Air Serbia will surpass 500 million euros in revenue for the first time this year, following the carrier’s strong summer, a development the airline’s CEO, Jiri Marek, described as “significant”. The company is also expected to post a record net profit by the end of the year. Speaking recently to “Aerotime Hub”, Mr Marek noted, “For the first time in history we will surpass half a billion euros in revenue which is very significant, and we are seeing all KPI’s [key performance indicators] growing, weather it is the RASK [revenue per available seat kilometre], passenger numbers or transfer traffic. Demand is so strong in this region that if we had more capacity and deployed it, we would fill it up as well”. The Serbian carrier generated 22.4 million euros in net profit during the first half of the year and is on course to post strong financial results for the whole of 2023, while passenger numbers are expected to reach four million this year. “We anticipate that the profit will be very high and at the moment we are operating with a double-digit profit margin”, the CEO said.
Looking ahead, Mr Marek noted, “We have a Letter of Intent signed for an additional three ATR72-600 deliveries in Q1 [2024]. There might be a delay because landing gear [shortage] is a growing problem among regional aircraft. We saw delays this year and we anticipate delays next year so we have planned for that, but we will see how it develops”. He added, “In terms of Airbus, as soon as we reach the end of the leasing agreements for A319s we will phase them out and replace them with A320s, which is a bit challenging now because of the latest issues with new technology and LEAP engines so airlines are not returning a lot of aircraft to lessors as planned and they are extending the use of mature technology over the new one because there is strong demand, but new aircraft deliveries plus problems with new technology are bringing that segment into stress”.
The airline plans to grow its route network next year, however, with 23 new destinations added in 2023, focus will be placed on densification. “We want to position ourselves as a regional carrier, which means a high focus on connecting destinations within the region because that is economically viable. We are increasing frequencies on these regional routes, where you have some point-to-point demand with Belgrade and the transfer comes on top of that. There is still some differences in the region, for example, if you compare Tirana, which is mostly connecting traffic, versus Montenegro, which is mostly point-to-point traffic. However, overall, we believe that we can grow within the region. Any new destinations that we will plan in the east, like for example in Romania or Bulgaria, will be purely connecting because the point-to-point demand is very limited. It would be maybe 20% or less”, Mr Marek explained. He concluded, “We don’t want to stop there. We want to continue to grow, to develop and to reach new markets. We want to bring Belgrade and Air Serbia onto the map even more, because we have now reached a certain size. We want to be the engine of the economy and growth which we already are and develop it further”.
Air Serbia had hopes to sign lease for third A330 by the end of November. What happened?
ReplyDeleteProbably they could not get a cheap enough lease rate.
DeleteIt would be great if they sign the lease by mid-December in order to put it into service by the second quarter of 2024, enabling it to launch services to Shanghai and Guangzhou.
DeleteThere is a possibility that JU may get VH-XFE.
DeletePlane has been grounded for 3 years in Perth after damaged landing gear. Landing gear suddenly changes last month and plane now at Turkish Technik. But I'm just speculating.
That would be good news, I really hope the aircraft will be ready to operate in Air Serbia fleet by February 10 when Year of the Dragon starts. Air Serbia said about a month ago that Chinese market fits in well with their strategy of addressing seasonality, as in the first quarter there is the high season during the Chinese Lunar New Year.
DeleteTwo A330s currently in the fleet took much longer to prepare before entering service.
DeleteIf they are so great why will they have minimal growth in summer?
ReplyDeleteYou don't even know what they plan for the summer.
DeleteIt doesn't matter. For him it's important to be quick to post something negative about them. He didn't even read the article where the ceo actually talks about growth.
DeleteWhen they present ambitious plans, people complain that they won't be able to handle it and that it's impending disaster and doom. When they scale back the growth a bit to stabilize operations, people complain that they aren't growing fast enough. You really can't win with the haters.
DeleteWait and see, a certain politically appointment person in JU put the breaks.
DeleteYes, I'm certain. I like how you know everything.
