Air Serbia is approaching its ninth year of operations to the United States as it considers adding its third destination in the country. Data accumulated by provider OAG for 2024 indicates the carrier continues to have more point-to-point passengers between Serbia and the United States on its two routes to New York and Chicago than transfers. However, there is a sizeable amount of transfer traffic as well, with services to and from New York having a significantly larger share of connecting passengers compared to Chicago. Podgorica to/from New York remains the busiest citypair for the airline among transfers, followed by New York - Istanbul, Skopje, Moscow, Tivat, Tirana and Athens. Tirana remains one of the busiest unserved routes from New York JFK, while both Istanbul and Athens boast numerous nonstop flights to the Big Apple.
Air Serbia was the sixth largest airline between Russia and the US last year, behind Turkish Airlines, which dominates the market, then Qatar Airways, Emirates, Royal Air Maroc and Uzbekistan Airways. The Serbian carrier was followed by Etihad Airways and Egypt Air. Other destinations in Air Serbia’s network with solid transfer traffic bound or originating the US include Thessaloniki, Zagreb and Ljubljana. On the other hand, passengers flying with Air Serbia and continuing their journey via its codeshare partner JetBlue or its interline partner American Airlines connected the most through New York and Chicago to/from Cleveland, booking data shows.
Tour operators catering for diaspora traffic in the US have indicated that New York remains more popular with Air Serbia’s transfer passengers as the average fares are cheaper than from Chicago. They also noted that Sarajevo has potential as a connecting destination via Belgrade to/from the US, however, the lack of suitable connections in either direction keeps demand low.
Based on indirect traffic flow, the busiest unserved route from Belgrade in the United States remains Los Angeles, followed by Miami, Washington and Boston. Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and KLM are most commonly used by passengers from/to Belgrade to reach unserved destinations in the US, although Air Serbia carries a large share of these passengers too. Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, previously noted, “Following China, we will continue to grow on the American market. We are considering Toronto and Miami, which we mentioned a number of times. After that we hope there will be enough destinations in North America in the years to come”.
Interesting to see Istanbul and Athens within the top. Some experts claimed that people under no circumstance transfer through other airports and travel with other airlines if there are numerous nonstop flights.
ReplyDeleteWho said that?
DeleteFor the right price a lot of people will choose a connecting flight despite the longer trip duration.
I'm not the original poster but I have also read comments here numerous times that no one is going to transfer (particularly from Istanbul) to XYZ destination on Air Serbia. Many times.
DeleteTK is expensive and the US3 no longer serve IST. So monopoly prices will for sure make people choose connecting through BEG and other hubs.
DeleteIt just makes sense.
ATH is not at the top but quite far below. JU needs to make sure they grow on this market since it's massive. They are also missing Bucharest and Sofia on the list. Their marketing team needs to focus on those markets.
DeleteIST is not a surprise since TK has a monopoly to the US and they charge crazy fares for point to point passengers.
The issue with the Greek market is that this year ATH will have 101 departures a week to the US by 5 airlines to 9 US airports.
DeleteSo JU needs to really stand out on schedule, flight time and inflight product in order to compete with connections through FCO, CDG, FRA, LHR, MUC, AMS, etc.
JU can also compete on price, they have a lower cost structure than all those airlines. I still believe their main problem is that they are not focused on promoting themselves in the US. That's where the market is, not Greece.
DeleteNemjee +1
DeleteA codeshare with a US3 airline would help a lot in doing that.
Well they have it with B6 but they are a regional US carrier in the sense that they are mostly focused on north-east USA plus Florida. They need to find a way to work with one of the big carriers.
DeleteWould this situation with Delta Croatian and Italy objecting been resolved?
Delete"Delta, Croatia object to jetBlue-Air Serbia intra-Europe codeshare"
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/08/delta-croatia-object-to-jetblue-air.html
This only impacts JetBlue codesharing intra Europe flights on Air Serbia. It has nothing to do with Air Serbia codeshare on intra-Us flights which are not impacted and operate normally.
DeleteAA would be an ideal partner for JU in the US.
DeleteThey have strong hubs in JFK, ORD, MIA, LAX where JU could potentially fly.
Indeed, AA would be ideal so JU should push the Serbian government to lobby for its interests in DC.
DeleteI agree that AA is the best potential partner.
