Air Serbia will commence operations between Belgrade and Tbilisi this coming summer season, marking the first time the two cities have been linked with a scheduled air service. Flights will be inaugurated on June 15 and operate three times per week, on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays departing Belgrade, with the Airbus A319 aircraft. The Georgian capital will become Air Serbia’s 80th destination out of Belgrade this summer and the 84th destination to be served in its network overall on a scheduled basis. Tickets are now available for purchase through the airline’s website, with further flight details available here.
Commenting on the route launch, Air Serbia’s General Manager
for Commercial and Strategy, Boško Rupić, said, "Georgia has a large
diaspora, so we expect that our network of destinations will make it easier for
them to travel from Tbilisi, via Belgrade, to America, Western Europe, and the
Western Balkans. We believe that passengers from Georgia will make up a significant
share of connecting passengers on Air Serbia flights and that Georgia itself
will be an attractive destination for passengers from Serbia and the region”. Levan
Moseshvili, the General Director of operator United Airports of Georgia, added,
“We are delighted that Serbia's flagship airline, Air Serbia, is entering the
Georgian aviation market. The United Airports of Georgia has been in
discussions with the airline for several years. Recently, negotiations
intensified, and, in the final stage, TAV Georgia, the operator of Tbilisi and
Batumi airports, also became involved”.
Excellent addition!
ReplyDeleteFinally.
DeleteThree times per week is very good.
DeleteVery nice
ReplyDeleteFantastic add. <3
ReplyDeleteTK won't be happy.
Oh no.
DeleteAnyway. Good job JU!
These 3 weekly flights will surely destroy TK.
DeleteThey might not destroy them but they will take away quite a few passengers on their BEG flights.
DeleteWill be interesting to see if JU's entry impacts carriers such as OS, LO or BT. Let's not forget that years ago when JU launched KRR, OS terminated it shortly after.
Because of JU you reckon?
DeleteJU flying 3 times a week to TBS is surely bad news for TK and IST.
DeleteNoone said Turkish will be destroyed, but not happy. The difference is huge.
DeleteAnyway, whomever start flying from Belgrade, we hear how it will affect AirSerbia. Why you don't think AirSerbia may also affect someone else by making them not happy?!
11:14 Clarkson reference.
DeleteTK carries a lot of transfers from BEG to TBS
Delete5 daily vs 3 weekly. Some delusional people in here.
DeleteTK flies 3-4 daily to TBS.
DeleteI eventually see JU becoming daily on this route.
What are the frequencies of other European carriers to Tbilisi?
Delete"Veri najs".
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, amazing addition! Hopefully EVN will be launched as well.
ReplyDeleteEVN would make sense, probably with E195!
Delete+1
DeleteYerevan would get a lot of Russian traffic too since it has dozens of flights across all of Russia every day.
Not only that, there's a significant Armenian diaspora in Europe as well
DeleteBravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteThis is good news. I wonder to what extent the influx of Russia-bound passengers influenced the decision to open this route.
ReplyDeleteThe crews will spend the night in Tbilisi.
ReplyDeleteI don't think so. They have enough time for so-called minimum rest in Tbilisi and can do the return flight.
DeleteThey will rest in a hotel so it's ok.
DeleteAF does the same from what I noticed.
Yes, standard procedure and it was impossible to make this route catch all the connections others. Interesting that they have enough aircraft in fleet to keep one A319 on the ground for several hours though.
DeleteAlternatively they can diversify their morning departures to Europe, e.g. on some days certain flights should depart around 10:00 AM. Next to LHR, they should add more important destinations such as CDG, FRA, AMS etc. In that case flights to TBS could depart from BEG at midnight and catch these connections at 10 AM.
DeleteWe will see if this unusually long turn around will work for them.
CDG yes, last year they had 10:20am departure.
DeleteFRA no, they should first deploy something bigger than E190.
AMS is not even 14pw, there is no available slots.
They should try BCN at 10.20. There is definitely enough demand.
DeleteIf they have spare narrowbody capacity they could launch MUC over the summer for starters.
DeleteFor MUC you need one available E190/195, very low price and lot of patience
DeleteThe minimum crew rest out of home base according to EASA regulations is 10 hours. I dont think they have 10 hours there. Maybe they will operate it as a split-duty, with few hours rest between the second sector, not minimum rest.
DeleteThe flight is 3 hours. They don't need 10 hours rest after that.
DeleteWhy do they take rest at all? Whole leg may be completed within normal 8 hours. They do not do rest at LIS, MAD or LHG
DeleteBecause if the plane did not stay in TBS it would mean very long connecting time for passengers.
