The Cuban Ambassador to Serbia, Leyde Ernesto Rodriguez Hernandez, held talks with Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, last week during which the two discussed the possibility of introducing charter services between Belgrade and Havana. Cuban authorities have expressed their readiness to facilitate the launch of flights between the two countries. Although Air Serbia contemplated operating leisure flights to Havana during the 2022/23 winter season, it ultimately decided against it, attributing the decision to tour operators whom they believe have not done enough to secure adequate demand. “The issue of seasonality with the growth of the long-haul fleet is getting less and less problematic. We are definitely looking into the leisure winter destinations but rather at some niche because everybody is putting capacity into Bangkok Suvarnabhumi”, Mr Marek said last summer.
Commenting on last week’s talks, the Cuban Embassy said, “The Cuban Ambassador conveyed the interest of the Cuban authorities in signing an Air Transport Agreement with Serbia, and, at the same time, received an update on tourism flow from Serbia to Cuba and the efforts made by local tour operators and travel agents. However, the outcomes of these efforts are still below Air Serbia's expectations for initiating nonstop flights to Cuba”. It added, “Both parties have reached an agreement to uphold ongoing communication regarding shared interests, particularly emphasising the necessity of establishing the required infrastructure for potential nonstop flights between Belgrade and Havana. The Cuban Ambassador to Serbia urges Serbian travel agencies and tour operators to collaborate in ensuring the necessary capacities for the launch of a direct Belgrade - Havana service. This aligns with the growing demand from both Serbian and Cuban communities for travel in both directions, including Cubans residing in Serbia”.
Based on data from global travel provider OAG, cities that could be considered as leisure destinations with strong demand from Belgrade include Bangkok, Pattaya, Denpasar (Bali), Male (Maldives), Havana, Colombo, Seychelles, Zanzibar, Mauritius, Cancun and Varadero in Cuba. “In the past, we were looking at Mombasa or Zanzibar and some other options, but this will always be in synergy between us and the tour operators”, Mr Marek noted last year. While there is growing demand for leisure travel from Serbia to Cuba, there is also a growing Cuban community in Serbia. Last year, Serbia introduced visas for Cuban nationals for the first time, in an attempt to stem the flow of migration. Over the coming six months, Air Serbia is to take delivery of two Airbus A330-200 aircraft, doubling its wide-body fleet.
I do not understand what exactly tour operators can do to generate demand
ReplyDeleteSomething like this requires some planning to give time for the tour operators to prepare the product and enable the people to purchase in advance.
DeleteMore like a travel package, the product is Cuba.
DeleteAre you serious? JU obviously wants tour ops to buy larger guarantee contingent on the JU flights to VRA or HAV so mitigating financial risks for JU on such route. But then the risks would lie with TOs - not sure how much guarantee JU is looking for.
DeleteWow finally leisure long haul charters!!!!
ReplyDeleteWell JU doesn't seem too convinced about Havana in the text :D
DeleteAccording to my observation, the Serbian tour operators are sleeping. Look, all our neighbors have distant charters, I'm talking specifically about Romania for example, Zanzibar, Kenya, Maldives, Oman...
DeleteI saw a charter the other day from Brno to Zanzibar on B787.
DeleteYes, Czechia had a lot of leisure flights this year. Including to Cuba. They had Havana and Santa Clara from Prague.
DeleteYes. Also Bratislava, World2fly with A350 to Cuba.
DeleteCould be Air Serbia worried if a customer goes to Cuba it make them more difficult to sell US flights too under the current rules and how the US have designated Cuba currently!
DeleteYeah sure. Also Air Europa, Air France, Aeromexico, Air Transat, American Airlines, Condor, Delta, Iberia, Turkish, United, LATAM that fly to Havana with scheduled flights are all worried. The things you read here.
DeleteNo charter, people don't use agencies that much any more..This is thinking from 20th century..Only scheduled flights..
DeleteVisnja je po obicaju na drogama. Split je jaci od Zagreba zahvaljujuci charterima.
DeleteMan, with charters you cut out more than half of potentional pax, in the best case
DeleteMale, Punta Cana, Phuket, Varadero or Havana, Zanzibar!
ReplyDeleteMaybe they should start with an A320 charter to SLL for a few weeks next winter and see how that performs from BEG. Costs would be significantly lower than immediately starting this type of ops long haul using a widebody + so many crew on an A330.
DeleteWell over winter QR's 3 weekly evening flights from BEG were filled with people going to Maldives, Thailand and Zanzibar. It was the reason the night flights were introduced over winter.
