Air Serbia has scheduled notable frequency growth across its network this winter season, which begins this Sunday and runs until March 30 of next year. The carrier is set to increase the number of flights in comparison to last winter season from Belgrade to Amsterdam, Athens, Banja Luka, Brussels, Bologna, Bucharest, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Larnaca, Ljubljana, London Heathrow, Lyon, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Oslo, Paris, Podgorica, Prague, Rome, St Petersburg, Sochi, Sofia, Skopje, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Tivat, Tirana, Thessaloniki, Tianjin, Venice, Vienna, Zagreb and Zurich. Air Serbia will introduce a new two weekly service to Porto starting November 10. The airline will be operating more frequencies when compared to the ongoing summer season on a number of routes.
Services from Belgrade to both Ljubljana and Zagreb will see the highest number of weekly rotations since the collapse of the former Yugoslavia. Furthermore, destinations launched this summer, including Ankara, Budapest, Cairo, Chicago, Cologne, Florence, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Izmir, Krakow, Lisbon and Tel Aviv, will be maintained over the winter. Flights to the Israeli city are currently suspended until at least early December due to the security situation in the country, however, Air Serbia has noted operations will be restored as soon as it safe to do so. “Air Serbia continues to carefully monitor the information regarding Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and is in contact with all competent services and authorities. The Serbian national airline will immediately inform the public about the re-establishment of flights when the conditions are met”, the company said.
Air Serbia will continue to maintain Public Service Obligation flights from Niš and Kraljevo until at least December 31, when its existing two-year contract expires. The Serbian government is expected to launch tender procedures for a new four-year contract next month, encompassing the exact same routes, with the winning airline to launch services on January 1, 2024. It is expected for Air Serbia to take part in the public call and it is likely be awarded a new contract.
Information in the tables below are of an informative nature and subject to change.
Departing Belgrade
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Departing Niš
From Kraljevo, Air Serbia will maintain a two weekly service to Istanbul, as was the case the previous winter season.
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Huge schedule for winter
ReplyDeleteImpressive...
DeleteIndeed. Just hoping they coordinate much better this time so they don't get ahead of themselves like this summer! Good luck JU!
DeleteMaybe we see some more new routes this wonter?
ReplyDelete*winter
DeleteIf they get A330 then new routes to China. Other than that, I think Porto is the only new addition.
DeleteZagreb 17PW! Huge! Seems that Zagreb will have more flights to Belgrade than any other airport exept FRA. This is what we call well connected :)
ReplyDeleteLjubljana has 19 pw
DeleteStill think Split could work in winter, 2pw.
DeleteI hope they manage to fill them, the last time when they added night flights they didn't perform that well. Hopefully now with connections to the US and Western Europe they do much better.
Deleteare you talking about zagreb or ljubljana?
DeleteSorry, I am talking about ZAG. They never had night flights to LJU.
DeleteI think ZAG was last winter.
@nemjee
DeleteThe new ZAG additions are at midday. No midnight rotations this time.
JU232 BEG ZAG 1315 1440
JU233 ZAG BEG 1500 1605
Flights operate every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
So Ljubljana has second most weekly flights together with vienna? nice! first one as expected podgorica and istanbul
DeleteBoth LJubljana and Zagreb are now well connected with many destinations from Belgrade. Well done.
DeleteJATBEGMEL, I know I was merely saying that hpefully this time around they have more luck since they changed their timetable. I know these are not nighttime flights
Delete@nemjee
DeleteI think they'll have much better luck with the midday flights. Both ZAG and LJU don't seem like markets where flights at midnight and dusk would be popular, which also reflects on their respective schedules. Midday rotations also give better connectivity to their long haul ops as well.
ZAD shoul be added 2 weekly in winter too.
DeleteWhat happened with night flights to Sarajevo?
DeleteHuge
ReplyDeleteThat's a decent network.
ReplyDeleteThe coverage of routes is impressive. It will be a busy winter.
ReplyDeletePity there will be no changes to PSO routes. I was hoping they add some new lines.
ReplyDeleteGood network. Great to see FRA finally up. They used to always fly 6 weekly in winter.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I saw E95 will exclusively operate to FRA, seems like they were missing the right aircraft to efficiently operate this route.
