Air Serbia has scheduled and put on sale tickets between Belgrade and Guangzhou, its second destination in China. The service will commence on September 30 and will be maintained twice per week, on Mondays and Fridays with the Airbus A330-200 aircraft. “When we established nonstop flights between the Republic of Serbia and the People’s Republic of China on December 9 2022, after a hiatus of over two decades, we once again opened the doors of Asia to passengers from the wider Balkan region. The service significantly contributed to boosting cooperation and bilateral relations between Serbia and China, positively stimulating economic growth, trade relations, tourism, and cultural exchange. The recently signed ‘Statement on deepening and raising the comprehensive strategic partnership and the building of a community between Serbia and China with a common future in the new era’ as the highest form of cooperation between our two countries, provided an additional impetus for launching nonstop flights to our second destination in People’s Republic of China. As of September 30, you can fly directly between Belgrade and Guangzhou with Air Serbia”, Air Serbia’s CEO Jiri Marek, said. He added the airline is in negotiations with major Chinese carriers over potential cooperation, to enable its passengers good connectivity with other cities in China, the Far East and Southeast Asia, as well as Australia. Air Serbia is expected to launch its third destination in China - Shanghai - later this year. Flight details for the upcoming Belgrade - Guangzhou service can be found here.
Air Serbia is rapidly growing. When can we expect Shanghai?
ReplyDeleteIt will most likely be announced mid-end July when the third A330 comes. They will probably need to confirm the 4th A330’s arrival, so they might schedule PVG to start in October
DeleteWhen will YU-ARD arrive to BEG?
ReplyDeleteProbably towards the end of July.
DeleteIt’s on the maintenance weeks ago
Delete^ No it is not. You can read the articles here it is written it goes for maintenance on 1 July.
DeleteWhen does it stop flying for Air Belgium?
DeleteIf you would have tracked Air Belgium planes, you would have seen that one plane was parked for maintenance last 3 weeks
DeleteI believe the CEO knows better than you when the plane is going for maintenance.
DeleteYes, he know perfectly and that’s the reason that tickets are on sale from today, not 01.07. or 31.07. That means that most of the maintenance is finished, probably only painting is due
DeleteThey have a slot with Lufhansa Technic from July 1. And no Lufthansa Technic is not painting the plane. You are incorrect.
DeleteActually , they don’t need third plane . From 30.09. Chicago is 2 weekly, New York 3. Tianjin can be rescheduled and even increase to 2 . They could easily do it with just 2 plane.
DeleteActually they do.
Delete30.09. has 3 long haul departures for that day planned:
JU988 00:50 CAN
JU500 07:50 JFK
JU506 13:10 ORD
This cannot be done on 2 aircraft.
The week when CAN launches, JFK loses the Tuesday rotations for a month (restarts 29.10) and Friday rotations (as of now, until Summer 2025).
Starting 07.10 the Monday rotations to ORD are removed until summer 2025.
TSN typically goes 2 pw in the winter, JFK goes as many as 5 pw in the Christmas period, while ORD was 2 pw last winter.
YU-ARB and YU-ARC are expected to go for cabin overhaul this winter which will go together with their regular maintenance.
Plus PVG will soon be announced to start in the next few months.
5 destinations on 2 ac is not possible without drastically adjusting flight schedules and not taking into consideration slot availablity or departure waves at BEG.
What is the price?
ReplyDeleteReturn fare starts at 80.000 RSD which is €684. Luggage is included in the price.
DeleteVery convenient. Thanks
DeleteVery good price. A lot cheaper than ORD.
DeleteThat's because to CAN they have to compete with Chinese carriers who are much cheaper than those linking Europe with ORD. Furthermore, their competition here is TK, QR and EK.
DeleteThey set up their prices based off of many factors. In this case, where CS is starting flights soon and where there is the above mentioned airlines as competition on which passengers will fly in a heartbeat, JU needs to do everything it can to assure profitability.
DeleteThe price is excellent. Hopefully they won't be loosing too much money flying this route.
DeleteLets hope cargo revenue makes up.
@11:54
Delete+1000
Nothing assures profitability like cheap ticket prices!
^ Literally every airline when it launches a new route puts promo fares on sale for a limited time.
DeleteEvery airline out there has several cheap tickets on all flights. It's not like all seats will be sold at this price.
DeleteTheir business class is also surprisingly affordable.
DeleteI see mostly 42000 RSD, good price. Only occasionally 80000.
DeleteI mean one way.
DeleteMaybe the 80.000 one way is their code-share flight via a third airport?
DeleteInteresting how the first flight from CAN is already selling for 54.000 RSD. On most days the lowest fare is almost gone in both directions. Hopefully this trend continues in the future.
DeleteSo the reports that service to CAN would be 1x week were wrong, as some of the commenters here immediately said.