DeleteIn my opinión only will be between five to ten new destinations but i dont know where perhaps Dublín and Manchester because are on top of non service Direct flights
Delete"only will be between five to ten"
DeleteDo you hear yourself? "Only"5-10? Do you expect them to add 20 routes each year? Do you expect every single destination can work from Belgrade?
They cannot continur adding 20 new routes every year because in 5 years they will have number of routes like Turkish airlines 🤓
DeleteDoes that sounds reasonable?
Any idea when they might announce the new routes for next summer?
DeleteAsk Mr Marek how many dry leases are coming in 2024
DeleteHe actually mentions it in the article.
DeleteThat's an outdated statement ;)
DeleteOk, so if you know, why don't you just say it.
DeleteIt will be zero. There you go.
DeleteIf you say so
DeleteI work for JU so you will see.
DeleteOk, if you say so
DeleteYes I say so
DeleteGood for you. Perhaps go to work then?
Delete09:13 Actually 5-10 new routes are needed for further growth. But the number of aircrafts are problem, it they overcome it, routes like Shanghai, Guangzhou, Baku, Cluj-Napoca, Helsinki are likely.
Delete* is
DeleteIf they will have net income around 25 million euros , everybody in Air Serbia must be happy .
ReplyDeleteNo, they will likely have net income double that.
DeleteMuch more, given the profit in the first half of the year.
DeleteWhat is net income? There is revenue, in this case expected 500 mill, then there is profit, gross and net. Which one are you talking about?
DeleteRead the article
DeleteThe Serbian carrier generated 22.4 million euros in net profit during the first half of the year and is on course to post strong financial results for the whole of 2023, while passenger numbers are expected to reach four million this year. “We anticipate that the profit will be very high and at the moment we are operating with a double-digit profit margin”, the CEO said.
Horrible that the government took half of it, that money should have been used to finance growth. Hopefully there are going to be some changes on 18.12
Delete^ Yes because the government has given Air Serbia so little over the years hahaha. Some of you live in a parallel universe.
DeleteMy point is that there is no such thing as net income. You read the article all they long if you wish, I was giving a lesson in finances.
DeleteThe article does not mention net income it mentions REVENUE and NET PROFIT. Read again.
Delete@Anon 11:00
Delete"Net income" (or "net earnings") is synonymous with "profit" and the term absolutely does exist, even if it's not used in the article above. I don't think you're very highly qualified to give "lessons in finances" if you don't know this.
I hope the admin will delete your xenophobic comment, but in the meantime, educate yourself:
Deletehttps://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/101314/what-are-differences-between-gross-profit-and-net-income.asp
'xenophobic'?
DeleteYes he wrote that Ssrbs were stupid and backward. His comment was deleted.
DeleteDidn't expect to read anything else in the comments other than spitting, speculation, belittling...
ReplyDeleteSame
DeleteWhen Aiŕ Serbia was losing money some people were angry. Now that Air Serbia is profitable some people are angry...
DeleteNormal and that is forum for that.
DeleteInteresting to see that TIA is mainly transfer.
ReplyDeleteTIA is doing miracles regarding transfers. Mostly A319 on a route with 90% LF and more than 80% transfers.
DeleteIf JU had bigger cohones they would start Kukes
For which destinations are transfers?
DeleteI think New York leads
Delete09:23 Kukës is a ghost airfield political vanity project. No serious airline would have any business there
DeleteWell Air Serbia has great experience with ghost airfield political vanity project at KVO.
DeleteWell, they get paid for it and at least you can fly in and out of it most of the time unlike KFZ
DeleteEven Wizz failed in Kukes. JU has other markets on which it can focus.
DeleteOf course. Seasonal to Vlorë could be an option when it opens in 2025.
Delete@ 19:13
DeleteКВО је првесходно војни аеродром који ту постоји деценијама. Када је већ ту, нека буде и путнички и карго аеродром.
Wizz didn’t fail in Kukes, as everything was coved by the government, but they decided to stop it because of the winds which made it impossible to land even in the best weather. The airport is really a vanity project made in a way that you will always have tail winds.
