Air Serbia has said it will utilise the quieter 2024 summer season to prepare for wider scale growth in 2025. Speaking at the South East Europe Aviation Summit in Belgrade last week, the carrier’s CEO, Jiri Marek, noted, “Despite 2023 being one of the most successful years for us, as we broke records and had the highest profitability, it was also an extremely challenging year operationally and that is the reason why this year we are focusing more on stability because we realise that despite being able to grow, we are very much dependent on the supply chain and not everyone can cope with our growth at the same pace. We had to take a lot of measures and we will be taking a lot of measures to make sure that this year we will get ready for another round of growth next year”.
The airline is planning to have spare capacity this summer to avoid operational issues it faced during the peak of the 2023 travel season, which led to delays and flight cancellation and ultimately resulted in the carrier rationalising its schedule. “You cannot prepare for all the challenges that may arise, but for the majority of them you can. For the upcoming peak season, we have planned many buffers because of the supply chain issues. What is visible to the public is just a piece of the iceberg. Things that used to last weeks now take months, and sometimes even a year. This year we have planned sufficient spare capacity to overcome any operational issues. On the other hand, that comes at a cost, which means we will have to work much harder to keep the profitability intact”, Mr Marek said.
As previously reported, the CEO noted that the airline will announce new routes only once all the planned additional capacity is delivered to the carrier. The airline plans to commence flights to Shanghai this November or December, with services to Guangzhou also a possibility, while operations to Miami are planned to launch next year. “We are currently awaiting the arrival of two wide-body aircraft. Their delivery depends very much on the maintenance side, so we expect the first one to arrive at the end of July or the beginning of August, and only after that will we announce the launch dates [for new routes]”, Mr Marek concluded.
Every time they launched new long haul flights it was accompanied by substantial short haul expansion. I expect the same will be the case this time around.
ReplyDeleteTrue. What short aul routes could be added? Considering the ATR fleet expansion, I'm guessing addition regionl destinations.
DeleteCluj, Iasi, Košice... Timisoara and Osijek could be interesting too.
DeleteBEG-OSI? How long would that flight take 15 minutes?
DeleteThey should consider Debrecen. It can work quite nicely for them.
DeleteOf course that OSI would be such a nonsense.
DeleteIf they want to open something new in ex Yu it should be BWK and in wider region CLJ.
They should not focus on ex-YU, there are much better markets out there that can be served by the ATR. First thing first is Cluj.
DeleteYes they need open Bwk
DeleteTuzla would have more sense than Osijek. It takes more than 3,5 hours by car plus border check which may take few hours sometimes
DeleteWhy should they launch BWK when they have a relatively weak presence in ZAD and SPU? SPU won't be daily this summer.
DeleteI think they will look into Poland more. They mentioned even Warsaw as a possibility down the line. Also likely more destinations in Central Europe.
Deleteincrease freq, or adjust times on current regional for better connection time. SKP to USA via BEG connection times are so bad, 6 to 9 hours. 2-3 hours are great connection times, anything above is too much.
DeleteOpening exYu destinations is probably the strategy in line with flights to China - B&R program will increase China investment in the region and get there easier than flying to a nearby airport using W6/FR/etc to get there. If there is sufficient demand of course.
DeleteOtherwise, east European destinations are lacking, outside of the monopoly held by LH Group to a lot of these cities like Cluj, Constanta (in summer), and maybe an expansion to something a bit more unusual like the Canary Islands.
I'll say that when they introduce BEG-Dublin
DeleteBravo JU!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a remarkable result all together... I'm a bit cautious with big expansions and corresponding organizational growth or the lack there of. Big changes are big challenges for an organization.
DeleteSupply chain issues are no longer a problem since global aviation is entering a slowing down period. Just yesterday American Airlines announced several cuts to Europe in winter, Delta did the same about a week ago.
ReplyDeleteAirlines are scaling back their flying as horrible Q1 numbers start rolling out. All this is putting less pressure on supply chain issues.
