Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, has said transfer traffic will be the main stimulus for the airline’s growth going forward with much of the point-to-point demand from Belgrade already served. The airline has increased its share of transfer passengers from 20% in 2019 to 40% this year. Speaking at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit in Belgrade last week, Mr Marek noted, “We are working closely with Belgrade Airport. Our focus now is on the main driver of growth in the coming period, which will be transfer traffic. Belgrade Airport has over 120 direct routes and in the last couple of years no one, other than us, opened new point-to-point routes. Unserved destinations in Europe with the highest demand from Belgrade are Dublin and Manchester and even low cost carriers are not launching them, which means that even they don’t believe they can stimulate sufficient point-to-point demand”.
Mr Marek added, “Any new route which will come will need to be based on network feed and that should be done with the hub and spoke airline like us, or we will attract another airline from that destination which will come and feed our hub. Going forward, the transfer opportunities are very important, and we need to make sure that the facility infrastructure is seamless and smooth so we can be a secondary niche to the other well-rounded transfer hubs like Vienna”.
The CEO said that Air Serbia’s other main customer segments are the diaspora and leisure traffic, with corporate travel currently playing a relatively minor role in its passenger structure. “Historically we have always been very strong with the diaspora, which makes up 25% of our business. However, this is a segment you can’t base your growth on. The diaspora is given and, in time, by the third and fourth generations, traffic demand will go down. It is something that is good to have as a base, but it is not something you can centre your development on. Leisure is something we strongly based our growth on after Covid. With ninety destinations during the summer, we now have the critical mass that any destination we add to the network can automatically become self-sustainable”, Mr Marek concluded.
Makes sense
ReplyDeleteP2P traffic has reached its peak and very small share of total traffic is business travel.
DeleteDoesn't sound good to me for a legacy carrier.
Also for connecting traffic you need to be price competitive since you can not be time competitive, direct is always fast.
Hopefully profitability won't be impacted too much.
Don't forget that JU doesn't even control 50% of the total market at BEG.
DeletePoint to point is not really using them (40% of their traffic are transfers, 25% diaspora) which means very few people from Serbia are booking their flights on JU. They should ask themselves why is that.
"Hopefully profitability won't be impacted too much."
DeleteThey already said 2 months ago that they will be profitable this year.
To have a successful connecting hub you need much higher frequencies than the ones JU currently has both on European and intercontinental flights.
DeleteJust my2cents
Anon 10:03 fully agree.
DeleteTo get chosen by the most frequent flying pax and those travelling for business you need a few more things.
A FF loyalty program, investing on your hard product, inflight Wi-Fi, much better frequencies to some routes and eventually you need to join one of the alliances.
Anon 10.00
DeleteWhich means even less people in Serbia fly with them. They lost the local traffic and that is catastrophic for them
@ Anonymous 11:13
DeleteYou really are making things up. Your theory may have been true if their overall passenger numbers were not increasing. But they have increased significantly. In fact they have doubled compared to 2019. So your theory that their number of P2P passengers has fallen because other types of passengers has increased is actually wrong.
Just ignore. It's same as the idiot yesterday claiming that their passengers numbers in Zagreb have fallen because of Ryanair before he was shown statistic that it grew by a lot year on year.
DeleteHe didn't say their numbers fells but rather that they are failing to caputer local demand. This same demand is growing each year and we see that from passenger numbers.
DeleteAir Serbia needs to become an attractive option for locals and like someone wrote below, for that they need more frequencies. Relying on transfers is a good option but they will struggle until they create a corporate strategy which will create loyalty among these passengers. Until that changes JU will have around 50% of the marketshare in Belgrade.
In my opinion they should be at 60% to 65%.
Btw recently they put ads around Belgrade which was a good idea. I didn't understand why they did it for some destinations like VLC since their flights are full. It was in October so I checked their fares for November and they were around €600.
DeleteBetter to promote destinations which are underperforming.
THe Serbian travellers would be counted under the P2P figures as there wouldnt be too many Serbians transferring from one country to another via BEG!!!
DeleteThey need to focus on and invest more in product and they can do it very easy, for Air Serbia becoming choice airline.
DeleteThey are very much focused on product and services. I only fly JU in the last 2 years as I notice much better service from LH or OS (airlines I use to fly with).
Delete@13:49
DeleteLOL!
Maybe Air Serbia should take the plunge and test Dublin and Manchester with seasonal flights at least.
ReplyDeleteNope. Nonsense.