ReplyDeleteIt's time for direct flights.
DeleteDirect flights off course..You can just compare how many visas are issued for Thailand, for instance, in consulates of Belgrade and Zagreb, and how many tourists went there with agencies..I'm in Thailand every winter, on my own plans off course, and I meet many people from our region..In Bangkok you can hear our language all the time, slovenian as well a lot..And when we start conversation, some of them came with agency, but more of them are independant travelers..Certain destinations are more agency oriented , like Greece and Tanzania ( Zanzibar) but others are not
DeleteI always thought it was spelled 'of' course.
DeleteOff course not
DeleteAhahshshshs
DeleteCan't wait for leisure destinations
ReplyDeleteImagine seeing Havana on the departure screen at BEG. :D
DeleteWould be nice.
DeleteWith the number of Cubans who now work in Serbia (many of them moved from Russia to Serbia), these flights could actually work for a mix of tourism and economic migrants
ReplyDeleteAny idea how many Cubans live in Serbia?
DeletePermanently, a few hundred, maybe 5k with temporary residents
DeleteToronto during summer period and Havana in the winter
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey will start Havana before Toronto. Air Serbia will do anything not to start Toronto lol
Delete10:03
DeleteThese flights will have mostly Russian pax so Toronto makes no sense.
^ Have you even read the article? Obviously not.
DeleteWould be great to have this route for both local tourists and increasing number of Cuban citizens living in Serbia
ReplyDeleteIndians, Russians, Ukrainians, Cubans, Chinese slowly people Serbia is not France to warrant so much ethnic traffic
DeleteMulticulturism is our strength!
DeleteAnon@09:13
DeleteWhat does, Chinese slowly people Serbia, mean?
Wouldn't Miami and Havana be too much?
ReplyDeleteNot😁
DeleteOnce they have more 330s then maybe they will consider winter long haul charters.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible to see Phuket or Cuba in the winter, I think they will have enough free capacity.
DeleteI expect:
DeleteMonday: Cuba
Tuesday: Zanzibar
Wednesday: Phuket
Thursday: Maldives
Friday: Dominicana
Saturday: Seychelles
Sunday: Mautitsius
Two of widebodies may be utilised for regular winter schedule and fourth may go to maintenance or some European destinations with high demand
The same crew can't fly out and back. Would one set of crew stay in a hotel in each of those locations for a week until it's time to fly back? How much crew would Air Serbia need to recruit in that case? And how much would their hotels and expenses be? A fortune! No way that it would be economical.
DeleteOk, so how’s done at Tianjin? Also one flight per week? And how’s done by other airlines??? Not everyone has everyday flights to same longhaul destination
DeleteThe plane is at Tianjin Airport for 24 hours so crew can get minimum rest and do the return flight the next day.
DeleteYet they stay whole week in China.
DeleteNo, they do not. As of the summer season, the plane stays for 24 hours and then returns with the same crew. It only happened in winter for a few weeks that crew stayed the whole week because they initially had a second weekly flight but removed it from February and could not change the schedules anymore.
Delete"And how’s done by other airlines???"
DeleteIt's different from case to case. On occasion, there will be airlines who keep crew in a hotel for a week, even though it is expensive and inefficient. But that's on one route. To have an aircraft with seven long-haul routes, each flown once per week is, I dare say, impossible.
I flew Finnair HEL-SGN once, which they did only twice a week. I asked the cabin crew about it and they flew as passengers on some other airline to BKK and worked on a flight back from there (where Finnair flew 12 times weekly at that time). So I guess it depends in if the airline has any other route to another nearby destination and how good the transport links are between the two.
Crews are using DEADHEAD trip options either on same airline or other airlines, who would pay 7 days pay times 12 or 15 crew members and hotel accommodation? That would be insane expense...
DeleteThe Cuban side seems very keen
ReplyDeleteVery much unexpected
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mfa.gov.rs/lat/gradjani/putovanje-u-inostranstvo/vize-i-informacije-o-drzavama/kuba
ReplyDeleteSerbian citizens need a visa to enter Cuba. When Serbia introduced visas for Cuban citizens, Cuba responded and, as a reciprocity measure, introduced visas for Serbian citizens. With that in mind, the success of these potential flights decreases.
It is a complete formality. You fill out this questionnaire and get the visa immediately on the spot.
