Air Serbia celebrated its first anniversary yesterday since entering the Chinese market and launching flights between Belgrade and Tianjin. As the only European carrier serving the city, some 130 kilometres south-east of Beijing, the airline has carried over 20.000 passengers on the route in its first year of operations with a total of 55 flights each way. The airline’s annual average cabin load factor on the route stood at 75%. Businesspeople and outbound Chinese tourists made up the majority of travellers on the service during its first year. Over the January - October period in 2023, a total of 78.427 Chinese tourists visited Serbia.
The Belgrade - Tianjin route launched with one weekly rotation and has increased to two per week since October 29 of this year. Commenting recently on the Tianjin service, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “As a collateral benefit of Covid we saw a great opportunity to open China. We launched Tianjin while Covid restrictions were still present in China in December of last year and the service became profitable from day one. For us, the main development now is on the Chinese market where we see potential. Tianjin was the only option available to launch during Covid because there were a lot of restrictions in place. We initially considered it as a temporary destination which would be replaced with another point in China once the market opened up. However, since it became profitable and there is no other European carrier serving the city, before Covid there were LOT and Neos from Italy, why would we change it”.
.jpg)
The Chinese market remains a priority in Air Serbia’s long-haul development plans. “We secured traffic rights for Guangzhou and Shanghai. As soon as we get the third and fourth [widebody] aircraft, those are the destinations which will come first. The Chinese market is based on leisure and corporate demand. It has different seasonality than North America because demand is more spread out throughout the year and there is a peak in January and February, which fits well into our strategy and development”, Mr Marek noted. The service to Tianjin has also benefited from significant cargo volumes, which is expected to further increase after Serbia and China inked a free trade agreement this October.
For first year long haul service that's a good result.
ReplyDeletewhat we have been hearing is that these flights are sold out. Sold out is very far from 75% LF
DeleteYes flights are sold out in certain periods of the year. Yields are high and route is profitable. During the first two months all flights were sold out, or do you have a conspiricy ready that the booking system was lying? Nadzak babe all around.
Delete‘Sold out’ could refer to numerous figures. They may have 75% LF but they may also be blocking seats and only selling 80% of them with the remaining 20% being factored into cargo. They have said numerous times that cargo on the route is high as well. Although, for an airline with no alliance or affiliation with local company in China, this is still a good result. For those going in to Europe who could do a domestic China and 1 stop connection, choosing Serbia instead as their connection point is a good sign as well.
DeleteHope they get the extra A330s soon.
ReplyDeleteDo we know how many frequencies they were granted to Shanghai and Guangzhou?
ReplyDelete3 weekly Guangzhou, 2 weekly Shanghai.
DeleteNot bad. Thanks
DeleteTwo weekly to each destination in China would be perfect. 2x Shanghai, 2X Tianjin and 2X Guangzhou.
DeleteGuangzhou needs 3x weekly, because it is close and well conected to all other south-eastern tourist destinstions, also majority of chinese diaspora in Serbia and south Europe, and Serbian and Balkan diaspora mainly lives in this region as well, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and more south ..Shanghai is much further north
DeleteApparently they have been found.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the latest news about third widebody? Will it arrive soon?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Belgrade-Urumqi would work, 25 million PAX airport with 0 flights outside of Asia
ReplyDeleteThey will leave it to OU. OU is so famous for their brave moves in scheduling and in thinking out of the box. Plus they are just about to receive brand new shiny A220 fleet, which would fit perfectly for Urumqi and which will position them among World's strongest carriers, hahahahahahahaha
DeleteThat's an interesting insight. If they've managed to make Tianjin work, maybe Urumqi is not so crazy.
DeleteOU is great company ahead of Malev for example.
DeleteNot just great. The greatest. Ever. Minken Vrankvurt Vrankvurt Minken Greatest for Uhljebs Airlines
DeleteInteresting that they plan to keep Tianjin. I'm surprised it actually worked, as they are as well. But that's good to hear in any case.
ReplyDeleteExcellent news
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for JU's third A330 to arrive
ReplyDeleteAnon 09:06
ReplyDeleteInteresting, do you happen to know which A330s they found?
I’m wondering why China is so important for them?
ReplyDeleteBecause it brings them money.
DeleteI am wondering what makes them bring money?
DeleteLots of businessmen, mostly. Tourists as well
DeleteChinese tourists doesn’t need visa for Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, so they travel a lot. Unfortunately, third A330 is late for Lunar New year season, starting very soon…
DeleteI think the selected markets are good and I see JU flying three destinations in China by mid next year.
ReplyDeleteWhat else do you see my friend?
DeleteGlad that we have a clear strategy for long haul development. They were stuck just on New York for far too long.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Excellent to see that they plan to further develop long haul network.
DeleteSouth Korea and Japan.
