion comes along with the solution of long delays and cancelations . Meaning they eventualy dry lease the necessary number of airplanes and be decent to their passengers.
ReplyDelete👍
DeleteIt seems like a new round of expansion might come sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteGood approach. I just hope the fleet development can keep up with the route development.
ReplyDeleteLet's see if it involves any destination in the UK.
ReplyDeleteHighly doubt it
DeleteI think that the next expansion that will be announced will be the long haul one.
ReplyDeleteAko nastavi razvoj flote i avio linija ovim tempom, Er Srbija u iducih 10 godina ce dostici preko 120 linija u toku godine.
ReplyDeleteZa Prvu stogodisnjicu kompanije, realno je ocekivati 100 destinacija. Uslov je da bude mir. Strucno, sposobno i odgovorno rukovodstvo i dobro placeni zaposljeni.
😀✈♥️🛬🌐✈
Sve to sto ste nabrojali je na prilicno dugom stapu ...
DeletePostovani Anon 13:33, u pravu ste da je potrebno vreme za ostvarenje mojeg vidjenja. Medjutim prilazom i primenom, opet ponavljam odgovornosti
DeleteSrpske nacionalne avio kompanije, Er Srbija ce biti medju vodecim ovde u Jugoistocnoj Evropi. Izuzimajuci Turkish Airlines. Privredni razvoj i snazniji turizam bice imperativ rasta komercijalne avijacije.
Er Srbije prvenstveno. Svakako mir je na prvom mestu. Sto se neverice kod nekih ljudio tice u ostvarenje stvar i volja kako se sagledava potencial i ostvarenje.
Svako dobro. ✈🇷🇸🛬🌐✈😀✈
I think that next they will be introducing Baku,
ReplyDeleteWith E95 everything is possible.
DeleteLO is flying them to EVN/TBS for years.
Bratislava should be considered too.
ReplyDeleteAegean also started Bratislava recently.
DeleteOr Brno?
DeleteExciting years ahead.
ReplyDeleteWell done Air Serbia. Really looking forward to their developments
ReplyDeleteGreat news, AirSerbia! Btw, why there is no tickets to buy for Belgrade - Florence for the winter schedule when they had announced in August that this destination will continue to be served all year around?
ReplyDeleteThey didn't announce it, it was published at the time which routes are still on sale in winter. But Florence and Marseille will be seasonal summer routes.
DeleteBrac
DeleteNiš, Kraljevo, Niš, Kraljevo, Niš, Kraljevo ? The national carrier should also develop other airports in Serbia...
ReplyDeleteAir Pinki will fill in the gap from the summer 2024 onwards
DeleteLol
DeleteWho knows, maybe they just will...
I vote for Manchester, Miami, Bankok and one of hubs in Africa.
ReplyDeleteThey announced Havanna once. That would be awesome. And serbians don't even need a visa for Cuba.
ReplyDelete- HAV was not announced, they just mentioned they were thinking about it.
Delete- Serbians need visa for Cuba
https://www.mfa.gov.rs/en/citizens/travel-abroad/visas-and-states-travel-advisory/cuba
Cuban visa is in reality just tourist tax, its not like you risk being denied entry, if you apply for it and pay the fee, you'll get it :)
DeleteI think that Air Serbia is destination wise becoming TK of the region.
ReplyDeleteYou are joking, right? I think IST is close enough for TK to be TK of the region.
DeleteI think they won't start routes that would impact TK, which is why they are slow on their expansion to the East
DeleteSlow their expansion to the east? They launched Tel Aviv and Cairo this year. EU markets are the main travel markets from Serbia with the most demand. It is natural they are going to expand there first. Markets to the east are lower yielding, with longer rotations and primarily depend on transfer passengers
DeleteWhen I say region I mean the region of former Yugoslavia.
DeleteAnd for it TK is far, far away.
That's great, but with which aircraft? They're short even now and their wet leases are awful, to say the least.
ReplyDeleteAs you might have noticed these days, the fleet is expanding. Embraers and ATRs are joining. Soon Airbuses will come too.
DeleteI hope they will station 6 aircraft in ZAG :)
ReplyDeleteHuh?