Deletehttps://misiones.cubaminrex.cu/sites/default/files/formularios/admin/formular_za_vizu.pdf
However, I just had friends to went to Cuba without a visa and no one asked them a thing.
* who went
DeleteEvery tourist gets an instant visa on arrival in Cuba. The only difference is that those that don’t require visas, dont get photo taken at the entry.
DeleteNice, hope it happens.
ReplyDeleteSerbia don't have enough demand for such flights.
ReplyDeleteBased on what?
DeleteThose destinations and Miami are aimed primarily at the Russians.
Delete^ Yeah I'm sure you know. There was record number of Serbian passport holders traveling to Thailand in the last six months based on Thai statistics. Same with Maldives. Must be Russians.
DeleteDon't worry. There always must be some alternative explanation. Remember when we were told flights to China were for construction workers? I can't remember what was the explanation for New York (besides that it will never launch).
DeleteLol. They pay Serbs to fly to Thailand, Maldives, Cuba, Miami. Some people here really don't know where they are.
Delete+1 last anon
DeleteWould be cool to see Air Serbia in Havana, Bangkok or Phuket
ReplyDeleteThis would be smart
ReplyDeleteOne of several missed opportunities in terms of long haul expansion. Hope it happens this time around.
ReplyDeleteNot gonna happen, it's too adventurous for JU.
ReplyDeleteJU has become quite adventurous in recent years.
DeleteThere was actually talk of Havana charters as long as 10 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThey mention Mombasa. What is the demand for there?
ReplyDeleteIndian Ocean.
DeleteWould be nice to see Havana or Varadero
ReplyDeletePerfect for Seasonal winter route
ReplyDeleteCharter, definitely not scheduled
DeleteDo you know how many Cubans live in Serbia? How many Russians go to Cuba, as indipendent travelers, like most other European nations these days, Serbians as well..Concentrate only on tour operators and not consider all the rest would be huge mistake
DeleteThey have been talking about long haul charters since 2016.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteBoth JU and tour operators need to work more and closer together to make this happen.
ReplyDeleteIn the last few years, there are really many great vacation destinations from Serbia. When I just remember that during communism we were condemned to the Croatian coast, it seems unbelievable to me.
ReplyDeleteIt kinds of shows that you never lived in that era. Aviogenex had numerous charters to Spanish coast. I myself flew with JAT to Spain to go on holiday. Not to mention there were charters to Tenerife as well. JAT AIrlift tour operator sold tour packages to Egypt, Tunisia, Spain, France, Italy, Jordan... It also sold tours to far away destinations (Cuba included!) Yugotours was one of Europe's biggest tour operators at the time. JAT organized several "Around the world" flights where you would get several days at each destination across the world before continuing your flight. So educate yourseld before you attempt a cheap nationalistic shot.
DeleteIf you are from Serbia, go to the national library. You will be able to find Air Lift and Yugotours prospects. You will be surprised by all the distant and exotic places one could travel to.
DeleteWhat Cuba are they dreaming of?! Their operations are collapsing today with 5+ flights already cancelled!!! Anyone know what's going on?!
ReplyDeleteThey are not dreaming of anything. read the article.
Delete@14:31
DeleteI see that JU 600 (ZAG), JU 178 (Sochi), JU 140 (BUD), JU 620 (LJU) were cancelled plus their return flights. Any info as to why?
Several ATRs broke down and they can't fix them in time. We got a notification in ops that JU will keep two A319 as backup this summer. Unfortunately that is still not helping the overall state. I really hope the government brings new management.
DeleteThe situation at 16.16 is as following:
YU-ASD Broke down today so TIA was delayed
YU-ALZ Broke down this morning after ZAG
YU-ALY Broke down March 31st after LJU
JU-ALW Went to SOF on March 8th and has not returned since
YU-APA hasn't flown since March 20
YU-APO hasn't flown since March 30
So a total of 6 planes had problems or did not fly today. How crazy that Marek cancelled the lease for YU-APG because he said JU did not need another A320. lol
Crazy times you guys.
"What is going on?" ...that is a good one! Well summer timetable started and automatically JU fiasco scheduling and delays along it. Nothing new, nothing not previously seen!
DeleteBravo JU
DeleteAER was cancelled due to weather (fog). Alot of cancellations and delays in AER the past 24h.
DeleteCall me crazy but the series of unfortunate events keeps happening to Air Serbia. Try announcing Toronto as a new destination to see if it helps.