ReplyDeleteWell it was said by the CEO of Gungzhou Airport.
DeleteMaybe they were supposed to fly 1pw but changed plans recently?
DeleteMaybe CS is flying 3pw so that gives JU room to expand, or maybe JU realized that they should not be the underdog and that 1pw flights are not profitable.
DeleteChina Southern is MU
Delete1x weekly would make no sense and make them completely uncompetitive vs. CZ who decided to start the flights in the same way Hainan did in Beijing, to put JU out of the market.
DeleteYeah well now that JU and MU will most definitely have a joint venture or a very big codeshare at the very least, we know that JU won’t be completely shut out. As for PEK, JU might start flights there in a few years.
DeleteMU, what are you talking about? 🤦🏻♀️
DeleteChina Southern is CZ.
China Southern is CZ, China Eastern is MU, Air China is CA. Why are you trying to be smart?
DeleteBelgrade, for an airport its size, will have an impressive long-haul network this coming winter: PEK, TSN, CAN, JFK and ORD.
ReplyDeleteNow we wait for China Southern to announce flights. I just checked CAN's Wikipedia page and I am surprised that there are only JU and TK flying there from Europe. This can be a great opportunity for JU to grow.
Funny how someone already update their Wikipedia page by adding JU flights!
I flew there on Aeroflot in 2017.
DeleteDon’t forget BEG will also have Shanghai (PVG) over the winter as well.
DeleteNice addition but not for all of Balkans . Greek passengers let's say , they have many hours stopover in BEG from Athens and to Athens .
DeleteI’m sure JU analyzed everything and saw that not many Greeks want to fly to Guangzhou, at least not with them.
DeleteImpressive indeed.
DeleteI think their focus are passengers from Western Europe plus ZAG, LJU, TGD, TIV...
DeleteI don't think Athens is their key market as I doubt demand is that large in winter. On top of that, they have TK that flies to CAN and together with A3 they offer something like 7 daily flights beteen ATH and IST.
DeleteAnd NEMJEE don't forget that ATH now has year round Air China to Beijing 3 times a week 1-3-5 and the same from Juneyao airlines to Shanghai also 3 times a week 2-4-6 .
DeleteAeroflot flies 5x per week to CAN and Moscow happens to be in Europe so SU, TK and JU not only TK and JU
DeleteAeroflot can't transfer passengers to the rest of Europe so we might as well not count them.
DeleteI forgot about Aeroflot but as Anon 14.56 said, they are of no importance to JU as they can't compete with them for transfers to Western Europe.
DeleteAnon 14.06
True though I still think the market from Athens to CAN is not that big for JU to make it their priority. I don't know why but I think this route will perform really well for JU. I wouldn't be surprised if it outperforms ORD.
It will probably not outperform ORD.
DeleteWell, I wouldn't be surprised if it does. There is far less competition between BEG and CAN than there is between BEG and ORD.
DeleteOn top of that, in CAN they will have a code-share partner which is something they don't have in ORD. B6 is very weak there and when it comes to AA they only have an interline.
Also, from what I heard they will also cover Australia through CAN. I think this will be the first time Serbia will have access to Australia via one of the non-traditional hubs (DXB, DOH, AUH).
CZ's MEL, SYD and BNE flights fit in with JU's flights to CAN. Travel times to all 3 via CAN are quite competitive to the options offered via DOH and DXB. It would be great to see codeshares to these 3 cities.
DeleteLet's hope it also brings down the average fare between Belgrade and those Australian cities. Persian Gulf carriers were dominating these markets for decades. Chinese carriers can be game changers.
DeleteSchedule is perfect for transfers
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I also like how in the winter they changed the departure from CAN by 1 hour. Shows they really did analyze.
DeleteGreat for transfers..China Southern has really extensive network, and good prices
DeleteIt is perfect for transfers, but how convenient is really to transfer in BEG at midnight when everything's closed? This means that services have to extend working hours, JU business lounge as well.
DeleteWell JU is becoming a major airport and many major airports (other than the ones that close by midnight) have lots of facilities open throughout the night.
DeleteJU CAN flight departs at 00.50 meaning boarding will no doubt start at around 00.10. I think most shops are open until midnight.
DeleteI doubt this flight will be late as JU 332 will arrive much earlier, they don't have any scheduled A330 flights that arrive at night with the rest of the Western European flights.
But their codeshare partner to China is CA not CZ. Does that mean ending cooperation with CA. And what do they do when they launch PVG, what will they do with MU?
DeleteNo one is forcing them to work with Air China, there is no exclusivity clause. Furthermore, from what I saw online they only cooperate with Air China to PEK via VIE. It's not an extensive agreement.