Delete^ Why?
DeleteIt has been said million times that UK/Ireland flights, apart from London, are burdened by UK visas for Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and N. Macedonia. That's why.
DeleteThere should be reason start it with E190. There is a certain demand with British tourists. Other may be corporate and transfers
DeleteThen how come Dublin and Manchester are among European top unserved destinations?
DeleteBecause so many European destinations are served. The ones that are not served have relatively low passenger numbers.
DeleteBEG then must be the only airport which doesn't have anything new to launch in Europe. I don't believe it.
DeleteYerevan and Tbilisi make more sense then Dublin and Manchester. No visas, new interesting destination for tourists and lots of options for transfer passengers.
DeleteAND loads of Russian expats flush with cash ready to be spent on leisure AND business contacts in Serbia. Caucasus currently makes every sense for JU
DeleteWorth adding that Serbia and Armenia have a free trade agreement. Though exachange of goods is still modest, direct airlinks could stimulate demand.
DeleteI think focusing on transfer passengers is a smart strategy.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIt is a smart strategy until direct flights to Russia from Europe are restored.
DeleteThen a significant share of the transfer traffic (the part that pays the most expensive fares) switches to flying directly.
Don't bet on that happening anytime soon. Even if peace is restored tomorrow you won't see sanctions lifted for many many years to come.
DeleteI am pretty sure lifting of the sanctions will be part of any peace deal.
DeleteI don`t think so.
DeleteMaybe it's time for JU to start considering a post-war in Ukraine world by further increasing their presence in Russia and by somewhat lowering their fares.
DeleteLowering their fares could be done quite quickly, but they would have to think about flying again to KRR and ROV once they re-open.
DeleteI am not sure there is enough demand to boost KZN.
DeleteLoads are pretty healthy so who knows. Pricing could also play a role, I haven't checked fares in a while but the last time I did a return ticket would cost you at least €1.000.
Deletewell-rounded transfer hubs like Vienna - vienna is schengen airport, cant compete with that when it comes to transfers inside eu
ReplyDeletebut it can compete for long-haul e.g. N. America
DeleteA week ago I transfered through Vienna from a non Schengen to a Schengen flight. It basically makes no difference if done smoothly. I for example find Vienna airport confusing and messy although passport controls between Schengen and non Schengen areas are seamless. The what you encounter behind is a complete mess.
DeleteI also recently transferred at VIE and I do find the airport to be nothing special. I was in the non-schengen area which is just one long corridor with limited F&B options and shops. But it is eassy to get around.
DeleteI comply with this too. On top of that, Zurich is even bigger mess. I was transferring from USA and heading to Serbia and found it very frustrating as you have to put baggage into scanner even though you just came from states. Additionally, they were insisting that I have to remove battery from laptop?! I was like what did I do to you :D In the end I found the lady was from Serbian south province. Maybe it was some frustration or she was just insisting on some imaginary regulation.. anyhow as it was business trip no one from our team wanted to make fuss so we all removed batteries from laptops. Later on, colleague, a french, contacted Swiss with some negative review, but they gave zero crap on that :) simple we apologize blah blah.
Deletewow that's crazy. How does one even remove battery laptop
DeleteMaybe she protest lithium mining :-)))
DeleteEven if this was true, how did she know that you were Serbian and how did you find out where she was from, when not much chit chat goes on at any security check ?
DeleteWell, I for one always put my passport and boarding pass with the rest of my things in the tray.
DeleteIt means P2P has peaked.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteNope, it's growing every year it's just that they are not getting it
DeleteThey need much higher frequencies than the ones they have now to get it.
DeleteAnd also better prices.
As things currently stand if you want to travel to someplace on specific dates you either connect through some LHG hub or IST.
And that is especially important for business travelers.
Each year local demand grows since the standard of living is also improving. Also, with congress tourism in full swing, demand for travel to Belgrade will be also on the rise. A lot of European medical congresses are scheduled to take place in the coming months and years.
DeleteThis is where JU needs to position itself since they have the best timetable to meet their demands. This should be their future, not fighting with Wizz Air for gasto travel who will take the bus if it's cheaper by €10.
The official average (and median) wage in Serbia has actually entered a period of decline: 4 consecutive months of decline, with unemployment trending upwards too.
DeleteGood to hear the CEO admit that corporate travel isn’t a priority yet. But they should start looking into this segment.
ReplyDeleteIf corporate travel is not working for them, why not introduce a solid premium economy product?