DeleteSo what did the management do the past year if we are back to where we were last summer? This is absolutely unacceptable! Time for the government to take a closer look at what is going on at JU!
DeleteWizz Air is doing quite well in BEG now so if Marek wants JU to be Wizzier than Wizz he needs to make sure on time performance is better than this.
DeleteYes at +40 million euro annual profit the government must be furious. Some of you are completely detached from reality.
DeleteJU is doing well because the Serbian economy does well, not because its management is super smart. If they were smarter then their marketshare wouldn't be barely 50%. Goes to show that every second passenger is choosing to fly with their competition. Ouch.
DeleteGoes to show you know little about aviation if you expect an airline in a market that doesn't need to pay other airlines to fly there to have over 50% market share. Also shows you know little considering its market share has increased by almost 7 points since 2016. I won't even comment about your strong Serbian economy statement.
DeleteAnon 18:32 Government is not happy with delays. Vucic recently said Air Serbia needs more stability rather than expansion. Look it up.
DeleteRight, I guess Marek and his team know so much and that is why their operations started collapsing from the first day of summer. Like I said, their profit is because of strong local demand and more and more passengers being able to afford more expensive tickets.
DeleteNow that Air Bucharest went bankrupt, maybe JU can consider getting their planes and organise winter leisure charters.
ReplyDeleteIt only has a Boeing 737-300 left.
DeleteMislim, da je charter na 7 ili 10 dana, na početku, najbolja opcija za Havanu. Agencije bi trebalo da imaju ponudu već od juna.
ReplyDeleteMislim da počnu da prodaju aranžmane u junu za zimsku sezonu.
DeleteWell, the Cuba you are all talking about is a myth. The resort hotels are crumbling, food and service is at the lowest level of all Caribbean destinations. Resort towns like Varadero are ghost towns. Havana is very uncomfortable city for tourists. Yes the beaches, the people are amazing. But it is a very low standard. And Cubans are saying the everyone is leaving. It is really going downhill. As a Canadian, I go there every year for few days because it is the cheapest. 3 days at the beach with a book is ok and tolerable. But believe me, Paralia in Greece is more interesting than Cuba.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThere are lots of unrest lately in Cuba as the economic situation is the worst in decades with power cuts and shortages of almost all products including food.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/18/cuba-hundreds-protest-long-blackouts-tight-economy
And Canadians still dare to go Cuba because their economy is going downhill as well so many other destinations are price prohibitive for Canadians.
DeleteSo it is law of “spojenih sudova” where everything is interconnected.
I think this is all just talk and nothing based in reality.
The priority is to get planes for short haul destinations otherwise it will be some problems in the summer.
^ such an ignorant comment. Just look at how many European carriers fly to Cuba.
DeleteAlso JU did not say it would bd launching flights to Cuba. If you read the article, it says they held talks with the ambassador but ruled out flights until tour operators do more to secure demand
Having just arrived from Cayo Coco where about 100 of us Serbians from Toronto area came for March Break and having went over there for 20 times in the last 15 years, I kind of have to agree with the original post. I don't care much as I go there because of the beaches and worm weather but this time around decline is very very noticeable. I think the biggest problem is that a lot of people left through Guatemala and Mexico, sold their houses and left. I hope something changes but I am afraid this might be for good.
DeleteThe point is that Cuba right now is cheap destination. It is ok for us Canadians to spend few hundred $ for flight and hotel. But for tourist from
Deleteups, not sure what happened. For tourist from Serbia the cost will be higher. So you are looking at someone who has more financial resources. Well that type of tourist expects more. So you can trick him once to go to Cuba but not the second time. Long term is just not feasible. So it is not just about the JU and sending the wide body aircraft to long haul.
DeleteWould it not make sense to start with 2 weekly flights, one to Havana, the other to Varadero to test demand? From Vancouver, we only have flights to Varadero, none to Havana (no demand). Agree that Cuba is currenly hurting a lot in economy, hence the authorities trying to find anyone who would come in to be able to help in tourism.
ReplyDeleteHard to count on passengers from Slovenia and Croatia as US visa free countries loose the visa free access to the USA if visit Cuba.
ReplyDeleteAmerican arrogance and pettiness.
DeleteState subsidized deisure services! Who said socialism was dead :)
ReplyDeleteJU needs to be privatized asap
leisure*
DeleteI was hoping since the first announcement for it.
ReplyDeleteI would be definetely on the first flight.
I think it is a mistake not to do it.
Met always a lot of >Serbs in Cuba who would love to have this option.