Air Serbia handled over 3.5 million passengers between January and October of this year. In October alone, the airline welcomed 367.146 travellers on scheduled and charter flights, representing an increase of 43% compared to the same month last year and a 38% jump on the pre-pandemic 2019. The national airline operated a total of 3.970 flights during the month, up 50% and 45% on October 2022 and October 2019 respectively. Regionally, the most popular destinations in October 2023 were Podgorica and Tivat. In Western Europe, passengers travelled the most to Zurich, followed by Paris, Rome, and Amsterdam, while in the broader Euro-Mediterranean region, the most sought-after Air Serbia flights were to Istanbul, Larnaca, Athens, and Barcelona.
Air Serbia routes with highest frequencies and capacity, October 2023
Commenting on the results, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, "October was our birthday month. Besides numerous activities we carried out during October to celebrate the company's ten years of operations, primarily focused on our passengers, we also opened a new retail shop in the Galerija Shopping Centre, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the British company Menzies Aviation, welcomed another Embraer E195 aircraft in Air Serbia's colours to Belgrade, and the results show that we have broken another record. With over 367.000 passengers on our flights, this is the most successful October since we have been operating under the name of Air Serbia. We are approaching the number of four million passengers in 2023, and if we get close to that figure or surpass it, it will be a significant and important achievement for the Serbian national airline".
The Serbian carrier is set to inaugurate flights between Belgrade and Porto tomorrow, its 23rd new route of the year. During November, the airline has 428.996 seats on the market on scheduled services, maintaining a total 3.606 flight operations. During the month, the airline has the most scheduled flights to and from Podgorica, followed by Istanbul, Ljubljana, Vienna and Zagreb. The highest volume of available seat capacity are on services to Istanbul (13.288 seats, served from Belgrade, Niš and Kraljevo), followed by Zurich (10.352), Moscow (9.414), Paris (8.958), Podgorica (8.458) and Athens (6.960), however, capacity levels may change due to last-minute equipment swaps. This month, the ATR will be most commonly utilised in the fleet, operating 1.371 flight operations, followed by the Airbus A319 with 818 flights and the Embraer jets with 604 flights.
So 4M. Well done.
ReplyDeleteDid you have a chance to read this article?
DeleteBravo Air Serbia !!! 4 mil. pax, unimaginable 10 years ago!
DeleteReally surprised to see Larnaca in the top in terms of passengers.
ReplyDeleteEspecially considering they compete against Wizz Air on that route.
DeleteAyia Napa and Protaras are new Paralia in terms of number of our tourists this year. (just 1000 times better, of course)
DeleteInteresting
DeleteHow come the sudden surge in interest for Cyprus?
DeleteCovid. Cyprus was one of the few places that had a semi-normal and stable set of entry requirements after the island opened up. They were among the first (if not the first) EU country to allow entry to those vaccinated with all WHO approved vaccines (which included Sinopharm).
DeleteSo all of a sudden Cyprus became extremely popular. Since many people liked it they kept on coming back.
It also helped that Wizz Air launched LCA so JU was forced to adjust its pricing policy. Before W6 they used to charge at least €240 for a return flight. It's also worth noting that JU started to perform extremely well once they introduced daytime flights .
I spoke to a friend of mine who works at LCA and he told me that on that day JU A320 departed with 170+ passengers with 45 transfers to Berlin, 30 something to Stockholm, 20 something to Zurich and I think 18 to Vienna.
Flew LCA-BEG-LJU yesterday. The planes were full on each leg, with lots of transfers from what I could here in BEG terminal. It was my first time using BEG to transfer, and I couldn’t be happier.
DeleteWow those are good numbers. Thanks
DeletePeople don`t fly with LC on longer trips, its no value for money!
Delete@Nemjee
DeleteWow almost 2/3 of pax were transfers on that flight! Well done JU.
Actually only 20 were locals from what I remember.
DeleteCool!
DeleteImpressive. I'm guessing they will have around 250,000 in November and 280,000 in December.
ReplyDeleteWith 250.000 in November their LF would be 58% which I consider too low.
DeleteWith 70% LF they will transport 300.000 in November this year.