DeleteNo conflict of interest with BA for transferring via LHR, no presence of other Oneworld airlines anywhere in the wider region, great hub locations by AA.
But AA needs to be convinces first and JU should itself present its case in Dallas first before the Government going to DC.
United has the revenue sharing agreement with LHG and Delta with AF-KL.
Both these groups have strong presence in BEG unlike BA. So it has to be AA.
Well, JU was incapable of attracting AA all these years so I think now they need to lobby the US government into pushing AA to make this deal.
DeleteIf the airline restarted TLV like everybody else it would get a lot of transfer for the US.
ReplyDeleteFor sure, BEY and CAI as well.
Delete+1
DeleteFlying to TLV was not a problem, getting good slots was. TLV was extremely congested at that time.
DeleteJU needs to put a greater focus on densifying their current network, especially to the region. They desperately need a morning regional wave which would connect onto their long-haul flights which arrive between 04.00 and 05.00.
TLV to work needs to have a midnight departure from BEG, and return flight arriving early in the morning to connect to both the European network and to the US.
DeleteAnd that's what JU wanted but they couldn't get the slot they wanted on the way back. TLV is extremely busy at that hour. I think for the time being they should skip on TLV and focus on developing ESB and on launching AMM.
DeleteCAI for sure as well.
DeleteMidnight flights to the ME (TLV, BEY, CAI) work only on the outbound to JFK and only 3 pw, assuming a 5:30-6 am arrival into BEG (Mon-Wed). 4 pw would have a 6-7 hour wait. Inbound would mean anything between a 13 and 17 hours of transfer time, which isn't competitive.
DeleteMore focus should be put on the region in the short term such as SJJ and OTP.
@Anonymous 10:03
DeleteIt goes to show how much an aircraft in the size of an E-jet would help JU with increasing frequencies in the Middle East and thus get more transfer opportunities to the rest of its network.
LHG airlines eat our lunch because they can offer daily options. Despite being more expensive people who travel often have scheduling as their no.1 priority for choosing flights.
Just my2cents
It's not just LH Group or even TK, there is also Aegean now which is becoming increasingly present in the Middle East. I remember when JU launched CAI, I wrote that JU will have to break through the MS-TK and MS-A3 wall. Fast forward to today we see they were unable to do it. They should ask themselves why that was.
DeleteThey made the same mistake BA made it BEG. They had a modest number of flights compared to their competition so they were collecting crumbs left by their competition.
The problem JU has with the MENA routes is the length of the rotation - it's either miss out most of the arrivals into BEG on the outbound or most of the departures on the inbound, JU went with half and half which wasn't ideal. Northern European/Scandinavian routes is where JU would be more competitive compared to A3 for example, however the 6 am arrival and 11pm departure meant those connections were not possible.
DeleteJU is missing frequencies across Western Europe and this is where I see the ERJ being a deal-breaker for JU. We already see the positive effects the ERJ has played in FRA, I definitely see this happening in more destinations.
1 am departure for a 9 am arrival in time for an expanded 10-11 am departure bank could make the situation more viable for additional N American transfers. Same can be repeated for a 9-10 pm departure from BEG for a 5am arrival.
That's why JU needs another wave that leaves BEG at around 10.20. They were supposed to have CDG flights at that time but they cancelled them. If they keep on developing this bank of departures (along with LHR, LCA which already operate at that time) then they could fly to MENA at 00.30 without a problem.
DeleteI'm surprised they never worked on connecting US flights to Sarajevo.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the yields were not worth it?
DeleteIf they finally introduced the night flights they could connect onto US flights.
DeleteWhy can't they never introduce those night flights now they have a dozen ATR's?
DeleteJU has decent amount of destinations in the midday wave to make morning flights work for SJJ. Not to mention the O&D demand that isn't able to be well served with a daily midday flight.
DeleteJU had a great strategy for Sarajevo with 2 flights per day in the morning and evening and then swapped it for a midday and evening flight during the summer and just a midday one in winter
DeleteSJJ is close enough for the ATR to make 2 morning rotations. For example:
DeleteBEG SJJ 0700 0755
SJJ BEG 0825 0920
At around 10am there already are a couple of ATR rotations such as to TIV, BNX, ZAG so pulling this off shouldn't be an issue, more perhaps to retime one of the routes and seeing what is more O&D heavy and closer to BEG in order for it to be back for a 1pm departure.