DeleteExactly. It's surprising some people don't understand that. If the plane leaves at 13.20 it will be back in BEG at around 20.00 or 21.00. What will it connect to? The regional midnight wave with a long layover? The same regional wave that doesn't connect to their 13.20 departure? On top of that, their western European connection would work only in one direction.
DeleteLong layovers are not unheard of. Just look at Ethiopian's European network or Icelandair's US one.
Oh thank you for clarifying. And you don't understand that plane may take off later in order to arrive later? Instead of layover at TBS it can run two legs in Europe and than start with other crew to TBS and come back immediately
DeleteIf it took off later it would be uncompetitive for European transfers which arrive between 11.30AM and 12.30PM. Have a look at Air Serbia's wave structure before commenting.
DeleteThen it is not competitive to US destinations?
DeleteNice, and it catches all the connections. Although long turnaround times in TBS on the night flight.
ReplyDeleteGood thing is that on th way back you can be anywhere in Europe by 09.30.
DeleteVery happy for this route, and might even book it for tourism.
DeleteBut it's crazy the turnaround time on those days. It's good to know that JU has airplanes to spare, and keep them on the ground for so long.
It does. Just this summer they are adding 3 extra planes.
DeleteIf the routes makes money for them then the plane can sit on the ground. I am sure they will change it in the future once they have more departures out of BEG. For the time being this is more than ok.
DeleteIf they add one or two more flights pw, they can leave one crew there until next flight
DeleteHopefully Baku will come next, if this route proves profitable.
ReplyDeleteFunny they start with A319, not E190. They expect strong demand obviously
ReplyDeleteE190/195 can be used in winter.
DeleteA319 economics are better, it's more comfortable and can carry a lot more cargo. E90/95 isn't the best fit for such flights.
DeleteI disagree. That’s why JU will replace most of them with Ejets and A320/321 hopefully
Delete^ That was the plan announced 3 years ago but they are moving extremely slowly implementing it.
DeleteIt's something that lasts several years. It is not something you do overnight. Also, you might (or may not) have noticed the global issue with A320neos and engines meaning that airlines are keeping their A320s in the fleet much much longer because of lack of flyable A320neos. So there are much fewer of them in the market than planned.
DeleteE 190/195 they rented from Bulgaria Air are very uncomfortable..Last month I had a "privilege" to fly with it to Porto, very long flight..I cpuldn't wait to disembark, very unpleasant experience..And the air from console above your head blows directly into your face constantly, and it cannot be switched off, 'cause it comes through the slit....I had a heahache from it, eventually put a jacket with a hood a sit like that during the rest of the flight..Also leg space is very small, and seats very narow and uncomfortable..hopefully will not fly with those planes again..It might be ok. for 1 hour trip,but for 3- 4 hours- hell noo
DeleteThe choice was simple, cancel the flight or 'downgrade' it to an E90. Air Serbia's is reducing seasonality thanks to those uncomfortable E-jets. They operate only for a brief period of time so the A319/320 should be back soon. Advance bookings for both LIS and OPO are fantastic so the E90 should not return once spring arrives.
Delete83 destinations in network is pretty impressive
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteNow they need to density their network
DeleteThat and further reduce seasonality.
Delete^ the Embraers will help with that since it they will able to keep more slim routes during winter.
Delete*densify sorry
DeleteThey've said they're aiming for 100 destinations by the time of their big anniversary (2027)
DeleteWonder if it will be year long or seasonal.
ReplyDeleteIt will probably depend on the summer performance.
DeleteFour new routes for this summer (and potentially one more) is pretty good.
ReplyDelete6 new routes. Kavala and El Dabaa are launching as charters.
DeleteWhere is El Dabaa?
DeleteWould have taken you 2 seconds to google it
DeleteEl Dabaa (El Alamein Airport) is in the north part of Egypt. Mediterranean coast.
DeleteFunny, Mersa Matrhuh is very close
DeleteCharters don't count..Can you fly to there? no,you cannot book the ticket..sooo, no need mentioning at all
DeleteWill Mersa Matruh return? It wasn't such a strong performer last year. Some friends I knew went and the tour agency cancelled the flight and put them all on a bus all the way from Hurgada. I think demand was strong for about 2.5 summer months.
DeleteBus from Hurghada to Mersa Matruh? Goddamn
DeleteIt seems that they are more confident in Caucasus expansion than resumption of Middle East destinations.
ReplyDeleteThey should resume TLV.
DeleteOne of these areas is an active war zone, so the comparison is entirely inappropriate
DeleteNice one!
ReplyDeleteGreat to see them continue to expand.
ReplyDeleteThe fares are great!
ReplyDeleteWhat are the prices?