Problem at JU are relatively bad working conditions so many people have left. Marek primarily struggles to find people who are willing to work there. That is why there are so many delays all around. When he cleans his house it will be much easier to take it from there. I mean they increased salaries for pilots by 25% and many still left.
Supply chain issues are definitely not "no longer a problem". Huge backlogs in every single sector, lack of spare parts, lack of manpower at almost all global suppliers.
DeleteThese are the AA cuts:
DeleteORD-CDG becomes summer seasonal, winter flights are cut.
DFW-DUB becomes summer seasonal, winter flights are cut.
DFW-FCO becomes summer seasonal, winter flights are cut.
JFK-BCN becomes summer seasonal, winter flights are cut.
JFK-MXP becomes summer seasonal, winter flights are cut.
PHL-FCO becomes summer seasonal, winter flights are cut.
PHL-ZRH becomes summer seasonal, winter flights are cut.
Supply chain issues are no longer a problem because supply times have become long but have also become predictable. You can now plan around those deadlines. To do that you need good planning which JU doesn't have.
DeleteSupply chain strains set to weigh on aviation industry bounce-back'
DeleteFebruary 23, 2024
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/supply-chain-strains-set-weigh-aviation-industry-bounce-back-2024-02-23/
DL cuts this winter:
DeleteATL-BCN from 7 to 5
ATL-DUB suspended in January and February
ATL-MAD reduced from 7 to 5, from January goes to 3
ATL-MXP reduced from 7 to 5, suspended January to March
ATL-MUC reduced from 7 to 5 January to March
BOS-LIS suspended
LAX-CDG reduced from 7 to 4
MSP-CDG reduced from 7 to 4 January to March
JFK-BCN reduced from 7 to 4 January to March
JFK-BRU terminated
JFK-FCO Reduced from 14 to 7 January to March
JFK-ZRH reduced from 7 to 5 January to March
SLC-CDG reduced from 7 to 5 January to March
ATL-FCO reduced from 10 to 7 January to March
ATL-STR cancelled
BOS-FCO reduced from 7 to 4, cancelled January to March
JFK-ATH terminated from January to March
JFK-EDI reduced from 7 to 4, cancelled January to March
JFK-GVA becomes summer seasonal, winter flights are cut.
JFK-MXP reduced from 14 to 10
JFK-VCE reduced from 7 to 5, cancelled January to March
SLC-LHR reduced from 7 to 5
Lots of cuts this winter from both American Airlines and Delta.
Lot of Airline Tycoons here. Same as analiticar
DeleteAren't you the same as them since you claim to know best?
DeleteAmerican is scaling back long distance flying because of delayed 787 deliveries by Boeing.
Delete@ 9:27
DeleteNo, just sincere aviation enthusiasts, who often know more, are smarter, and have better arguments than airline CEOs, who are more often than not blinded by greed or simply incompetent.
supply chain is still an issue, but other people not considering the issue of delayed delivery of aircraft. Boeing is having a bad year and slowed production so new long haul airciraft are delayed and this affects the plans of airlines. The 787-X should have been certified already and started deliveries now airlines need to change their plans.
DeleteBoeing issues are effecting Ryanair also since their going to get less new aircraft than they expected and planned for.
As for JU they really need to establish their own MRO so they aren't at the mercy of other businesses and at the back of the line to get important work done. Yes it will be very expensive and take a lot out of their profits, but it'll be worth in as an investment for growth
AA is scaling back because of soft demand to Europe. They are growing to Latin America. US GDP in Q1 was not the best, inflation is still a problem so many can't afford to travel to Europe like they did after covid.
DeleteDelta doesn't have B787s but they are also cutting. I expect UA to follow them.
This guy has no odea what he is talking about. Huge cuts everywhere due to supply and maintenance issue. Aircraft protection is on major backlog and it is getting worse. JU has decent work conditions and much better then LH or BA for example. All north American airlines are experiencing huge Aircraft delays. Stop posting something that you do not understand and trying to blame JU as you hate their progress and success.