DeleteMuch better than previous winters.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the schedule are they expecting another aircraft at the start of December? The frequencies do not cool off after the new year so it's not just the added holiday capacity
ReplyDeleteYes, they will get 2 Embrers, by the looks of it both next month and it seems an A320 will join by the end of the year.
DeleteWhere are they getting the A320 from?
DeleteThey have increased Tivat by a lot. It used to be 7 weekly pre-Covid
ReplyDeleteOr Barcelona, from 2 weekly pre-covid to 9 :D
DeleteHow many planes are being wet-leased this winter?
ReplyDeleteToo many.
DeleteOk, how many?
DeleteThey will keep the 2 lithuanians , 2 romanias and the 4 embraers from Greece as I know for the time being .
Deleteand one DATA atr..
DeleteLooking at the map, Iberian coverage is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteThey are missing routes in Eastern Europe.
DeleteOnly destinations that are missing from eastern Europe are Wroclaw, Warsaw, Kosice, all of Romania and KIV.
DeleteTheir presence in Russia is very decent while flights to Ukraine and Belarus are not possible at the moment.
Bratislava.
DeleteToo close to Vienna, it's easier for them to focus on one market.
DeleteCould try Kishinev too.
DeleteIberia and southern Italy are huge in Serbia at the moment, summer&winter season. Planes are full. Everybody's been or want's to go there. They don't care about spending the winter in cold and sleepy eastern Europe.
DeleteI would add GRZ before WRO.
DeleteThat's why LCA also does so well. A family member just arrived from LCA (12.20 arrival to BEG) and the A320 was full the the last seat.
Deletehopefully 2 more long haul start next year. europe coverage is pretty much done. maybe only 5 or 5 destinations left. then just long haul left.
DeleteNice to see an airline growing and developing and also having some kind of vision and strategy.
ReplyDeleteThey will have around 450 weekly flights!
ReplyDelete900 if you include return
DeleteJust shows how much demand for Barcelona there was. I think they will increase it to 2 daily in summer 2024. Also did not expect to Budapest to perform that well. As for Sofia, they are restoring the 2019 frequencies of 11 weekly, they have killer one-way prices already for summer in both Sofia and Varna. Krakow will work well I guess as Poland is currently booming and more and more Poles are expected to travel.
ReplyDeletePorto is a bit more of a seasonal destination where it can be combined with Santiago de Compostela for the famous Camino de Santiago for pilgrims. The city itself is fantastic and medieval, As for Porto there are the famous wine boat trips in the Duoro river. The city itself can be seen in 2 days but so different from Lisbon. Like 2 parallel worlds. I think the best time is starting May. And also PT has great prices and amazing, affordable food.
I also checked the prices from Russia to continental Europe and boy, they are DAMN expensive. I think JU can make really good money outta this war. OW tickets cost up to 600€ for example KZN-BCN via BEG or LED-SPU etc.
But, JU has really created a nice and respectable network. I just hope to see much more focus on the brand and fleet because it is not the best. Hopefully they will get there. They need to invest heavily on it. For example, Vueling has an amazing branding and marketing. Their logo and messaging is cool. TAP also do have a good one. So, JU can learn from them a bit.
Finally, checked that their OHD flights were not all operated in October as planned and even though they are bookable for summer 2024, it is questionable if it worked out well for them:
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2018/02/air-serbia-to-end-ohrid-operations.html#:~:text=Air%20Serbia%20will%20cease%20its,of%20its%20new%20business%20strategy.
OHD also seems to be losing MMX and BSL because they cannot be booked next summer compared to the other destinations, so maybe it can work better for JU to get some Swiss and Swedish traffic to OHD.
Well done for both ZAG and LJU. The ideal scenario in the next 5 years is to have BEG connected to all Balkan capitals at least 3 times daily and feed their ORD, JFK and perhaps YYZ in the future.
If they can negotiate for newer Embraers or maybe E2 being cheaper than A220, it would be great as this aircraft obviously fits well for them. The Embraers are flawless, very safe and reliable birds but the A220 just destroyed it and sold like hot cakes. JU having A220 would be super!
Good analysis bro.
DeleteAh yes, the faithful orthodox Serbian pilgrims that will be attracted by the Camino in Galicia LOL. That being said, Porto is a fantastic destination and I lived 6 months in Santiago as a student, the whole area is great for visiting and tourism for almost the whole year, only issue is that rain never stops.