DeleteAnd who's gonna pay for it?
DeleteDiaspora and local tourist travelers?
He should ask himself why is that. Corporate demand is there. It might not be massive but it is enough for AF-KL and LH Group to have people here in Belgrade who handle corporate clients.
DeleteI remember when we became part of bluebiz, I got a call from their representative here in Belgrade welcoming us to the program, they sent us a gift and they regularly reach out to us with promos and whatnot. Same with Lufthansa.
Until Air Serbia comes up with a competitive program, they won't be able to compete with bigger players despite them having a much better timetable. Their lack of interest (or competence?) in coming up with a sound corporate program will cost them a lot long-term. There is a reason why KLM is upgauging BEG this winter to B73W and why Lufthansa keeps on sending A320s and A321s quite often this winter.
It sure isn't because of gasto traffic alone.
What is the number of transfer passengers?
ReplyDeleteRead the article. It tells you.
DeleteYes, but what will the total number of passengers be in 2024? That way I can do the math.
DeleteShould be around 4.4 million.
DeleteBelgrade Airport really needs to step up its game if Air Serbia is serious about seamless transfer infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteBelgrade airport is, in fact, very convenient for transfer for most of daytime. The walking time between the gates furthest apart is 15 minutes, with no queue generators (immigration, security) in between, and the number of shops and restaurants increases as the construction end nears.
Delete+1 last anon. And finally new shops are opening as well as restaurants.
DeleteBelgrade is one of the best airports for transfer passengers.
DeleteMore jet bridge gates are needed.
DeleteIt has more bridges than Venice much bigger airport concerning passangers.
DeleteWhat are you talking about being convenient? Did you see the JU transfer point consisting of two boots in the corner of the arriving hall in Belgrade? It is pathetic and especially crowded in the morning when several AC land at the same time. It more looks like a zoo rather than a civilized placed for transfers. Nothing that Air Serbia nor Belgrade airport can be proud of.
Delete^ really not true.
DeleteI ttansfered in BEG few times, i never went to boots for connection becuse I had boarding pass already. But in the morning rush time they are full of people, and two times with connection in Belgrade they did not connect my luggage so… maybe it is easy to walk from gate to gate but experience can be a bit overwhelming.
DeleteA few times when I landed with JU, I noticed that those who are transfering are no longer going with us upstairs. They are immediately directed to the door which leads them straight to the departures area.
DeleteI do not know why anyone would head to the transfer desk. Only reason why is if they are arriving on a non-JU carrier which couldn't issue them a boarding pass.
Usually the people wait there because they lost connecting flight.
DeleteExactly.
DeleteVast majority of transfer passengers do not see or visit transfer desk.
Increasing transfer passenger share from 20% to 40% in just a few years is impressive. Air Serbia might become a serious competitor in the region.
ReplyDeleteCairo, Tbilisi, Baku, Yerevan, Almaty, Astana, Tashkent, Beirut, Tunis, Tehran, Erbil pls. Tbilisi for italian destinations, Erbil for german for example.
ReplyDeleteOMG!
DeleteAlmaty/Astana will be served by Kazakhstani airline as reported last week. They will most probably have codeshare with Air Serbia.
DeleteNo, they won't. It was mentioned only in order something to be said, but it will have the same destinly like announced direct lines with Baku, Cairo etc...
DeleteThe president himself announced back in July that CAI was restarting in two months time. December is around the corner but still nothing is on the horizon.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/07/president-air-serbia-to-restore-cairo.html
Cairo will be back next summer as you will see soon. As for the announcement regarding Kazakhstan it is rather different. He named the airlines in question and they are not JU, he said government will provide subsidies, and the initiative came from the Kazakhstani side.
DeleteIt is not me who knows everything, but differently from you I follow the facts.
DeleteIt was announced that CAI will be served by JU in September 2024. And we have now November...and there are no flights to CAI.
Yes, I do know that very well.
I would add Baltic destinations, Helsinki, maybe Reykyavik and some western France airport
Delete@11:17 good choices!
DeleteBuilding a hub-and-spoke network is smart, but attracting partner airlines to feed the hub will be critical. Let’s see if they can deliver on this promise
ReplyDeleteExactly and for that they need an agile, aggressive and competent alliances department. Judging by the code-shares they have now I don't think we should hold our breaths.
DeleteJust look at the JU-QR code-share deal which yielded next to no improvement on the BEG-DOH sector. Even the JU-TK deal is questionable given the JU cuts to Turkey.