DeleteNope, you are the one who has no clue. It's the economy.
DeleteMany airlines announced catastrophic Q1 results. Why? Well because there is stagflation so a combination of inflation and economic stagnation in Europe and the US. Just look at the cuts in the US domestic market which was always a solid performer.
Same in Europe. Since Ukraine started it was becoming more difficult to keep economic growth without which there is no room for growth in aviation.
Covid era savings are gone and reality is kicking in now.
JU struggles with employees. If they are so great to work for then why did all those pilots leave? Why aren't they scheduling YU-ASF to fly before June?
Either you are clueless or you are one of the decisionmakers at JU who is trying to defend his position. It's time you face the music.
JU might be successful but Marek's strategy of wet leases could have cost us 100+ lives some months ago. Outsourcing 30% of your fleet turned out to be a mistake. Will he be held responsible for forcing JU to change strategy overnight because he made a mistake?
^ Your comment shows a clear difference between people actually working in the industry and knowing the issues it is facing and aviation enthusiasts peppered with some sort of agenda.
DeleteSo you just proved my point, you work for JU so you are working overtime to defend your mistakes. Yeah for two years aviation grew like crazy and recorded massive profits and all of that is gone now and there are huge losses in Q1. Yeah supply chains are the problem not collapsing purchasing parity in the Western world.
DeleteFirst of all my comment at 12:33 was the first on this topic, second I am not defending Air Serbia, or management as I have no connection to either. Just pointing out that you are wrong, downplaying supply chain issues. It is even more of an issue then it is publicly spoken about. On every turn for everything in aviation at the moment there is an issue because of supply chain issues.
DeleteI'll just leave this here:
DeleteLe Monde
Europeans can't afford the US anymore
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2024/04/29/europeans-can-t-afford-the-us-anymore_6669918_19.html
I guess they can't afford it because they are also affected by supply chain issues.
I don't think you even know what you are arguing anymore.
DeleteI think you are running out of arguments so you are trying to create a distraction. I am saying what I have been saying from the first moment. Aviation is entering a cooling down period which is putting less pressure on supply chains. They are more manageable. Marek needs to better organise his staff so that things run smoothly.
DeleteFYI Lufthansa just announced that they are ending LGW flights. I guess it's also because of supply chain issues. This is the third destination in the UK they are ending this year.
This guy is honestly iembarrassing him self even more in every new statement. Has 0 industry facts but trying to trush JU. Let me just tell you how DL has shared the record profit share cheque with their employees in their last quoter .
DeleteI have taken 6 JU flights so far this year and to my surprise all of them were on time or arrived at the destination ahead of time. Last year I took 10 JU flights in total and every single one was delayed, 2 severely. So things have definitely improved. It's good that they took this year as a breather to get some things in order.
ReplyDeleteThings have improved a lot since Menzies took over ground handling in BEG.
Delete+1
DeleteCommon sense, I applaud their thinking. It is how it should be done. Aviation is not some hobby or kids project... It is a serious profession that involves coordination of many departments and branches of this industry. Things started to get out of control in 2019 then Covid came and put brakes on, but mid 2022 and onwards the industry exploded!! You can see from USA, which is leading this massive growth that their aviation industry can't keep up. Deliveries are slowing down, pilot, parts supplies are inadequate and ATC mistakes are on the rise! Serious mistakes too.
ReplyDeleteSo again, I think this JUs strategy is a spot on. 👍
+1
DeleteAre you implying that before this 'slow-down' the people running Air Serbia were behaving like children?
DeleteAir Serbia changed so many CEOs and operations managers in the last 10 years, so I'm not sure how do you want me to answer your question.
DeleteThe current management is doing a very good job and seems like they are finally coordinating ideas and plans amongst all departments at JU.
Smart thinking on this
ReplyDeleteI do wonder how many new destinations could be added in 2025.
