Air Serbia will commence flights between Belgrade and Geneva this July, making the Swiss city its fifth new destination this summer and the second to be served in the country after Zurich. The service will be inaugurated on June 23 and operate three times per week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with the Embraer E195 aircraft. It will compete directly against easyJet, which maintains two weekly rotations between the two cities this summer and three weekly over the winter. Further flight details can be found here. Tickets are now available for purchase through the airline’s website.
Earlier this week, EX-YU Aviation News reported the Serbian carrier was considering launching flights to a European destination where it faces competition. It will mark Air Serbia’s third attempt at serving Geneva. The airline had initially planned to launch two weekly flights between the two cities with the Airbus A319 aircraft in the summer of 2018, but shelved the route before its launch. It then intended to introduce the two weekly service in the summer of 2020, however, deferred those plans until 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It then finally commenced operations on the route but discontinued flights after seven months. This time around, Air Serbia is betting on a smaller aircraft type, along with a larger network providing better feed to make the route successful.
easyJet handled 51.842 passengers between Belgrade and Geneva in 2024. Its average annual cabin load factor on the route stood at 87.6%, with the carrier exclusively utilising its A320s between the two cities. easyJet has so far been the only airline able to sustain flights between Belgrade and Geneva. Apart from Air Serbia, Etihad Regional maintained the route for five months in 2014, while Swiss also tried its luck in 2014 and 2015. Ultimately, only easyJet prevailed, which has been flying between the two cities since January 2014.
Commenting on the new service, Air Serbia's General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Boško Rupić, said, "With the reintroduction of flights between Belgrade and Geneva, we are further strengthening Air Serbia’s presence in Switzerland. In addition to Zurich, to which we will be flying as many as 21 times per week during the summer season, we are also introducing three additional flights to Geneva. It is one of the most important diplomatic and financial centres in Europe and is home to a large Serbian diaspora. This direct route by our airline will allow passengers from western Switzerland to connect with Belgrade and many other destinations served by Air Serbia simply and efficiently".
Bienvenue à Genève 😊
ReplyDeleteGood news! Nice to see another new route.
ReplyDeleteYes but this route can only reduce the LF to Lyon.
DeleteUtter nonsense. Lyon is a 2-hour drive from Geneva.
DeleteIdemo dalje...
ReplyDeleteWhich routes did Easyjet fly to Belgrade in the past? I remember TXL?
ReplyDeleteBerlin and Milan
DeleteeasyJet used to fly also to BSL and FCO.
DeleteWould be interesting if they returned on any route. This small presence of western carriers is not good
DeleteYes Berlin, Milan, Basel and Rome.
DeleteThis is goodbye to EasyJet
DeleteWhy? Easyjet survived JU in the past too.
DeleteBut this is not the same JU it was back then.
DeleteNicht immer
DeleteMXP, only few (2-3) seats empty. I spoke with flight attendants, they couldn’t understand why they ceased Belgrade. I was on last flight from MXP.
DeleteThe E195 is the perfect aircraft for this route.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAgree. The E195 is a smart choice for this route. Lower capacity and better economics might give Air Serbia the edge it needs this time around.
DeleteYes indeed and with E195 or E190 they could consider making a comeback into Warsaw as well.
DeleteE170 sorry.
DeleteAir Serbia does not have E170 and will not have it.
DeleteEasy is so pathetic in BEG and JU strike is at right time and with right equipment. At the end of the day Easy will pull back completely. Bravo JU and shame on Easy Jet and Vinci. E jets makes so much difference.
ReplyDeleteI doubt easyjet will leave with out a fight. The only time they ever woke up on this route was when they had competition.
DeleteLoad factors above 87% for easyJet show there’s definitely demand
DeleteYes, but for 5pw??
DeleteAlso they're competing with an airline that sells tickets for a third of the price on a heavily p2p route
DeleteIf and when easy pulls back, JU will increase prices, passengers will shift to other options and JU will eventually close the route..
DeleteDid your crystal ball say that?
DeleteAnd it will go bankrupt… you wish… cry me a river
DeleteExcellent news
ReplyDeleteI think this route can be a success for AirSerbia. When I was flying before it was doing well but they didnt allow the route to develop and stopped it too quick. If they hold their nerve and establish it and I am sure they will succeed and then sure they will be in the good position to grow frequency.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteMight impact Lyon
ReplyDeleteWhy would??? If easyJet didn’t so far?
DeleteThird time lucky
ReplyDeleteGreat to see Air Serbia returning to Geneva! With the right schedule and connections through Belgrade this could finally work out long term.