DeleteI think they have wider cooperation with Hainan which offers a whole bunch of one stop options with JU on days when they don't operate a non-stop flight to BEG. They have one stop options via BER, PRG, BRU etc.
YU arrives to CAN at really good time, because pax can catch all afternoon flights, and china Southern has really lot of flights departing in the afternoon especially on friday, for destinations in South East Asia, in order to reach them before friday midnight..Perfect for travelers who want to catch the weekend..Depart from Belgrade on Thursday late night, and already arrive to any destination in SA Asia by friday evening..
DeleteI really hope they come up with a joint venture. It would be very beneficial.
ReplyDeleteThey definitely are, we saw Marek was in Guangzhou and I highly doubt he took that trip just to hear China Southern say they are also launching flights.
DeleteBravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteAlthough Marek informed that JU got all permissions to fly to CAN this comes on JU web page
ReplyDelete"This Flight is subjected to Government Approval"
My guess is that they got the green light but there are still some administrative things that need to be finalized. I think it was the same when they launched JFK.
DeleteThey probably need to get approvals from a few more ministries, sectors, and departments in Serbia and/or China. They definitely know they are getting them, otherwise they would not put tickets on sale.
DeleteI am very happy that they do Canton twice weekly!
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia and its competitors should always get the same conditions.
I hope they will codeshare with China Southern, maybe we could fly there with JU and back with CS?
My god that would make an interesting flight report here!
It is not Canton it is Guangzhou. You are using the Western name which no one uses.
DeleteCanton is the historic name for Guangzhou.
DeleteCantonese language and Cantonese kitchen is originally from there.
You should know this.
It is offensive and goes back to a time when Western imperialists did not care what they called Chinese cities and Canton is easier to pronounce. It has never been Canton in either Cantonese or Mandarin. I believe that you use also the term Peking, the name in the Chinese language is Beijing. It is Tianjin not Tientsin.
DeleteThe language police is woke!
DeleteWell, nobody abroad is calling "Belgrade" properly, so why should we care. It is Peking in Serbian after all, so it would be Canton, too, had we not forgotten of the city in the meanwhile.
DeleteThe language of this forum is English. In English the name is Guangzhou. In Serbian it is Гуангџоу. I am not sure what is difficult for you. Do you call Zagreb by its old name of Agram, do you call Ljubljana by its old name of Laibach, do you call Istanbul by its old name of Constantinople? No you don’t so just stop insulting people with your antiquated language which no one uses. Or do you want to revert to the old English name of Serbia which was Servia?
DeleteAs he already said its important to know that Guangzhou is also known as Canton.
DeleteThis way people will know that Cantonese language, famous cuisine and opera are from todays city of Guangzhou.
It is also important to know that Istanbul and Constantinople are one and the same place.
If you dont know this you will be seen by other people as stupid and uneducated.
Common sense.
This will be furthest Air Serbia flight, overtaking Chicago. Aircraft will be on the ground in Guangzhou for generous five hours for a return trip duration of 27 hours 40 minutes.
ReplyDeleteMany airlines that operate a hub system are forced to have their plane sit on the ground for hours. Just look at Icelandair, some of their layovers are over 15 hours long, same with Ethiopian. I am sure JU would love for the A332 to be back in 90 minutes but then the return flight would arrive way too early.
DeleteTK also have a similar ground time in CAN.
DeleteCannot complain about 5 hours. My issue is with the TSN 24 hour layover. What a waste!
DeleteFive hours cat CAN is more than enough but two hours or 2:15 is not enough turnaround time at JFK and ORD during very busy summer days.
DeleteEspecially at ORD which is a mess especially in summer and winter.
DeleteMuch better schedule than the stupid schedule to and from TSN. Who leaves TSN at 6.30am especially if you are needing to commute from Beijing.
ReplyDeleteWell those times suit their network in Belgrade. Now, if they carry mostly O&D then they shouldn't care about waves in BEG and they can make adjustments. If there are transfers on TSN-BEG then they might not be flexible with timings.
Delete祝你好運 ErSrbija. 為我們的國家航空公司感到自豪。
ReplyDelete塞尔维亚航空
DeleteWill Air Serbia get the two A332s that Air Belgium is currently operating (OE-LAC, OE-LCL)? So all A332 would have RR engines and would be around 10-15 yrs old (YU-ARB 15yrs, YU-ARC 13yrs, OE-LAC 10yrs, OE-LCL 10yrs) - that seems pretty good!
ReplyDeleteI really hope that they succeed, so that we can read about them introducing a330neos in their fleet! And hopefully they plan to introduce their own brand new long-haul cabin product when the global supply chain issue is resolved...
India and Africa is a must. Transfer market there is endless.
ReplyDeleteBaku and Yerevan too…
Why Africa? Much more important and more profitable destinations.
Delete