It will be more than 250,000 this month.
DeleteNovember 2019 they had 178.000 and in December 2019 - 195.000
DeleteJU passenger numbers for November can be easily predicted based on the available capacity listed in the article.
DeleteAnd what is your prediction?
DeleteOctober LF was about 80%, so November maybe could be 70% and it would be 300K.
DeleteI just do not get how Frankfurt does not belong to the below statistics of the most popular destinations.
ReplyDeleteWell for one it had much fewer flights to FRA then any of the cities listed.
DeleteFewer yes, but not much fewer.
DeleteATH is on 12 pw and FRA on 10 pw this month.
This month yes, not in October or the months before which the statistics refer to.
DeleteIn terms of November capacity, it is not in the top 5 because Embraers are used on the newly added flights.
LH is dominating the route, just look at their scheduled capacity. Same goes for MUC, JU isn't even thinking about entering that market.
Delete^ you are right, they fly to something like 7 cities in Germany but they are not even thinking about entering the market...
DeleteThe market in MUC as I wrote above, please learn how to read :)
DeleteEven Yugoslav Airlines never flew MUC. Must be some reason.
DeleteLH fly in November to FRA-BEG 14 pw and JU 10 pw
DeleteIn MUC LH is surely dominant as they fly MUC-BEG 14 pw and JU 0, but in other German cities the situation is as following
BER - JU 7 pw, LH 0
CGN - JU 2 pw, LH / EW 0
DUS - JU 7 pw, LH / EW 0
HAM - JU 2 pw, LH / EW 0
HAJ - JU 2 pw, LH / EW 0
NUE - JU 2 pw, LH / EW 0
STR - JU 4 pw , LH / EW 0
So in total traffic from BEG to Germany frequency wise looks as following:
LH 28 weekly rotations
JU 36 weekly rotations
Yugoslav Airlines did fly to MUC
Deletehttps://www.planespotters.net/photo/727389/yu-anv-jat-yugoslav-airlines-boeing-737-3h9
https://www.planespotters.net/photo/723518/yu-anw-jat-yugoslav-airlines-boeing-737-3h9
https://www.planepictures.net/v3/show_en.php?id=15713
https://www.planespotters.net/photo/733892/yu-ahl-jat-yugoslav-airlines-mcdonnell-douglas-dc-9-32
https://www.airliners.net/photo/JAT-Yugoslav-Airlines/McDonnell-Douglas-DC-9-32/5284723/L
JU even crashed at Munich in 1956, with captain and redio-telegraphist loosing their lives.
DeleteInteresting. So there is a jinx on MUC for JU.
DeleteJAT flew to MUC. In late 80’s I took this flights. It was on DC9 1-3-567 with stops in Zagreb..
DeleteProbably winter timetable. In summer, BEG-ZAG-MUC was daily.
DeleteThat's a strong result for October
ReplyDeleteNow it is without doubt that they will have over 4 million passengers this year.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that next year they will overtake JAT's 1987 result when it handled 4.5 million passengers
Delete^Hope so
DeleteNumbers for A330 destinations are missing.
ReplyDeleteHow do you mean 'missing'? Those destinations don't have among the highest capacity.
DeleteCongratulations. Excellent result
ReplyDeletebased on these numbers, how many passengers did BEG have in October?
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing between 650,000-700,000
Deletex2
DeleteObviously they are doing something right
ReplyDeleteAny idea on the loads for Porto tomorrow?
ReplyDeleteNot sure but A319 scheduled for tomorrow
DeleteMore than 60% as of now
DeleteHope this upward trajectory continues into 2024.
ReplyDeleteSo far it looks promising
DeleteLooks like the new routes they chose to launch this year were the right ones.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteNice. Looking forward to see which destinations will be added next year.
ReplyDeleteSame and no one seems able to guess the new routes. Other than Shanghai and Guangzhou, I'm wondering what we will see in Europe and how many new routes.
DeleteCluj was mentioned so that is possible
DeleteGreat news. Despite all the problems they have.
ReplyDeleteI hope they get a good financial result to match the passanger result.
