Air Serbia is considering further expanding its long-haul operations this summer following the arrival of its fourth Airbus A330-200 aircraft yesterday. Speaking to public broadcaster “RTS” last week, the carrier’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Boško Rupić, noted that fourteen weekly long-haul flights are planned for the peak of the upcoming 2025 summer, including a daily service to New York, three weekly to Chicago and two weekly rotations to Guangzhou and Shanghai each. “These flights are confirmed. With the arrival of the fourth wide-body there is a possibility to further strengthen our long-haul operations this summer”, Mr Rupić said. Air Serbia had previously noted it would consider introducing flights to Beijing or adding frequencies to either Guangzhou or Shanghai this summer, with the latter being the more likely option.
Commenting on the airline's long-haul performance following the recent launch of its new Shanghai service, Mr. Rupić stated that the flights are meeting expectations, which were set high. Air Serbia's CEO, Jiri Marek, added, “We believe that new opportunities to expand Air Serbia’s long-haul network even further will arise in the year ahead. Our new aircraft for long-haul flights is an important addition and will contribute to further expanding our network of destinations”.
Air Serbia is set to operate a fleet of 29 aircraft during the summer season, excluding wet-leased capacity from partner carriers Bulgaria Air and GetJet Airlines. Mr. Rupić confirmed that the arrival of a second Embraer E195 is expected in the first quarter of the year, stating, “Our fleet is well-equipped, with backup capacity available in case of technical issues or maintenance requirements. This year, our priority is to ensure strong and stable operations with a focus on maintaining a good on-time performance.”
Bravo Air Serbia!
ReplyDelete14 weekly flights seems like incredibly low for a 4 long haul aircraft. Utilization seems to be quite low, so hopefully these new long haul flights materialize.
ReplyDeleteThey will be using 3 not 4 aircraft. One is going to get its cabin retrofitted.
DeleteOh, ok. So they are not paying for that 4th aircraft. That's good then, otherwise it would be a huge money losing machine.
Delete14 longhaul flights a week takes 2.5 aircraft to perform.
DeleteJU should really look into sending an A330 a few days a week to popular tourist destinations.
Anon 09:07 of course they are paying for all their aircraft.
DeleteThere is no lessor in the world that just gives airlines aircraft for free and expects to get pain only and if the airline decides to operate commercially that aircraft.
^ you have obviously never heard of power by the hour leasing agreements.
DeleteHere come the financial experts again. And somehow the airline managed to post 40+ million net profit without your expert input.
DeleteAnonymous 09:11
DeleteYou obviously have no idea how power by the hour leases work.
You are not getting an aircraft for free, You are paying an amount whether you fly it or not plus the per hour charges once you fly.
FCO, ATH, AYT, LCA, TIV could surely fil up an A330 during Summer.
DeleteNo one said you get it for free. Your costs are significantly reduced in a power by the hour agreement. At the end of the day you have no clue about their lease arrangements yet with full confidents you lecture them and others. One aircraft needs to go for a retrofit. What do you want them to do? If it doesn't go for a retrofit you will be the first to bitch and moan why it hasn't.
Delete@9.11 airline tycoon players.
Delete14 weekly is 3 aircraft fully utilized. People are forgetting that their flights to Guangzhou take 12 hours and almost the same to Shanghai. Then there is turnaround time and then there is the return flight. Like they have said before, 1 aircraft will be used for ad hoc charters, back up and is going for cabin retrofit. Considering how much they are paying attention to their bottom line and that profitability is their number one concern, I'm sure they didn't come to this decision without doing the finances for it.
DeleteCabin refit for ARC isn't going to take the entire summer season, it should be back by the last week of May as the peak season schedules start then requiring all 4 to be in the fleet. JU can easily fit another 2 pw frequencies in the long haul network to any destination without over forcing their aircraft, allowing sufficient ground time between rotations and allowing the 4th (spare ac) to have a bare minimum of 1 rotation a week.
DeleteAnd who exactly informed you when YU-ARC is going for the refit and coming back? You just made it up.