DeleteOMG, man! I WILL start selling sarcasm detector, I'll make myself rich :)
DeleteI really hope they consider Gatwick. Yes, I know they fly to Heathrow but most of the Serbian diaspora does not live in the vicinity of Heathrow but they do live near Gatwick. They could get quite a few P2P passengers.
ReplyDeleteI think people in London have a different perception of distances. Gatwick might be closer to them, but still there is a convenient public transport connection to Heathrow.
DeleteFrom 35 to 80 destinations. Impressive. Any idea how many flights/destinations there were in 2003?
ReplyDeleteSorry I don't have that data at the moment. But for the summer of 2004 there were 13.059 flights and capacity was at 1,350,718. Total number of destinations was 40.
DeleteThanks for that! wow it is sad they were bigger in 2004 (considering everything that had happened just a few years prior) than in 2013.
DeleteThere is no doubt in my mind that had the strategic partnership with Etihad not been made, Jat would have declared bankruptcy in 2014. The previous government before that even later admitted that the plan was for Wizz to be BEG's main airline (and before people attack me, I'm not endorsing the current administration but it is true that they saved aviation in Serbia).
Delete@ExYu Be aware that some of destinations in 2004 were charters and now are schedule flights, but pretty much with same capacity and frequency.
Delete^ It says scheduled flights. And today you have new charter destinations you didn't have 10 or 20 years ago. Also destinations like Monastir which were scheduled flights in 2013 are now charters.
DeleteFrequencies, frequencies, frequencies.
ReplyDeleteThey cannot continue with two per week flights like Ryan or Wizz. At the same time, there isn't enough demand for P2P for many more routes. If they want to grow further, they need to add routes which naturally will make sense only as transfer routes.
Look at the winter timetable. They have increased frequencies on 40 routes!
DeleteGreat. But the most important routes should be 5/day.
DeleteAlso before opening the next routes to the US they should increase the frequencies to New York and Chicago.
New York is already daily in peak summer. Chicago they just launched 5 months ago. I'm sure it will grow with time.
DeleteHow many routes do you believe are 2 pw compared to those that are 7 pw or more? Because you seem to repeat this false comment as if it was a fact and that JU has done nothing about frequencies, while their entire network is based on routes at 2 pw. As mentioned above, not only were frequencies increased this summer but again increased on 40 routes this winter.
DeleteYou already have JU routes at 3 per day (ZRH, IST, TGD, TIV, BUD, VIE), with more to follow (LJU, ZAG, CDG). 5 daily is unrealistic with current traffic figures on 1 airline. Still, you have VIE, ZRH and IST at 6 daily, TGD 5 daily, ATH, FRA, FCO, AMS, LCA, BCN 3 daily just from the top of my head, which is more than decent for current traffic figures.
JFK was increased to daily this summer, ORD just started 5 months ago so its an actual increase from 0 pw to 3 pw, TSN is increasing to 2 pw in the next couple of weeks. There is the possibility of JFK having a second daily flight with a third A330 next year, ORD going 4 pw plus an additional Chinese expansion.
Those stats look impressive. @admin Do you maybe have some operational data to compare, like LF, RPK... where we can get the full image? Thanks
ReplyDeleteKudos to Air Serbia! Impressive indeed. Inspiring too. It's so cool to see the CEO and other execs at the company being genuinely passionate and enthusiastic about aviation. They actually love their job.
ReplyDeleteWhat a contrast when compared to a certain company from Buzin, ZG.
+1
DeleteStart warm and exotic destinations. Stay out of northern Europe. Sun, sun, sun. And happy people.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIMO next routes will be Alicante, Manchester, greek routes, Helsinki, Dublin, Baku.
Will be nice also Ibiza, Faro, Tenerife, Amman, Beirut, Marrakesh.
3-4 new destinations next summer?
ReplyDelete3-4 routes is their usual winter expansion, not summer.
DeleteNote that all new destinations remain. Impressive. I had concerns about Italy and Spain as the diaspora is not that big compared to Germany, but they turned out to be profitable!
ReplyDeleteOf these post-covid expansions, I think the only destination that has dropped is Trieste.
DeleteWhat is helping to keep a couple of the new routes is the ERJ's. Had the ERJ's not entered the fleet I am sure 1-2 routes would of been dropped, this way they can hang on a little longer.