And hopefully they surpass 4.5 million passengers next year
In H1 they had 23 million euro net profit.
DeleteWhich translates to about €50 million for 2023. Not bad at all. More importantly is that they are on a positive trajectory.
DeleteNice
DeleteIf its 50 million euro a year in profit that's great. For next year thats already half the cost of a brand new A320 ceo.
DeleteOr maybe just re-invest that money in better wages for staff. Or to set up the MRO company for JU
If they reach a level where annual profits are between €50 & €100m then that is serious cash which could be banked and in a few years used for a deposit on some new birds.
DeleteThey had €23 million in H1 but the government took €20. Imo they should have left it to JU for further investment
DeleteKeep up the good work
ReplyDeleteThey will likely have over 4 million passengers this year.
ReplyDeleteJust above
DeleteOr just below.
DeleteAnyone know how many planes they operate this winter?
ReplyDelete2 A330
3 A320
10 A319
7 ATR
2 B738
2 A320
1 ATR
Total: 32
Is this correct? It's almost as much as JAT had at its peak (35)
You forgot the 4 Embraers :)
DeleteAnyone flown with the Klasjet wetlease? Have a flight with them next week (operating for Air Serbia)
DeleteI flew Klasjet to Palma. Nothing special, very basic, OK service ... just taking you from point A to point B and that is about it.
DeleteThanks. I'm going to Athens so it's a short flight anyway. Funny enough both outbound and inbound are wetleases, return on Marathon.
DeleteWas on KlasJet B738 yesterday. Service was really friendly, the plane was quite comfortable.
DeleteKlasJet is Lithuanian right?
DeleteThat KlasJet is basically a replacement for A321 they couldn't get.
DeleteYou are right, but it seems that analiticar does not understand that fact.
DeleteКласЏет Б738 186 седишта, А321 рецимо 230 седишта, једна класа. Разлика 44 седишта. Није то ни близу замене.
DeletePotpuno pogresno.
DeleteVecina legacy carriera ima A321 sa oko 200 sedista dok ClassJet B738 ima 189 sedista.
Razlika je skoro pa nepostojeca (11 sedista).
https://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/321
Klas na svom sajtu kaze da njihov B738 ima 186 sedista. Er Srbija nece A321 za linije gde je LH konkurencija vec gde je Wizz konkurencija, pa tu imaju 44 sedista manje od njih. Traljavo.
DeleteЉуди не залећите се, Класџет не остаје наредне године. Одлазе и биће замењени са А320. У овом тренутку Ер Србија нема потребу за А321 јер је превелики када прође зима а само преко лета се не може наћи по повољним условима.
DeleteБоље нека повећавају број летова са А320 него да повћавају само капацитет.
Dakle, 3 sedista manje ili vise nije bitno mada ima sajtova gde se pokazuje i 189 sedista kod B738 KlasJet.
Deletehttps://seatmaps.com/airlines/klj-klasjet/boeing-737/
Air Serbia ce imati konfiguraciju sedista na A321 kao sto imaju i ostali legacy carrieri (Turkish 188 sedista, Aegean 196, Austrian 200, SAS 198 sedista itd.) a nece praviti sardina konfiguraciju.
Dakle, kao sto rekoh razlika ostaje na nekih maskimum desetak sedista tako da je u ovom trenutku njihov B738 idealna zamena za A321 koji nisu nasli.
Sta ce biti kasnije kad ode KlasJet ostaje da vidimo.
Ljudi hitno zovite Boeing da otkažu MAX 9 i 10 jer Air Serbia otkrila da je -800 zamena za A321.
DeleteI can't wait to see what they do with the additional 3 ATRs and E-jets.
ReplyDeleteTheir business model nowdays is being a hub and with the likes of AMS being a total mess we could see a HUGE upraise trend next year - especially with the GS being in order and terminal/airport being completed soon-ish.
+1
DeleteYou are right. I hope they add at least two a330 because they will need them!!
DeleteCongratulations
ReplyDeleteAny idea what the load factor was in October?
ReplyDelete80%
DeleteThey handled more passengers than Criatia Airlines and Air Montenegro combined.