DeleteReading articles and common sense. If all 4 A330's are needed for the schedules starting last week of May, it's safe to presume that the ac out for refit will be back by then. This is all public and published information.
DeleteOk, so you confirmed you simply made up when the plane is going to be retrofitted. In fact the public information that was published here is that Marek said he is not sure when YU-ARC will go for a retrofit because there are barely any slots and that they will do it whenever they get a slot but that he hopes it is next year.
DeleteKnowing that it took 5 months for Expo2 to arrive, Pupin will take about a year for cabin retrofit. You should multiply time by 4 all planned services
DeleteThat was for ARB, which will also get the cabin refit. You have it mentioned in one of the interviews late last year available on YouTube. ARB typically is out around November for maintenance, ARC was last year out March 1st for maintenance at CHR. This winter, ARB was out for maintenance returning first week January, ARC is yet to head out for maintenance which needs to be done. Recently JU had the seats and parts delivered.
DeleteIt would be great to see more frequency to Shanghai or even flights to Beijing. China is a huge market.
ReplyDeletePVG and ORD could go with an extra flight each. There was also talk a year back that JU was looking at a second daily JFK flight.
DeleteYes, Marek mentioned that they could go more than daily to JFK.
DeleteWell it's good to hear the focus is on strong and stable operations. Expanding is great, but maintaining reliability and punctuality is even more important.
ReplyDeleteThere won't be a need for last minute Wamos wet leases in case there is a problem with some aircraft.
DeleteAny plans for flights to Canada in the future?
ReplyDeleteI think they mentioned previously that Canada was very seasonal in one direction only, so they could hardly make it work.
DeleteIf they had reintroduced flights to TLV, CAI and BEY they would get a lot of feed for YYZ and YUL. From Greece as well.
DeleteThey recently said they are still reviewing Toronto.
DeleteWhat's there to review? Serbian diaspora in Canada is huge, it's a no-brainer.
DeleteFees and costs. That's the number 1 thing you review. Not diaspora size which travels once per year at best and almost all travel in the same 3 month window.
Delete@09:33
Delete+1
Also Greek, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian, Albanian.
Plus all the Canadian tourists using JU to go to Dalmatia, Greece etc.
Agree with @9.35. That's why ORD is one weekly for part of winter. Diaspora travels once per year in summer. And it's the same case for all other diaspora traffic from any neighboring or regional countries.
Delete@09:11
DeleteThat isn't true. Previous schedules JU had for all 3 didn't allow for connectivity via BEG outbound to all 3 without significant and uncompetitive transit times in BEG exceeding 12 hours.
You forgot Air Transat flights to YYZ from ZAG? They are serving Zagreb almost entire summer schedule...
DeleteAnd Canada was about to go into recession from the Trump tariffs. Very risky.
DeleteThey could add two times to PEK, strenghten CAN or PVG with one flight each, or maybe add Miami as a new destination. Its been on the radar for quite some time. It is a gateway for the South America and the Caribbeans for American Airlines but it is more and more becoming a second US capital, with Trump spending more time in Mar-a-Lago than in DC :)
ReplyDeleteThey would get a lot of connecting traffic from Russia to MIA for sure too.
DeleteFrom Belgrade too. Also a lot of connections from ATH and VIE.
DeleteThere is actually a big Balkan diaspora in Miami. Last year flew to MIA by buying a ticket through Air Serbia's website: BEG-FRA-MIA with FRA-MIA sector on Condor. Had my luggage checked through in Belgrade all the way to Miami and got my boarding pass for the Condor flight too.
DeleteThere is even bigger Balkan diaspora in Toronto. Tickets YYZ-FRA-BEG are available online using same Condor A330neo planes and LH on FRA-BEG with luggage also being checked once and boarding pass for both flights.
DeleteNice video :)
ReplyDeleteReally good that they have Chinese speaking crew
DeleteAgree! Especially for an airline the size of JU.
DeleteYes I notice they also have menus in Chinese and Chinese language option on their IFE.