Cleveland is a bit of a surprise :D
ReplyDeleteEither a good fare through AA or B6 codeshare or there is an ethnic tour operator doing well in Cleveland selling this option.
DeleteWhy Cleveland is not in the unserved list with LA, Miami, Boston, Washington, if so many passengers use transfers from NYC
DeleteBecause it is not that many people. It is just that it is the most used for transfers via New York and Chicago in combination with JU/B6.AA.
DeleteWell, JAT used to fly to Cleveland.
DeleteThey did, mainly for Slovenian emigration.
Deletelol, Cleveland has a major Serbian community est. 70,000 + Akron nearby with about 40-50,000 diaspora... not to mention Bosnians, Albanian, Croats, Slovenes, etc.
DeleteOhio has a lot more o&d to our region compared with Miami.
DeleteBut Miami would be useful for Russian travelers.
I might be wrong but I think Ohio has more people of Serbia origin, a lot of them are second or third generation. Miami on the other hand has a lot of Serbs who moved there in the last 20 years or so. They tend to travel more often back to Serbia.
DeleteIstanbul and Athens connecting traffic must be because of more competitive fares offered by JU vs what TK, the US3 and EK (on ATH-EWR) charge for flying non stop.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteTK to Miami is 450 Eur more expensive than JU+B6
DeleteATH to the US is a massive market that just keeps on getting bigger and bigger. From what I remember Delta will run double daily flights between ATL and ATH. It's extremely impressive. AA and UA are also adding extra flights.
DeleteAir Serbia should promote itself a bit more in the US since that's where most of the sales to Greece are taking place.
They won't.
DeleteThey should return to the Middle East and start the stupid night flights to Sarajevo, to begin with.
Yes, the night flight to SJJ should happen especially in summer. I can understand why they are avoiding it in winter (weather).
DeleteNEMJEE , you are right . But as a Greek with relatives in US , I can assure you that most of US citizens are "lazy", meaning they don't really like the idea of being transfered via BEG to ATH like us Europeans. Most of can afford fly direct to their destination with the Big US 3 airlines . And must not forget the Norse flight from Los Angeles. They are certain it is going to be a success.
Delete*most of them
Delete@10:03 around 40% of all US arrivals to Greece are coming via another European hub airport instead of direct.
DeleteThere is definitely a market for JU to grab a nice piece of it but they need to make the moves that Nemjee and other commenters have suggested.
Anon 10:21 can you please inform me about the source of this 40% indirect passengers from the US to Greece ?
DeleteI think those who are more affluent will pay a bit more to fly nonstop. However there is a large market out there which is price conscious.
DeleteI think JU should not ignore other Greek markets such as Heraklion, Chania, Rhodes or even Mykonos. I am sure they can offer a one stop via BEG as an alternative to ATH.
Anon 10:41
DeleteThis analyses has data from 2023, since then the share of direct has increased. But it probably still under 60% of the total number of travelers.
https://news.gtp.gr/2024/07/22/market-analysis-athens-airports-top-markets-united-states/
@nemjee
DeleteI definitely agree in regards to your comment on Greek destinations. O&D market is already huge, it shouldn't be too difficult to time them for some N American destinations. I would also throw in Italian routes as well seeing how much growth secondary Italian cities have been seeing, with additional capacity being thrown in by American carriers.
Air Serbia used to have transfers from Rome to the US. I am sure they are still there but much less than those coming from IST, SKP etc. They have a fantastic network to Italy, now they need to work on making all of them at least daily in the long run. Some like FCO can go up to 21 and MXP to 14... especially now when they have Embraers.
DeleteI also think they should try to make HER a year-round destination. Could work as 2 weekly in winter.
Interesting data
ReplyDeleteSurprising to see an airline like QR number 2 between Russia and US. TK is no surprise at all. They fly to 14 cities in the US and have many flights to Russia per day.
ReplyDeleteDOH is a huge detour, impressive that so many Russians choose that option.
DeleteWhy not?
DeleteIt's the best airline in terms of service, worth the slightly longer travel time.
Btw i saw their 737 Max few days ago in Delhi, looks so ugly.
DeleteQR livery looked so much better on the A320/A321.
Still a surprise they're ahead of Etihad.
DeleteI wonder how big a difference between them and Uzbekistan, HY is building a nice little hub in Tashkent and have an excellent service.