DeleteWizz failed in Kukes because they could not stimulate enough demand to make sure flights became sustainable. for example look at how many subsidized flights out of SKP turned out to be self-sustaining. Also I think the airport lacked proper lighting which made it difficult to operate when the weather was bad.
DeleteNemjee Wizz knew very well that those flights would never be sustainable. The only reason they were flying to KFZ was a return of favor towards the government for all the good conditions they created for them in TIA. As long as things went their way in TIA, they would have continued to operate in KFZ without a problem, sustainable or not. They suspended KFZ flights immediately a couple of days after FR announced the start of operations in TIA as a sort of retaliation against the government in typical Wizz blackmail fashion
DeleteKFZ itself is less useless than a brick. Commercially it has no viability whatsoever and operation wise it is a nightmare with only one side of the runway being available for landing. Besides that the landings are visual only which means the visibility must be excellent which it usually isn't due to its location.
More useless*
DeleteImpressive result. I hope they invest that money in improving their product.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the issue with their product? Their economy product is better than Lufthansa and Austrian.
DeleteSome planes are in need of cabin retrofits badly.
DeleteStandardize cabins, refresh depilated cabins, refresh catering servings and sky bar, hire some additional staff for the call center and for customer service just a few needs to improve their product.
DeleteWhat's the point in always hiring staff when they just end up leaving?
Delete@ 09:20 Are you joking? They're not even able to offer a business class product on certain flights, not to mention the quality of the same.
Delete^ that will be changing soon
DeleteTheir cabin crew is not leaving as you seem to wish, Just FYI for example AirSrbia has hardly ever cxl flight dure to.crew shortage however if you look at the major EU airlines, they do have those daily. Also call centre is very very good, yiu get hold of someone right away. You can call KLM and wait on line for hrs. Also their product is totally fine. I was for example flying AirCanada lately ( G7 coutry) , all you get is plaaic cup or water in a tight legroom.seat. With airserbia you get much better service and very consistence service.
DeleteAnonymous10:25 Mostar is Bosnian city with Croatian, Bosniak and Serb population. A bit of education wouldn't hurt, just sayin...
DeleteJU has actually made quite a few changes with the onboard product the past several months, which was reported here. Complimentary catering returning on longer European sectors (which has since been retweeked), last week was the reintroduction of inflight entertainment on smart devices, just as examples. More changes to catering will come.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/05/air-serbia-rolls-out-complimentary.html?m=1
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/11/air-serbia-to-roll-out-onboard-streaming.html?m=1
JU crew are expected to get trained for the Embraer, as mentioned by Marek. The latest A320 wet lease was made so as to have the crew offer business class as well, unlike with previous wet leases.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/11/air-serbia-and-getjet-airlines-ink-long.html?m=1
Cabins will be standardised once they are able to do so, which is what Marek again recently mentioned. All airlines and not just JU are having alot of issues with maintenance and cabin refitting.
https://simpleflying.com/united-airlines-narrowbody-retrofit-plan-supply-chain-delays/
Flew LCA-BEG today (126 passengers, A319). Cabin was nice, tidy, comfortable and clean. Purser and the pilot were phenomenal but the cabin crew was trash. Pilot was a younger guy and his piloting skills were very elegant, from take off to landing. He made two announcements in a very calm and soothing tone. During disembarking he stood at the cockpit door and was saying goodbye to passengers. Very nice touch.
DeleteOne of the two cabin crew should be fired right away. Not only was she not smiling, she was rude and couldn't be bothered to do anything. During boarding she was as useless as a corpse while her colleague bent over backwards trying to arrange all the bags in the overhead compartments. Heck even the purser started moving bags around to speed up the process. Then while they were going around with BoB, one passenger tried to get into his seat. She was standing with the cart right next to his row and didn't bother to move. I think he pushed her a bit so she turned and somewhat yelled 'I'm standing here.'
Extremely unprofessional, rude and impolite. She was like that the whole flight. Even during service she was speaking in a very hostile tone and it didn't help that several times when passengers asked for something they didn't have it. I won't even speak of the fact that they never have change. Uniform looked very nice on her as she looked somewhat like a model though I was surprised she didn't wear the Pirot carpet belt (or whatever you call it).