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia’s network has grown a lot since their last Geneva attempt. Connecting passengers might help fill these flights.
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia really needs strong feed from other markets to make this one stick.
DeleteFlights to TLV and BEY would help a lot
DeletePerfect equipment helps too.
DeleteCompetition is always good
ReplyDeleteFantastic fares available at the moment. 100 EUR return.
ReplyDeleteThey need to fill the flights having in mind they announced route short term
DeleteYou clearly don't know and understand how air tickets pricing functions.
DeleteLove seeing Air Serbia grow. Geneva has strong potential with both point-to-point and transfer passengers.
ReplyDeleteShould have a Sunday departure so that passengers can come for a weekend to Serbia or vv.
ReplyDelete+1 hope it will increase by time
DeleteUsing the E195 on this route is ideal. More flexibility and better suited for this market than the A319.
ReplyDeleteAlso for MRS. Hopefully they will bring it back next summer
DeleteNo. MRS failed on E190 operated by Marathon. Since then they returned to NCE.
DeleteNCE is 3 hours away by car from MRS. Should not impact heavily. Marseille is second largest city in France and should be connected to BEG. With more long haul routes I hope they will restore this route
DeleteMarseille does not have our diaspora or diaspora from the regional network of Air Serbia. Also, tourists go to Nice as far as the south of France is concerned, not to Marseille. There are almost no Serbian students studying there. The potential of the route is literally ZERO.
DeleteStill JU started it for some reason.
DeleteJU started it because they thought it will take market from Nice which Wizz has flown at that time 3-4 weekly. But they made a mistake and shortly flight were removed. Then when Wizz cut Nice due to their internal problems, JU entered that market.
DeleteGeneva offers great premium potential too.
ReplyDeleteOn which days EasyJet flies?
ReplyDeleteMondays and Fridays!
DeleteOn Mondays they have evening departure from Belgrade. On Fridays just after 12pm in the afternoon.
DeleteAnd which day is third flight in winter?
DeleteSunday
DeleteEasyJet’s Belgrade–Geneva route just doesn’t work anymore. The Friday evening flight is often delayed, and even short delays mean you miss the public transport service in places like Lausanne so you end up paying for a pricey taxi. Then there’s the Monday flight at 06:30, which basically forces you to spend the night in Geneva. Add hotel and unplanned transport, and your “hopefully affordable” weekend trip suddenly costs minimum 200+ CHF extra. Geneva’s great (and crazy expensive), but even for those with money to spare, this became too much.
DeleteTheir flight today is two hours late from GVA
DeleteJU is definitely trying to bring back most discontinued routes back. They need Trieste, Cairo, Cologne, Marseille, Amman, Beirut, Warsaw, Munich… are there more?
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia never operated Munich and they fly to Cologne from Nis.
DeleteThe flight to Cologne was two years ago.
DeleteOperetad as JAT.
DeleteNo, Air Serbia flew with Embraers (Marathon) to Cologne two years ago.
DeleteTLV and MUC are a must!
DeleteAfter Nice, Florence and Geneva we can expect more restored. TLV, KRR and RVI after the war hopefully
DeleteIt would be nice to see MRS and HEL back in JU network, but for HEL I am really not that optimistic.
DeleteMy guess is HEL will be the next former destination to return. It did well on the CRJ but was quickly cut when operated on the A319. MRS had loads terrible even for the EJets.
DeleteIt would be great if they boost GOT, HAM and HAJ to at least 3 pw.
HAM is operated 3 weekly this summer.
DeleteYes, my bad. The extra HAM flight operates Sundays.
DeleteThey should focus more on increasing frequencies...
DeleteConvenient flight times first, frequencies later.
DeleteAir Serbia has very convenient flight times for most European routes.
DeleteExcellent!
ReplyDeleteHad Serbia been in EU, they could set a base in LJU and with govt help become de facto Adria 2.0, this time successful.
ReplyDeleteLJU is a specific market. Nobody wants to set a base there and every single Govt. Public Call has fallen. JU is doing fine in LJU.
DeleteAir Serbia is showing real ambition this year. 5 new routes is not bad at all. More aircraft coming as well.
ReplyDeleteStill seems to have free capacity, regarding number of new aircrafts
DeleteThey do have spare capacity, but that gives them flexibility when delays occur for any reason. They will not have 100% utilization.
DeleteIs there a large Serbian diaspora in Geneva?
ReplyDeleteNope.
DeleteNot sure what qualifies as "large", but there is definitely a significant Serbian community living in francophone Switzerland.
