Air Serbia touches down in Shanghai

Air Serbia inaugurated its fourth long-haul service and the second to China by launching flights between Belgrade and Shanghai early this morning. Flight JU986 touched down in the Chinese city just before midday Central European Time and was greeted by a water canon salute. The carrier deployed its 257-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft registered YU-ARB (Nikola Tesla) for the inaugural flight. The full jet was also carrying over 100 Serbian exchange students heading to the country. The service will be maintained twice per week, each Tuesday and Saturday departing Belgrade, and on Wednesdays and Sundays leaving Shanghai. Over the winter season, the aircraft’s turnaround time in Shanghai will be just over 24 hours to enable the same crew to operate both the outbound and inbound service. The launch comes just over three months after the Serbian flag carrier introduced two weekly flights between Belgrade and Guangzhou.

Shanghai on the departures board at Belgrade Airport

Start of check-in procedures at Belgrade Airport

Ribbon cutting ceremony

Shanghai was Belgrade’s busiest unserved long-haul route. This is in part because the largest portion of Chinese nationals residing in Serbia have their origins in two provinces south of the Shanghai region. Similarly, Belgrade was within the top ten busiest unserved routes out of Shanghai. According to Sabre Airline Solutions, most of the traffic flow between China and Serbia over the past few years has originated from Shanghai. During 2024, over 147.000 Chinese tourists visited Serbia.

To mark the occasion, a ceremony was held yesterday evening at the gate at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, which was attended by Air Serbia's CEO Jiri Marek, the Ambassador of China to Serbia Ming Li, the President of Serbia, government ministers and the country's aviation stakeholders. Commenting at the ceremony, Mr Marek, said, “Shanghai is one of the most dynamic cities in the world and an important business and cultural centre. Nonstop Air Serbia flights to this city will provide passengers from Serbia and the Western Balkans region with a faster and more comfortable journey to China while making it easier for Chinese tourists and businesspeople to come to Serbia and other European cities we fly to. I would like to thank all our associates and partners for their support, as well as Air Serbia employees who, with their commitment, made it possible for us to start off 2025 successfully. The launch of nonstop flights to Shanghai is an important step in achieving our strategic goals and further strengthens Air Serbia's position as a leader in regional air traffic”.

The Chinese Ambassador to Serbia noted, "Air Serbia has made extensive market studies and promotion in China. Flights between Belgrade and Guangzhou have brought thousands of visitors to Serbia and the load factor on these flights is extremely high. I am confident that the new service to Shanghai will become another priority choice for travel to China, Asia and beyond. In 2024, the number of Chinese tourists to Serbia increased an impressive 71%. This is a vote of confidence by the Chinese people towards the steel friendship with Serbia. With the China - Serbia free trade agreement, the visa-free policy and nonstop flights, we expect more Chinese tourists and investors will come to Serbia in the new year. This is also a step to further foster cooperation between Serbia and Shanghai. Shanghai is the economic, financial and innovation centre of China. The area around Shanghai accounts for 17% of China’s population and 25% of China’s national GDP. Furthermore, most Chinese businesspeople in Serbia are from this area. This new route will definitely even further expand cooperation between Serbia and Shanghai and its surrounding provinces”.

Shanghai becomes Air Serbia’s second-longest route by block hours, with the outbound service just ten minutes shorter than that of its Guangzhou counterpart, while the inbound on both routes has the same block hours. The launch comes just over two weeks prior to the Lunar New Year, which generates significant travel demand on the Chinese market and is the busiest time for travel in the country. Air Serbia recently noted that around 80% of demand on its Chinese routes originates in China, where the airline works with a number of local travel agents and distribution platforms.

As of today, Belgrade Airport boasts eight weekly flights to China to three different cities - Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou - operated by three different carriers - Air Serbia, Hainan Airlines and China Southern Airlines. Out of the 21 European countries that currently have nonstop flights to China, Serbia ranks 12th by frequencies and 13th by capacity. The country is currently ahead of the likes of Poland, Greece, Ireland, Finland, Denmark and the Czech Republic for connectivity to China.