There was no IFE onboard though it wasn't the end of the world on this 2 hour flight. We got a sandwich, a small bottle of water and they finally introduce wet wipes.
I guess we can say that Air Serbia offers a relatively decent product now and that they are definitely not worse than Air France, KLM, LOT... while they are better than LH Group, Iberia, SAS etc.
Flying with JU is generally a pleasant enough experience.
p.s. I turned on the wifi but there was no option to connect to their IFE. I guess it's still not ready. Hopefully now that they are flirting with embracing Serbian culture they might discover the charms of using Cyrillic.
The IFE is at the moment only available on 2 x A320's (YU-APO, YU-APS) and 1 x ATR (YU-ALW). No other aircraft have the boxes fitted with IFE for now probably as it is on trial phase with passengers.
DeleteSo new routes for 2024 will be - Shanghai and Guangzhou, two Romanian additions and MAYBE Manchester/Dublin.
ReplyDeletePlus increase of frequencies.
I mean...not bad...
Our problem is that JU "spoiled" us with 20+ new routes for 2022 and 2023 and WE WANT MORE 🤓
And either Graz or Maribor
DeleteMostar is highly likely. Airport is ready to give them subsidies and discounts. It just depends if JU has the planes.
DeleteOMO should give them at least the amount OU received.
Delete"At least"?
DeleteWhy should they? Mostar is a Croatian city, hard core, no way they will treat JU the way they do OU. Which planet are you from?
DeleteTheir CEO said that they are close to making deal and that they will give them favorable conditions.
Delete@ anon 9:25
DeleteAnother way to look at things would be that JU will spoil us with nice frequency increases. Still, roughly 9-10 routes will most likely launch next year, which is the norm at JU.
Why should they?
DeleteDue to the simple reason that OMO needs JU and not vice versa.
Air Serbia can offer from OMO via BEG 59 (with TLV 60) international routes while Croatia can offer from OMO via ZAG tiny 12 routes.
And I think I was wrong here. For that what they are offering Air Serbia should ask for double more money than Croatia is getting from OMO.
Air Serbia flies from Belgrade to 78 destinations, so they can offer 78 connection, not only 59.
Delete@10:25 I dont know from which planet he is but i certanly know that you are not from this planet. Mostar is in BiH not in Croatia, so reeducate yourself before haiting others next time.
DeleteAt this moment, during the winter it is 59 destinations from BEG.
DeleteCongratulations
ReplyDeleteConsidering how expensive their fares are, I’m really not surprised.
ReplyDeleteTrue. I recently saw a graph on where ticket prices have increased the most on average this year in Europe, and Serbia is number 1.
DeleteI guess it’s demand/supply game
DeleteAh long gone are the days of 2013 and 2014 when they dumped prices and you could score amazing fares. But still I am happy with how Air Serbia has developed over the past 10 years. If someone in 2013 showed me what Air Serbia would be like in 2023 and this was it, I would be very happy.
DeletePrice dumping was strategic. The idea was to get people flying with the newly branded airline which was unknown to people.
DeleteThey had great fares for black Friday sale. I bought three return tickets.
DeleteI am really proud of JU. They’ve come a long way!
ReplyDeleteYeah and all of this they done it by themselves not accepting any help!!
DeleteIt would be interesting to see which route makes them the most money.
ReplyDeleteIn 2021 Montenegro was their highest yielding market. Not sure about last year.
DeleteThey waste much less money than some other carriers and at least they have a decent network
ReplyDeleteThey are on the right path. I expect more exciting things from them next year.
ReplyDeleteSurprising. Did not expect them to have such a big revenue margin.
ReplyDeleteCongrats. I hope for further positive developments.
ReplyDeleteNot too bad results at all for an airline of this size, hoping to see more invested in the branding and business product even for 2 hour flights. The Embraers will help them with their operations for sure.