^ You do realize that Uzbekistan is a huge backtrack for 90% of Russians in order to travel to the west, right?
DeleteIt's a backtrack from around 40% of Russia and certainly not 90%>
DeleteRead again. It is a back track for 90% of Russian travelers, not the territory of Eastern Siberia. Probably more than 90% of Russians.
DeleteYes, and even so, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Samara, Yekaterinburg are all major cities so clearly you don't know geography well.
DeleteAnd the numbers HY handles confirms it.
Greetings from Tashkent.
https://ibb.co/zhs2jtw7
The traffic from these cities plus the demographics of these territories of the Russian federation would probably demonstrate that well under 10% of them have any travel demand to western Europe and North America.
DeleteYou should really look at the map and learn a few basic things about Russia BEFORE pretending to be an Uzbek!
Who pretended to be an Uzbek?
Delete70% of HY flights are from other cities than St. Petersburg and Moscow, or you're saying they're flying all the planes empty?
Anyway, you're talking nonsense.
Hahahah that random image definitely proves it!
DeleteWhat the image has to do with HY list of destinations?
Delete@14:49 how many people from Russia HY connects through Tashkent to the US and western Europe?
DeleteTHAT is what we are talking about here. Try to keep up.
PRN would be aswel at the top of the list, pax transfer via BEG to the US
ReplyDelete+1000
DeleteThe Bosnian flights with better connecting times would offer a lot of transfers too.
Now they really need to keep their longhaul fleet properly maintained. Planes can be 15-20 years old, but seats and IFE need to work properly, not to mention the whole hard product in business class.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWi-Fi has also become standard feature on transatlantic flights for all airlines.
The other day they posted a video on their Instagram page of some influencer who traveled to PVG. Among other things he showed the meal they were served in economy class. Honestly that was beyond embarassing. I am surprised JU even showed that.
DeleteThey should definitely work on improving their catering which used to be very good in the past.
What was in the meal?
DeleteIt was shown in the video for about 3 to 4 seconds and from what I remember it was a smallish tray with a metal dish containing an omlette and one sausage. Next to it there was one bread roll. On they tray there was no salad or anything sweet. Don't know if the person moved them or if it wasn't actually included.
DeleteThat’s just one meal
DeleteYes, the other is a sandwich. It was also featured in the video.
DeleteSMFH. As if offering a better meal would make the difference between the route's profitability...
DeleteThe British call this "strategy" penny wise and pound foolish.
It is not the standard . I flew LOT many times and there is no WiFi. Same with AirTransat to Zagreb had no wifi . AirCanada had no wifi on my flight Toronto Lisabon . You obviously never fly and make up your own "standards ". WiFi is useless on flights as people are not ok to pay 20 euros per flights like LH charges.
DeleteAnon 11.46
DeleteOf course it matters, it's all part of your branding. People are willing to pay more if they trust your business. There is a reason why airlines invest so much in these things.
All Air Canada international flights will have free Wi-Fi by next year.
DeleteLOT also with Viasat service.
But JU will be left sharing the ....distinction of not offering it along with Air Transat!
New generation of satellite connectivity is just starting to hit the market. It will take a couple of years for major airlines and probably a couple more for smaller ones to implement it across their fleets. There is no reason to believe Air Serbia would not fit this same pattern.
DeleteSatellite connectivity hit the market 15 years ago.
DeleteMajor airlines and smaller airlines alike have already implemented it across their fleets.
Most on their short haul fleets too.
Air Serbia's management on the other hand has not given us any indication it intends joining them. Which is strange since the previous EY management had introduced WiFly 10 years ago.
I used dial-up internet on a plane 30 years ago. If you can't comprehend what "new generation" means there is no point of having this conversation. Low latency solutions like Starlink are just starting to get implemented.
DeleteSure, satelite connectivity has been there for over a decade but the quality of connection isn't stellar, typically works above 10.000 ft and does have spots where it doesn't work. Cost of installation is also fairly high. Star link connectivity however is fairly newer, cheaper to install, provides faster internet however is still in its infancy. Such internet connectivity hasn't widely been implemented just as yet even with major carriers so in that regard JU is ok. The previous wifi connectivity JU had wasn't popular with passengers which was why it was discontinued.
DeleteRather than spending limited cash on a novelty such as inflight wifi, JU is using its resources to invest in the fleet, onboard and on ground product as well as more destinations.