DeleteOh and Chinese movies too.
DeleteWell China constitutes 50% of their long haul network. It makes sense that they did this.
DeleteI did a return to PVG couple of weeks ago and I was one of two non-Chinese pax on a full flight. So well done for them for catering to the vast majority of passengers.
DeleteUnfortunately, the summer schedule to PVG is terrible - two early morning departures instead of redeyes. Wonder why they did that.
We want Miami!
ReplyDeleteI don't think they will be introducing another North American destination this year.
DeleteLet's wait and see.
DeleteWhy not operate Chicago in summer and Miami in winter?
ReplyDeleteBecause they will operate Toronto in the summer and Miami in the winter.
DeleteNice stuff!
ReplyDeleteFocusing on the US and China is a smart move. These are high demand long haul markets.
ReplyDeleteLong haul charters should definitely be looked at.
DeleteI’d love to see more direct flights to the US. Miami, Los Angeles or Washington DC would be amazing additions.
DeleteTokyo, Bangkok, or even Delhi could be future destinations for Air Serbia.
DeleteThey have already said which destinations they will be adding after this China expansion: Miami (and maybe Toronto), Tokyo, Seoul.
DeleteExpanding with a fourth A330 is a logical next step
ReplyDeleteIdemo dalje ..
ReplyDeleteBeijing is a must.
ReplyDeleteGreat news. And people here were saying they would do nothing with the fourth aircraft.
ReplyDeleteWell in winter their A330 fleet has been rather underutilized.
DeleteSo second E195 will finally arrive by the end of next month! Hallelujah.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you hear that?
DeleteIt says in the article!!!
DeleteMaybe ...I don't trust them until I see it in Beg.
DeleteMr. Rupić confirmed that the arrival of a second Embraer E195 is expected in the first quarter of the year, stating, “Our fleet is well-equipped, with backup capacity available in case of technical issues or maintenance requirements. This year, our priority is to ensure strong and stable operations with a focus on maintaining a good on-time performance.”
DeleteI don't think a plane has ever arrived when they said it would arrive.
DeleteTrue that
DeleteI could see them use one A330 for Antalya charters this summer considering the demand and number of flights. Also, perhaps we could see one A330 deployed to Moscow during the high season.
ReplyDeleteAYT operating on the A330 makes no sense. All Euro-Med charters operate all economy which blocks the forward section of the aircraft. Cargo isn't carried so there is no use there. All cost and fees attaining to the flight increases due to a larger, heavier aircraft being used which then increases the price of packages agencies offer.
DeleteSo they said nothing new really with the statements, they are just spinning the same story around without any real moves. Summer is almost there and other than those 14 flights there are no other firm plans.
ReplyDeleteSo well over 30 aircraft with wet leases is quite good.
ReplyDeleteWhen will YU-ARE enter into service?
ReplyDeleteTypically aircraft enter service roughly 2 weeks upon arriving in BEG.
DeleteOk, great to hear that...Summer season starts in 1 and a half months, so what's the plan? If you are gonna open new routes, which is a must if you don't wanna all those planes sitting around and wasting money, you need to do it asap
ReplyDeleteGreat news
ReplyDeleteWhat is going on with yu-ata? And does someone know why are the pilots of the air serbia embraer foreigner ?
ReplyDeleteIt was published just days ago here.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2025/02/air-serbias-embraer-fleet-expansion.html
DeleteTokyo!
ReplyDeleteStart Beijing, sign a codeshare with Hainan and expand existing one with Air China.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIn my opinion, Air Serbia will not be granted permission to fly to PEK. Air Serbia efforts to obtain PEK permissions have been reported here numerous times in the past couple of years.
DeleteI also think codeshare talks with Hainan probably failed and there will be no codeshare between Air Serbia and Hainan. From almost two years ago:
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/02/air-serbia-outlines-chicago-china-and.html
"Mr Marek added that Air Serbia is trying to negotiate a codeshare with Hainan Airlines, which maintains a weekly flight between Beijing and Belgrade"
"Air Serbia efforts to obtain PEK permissions have been reported here numerous times in the past couple of years."