ReplyDeleteAlso will see how they perform in Varna next summer. TK has already "responded" by deploying planes on the same dates and hours with early morning departures from VAR. There will be only a 30min difference in the departures. If they had more planes, it should go daily similar to SOF and extended in winter. Varna already has 13 destinations to 9 countries this winter, being a more beach and summer destination and slowly heading towards 2 million passengers, so there is definitely room for JU as they currently offer much better prices and transfer times via BEG compared to TK and OS. Plus, LH will adding MUC (operated by Discover) in addition to FRA, but at least JU offers good connections to Scandinavia and even Spain. Unfortunately, not much info about LF and route performance by Fraport, but the route needs to mature and glad it will be its second year. They need to put an advertisment like they do on the Bulgarian radio and promote it from Varna, because it is more known in Sofia.
Good job. Let's see if they increase salaries for their employees or if they give a bonus crew like they did in some other airlines when they reported reord financial results.
ReplyDeleteDon't count on it lol
DeleteRecord financial results don’t mean bonuses and free money for everyone. Considering the last couple of years were a struggle they are probably going to just reinvest in what is lacking operationally. The airlines handing out bonuses are the same ones that got billions in state aid - not 20 million in subsidies…
DeleteNot for everyone of course, but record financial results should always mean bonuses for employees.
DeleteExceptional result
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, especially concerning time performance and # of delayed / lost luggage
Deletein H1 2023.
Regardless of your bitterness, it does not seem to have dented their profit or the number of people booking flights with them based on the record revenue.
DeleteI'm a fan of JU but how can you say that it hasn't dented their profit? How would you know that? And if their profit was therefore reduced for example from 55 to 50 million, is that not a dent to you?
DeleteI hope they are smart to invest around 4-5 mil. Euros into increasing wages for 10% across the board. This should be a top priority in managing the remaining 2023 profit of 30 mil. Euros (approximate figure but realistic based on the article). Next 15 mil. should be used for new hires, aircraft leases and improving the onboard product (cabin reconfiguration not included - will have to wait for better times). The Government should not take more that 10 mil. $ from the second part of 2023 profits. Anything else would just reduce their chances to compete and develop in the next year.
DeleteThis will position them among 20 biggest companies in Serbia. Truly impressive what they have done in just 2 years!
ReplyDeleteThe thing is how much money they got from the Serbian government in order to be “profitable”…
ReplyDeleteThey got 0 (with letters: ZERO) dinars from the government this year. BUT they paid the government 22 million euros.
DeleteI love how some people think that an airline that has managed to cut its costs by 30%, is flying extremely profitable flights to Russia, generated half a BILLION euros in revenue is only posting a profit thanks to the government. It just seems some people here can't deal with the fact that they may actually doing well financially.
DeleteOU getting money, hundreds of millions of Euros. AS success is painful for someone.
DeleteJasmineeeeeee!!! Dobar dan! Kako je, sa'ima? Pije li se kahva? Cita li se kako kompanije iz regije posluju?
ReplyDeleteNemoj bolan, ponedeljak je, težak dan. Od sutra, 'leba ti.
DeleteBas htedoh da pitam, gde je ovaj sto zove Jasmina svaki put, kad god je neka dobra vest vezano za AS.. A nikako da shvati, da OU nikad nece biti uporediv sa AS, nikad. Jat je bio u Beogradu, nikad Zagrebu, kao sedistu kompanije. Wizzair je u vlasnistvu americkih para, koji su samo tamo registrovali firmu u Madjarskoj i nije nacionalna kompanija, nije cak ni legacy carrier, vec low cost. Eto Madjari, koji su super sila u turizmu, pa nemaju nacionalnu kompaniju. Ja bi na mestu susjeda, bio presrecan i tim sto imam, zato mislim da je OU neverovatno dobra kompanija, koja uspeva da se izbori sa desetinama drugih kompanija.
DeleteBravo Anon 16:32
DeleteRecenica "Gde je ovaj sto zove Jasmina svaki put" pokazuje samo stupanj Vase kulture. A kao odgovor na Vas post, reci cu samo jedno : Hrvatska 11 milijuna putnika, Srbija 7. Hrvatska EU, Eurozona, Sengen, Srbija ne. Zao mi je sto Vas to boli i sto svoje komplekse lijecite na meni. Ali bez obzira na Vasu drskost i primitivizam, iskreno se veselim uspjehu Air Serbie.