@Nemjee
Delete+1
Do you think that for the next summer season 4 or 5 new Europeans destinations will be announced apart from those recently announced?
ReplyDeleteHighly unlikely.
DeleteMarek implied it so himself:
Unserved destinations in Europe with the highest demand from Belgrade are Dublin and Manchester and even low cost carriers are not launching them, which means that even they don’t believe they can stimulate sufficient point-to-point demand”
Ok, they can not fill A321 3pw, but with Embraer might work
DeleteImagine applying this logic to all Spanish and Italian leisure destinations they introduced last years. "Even LCC not launching them, why should we?" Crazy. That's exactly Wizzier than Wizz since Wizz didn't touch leisure before JU did.
DeleteIt's a bit of a strange comment from Marek. It's not only about unserved P2P traffic, sometimes you can also create it. When Spanish, destinations were launched, JU suddenly saw a huge increase in traffic. Some travelers just don't want to transfer, so you cannot see the numbers. I am sure if some destinations are opened, they could operate them successfully.
DeleteI think that the destinations in Spain are almost all served, only the Canary Islands are missing ,and it would be for the next winter season.
DeleteMaybe Alicante could work on a summer seasonal basis. Honestly, they need to get a grip and boost BCN to double daily with A320. If LCA can pull it off then BCN can too.
DeleteBravo but we need flights to Canada soon or Miami.
ReplyDeleteMore drivel out of Marek.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey fly to places like Brussels, Madrid etc just couple of times in a week, if they want to grow an efficient transfer business they need to fly at least once DAILY to all major places in Europe.
ReplyDeleteMadrid is going up to daily next summer
DeleteIt's a shame they don't have more A320s. These would be ideal for longer, high volumes routes such as AGP, OPO, LIS etc.
DeleteAny plans for DXB to be introduced?
ReplyDeleteI don't think they can compete against 2 daily Flydubai flights.
DeleteToo long rotation. Not enough airplanes and crews for that. They may be utilized for at least two other rotations
DeleteLess talking, more action please
ReplyDeleteThey say one thing but do another.
ReplyDelete"Belgrade Airport has over 220 direct routes and in the last couple of years no one, other than us, opened new point-to-point routes."
ReplyDeleteSorry, I don't get it...220? What does it mean "direct routes"?
During the peak summer period Belgrade airport had something like max 110 destinations.
And nobody opened P2P in last couple of years? What about W6 and LIS in summer 2023? What about Bergamo? These are for sure P2P destinations as W6 does not sell connecting flights.
Direct is not the same as nonstop although many people both in Europe and US don't know the difference. Direct is one stop options. Nonstop is when the flight goes from A to B without stopping anywhere. Although I do commend this site as I notice they actually make the distinction between nonstop and direct.
DeleteOk, thanks for clarification, but I still do not get the part about "not opening a single P2P route by other carriers in last couple of years".
Delete^Yes, that does not make sense
DeleteDirect flight is a flight (on one metal) that has an intermediary stop. For example Belgrade - Chicago (with a stop in New York) with JAT was a direct flight. However, the Belgrade - New York leg would be considered non-stop (as it didn't stop anywhere in between)
Delete" or we will attract another airline from that destination which will come and feed our hub. "
ReplyDeleteWould love to see more long haul routes start this way.
If the want to work on transfer passengers, what is nice. But , they should introduce loyalty programme, work on hard product, frequency to some routs and probably with time to join to one of alliances
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAll these things are must haves if you want to attract frequent and business flyers.
Maybe that's the reason JU is attracting so few of them?
plus to add they service on non AirSerbia's planes
DeleteWho you are transferring makes the difference between saving the day and the long-term planning.
ReplyDeleteNothing can really help Air Serbia if they don't help themselves. It has been stated here numerous times that they have issues with online ticketing and auxilliary services payments. Tried today to pay for a seat but I get the famous "payment Processing" forever message. How come this can't be fixed once for all? It should be simple, much simpler than attracting connecting passengers Mr. Marek!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! There’s also no way to add your Etihad guest ff number online! You need to call them. Also, try to change your basic or standard fare online…You booked more than one ticket and need to change the date or fare? You need to call…
DeleteI find it strange that they don't target Corporate travelers.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense to have a corporate program (for example negotiated fares, kick-backs, corporate loyalty scheme, etc.)