ReplyDeleteThem praising Tianjin performance several times, I believed LF is 95%
ReplyDeleteLoad factor is irrelevant if you are making a profit on a long haul route within the first 12 months of its launch.
DeleteCargo numbers are great
DeleteAverage load of 75% for the entire year is quite good actually. Especially in year number 1 and especially during a year where travel to/from China was heavily impacted by various restrictions.
DeleteSeriously? You know that for the first 2 months there were actual load restrictions on this route. Jeez, some people on here.
DeleteWhat about Thailand? I'm sure it has more passengers than both South Korea and Japan from BEG.
ReplyDeleteToo much competition to Thailand, requiring low fares. On another note, it's great to see that Serbian passport holders can now get an electronic visa for Thailand. It is a much quicker process and you get a visa within 24 hours, compared to the 2 weeks it took previously as they needed to send your passport to the Thai embassy in Greece.
ReplyDeleteThey should really think about Hong Kong
ReplyDeleteGuangzhou is close to Hong Kong.
DeleteMaybe there is not a lot of demand for Hong Kong.
DeleteI remember in some articles in the past, Hong Kong actually had quite healthy indirect traffic.
DeleteHong Kong is a good transfer point to the rest of China too.
DeleteEspecially they won't have to deal with so much bureaucracy when starting flights to Hong Kong.
DeleteWould get some transfer traffic from Australia as well via HK.
DeleteCodeshare with Cathay Pacific, why not? :D
DeleteActually Cathay codeshares on Qatar's flights between Doha and Belgrade.
DeleteHong Kong has double daily BA, double daily EK, double daily QR, daily LX, soon-to-be-double daily LH, daily AY, daily AF, daily KL, daily TK, and soon also Aeroflot. Not to say, CX has a broad European network as well. So no chance as well.
DeleteThey already said that while they may be full to Bangkok the yields would be bad because it is oversaturated with Middle Eastern airlines offering cheap fares.
ReplyDeleteConsidering how long it took JFK to make a profit, this is fantastic.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteGoof to hear about the visas though.
ReplyDelete* good
ReplyDeleteMy vote goes for Tokyo
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia's A330s are in desperate need of a refresh. They should have dealt with those before getting a third A330.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAgree, they improved their balance sheet and numbers, now It's time to start improving the quality of services and customer satisfaction overall.
DeleteI was talking about this months ago, but everybody were trigged by my comment and said that the product is good. I will repeat my self now: JU needs to improve the product overall but most importantly they need to offer the same product on all flights. The product is what makes the airline different then others. Look at Virgin Atlantic, they are spanding hundreds of thousnts of dollars to desine new bussines class, different then others. Also, flying white planes is bizzare! When the white A320 lands in BCN nobody will know which airline it is. Marketing is one of the most important things for success and needs to be done well, simply by painting the aircraft and offering the same product. Air Serbia is already very good airline and has lots of routes as of this year, the upgrade of the product will bring them even more success, overall well done JU.
DeleteYes potential business class flyer sits in Barcelona Yachting Club and chanting whose this white A320 coming everyday.
DeletePeople simply said that your main problem with a white planr is completely misguided. Much more important is what is offered onboard.
DeleteOkay you are right.
DeleteFor long haul development they also need a lot of feed. Increasing frequencies to their existing intra-european routes is a priority.
ReplyDeleteThat's what they are doing.
DeleteYes, they started this winter. Let's see if they keep up next summer. They said they will.
DeleteThere is a rumor that the third A330 arrive this spring but then YU-ARC goes on cabin reconfiguration. Don't know if true or not.
ReplyDeleteIf the route was not profitable, they could have changed it with Shanghai, and deployed the same aircraft. But it seems they want to keep this route alive and develop it further.
ReplyDeleteBut it is profitable.
DeleteMaybe they can make some kind of combination with a Chinese company to fly under the JU flag? Yes, that means Chinese staff flying the plane, but it will certainly increase the frequency JU-labelled flights.
ReplyDeleteChinese aviation bureaucracy is so complex that it would take 10 years to get approvals for something like that.
DeleteTheir bureaucracy is notoriously slow and they require the same amount of documentation as US FAA.
DeleteI assume Tianjin Airport gives them good incentives for this route. I would also want to keep my only European airline.
ReplyDeleteWithout doubt. I remember reading just before the route launched that the local authorities in Tianjin also gave them some incentives.
Delete@Ex YU
ReplyDeleteCan we have more info how is this 75% calculated? Since 20.000 is 69% of 29.000, I am assuming that it is calculated differently or there are some other variables that make this calculation more complex. Thanks in advance
There were load limits for the first 2 months of operation, this the difference
DeleteAnonymous12:00
DeleteI know, but author commented that load factor is calculated on total number of seats, not really available (with restricted capacity) capacity, confirming comments that real load factor should be even higher, so it's really confusing me. We have 69%, 75% and some higher percentage, that is "actual" load factor.