DeleteYeah I'm sure they forward you their financial results per route and load factors for you to make such a statement.
DeleteWell Naples was planned to be seasonal, but with the E195 it is upgraded to the year-round route. Just one example.
DeleteKöln is another example, the route is now mainly E190/195 route.
JU isn't going to be successful 110% of the times, lets be realistic, it's not as if they haven't dropped routes because of low demand (GVA, HEL, HAM, TRS, WAW). You can also see what hasn't worked the best by the way they have allocated capacity, especially since the ERJ's entered the fleet. HAM is back and as with the 2 attempts previously, they quickly dropped the A319 in favour for a regional jet. Whats different now is that the ERJ is part of the JU fleet unlike the CRJ's which were previously in the fleet seasonally. Then there is MRS which went almost immediately to the ERJ and hasn't lasted the entire summer season (returns 02.04.2024.). FLR and NAP also went immediately to the ERJ.
DeleteJust because you hate JU and don't think the ERJ has been a positive thing for the company doesn't mean that everyone has to share the same sentiment.
How can you be successful 110% of the times?
DeleteSo in recent years JU has launched 40 destinations.
Delete18:56^
DeleteI think that Trieste could work even in winter, it was planned for the summer but JU did not have enough aircrafts.
DeleteIt seems that Alicante is the next.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Alicante next Summer and Tenerife ,winter 2024-2025?
DeleteTenerife is generally good for winter, I know summer is very hot. I think Alicante will start next summer.
DeleteMalaga was started in December 2022 so I wouldn't be surprised to see another Spanish route start this winter.
DeleteInstead of starting Alicante they could simply increase Malaga.
DeleteTwice a week is still a bit meagre for such an important destination.
Definitely Alicante can work why do you think you don't need to start them? There is clearly a demand for both. I can tell you that there is also demand for Ibiza, Menorca, Seville, Bilbao. They will be launched at the given time.
DeleteLet's hope for flights there soon! Did someone here mention that there will be new destinations on the anniversary?
DeleteJasmineeeee!!! Dje si? Dobar vece!!! Jel'se odmor'lo? Oce'l se izac veceras? Barem na muz'ku. Pa tako do pemzije
ReplyDeleteIn the region I would go for CLJ and KIV, maybe IAS. Given the mention of OMO I would not be surprised.
ReplyDeleteIn the broder Europe MENA region, I think Caucusus + MAN + WCO + some Baltic (Vilnius is in top 20 unserved routes) + some spanish route. In the middle east maybe they finally start AMM and restart BEY if they frow CDG TO 25-28 weekly
What would you say is a good time line to open these routes?
DeleteRegional ones could start slowly over the winter to build awareness. Given the lower operational cost of an ATR they will lose less money while building awareness in those transfer markets.
DeleteThe rest would start in April or May.
Also, I wonder if Košice would be an interesting transfer destination. Not a lot of legacy carriers, only half a million pax, but still the second largest in Slovakia. Wonder if BTS is too close to VIE to be competitive.
I am curious about how Jazeera Airways performed this summer and if they will come back next year.
ReplyDeleteKuwait still does have some good demand for Serbia flights, maybe JU could look after it.
JU will be better than Jazeera. Jazeera was started only for russian tourists.
DeleteOf course Jazeera Airways should stay.
DeleteThey offer excellent asian connections.
They are a good addition to Belgrade airports portfolio.
We have TK, FZ,QR, PC for Asia.
DeleteSo what?
DeleteThats like saying you have Lufthansa to anywhere because you have twenty times daily to Vrankvurt and Minken.
Really dumb!
Tenerife or Lanzarote pls.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion they'll launch Tenerife this winter.
ReplyDeleteToronto!!!
ReplyDeleteHey everybody, I had 2 connection flight throuth Belgrad this summer. Maybe I'm unlucky man, but it was a disaster . I got my luggage in 3!!! weeks, when I should be already to return back , had a stomach problems after their sandviche. My vacation was broken completely.
ReplyDeleteBut the rest were no bad - so so landed at home 😊
Why not Tbilisi? Bidirectional tourism and a huge amount of Russians living there, visa free to Serbia ...
ReplyDelete