DeleteWhat makes you think that only Serbs will use the BEG-OPO route. I was referring to the people who WANT to go to the Camino de Santiago. Yes, it always rains there but less in winter. Galicia reminds of Ireland with all the greenery. If OPO does well in winter, then it will probably be increased to 3 or 4 weekly in summer.
DeleteAnother destinations JU may consider is Ponta Delgada or some destination in Azores as well as Sao Paolo in Brazil if they are gonna get 2 additional A330s. That being said, Sao Paolo may be combined with Buenos Aires like many other carriers do it. 2 weekly BEG-GRU/EZE can initially work. The A330 can easily do it and is the perfect plane!
I am not Serb, and not from any Balkan country, but I do live in Sofia and most likely next time I go to Santiago, I would take that flight if available and does not cost the double of another one with stopover
DeleteRespect.
DeleteLol
Deletelinking an 2018 article? bizzare
DeleteFantastic
ReplyDeleteSeems like they’re doing a good job at reducing seasonality. Hopefully in tandem with this, they can reduce reliance on wet leases.
ReplyDeleteGood to see more and more regional cities heading towards double daily service - more in the case of some such as LJU
Looks like a strong winter. Respectable network and frequencies.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the A330 utilization over winter? Better than previous years?
ReplyDeleteOf course it has improved since they have an additional destination - Chicago and there is an additional flight to Tianjin. So in total 3 extra flights compared to last winter.
DeleteWhat program/web site did you use to draw route maps?
ReplyDeleteGood work.
ReplyDeleteGreat job JU!
ReplyDeleteBUD is a big surprise for me.
ReplyDeleteFo sures.
DeleteAmazing, super exciting! One thing - what happened to Sarajevo night flights? Still sad that even though it’s possible now I don’t see this, especially after years of waiting - loss of many potential customers (for now).. cheers
ReplyDeleteSJJ does not have enough workers for night shift. No airline that expressed interest to fly at night actually started night flights.
DeleteAh I see, what about JU evening flights to SJJ? Would help with many connections and new pax instead of the only 1 daily flight that stays..
DeleteJU needs night flights to SJJ so they can offer connections onto morning vawe of flights to western Europe.
DeleteJU could do split morning/evening rotations to SJJ as well. As a rough example:
DeleteJU110 BEG SJJ 0700 0755
Takes on connections from: JFK, ORD, ATH, SKP, SKG, IST, ESB, TIA, SOF, OTP, LCA, VAR, AER, SVO, KZN, CAI.
JU111 SJJ BEG 0825 0920
Takes on connections to:
LHR, TIV, FCO, LCA, VIE, BUD, ZRH, CTA, PMO, ATH, SKG, JFK, ORD, TSN, TGD, LJU, ZAG and more.
Not to mention the O&D demand between the 2 cities which would increase, especially for pax travelling on business between the 2 cities as schedules become more convenient. Night flights are not necessarily a must.
Has the 2nd e195 arrived?
ReplyDeleteNo.
DeleteIt's a pity that they discontinue Marseille flights
ReplyDeleteIt is not discontinued. It's a seasonal summer route.
DeleteSo Lyon and Marseille both remain?
DeleteLyon is year round, Marseille is summer seasonal.
DeleteAs it says in the article, Lyon will be 3 weekly over the winter period.
DeleteThanks. Wasn't sure about Marseille.
DeleteMRS was terminated earlier than they initially planned. I guess the route did not perform as expected. Hopefully it does better next year when they have a stronger network.
DeleteI'm not so optimistic about TLV resumption.
ReplyDeleteLY-MAL is flying for them today, is this a long term one?
ReplyDeleteI saw it at the airport parked at the C gate, it also features Air Serbia writing on the fuselage. It's good that it's not all white. I suppose it's staying for a longer period.
DeleteKVO could really benefit from VIE flights. No ferry flight needed, just W. There is not even a working codeshare with TK on the route (can't book a flight online). A bit shambolic.
ReplyDeleteWhen expect news about Summer 2024? Perhaps in January?
ReplyDeleteEarly December probably.