Good to see not just regional destinations in the mix.
ReplyDeleteImpressive growth for Air Serbia especially considering the competitive market. It's good to see them hold their own against bigger airlines. Adding Toronto and Miami could be a smart move, tapping into large expat communities.
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for direct flights between Belgrade and LA.
ReplyDeleteWondering too why they did not focus on LAX so far. Is it maybe still too costly/far? But A330-200 should manage from a distance point of view I think.
DeleteThey definitely have the capacity now and LAX and its huge market could work well year round with good transfer option in the Balkans and the Middle East. Russia too of course.
DeleteSimilar comments were posted regarding Chicago and it turned out to be a quite mediocre success.
DeleteORD is extremely seasonal, not just for JU but for pretty much anyone. Just look at the difference between seasons. Air Serbia should have operated flights in summer only.
DeleteCalifornia is a year round destination.
DeletePlus if JU had competitive connections to TLV it would be able to tap in the massive southern California to Israel market.
AS should focus on transfers from Sofia, Bucharest and Budapest with lower prices. Also to add DC, put back LA on plans with MIA and Toronto soon.
Delete@nemjee
DeleteEven JFK is quite seasonal but I think there is definitely a market for at least 2 pw to ORD in the winter, 3 pw during the Christmas holidays. I think the biggest problem is the timing of the flights, along with a misconception that JU sends ARC exclusively to ORD which has the bad interior.
YU-ARC is in Italy for maintenance.
DeleteIs Pupin getting the cabin retrofit or just maintenance?
DeleteDoes it matter for passengers? They can't fly with it either way.
Delete@14:31 what are you talking about?
DeleteAnon 12.55
DeleteI absolutely agree that they can run those flights in winter but not under current conditions. In order for these flights to work they need to work hard on promoting themselves even more.
However, looking at how things are right now, ORD can barely survive in winter.
It seems they've managed to carve out a niche in Balkan markets.
ReplyDeletefor Montenegro yes. for the others its only a fraction of their transfer markets to the US. TK, OS, LH and so on have much bigger share
Delete^ Tk serves 14 destinations in the US from IST. Of course it's going to have a bigger share of transfers. Some people here....
Deleteobviously JFK and ORD transfer markets
DeleteLayover time are bad for SKP,
ReplyDeleteLH, Austrian, Lot offer 2 hour layover to almost anywhere in USA.
You don't compare the size of Air Serbia with the rest, but right now 4-8 hours is typical layover on SKP-BEG-USA flights.
If they can send ATR/EMBRAER to SKP to make 2 hour layover it will i crease the trasfer numbers even more
Right now is the lowest of the frequencies to both JFK and SKP so that is no surprise. Otherwise layover time is usually around 2 and a half hours. JU via BEG is typically the quickest option from SKP, TIA, TGD, TIV.
DeleteSo 3 years in a row checking I am flying in June-July from US to SKP, with exceptioon 1 day a week with 3 hours, rest is around 8 hours, with one flight up to 14 hours layover. LOT has 1 hour layover on USA, LH between 50 min and 2 h., Austrian is 1:50. I did all 3. Unfortunately never found decent roundtrip with AS, eve do I would like to fly AS, the total time of 18-24 is just too much,
DeleteWell, JU doesn't fly to JFK every day at the same time. Those layovers you mentioned are when JFK departs at 10.20. However, on most days it's around 07.45 meaning that connections from SKP are around 02 hours and 30 minutes.
DeleteSame with the other direction. Some JFK flights arrive at 05.00 and some around 10.30. Those that arrive at 10.30 have a decent connection time to SKP.
@02:11
DeleteNo need to lie.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
JU501 JFK BEG 1930 1020
JU792 BEG SKP 1325 1440
Transfer time 3 h 5 min
Return flights are decent too.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
JU797 BEG SKP 0400 0510
JU500 BEG JFK 0750 1150
Transfer time 2 h 40 min
That's more than once a week.
Maybe JU should acquire few AT42s and then organise multiple daily turnarounds to SKP, ZAG, TIA, LJU, SOF, SJJ, INI, KVO. Maybe even start OSI, TZL, TSR. With new US administration, PRN may be possible also
DeleteAny possibility of Air Serbia leasing an A350-900 for a million bucks a month to have a premium product on its premium route to US of A?
ReplyDelete