DeleteStarting at 220. Meanwhile Wizz from Budapest is starting at 50. Great indeed.
Delete^ apart from the fact that Wizz is an LCC (you need to learn the difference between LCC and legacy airline) it also does not fly to Tbilisi.
DeleteWhere did you find €50 with Wizz Air? I just looked at some random dates in June (to coincide with JU's launch) and the lowest I found was €122 from Budapest.
DeleteHowever, this only includes one bag, if you want a carry-on then it comes out to be €175.
So Wizz Air from BUD is more or less the same price as Air Serbia from BEG. Only difference is that JU actually flies you to TBS while Wizz Air lands you at KUT at 04.10.
If you want to go to Tbilisi (like most of their passengers do), then you have to travel another 230 km.
So tell me, how is Wizz Air from BUD a better option than JU from BEG?
Straight to the point, Nemjee. Some people will actually never understand anything about commercial aviation, but still will always be at the front line for commenting.
Delete@Nemjee BUD is better if you want to go to Kutaisi :))
DeleteBooked :D Always wanted to visit Tbilisi so this is a good opportunity and the initial fares are decent.
ReplyDeletei will go for a weekend too.. its a great city love it.. one of the coolest places in europe
DeleteThis will be a transfer heavy route.
ReplyDeleteYes, well they expect it to be
Delete"We believe that passengers from Georgia will make up a significant share of connecting passengers on Air Serbia flights and that Georgia itself will be an attractive destination for passengers from Serbia and the region”
Do we need visas for Georgia and vice versa?
DeleteNo
DeleteI would not be surprised to see a decent amount of ethnic Russian O&D traffic. Both cities are mini-Moscows now
DeleteWith AC sitting in Tbilisi for 9h two days a week. Poor crew! Scheduling of Air Serbia is insane!
ReplyDeleteCrew goes to a hotel. There is no other way flight can catch connections in both directions. The route will rely heavily on transfers. Pity they didn't have your armchair CEO expertise.
Delete@Anon 11:14: Tell us please what would be your suggestion? Maybe someone from Air Serbia scheduling will read this so they can take it into consideration, why not?!
DeleteThis is discussed many times before. Now they have enough plains
Delete@11:30 - exactly, they are wet leasing 8 planes this summer, so they have enough capacity for the 9 hour turnaround time. For those 9 hours they could probably make 3-4 round trips to Montenegro from Belgrade (or similar destination). And it's only twice a week, so we are talking about some 7-8 missed operations.
DeleteIdemo dalje...
ReplyDeleteWhere is the biggest Georgian diaspora? Do they have a big diaspora in the US?
ReplyDeleteYes, it's in NYC. From what I just saw, flights are connecting to and from JFK which is very good!
DeleteIn Russia, of course.
DeleteTBS-BEG 03.35-04.50
DeleteBEG-JFK 07.50-11.50
JFK-BEG 19.30-10.20
BEG-TBS 13.20-18.20
$1.000
Not bad especially when you take into consideration JU gives two pieces of luggage.
Mislim da su trebali letove Ponedeljkom i Četvrtkom da pomere za 14h da bi svi dolazni letovi iz Evrope između 12 i 13h mogli da se konektuju na let.
ReplyDeleteKoji letovi se ne konektuju?
DeleteСви летови се каче на Тбилиси.
DeleteAmsterdam 12:15h, Paris 12:20h, Stockholm 12_25h, Oslo 12:25h, Barcelona 12:30h, Zagreb 12:35h, Banja Luka 12:50h. Znači dovoljno je da let kasni 15-ak min. i eto problema. Biće dosta nategnuto. Često ljudi izbegavaju letove gde je vreme konekcije minimum sat vremena. Moći će oni da čekaju konektovane letove jer se avion ne vraća odmah, ali putnici to neznaju. Mnogo je bolje da su stavili let oko 14h. Samo moje mišljenje.
DeletePa ne mogu, ako je vreme mirovanja i vreme povratnog leta fiksirano zbog transfera na US letove. Samo ako bi jedna posada ostajala u Tbilisiju dva dana za sledeci let
DeleteGreat news! Tbilisi has been high on my bucket list for a while. Now I don’t have to fly through Istanbul. Well done, Air Serbia!
ReplyDeleteagree great place for a weekend trip . and best food ever in georgia and the vine. and the nice people. already exited to go again
Delete+1
DeleteFinally. Direct flights from Georgia to Serbia are long overdue. Hope prices stay reasonable.
ReplyDeleteAnd some were screaming for W6 to launch Kutaisi, like IR720. This is so much better
DeleteHappy to see better connectivity between the Caucasus and the Balkans
Delete@12.05 Wizz can't launch flights from Serbia to a non-EU country. UK is exception because they have UK AOC. If they had Georgian or Serbian AOC they could.