Deletehrvatska: EU, Eurozona, Šengen. Pa gde je onda problem? Šta ne valja?
DeleteUK: non EU, non Eurozona, non Šengen. Gde bi Englezima bio kraj da im je hrvatska pamet? Verovatno u Vrankvurtu ili Minkenu.
Pozdrav je lepo napisao... Malo vise medjusobnog postovanja nije na odmet. Poredjenje sa Hrvatskom u godisnjem BDP-u, i svemu ostalom navedenom ne ide nam na ruku. Rad, znoj, krv i suze, i bice bolje.
DeleteStruktura avio putnika u Hrvatskoj je 80% stranci - vrlo jednostavno, ne mozete kontrolirati pax flow sa 100 destinacija ka Hrvatskoj a u slucaju Srbije 80% putnika domaci i JU vrlo ljepo kontrolira i usmjerava putnike (primarno etnika -gasterbajteri, zatim sve vise izvozni turizam kao i u porastu dolazni turizam)...to je ta razlika i ne moze se usporedjivati. Pozdrav svima
DeleteEU, Sengen, BDP, euro - dobre teme ali ne ovde, ovaj portal se bavi avio temama.
DeleteAir Serbia ima preko 40% transfernih putnika. Mnogi gastarbajteri imaju strano drzavljanstvo gde dvojno nije dozvoljeno, tako da vise nije istina da su 80% putnika u Srbiji domaci.
@00.20
DeleteSvi oni koji redovito prate ovaj blog, znaju da sam ovdje ne zbog politike nego zbog avijacije, prije svega zbog zestoke kritike hrvatskog drzavnog avioprijevoznika. Ali isto tako, ako je netko bezobrazan prema meni, a taj bezobrazluk je uvjetovan upravo politikom, propagandom i ideologijom, smatram da na to imam pravo adekvatno odgovoriti.
Ali je i on tebi odgovorio da se sve pusis!
DeleteLOL
DeleteSounds good to me
ReplyDelete“We don’t want to stop there. We want to continue to grow, to develop and to reach new markets. We want to bring Belgrade and Air Serbia onto the map even more, because we have now reached a certain size. We want to be the engine of the economy and growth which we already are and develop it further”.
Great work! Hope they improve the fleet situation though. Need consistency with the cabins and product too. It’s important that they invest their revenues and continue to move forward.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what ist the reason why YU APF and APE are being held in Naples for two months?
ReplyDeleteAre they returning to JU's fleet?Or are being send back to their owners?
Based on their age, both would be due for HMV (D check), but I don't know what JU plans with the two birds going forward. However, just parking them would be cheaper in Belgrade, so I presume work is ongoing — however, HMV might just as well be part of the leasing contract as part of the end-of-lease works/requirements.
DeleteIf Air Serbia had 100M in revenue from Cargo and other non-passenger sources, with 4M pax for 400M pax revenue it means revenue per passenger is 100EUR. Not too bad.
ReplyDeleteTo nemjee, mogli bi i da napisete, koliko je pilota otislo iz AS u zadnje vremena..
ReplyDeleteHvala
What are you talking about?
DeleteLets hope Air Serbia stay away from VH-XFE. Having been an licensed aircraft engineer for over 20 years in Australia now a senior manager in engineering and lessor inspector this aircraft is plagued with issues and problems!!! The shortening mechanism sheared upon landing and was stuck in Perth due no hangar. The appropriate parking checks/inspections barely completed at best!!! This aircraft would pose more of a danger long tern to Air Serbia than improve. Hope this does not eventuate as a proud Serbian /Australian, Id like to see Air Serbia succeed.
ReplyDeleteGuys, recipe of their success is simple. You can guess it by looking at dates of their increasing revenue. It all started in March 2022. Rings a bell? Just one of a few remaining airlines still flying from one big Russia. With nice connections to rest of Europe and even NYC
ReplyDeleteNot diminishing their efforts, of course. They got a chance and they used it fully, congrats.