ReplyDeleteThey will still need to expand their short haul fleet, otherwise same problems will occur ass last year.
DeleteShort haul fleet is expanding. 3 ATRs being added, 2 Embraers (and probably a third in winter)
DeleteIt is likely that more Embraers will join the fleet next year.
DeleteAir Serbia CEO mentioned only one new destination for 2025: Miami. In the light of demand slowdown on US-Europe routes, decision to pick Miami was not smart at all.
DeleteActually I believe in quite the opposite. The MIA route will serve as a great connection to all the former YU travellers living in Florida and of course it will have its share of connecting pax going through BEG. The slowdown by US airlines has to do with many factors that are beyond their control. And US travellers mainly visit Europe for vacation, where our people visit their families.
DeleteWe are still waiting for A320neo, this can make a big difference for JU’s growth.
ReplyDeleteA320neos are currently experiencing big issues with engines.
DeleteAnon 09:55
DeleteIt really depends on the engines type, to me, i’m for Neos in fleet :)
PW ones…
DeleteIt's probably too early for JU to get NEOs. 😜
DeleteMaybe by 2030 when others will be selling/returning their 12 year old early NEOs to lessors JU might lease some.
Had they taken NEOs they would be grounded now. Being a small airline, taking mid-age aircraft allows them to be profitable. Other small airlines that buy new planes take out huge loans, face constant liquidity issues and require constant government aid both direct and creative
DeleteIt's a well established Ex-Yu blog "fact" that profitable and growing airlines in Europe do it with old technology aircraft! 😂
DeleteJust look at FR, U2, W6, LH, A3, TK etc. etc. 😂😂😂
First you should perhaps read what I wrote or work on your comprehension. "Being a small airline" does not fit any of the examples you have given. But anyway, no one is stopping you from being proud of your loss making debt ridden national carrier with high quality service including box with crackers in business class. Just don't lecture others. Thanks.
DeleteWhat’s the current state of P&W engines? Are they fixable or what’s the plan with them?
DeleteJust please don't expand by getting more wet leases.
ReplyDeleteThey don't have that many at the moment 4 A320s and 1 E190.
DeleteWhat about the Boeng 737-800s?
Delete* Boeing
DeleteThey have left.
Delete@ 10:00
DeleteI agree. I was quite disappointed to be on a wet-leased plane, without Air Serbia crew, when I flew via BEG. Was happy to be on the Air Serbia ATR back to LJU, which was great. Good service and on-time.
Guangzhou is a possibility now? Wasn't that already planned route?
ReplyDeleteA possibility to launch in November or December as well.
DeleteThey will start both. It's just a question if both will start at the end of this year.
DeleteAs long as there are enough secured planes for JU, they can go ahead. From the general observation there is a lack of planes and many industry cuts
ReplyDeleteLong haul route: Belgrade - South Africa
ReplyDelete+1000
DeleteCity?
DeleteDurban
DeleteWestern economies are in decline, its just that MSM are trying to cover it up with supply chain issues, middle east, Ukraine etc
ReplyDeleteI said that last year but was attacked by people on here. I expect demand to become softer in the coming months. JU is lucky that the Serbian economy does well so demand should remain relatively strong. These days flights were totally full. OS' flight yesterday (ATR) was packed and there was even a group going to Iceland.
DeleteIn other more positive news, YU-ASF is planned to enter service tomorrow. It's expected to fly to TGD in the morning. Seems like they are short on ATRs since Bari was upgraded to A319. Lucky passengers I guess.
ATR departures this morning:
Delete06.15 BUD
06.30 BLQ
06.40 PRG
06.45 VCE
07.00 TGD
07.30 LJU
07.45 VIE
07.45 BRI gets A319 because ATR broke down
Seven departures with ATR, ZAG was supposed to be nine but it was cancelled before probably due to supply chain issues.
Hope for Antalya direct route opening.
ReplyDelete