DeleteSure there is, since easyJet flies there all this years. LCC flies mostly diaspora and leisure routes
DeleteThe route itself makes a lot of sense. While Geneva might be a relatively small city, its international presence is massive. Plus, the Geneve and Vaud cantons have a significant Balkan diaspora that could be better served via GVA. Anything north of Bern, though, is more logically connected through Zurich or Basel
DeleteBravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteThey could also launch a flights from Niš to Berlin, Zurich, Malmö or Paris. Or from Belgrade to Munich. I don't know how necessary it is now to launch a line so quickly where there is already LCC.
ReplyDeleteThat's why they have figures and traffic flow data, why they have a scheduling department to know which aircraft and when they can use. They don't just point to a map and decide what to launch.
DeleteToday is a sad day for JU to MUC guy...
ReplyDelete😆😆😆
DeleteMUC is the new Lagos
DeleteIt seems that majority of comments were correct here few days ago saying the next destination in JU network will be GVA.
ReplyDeleteSo no ALC, no MUC, no WAW... but GVA.
So? They don't launch new routes for your amusment. They launch routes they think will work.
DeleteTake a chill pill. You seem to be personally affected by this decision.
DeleteYou are the one complaining that it is Geneva and not Alicante, Munich or Warsaw.
DeleteNobody was complaining, you misunderstood it.
DeleteIt was just a fact presented.
I liked your comment, ignore the other guy.
DeleteI think Alicante and Munich will both come in next 2-3 years so all good
DeleteThat was really unexpected.
ReplyDeleteWhich days in week are served by Easy Jet? Does JU overlap or comlement the schedule?
ReplyDeleteEasyJet operates on Mondays and Fridays during the summer, but the schedule is far from ideal. Honestly, pretty dreadful flight times.
DeleteIncluding this one, Belgrade is getting 7 new routes in June. Not too bad 🥰
ReplyDelete5 from JU and 2 from?
DeleteTwo by W6, four by JU and Rhodes by Sky Express
DeleteEasyjet is much more expensive than JU. So instead of driving 1h30 to GVA I drive 1h more to ZRH to take the JU flight. Plus the shedule is not ideal at all, not to mention the cabin bags price or God forgive me if I need a checked luggage. So JU comming to GVA is just a great news
ReplyDelete+1 full support
Deletewhat about additional flight on LJU - INI and some incentives to POW or MBX from BEG?
ReplyDeleteLoad factor on INI-LJU-INI route in 2024 was 45%. Why would they add additional flights?
DeleteLol it was not 45%, flew this 5 times last year, pretty much in every quarter and every time the plane was packed!
DeleteLJU is probably the most successful of all INI lines!
The average annual load factor on the route was 44.5% in 2024.
DeleteThey fly Ljubljana on A319 or ATR?
DeleteATR. These routes are paid by the state. JU does not really care how they perform.
DeleteThis will be the final nail in the coffin of Easyjets pathetic and unsuccesfull presence in the Serbian market.
ReplyDeleteThey have been flying to Serbia continually for over 10 years. If it was unsuccessful, it wouldn't have.
DeleteeasyJet has higher yield markets than Belgrade. If JU takes their yield, they will pack and go.
DeleteDoes not seem to have worked last time.
DeleteLast time was in the middle of Covid, and without couple dozen of new routes to feed the flights.
DeleteDon't know why some think Air Serbia will beat easyjet on this route. Easyjet already beat Air Serbia on this route once. Easyjet also beat Swiss and Etihad Regional on this route
ReplyDeletePut it into context when Air Serbia was operating the route - in middle of Covid with entry restrictions and Easyjet having a lot of available airplanes in Geneva base. So, Easyjet was maybe too lucky here. Let’s see how the show will go!
DeleteJU will beat them with frequencies and smaller plane. Easyjet is cutting, JU adding. What is approximate break even for E195?
DeleteNot easy to say, but operating cost of E195 is somewhere around 4k EUR per hour. For the GVA-BEG, which is 2 hours, operating cost would be around 8k EUR.
DeleteFull E195 with only P2P passengers would bring around 18k EUR of revenue, but as the percentage of transfer passengers rises accumulated amount of money drops. Let's say that 50% would be transfers, and we get an estimate of some 13.5k EUR of revenue. That gives us break even at some 60% LF.
Great, thanks
DeleteGVA is a high yielding market so JU might see some business class passengers. This will push their yield and bring down the break-even threshold.
DeleteI wish JU would block the second seat in business class. It's really cheap the way they do it. Only AF-KL does it in Europe on their Embraer fleet, all others block it.
AF will start blocking the adjacent seat on its regional aircraft as well by the end of 2025.
Delete