DeleteI absolutely love how some here just make things up on the go. In fact it has not been reported a single time. JU applied for Tianjin because Beijing was out of bounds for ALL foreign airlines during Covid. You even made up that they applied for a permit now. They only said they will either consider Beijing where they have to compete against another airline or add frequencies to existing China routes. So you simply made up that they applied for a permit to Beijing. To make things worse, permit requests to China CAAC are completely public on their website. t's published once per month for all airline that applied. You just have to use google translate from Chinese to English. And Air Serbia has not submitted a single permit request for Beijing.
Facts:
Deletehttps://onemileatatime.com/news/air-serbia-beijing-flights/
Facts about Air Serbia applying for Beijing and Shanghai permissions back in 2023, after pandemic:
"The carrier has made no secret of its plans to introduce flights to Beijing"... Asked which of the two mega cities would be introduced first, the CEO noted, “We will be applying for both, but we will not have much influence on whether it will be Beijing or Shanghai first." ... "we believe we can serve both, but which one will come first and where we will be able to secure the necessary operation permits is still to be seen." ..." we can assume the process will be similar for Beijing and Shanghai, and we don’t expect permission to be granted before Q4 2023”..."Once we get permission for Beijing and Shanghai, we will keep Tianjin for some time"..."We are targeting two weekly flights to Beijing"
source: https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/02/air-serbia-outlines-chicago-china-and.html
There is no Air Serbia permit request for Beijing on the China CAAC website, which I consider a much more credible source. There are permit requests for Tianjin, Guangzhou and Shanghia.
DeleteQuotes are credible, they are from Air Serbia CEO.
DeleteI’d love to see Air Serbia leverage this extra capacity to add seasonal flights to popular destinations like Bangkok
ReplyDeleteI’m still waiting for them to announce Miami and Toronto.
ReplyDeleteLikely next winter.
DeleteLack of widebody aircraft and focus on China in the past 2-3 years have diminished or completely arrested North America network development since Chicago service announcement in mid 2022.
DeleteWith four A330s and China expansion completed (save for possible frequency increase), it appears waiting for Beijing route approval is now being used to further delay North America expansion. Both Air Serbia management and committed blog followers understand permission for Beijing will not be approved.
^ yes, I'm sure they phoned you and told you what the management understands.
DeleteWhat a load of nonsense. Apart from the fact that Chicago was launched less than two years ago, management has been very straight forward as to why they went for China. Significantly less seasonality, good demand, especially in winter months, the fact that many European airlines have stopped flying to China due to routing restrictions. They said from the start that once the China expansion is completed they will look at expanding North America again. In case you didn't notice, Shanghai was launched less then a month ago.
The complete lack of business sense by some here is displayed daily by the fact that you think a small airline like Air Serbia can add new long haul routes every other month. Long haul flights are very expensive and take time to make a return on investment. I really don't know what is that you want? Two long haul routes were launched in the scope of 6 months. 2 wide body aircraft have arrived in the scope of 6 months.
Most of you just complain for the sake of complaining.
Air Serbia announced Chicago on 14 Jul 2022, two and a half years ago. Nothing stops Air Serbia from announcing new NA destination now for inaugural service in late 2025 or early 2026. What Air Serbia had planned for Beijing was already commented in another thread. It makes no sense for Air Serbia to talk about Beijing any more.
DeleteWaiting for direct line Belgrade - Auckland (New Zealand) 😂
ReplyDeleteMiami is coming. As are more destinations in China
ReplyDeleteThat would be fantastic.
DeleteHow about that direct flight to Entebb/ Uganda which even Vucic was talking about last time? I know they signed some MOU about this. Could be very profitable, this part of Africa have poor connections with Europe unless its trough Middle East
ReplyDeleteLol
DeleteHope there will be another new long haul route this year.
ReplyDeleteSo much talk about Toronto and Miami, will they be year round or seasonal destinations ?
Delete