DeleteShame about the drastic TIA reduction next month. Even now in late October there are mostly A320 and Embraers operating the day flight.
ReplyDeleteJasmineeeeeee!!! Jarane!!!! Dje si? Jesi'l premoren od silnoga rada? De ak' ikako uzmognes, ako nadjes minut slobodno de baci pogled na ovaj spisak destinacija i na ove mape, pa rekni, al'nako iskreno, jel' te bar malo malo malo, ma mrvicu jednu sram?
ReplyDeletenije! A gdje je Minken? Hahaha, ne lete, ali OU leti sedamnajst hiljada puta dnevno tamo.
Delete😂
DeleteLike OU management cares. 13 or 130 routes, they will all still have a job and still get paid.
DeleteWill they ever try with Banja Luka daily connection, at least once per week (Monday or Friday)? Departing times (mid day or late afternoon) from Banja Luka make transfers impossible, and P2P air travelers must spend at least two nights (even in "more frequent" winter schedule) in BG or BL, for even shortest activities possible (meetings, health, education, fun etc.), what makes it fully uncompetitive to car (no overnight needed for daily activities) and even bus (one overnight needed) travel.
ReplyDeleteThey tried BNX daily in 2014, it didn't go well, and they dropped it to 5 pw in 2015 which remaind until the pandemic.
DeleteIn 2024 they can try 5x weekly in summer.
DeleteIt is not necessary to have it every day, but to go back and forth in one day, that would be great
DeleteCrazy to think Budapest is their 5th busiest destination frequency wise considering they only started flying there this year. Does anyone know how the loads are on the flights?
ReplyDeleteLoads are okay. Depends from day to day, one day there are 20 pax, another 60.
DeleteAs far as i remember, previously this year they were talking about increasing the flights from INI to LJU, what happend with that?
ReplyDeleteThey never mentioned anything like that.
DeletePitty because Florence is only seasonal.
DeleteI went to Sabac for work today and on the way back I stopped at the airport to pick someone up. I have to say that now when there is a highway, reaching BEG has become a breeze. I am sure that for many switching from TZL to BEG will not be an issue simply because Tesla has become so much more accessible.
ReplyDeleteOnce the extension to Loznica is completed it will be even better. With this highway BEG is further consolidating its position within its catchment area.
I really wonder how many people from Tuzla region actually use BEG? So far we heard heresy and anecdotal stories.
DeleteAnyone from Tuzla here who might have some first hand info?
People from Macva used TZL and now they will use Belgrade
DeleteAha, 👌
DeleteSemberija is now probably the same.
DeleteAbsolutely especially once the highway is completed to Bijeljina
DeleteSo Ljubljana has 21 weekly flights per week from Air Serbia and on one day, there will likely be 4 JU flights (3 from BEG and 1 from INI). That is huge in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI flew on 18.10 from BEG morning JU flight to Amsterdam, my grandparents flew out to ORD the same morning- note, the airport was PACKED we waited 1 hour to pass security. my flight to AMS was nearly 100% full with a wet-leased 737-800 I think from KlasJet. My grandparents said that ORD was nearly full as well, which I could see by the check-in and at the gate.
ReplyDeleteOne comment about wet leases - the flight was great & the FA’s from Lithuania were very nice, however I saw issues of passengers not being able to understand or ask something in English and the flight attendant couldn’t reply in Serbian, and many ppl comment (in Serbian ofc) “how is this air Serbia when they’re only speaking English”… I get the point of wet leases and am glad this flight and all of these are going / increased frequencies, however I wish JU asap gets more dry leases with more of its’ own planes- many ppl fly with air Serbia also because of the language barrier..
Valid points.
DeleteDemand for Spain is impressive. Time for Tenerife
ReplyDeleteManchester pls
ReplyDeleteMostar first.
DeleteAnd Mostar ok 👍 👌
DeleteOne of the worst customer service I dealt with was Air Serbia customer support. They should invest in training their employees
ReplyDeleteIts you again ha ha ha
DeleteIn all five of my trips with Air Serbia, everything was up to par. Catering, crew, aircraft. My first was back when the company rebranded in 2013 and was flying a 737-300, even though the old plane seemed better ( than comments of most of peoples)maintained. The last time I had the pleasure of using the new ATR72-600 was while working at SJJ.
Delete