DeleteРећићу ти на српском да разумеш: не причај глупости.
DeleteЈош 2014-е сам разговарао са Кондићем о Тбилисују, Јеревану и Ростову. Нису имали авионе тада. Кутаиси никад није био споменут. Очито вам је помућено памћење.
Једини други аеродром поменут у региону је MRV и Трабзон.
You had a conversation with Kondić, ok bro, whatever.
DeleteHaha my thoughts exactly
DeleteOh, i see, i have hurt you in the past? Poor thing.
Delete1. I'm not your therapist
2. I don't work for free
If telling lies is making you feel better, please please, continue.
OR else you find us where for God's sake have i mentionned Kutaisi.
Have a nice day.
13:53
DeleteCommenting yourself?
moze li latinica - hvala
DeleteAir Serbia is really expanding fast this summer. Florence, Alghero, Mykonos... and now Tbilisi. I wonder what the next surprise destination will be :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see Tbilisi among the top 10 unserved European destinations from Belgrade. Clearly there’s demand even without transfers. Smart move by Air Serbia to tap into it.
ReplyDeleteConsidering so many routes are served from BEG, many destinations with much smaller demand are now in the top.
DeleteTrue that
DeleteWondering what are the rest of them. I know about Manchester, Dublin, Helsinki, Bergen, Baku
DeleteHoping this route stays long-term and not just a seasonal trial.
ReplyDeleteWhy not, makes sense.
ReplyDeleteTransfers are great but I think more can be done to promote Serbian and Georgian tourism to each other. Religious sites and good food, to start with.
ReplyDeleteI think many Serbs would be impressed how beautiful Tbilisi is actually.
Deleteabsolutly I would go any time again
DeleteMuch more interesting than Budapest.
DeleteGeorgia is beautiful and underrated
ReplyDeleteIs there visa regime with Georgia?
ReplyDeleteNope
DeleteSevilla and Tenerife to finish all routes in Spain
ReplyDeleteSeville would be interesting for W6, as a competition to JU's Malaga
DeleteSevilla should be Air Serbia route, Canary islands ( better Las Palmas than Santa Cruz) could be W6..Also Air Serbia should take subsidies offered by Federico Garvia Lorca Airport in Granada, and start flying there 2x a week..and 2x to Malaga..That wpuld be perfect, even for tourist groups who can land to one Airport ( Malaga or Granada) and depart on other one, Sevilla for example
DeleteNice.
ReplyDeleteGeorgian here. Really happy for this route to be finally launching. I think there is quite a bit of potential with both point to point and connecting traffic. Didn't expect for TBS to get a new airline announcement this late for summer 2025, after British, Easyjet, Transavia, Edelweiss and illogical as ever GA Italy expansion.
ReplyDeleteTbilisi on fire!
DeleteArmenian here, really happy for TBS this year, such great bunch of new airlines and routes, especially London as we speak and all of them on unserved/underserved markets. I think BEG would also work from Yerevan but TBS has more tourism-led ptp potential overall which is a win over transfer pax. TGZ's expansion to Italy doesn't seem that impressive tho, I don't think they can compete with such fares on the Italian market.
DeleteYea TBS-London was long overdue after both Wizz and TGZ withdrew from that market during the pandemic. BA return on LHR-TBS was really unexpected. Georgian airways will never really get anywhere with the current strategy. They exclusively cater to the diaspora and Russian connecting passengers at insanely high fares. Who wants to pay 400 eruos for a return from TBS to Forli on a crj200. They just make no sense and it feels like they don't want to get anywhere with the "flag carrier". Flyone Armenia is doing really well, too from Yerevan.
DeleteCan they fill that CRJ with Russians? I think they can, the Italian Adriatic coast seemed to be pretty popular with them.
DeleteI'm certain that's the plan. Plenty of Russians coming in on their 3 daily moscow service.
DeleteBA used to fly to EVN way before bmi, so hopefully they'll come back here too. They have good connections to North America. We are missing so many key destinations as of now. TBS is very diverse in that aspect. Your problem is your national carrier, TGZ could really lead the market but they don't seem to care and I don't think they have enough motivation. I remember their daughter airline - air company Armenia, very messy and unprofessional operations from right the beginning. I really can't imagine Forli to last and Rome has a strong competition in Yerevan because we have 9-12 weekly Wizz rotations with better fares. I think TGZ missed its chance to resume Gatwick.
Deletethere is a directly flight daily with lufthansa to munich as well. Excellent choice, super fun place lovely people culture food and arhitecture
ReplyDelete