ReplyDelete*croatia airlines
DeleteNo surprise since they are double the size of OU.
DeleteHad they been able to fully realise their summer schedule (since they had to cancel flights due to fleet shortage) numbers would have been even better.
ReplyDeleteTrue
DeleteFor the next year I predict Cluj, Iasi, Manchester, Alicante and/or Bilbao, Wroclaw, Bordeaux, Santorini/Mykonos, Tbilisi/Yerevan/Baku. Cagliari would be an interesting addition too, Dublin could work 2pw but I don't think they are in a hurry to launch it, and Amman and maybe even Beirut made sense before the war
ReplyDeleteSounds plausible. We will find out soon.
DeleteAnd When Tenerife? I thought this winter but It was imposible
DeleteKos will be one of the Greek destinations.
DeleteThis list is too long.
DeleteThey can't open so many destinations every year. Maybe they will open only 1 or 2 European destinations and not more.
They need now frequency increasing together with 2 new Chinese routes
It's not, I think Marek mentioned in some interview that they will launch 10ish destinations in 2024, so the list is just about right
DeleteIt is 10 destinations for 2024 but do not forget that they include 2 destinations in China, one in USA and (only) 7 in Euro-Asia
DeleteIf we really are going to be looking for a needle in a haystack, Marek said that the North American expansion is likely going to be held back for 2025, leaving eight Euro-Asian routes. Moreover, he said around 10 if I recall correctly, not exactly 10 pa makar crko
DeleteToronto crew here: we want YYZ!
DeleteYou got it bro.
DeleteWondering when a third airline will step in for BEG-ATH as it seems a strong route and which airline is gonna be..
ReplyDeleteWondering about the performance of the PSO flights from Niš and Kraljevo. They're hiding those data like a “snake its legs”.
ReplyDeleteHow are they exactly hiding it when they give you the total number of passengers in their network? PSO routes are not expected to be full, which is precisely the reason they are subsidized and PSO in the first place - because without subsidies they would not be profitable. You can see Air Serbia's passenger numbers from Kraljevo each month in the report on how many passengers the airport handled.
DeleteHorrible airline!
ReplyDeleteNo they’re not.
DeleteWhat a horrible troll you are 14:01
Deleteits horrible but for haters and competition lol
DeleteJasmineeeeeee!!! Dobar dan! Kako je? Je l'se pije kahva? Aj dobro vec je cetvrtak sutra vikend 😆. A i pemzija ce jos malo, kaki putnici, kaki milijoni, ko je vido o tom mislit....
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteRijeka je već smorila samog sebe sa ovim komentarom, tako da je stvarno bolje da ako nemas sta da napises da nas ne smaraš više. Hvala pno
DeleteI have my reasons why I write it. You don't like it : skip, scroll over, don't read
DeletePa nije ni deset novih destinacija za 2024 losa cifra. Jos ako se nadju tri/cetiri nove letelice bice meraja.
ReplyDeleteA mozda ce Jasmin tada vec u penziju.
Jasmin ce u pemziju kad AP ode u Bruxelles, ali kad god ode kasno ce otic 😆
DeleteStill NO flights from Kraljevo and Nis from 2024 :(
ReplyDeleteTicket sales will begin next month.
DeleteIt is 80% load factor, if you take scheduled capacity from: https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/09/ex-yu-airports-set-for-october-growth.html?m=1
ReplyDeleteBravo Hrvatska! I mean Serbia:))l
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for JU flights out here in Pristina! It's a 5 hour drive for me from Kosovska Mitrovica to Belgrade or 45 minute drive to the airport and 35 minute flight. I can immediately think of 20 colleagues who would buy at least 3 return tickets a month.
ReplyDeleteBy 45 minute drive do you mean Pristina airport?
Delete45 minutes from KM to the airport
DeleteCongradulations to Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteAmazing success and numbers of 3.5 million passengers for first 10 months of this year. With upcoming holidays it will pass over 4. million mark.
The convenience factor here is also so important.
I can fly to Belgrade and spend few days in that beautiful city and re connect via Air Serbia to many other destinations that they fly.