But at the same time what is important are:
- reliability. you don't want your flight to be canceled, especially if you are going on a business trip
- timetable - that works for business travelers (high value) and not connections (low value). One example are the Sarajevo flights, which are in the middle of the day. They are so inconvenient for business travel, that many people chose to travel by car (5 hours trip).
Work more on the schedule if you want to attract business travelers!
Sarajevo as business destination only as BEG as connecting point due that all business people form BEG thatI know are going with company car there, and I do not think that changing the time would change travelling by car
DeleteDiaspora is something that is good to have as a base, but it is not something you can centre your development on? What?? Vienna/Austrian Airlines based their development/growth from the Ex Yu area in the past 30 years mostly on diaspora.
ReplyDeleteNo it did not. It based its growth primarily on transfer traffic from the region. I might not agree with Marek on many things but he is completely correct that you cannot base your growth purely on diaspora. It is not viable.
DeleteReally? That transfer traffic from/to Ex Yu countries via Vienna airport was always described as mostly diaspora, as well as point to point also being mostly diaspora.
DeleteFor example transfers SKP-VIE-USA destinations. Are you saying it is mostly business and leisure? Common knowledge says first and foremost diaspora.
Maybe you should read what he actually said instead of being so aggressive. You can't base your airline's growth on diaspora traffic because sooner or later that diaspora will no longer have the need to travel back and fourth, like he says. Again, read what he says. Austrian did not base its network growth on ex-Yu diasporas. If you actually think so, you are deluded.
DeleteI always wondered how everyone here knows everything better than the CEOs of various airlines and I wonder why they don't run their own airlines since they have such high levels of expertise.
DeleteAnon 15:54 Please read thread starter at 15:30 once again. Read the last sentence one more time. There is a clear difference between overall OS network growth that you are talking about and OS growth in the past 30 years between VIE and non-coastal Ex Yu destination. That growth, both point to point and trasfer, is undeniably primarily based on diaspora.
DeleteYou should read the CEOs statement again. He is talking about basing your entire network around diaspora. Not one or two routes. Austrian certainly did not base its growth in the 1990s on ex-Yu diaspora traffic.
DeleteNo one is talking about the whole network. You seem to have comprehension issues.
DeleteAustrian Airlines was extremely proud of their transfer network to the east. I remember in the early 2000s when we still had paper tickets, they had had an envelope for them on which it was written: we take you to places you can't even pronounce.
DeleteThen below you would see a map of eastern Europe with a focus on Ukraine. lol
By the time third and fourth gasto generation arrives it will be couple of decades. More than enough time to develop other types of travel to supplant diaspora. Same happened in Italy, Scandinavia or Hungary.
ReplyDeleteTwo significant issues are a lack of efficient transit experience at BEG and the absence of a compelling AirSerbia frequent flyer program to encourage loyalty. Additionally, flight schedules are often less than ideal, while onboard service tends to be inconsistent.
ReplyDeleteMain issue with their timetable is that most of their destinations have a split schedule. With a low number of frequencies you have a few in the morning and a few in the afternoon. That is why they need regional jets so as to improve connectivity. The A319/320 is simply too big to develop markets such as DUS, CPH, NUE, HAM...
DeleteWith ninety destinations during the summer, we now have the critical mass that any destination we add to the network can automatically become self-sustainable”, Mr Marek concluded.
ReplyDeleteANY destination? That means even Toronto can automatically become self-sustainable!!!!! Yesssss!
I'm from Manchester and would love a direct flight to Belgrade, the Visa situation for Serbian citizens visiting the UK isn't helpful but isn't that the same for Montenegrin citizens and they have great connectivity with the UK?
ReplyDeleteI often take Ryanair/EasyJet flights to CG and on the whole they're full and not always cheap. I can tell you first hand that lots of passengers who get off the flights from Manchester in TIV/TGD then get on a flight to Belgrade.
I'm 100% sure this route would work.
How about cargo?
ReplyDeleteAs a frequent P2P flyer between Frankfurt and Belgrade I observed two things:
ReplyDelete- year round JU350-JU353 have a significant number of passengers with russian backround. No matter what passport they hold. Probably the same with the other feeders from Germany and western Europe. Once there will be a “normalization in the relations EU-Russia” this transfer passengers will just break away.
- In the summer season there were a lots of families without EX-YU backround on their way to Greece, transferring via BEG. One family with two kids told me they were saving about EUR 1.000 in comparison with a direct flight from Frankfurt.