What difference does it make to you? What is the obsession? The route has made a profit from day one. So much anger, spite, and bitterness instead of being happy that they saw an opportunity to make money and they did it and it had returned good results. Running an airline isn't easy and many factors are in play in terms of route profitability. Unfortunately most here lack that knowledge, seeing LF as some divine indicator. If they offered free tickets year round load factor would have been 100%. I guess you would celebrate that then?
DeleteFirst of all, what is your obsession with anyone asking questions? Second, I want you to pinpoint "so much anger, spite, and bitterness" in my comment. You, seeing every questioning as "anger, spite, and bitterness" is the real problem here, not LF, because if you bothered to read at all, I never said that I think it is bad
Delete@Branko It was the same during the initial operational period of JU's JFK flights. Despite the low numbers and -obvious- financial loss, authorities (name it, JU management or government representatives) denied it and hid the information. And very soon it has been claimed that the route is successful, not making loss, its benefits are fantastic etc. It is understandable that no one likes to hear bad news, even though this is in the nature of making business, especially in commercial aviation where the profit margin is between 1-3%. Add the political motivation to the business and voila, no route loses money, no decision is wrong, everything becomes a success story... until the governing power changes.
DeletePrevious government opened Morava Airports and presented it as a success story. It was closed shortly after. They kept pouring hundreds of millions into national airline without any positive effect but presented it as a valiant effort to save the airline. You don't want to talk about this.
DeleteThis is good to read. I'm happy Tianjin is performing well this early with sales.
ReplyDeleteIf that is true, they won't be able to commence new long haul route until Pupin is back.
ReplyDeleteMostly all is good about this airline except on time departure performance. The usual delays are about 30 minutes but there are days with multiple hours. Today is one of those "bad" days, this morning JU departures out of Belgrade are heavily delayed. Anyone knows the reason this can not be fixed?
ReplyDeleteThe last few days fog has been a problem at BEG.
DeleteNo complaints when Munich closes down for 2 days because of snow. Imagine if that happened in Belgrade. There would be 5000 comments about how everything is bad
DeleteMUC closure for days is not acceptable but that doesn't affect JU flights out of Belgrade and I am sure they got a fair share of negative comments for poor managment of the situation. The question is why are JU flights constantly delayed regardless of the weather be it summer or winter? Anon 13:00 fog has not prevented on time arrivals from ATH, SKP, OTP so departures from BEG should not be affected either although most all flights were heavily delayed. Wizz to Rome / Stockholm left more or less on time.
DeleteAirbus fleet doesn't have same limitations as ATRs in fog conditions. But you would know that if you were an expert.
DeleteYou think, he thinks that he is an expert?
DeleteGood luck JU! Good work so far
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia had hopes to sign lease for the third A330 by the end of November and have it flying during Chinese Lunar New Year. It does not look it will happen.
ReplyDelete^ the first part of your statement is correct, the second you made up.
ReplyDelete“At the moment, we have some interesting leads for aircraft that we believe we will be able to finalise in November. After the finalisation, the actual arrival of the aircraft will depend on maintenance, painting and shop visits, and we will try to be ready before the second quarter of 2024."
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/11/air-serbia-hopes-to-finalise-third-a330.html
That was not said explicitly but the ambition to fly during that period was obvious from Air Serbia comment in that same article:
ReplyDelete"The Chinese market fits in well with our strategy of addressing seasonality, as in the first quarter there is the high season during the Chinese Lunar New Year”, Air Serbia’s CEO said.
Cabin Managers are wearing white ties/scarves on the 330.
ReplyDeleteWhy Tokyo?
ReplyDeleteThey need a codeshare partner in China
ReplyDeleteThey have a codeshare with Air China.
DeleteShanghai should be their top China destination.
ReplyDeleteAgree. It was Belgrade's busiest unserved route in 2019. Over 200,000 passengers.
DeleteNice that they marked the anniversay at Tianjin
ReplyDeleteI must say I really like the new uniforms. They look much more stylish.
ReplyDeleteHongkong and Singapore make most sense as new destinations outside of mainland China.
ReplyDeleteHong Kong maybe, Singapore has double daily BA, triple daily EK, double daily QR, daily EY, daily LX, double daily LH, daily AF, daily KL, double daily TK… plus the SQ flights that currently operate. I’d rather get SQ with a 787 coming to BEG as this will open up more connectivity from other parts of the world on to BEG. JU will struggle to compete with those frequencies and would need 2x A330 to operate a single daily flight. Less than daily is pointless when you have competition doing far more than that.
ReplyDeleteSQ would be nice but there is absolutely no chance.
ReplyDeleteHong Kong also has double daily BA, double daily EK, double daily QR, daily LX, soon-to-be-double daily LH, daily AY, daily AF, daily KL, daily TK, and soon also Aeroflot. Not to say, CX has a broad European network as well. So no chance as well.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you.
ReplyDelete