As part of its five-year growth strategy, Air Serbia has developed a detailed destination plan, identifying specific cities targeted for future service. The airline’s CEO, Jiri Marek, told the “Blic” daily, “As part of our five-year strategic plan, we have a clearly defined list of destinations that can be launched as soon as conditions allow, whether in terms of available capacity or favourable market circumstances”. He added, “This means that if we need to temporarily suspend a route, we can quickly introduce a new one in its place, making optimal use of our resources. Such an approach enables us to manage capacity efficiently and respond swiftly to emerging market opportunities, all with the goal of offering our passengers a broader and more attractive network of flights”.
Mr Marek noted that Air Serbia is currently working on developing three types of destinations. These include leisure, such as new island destinations, hub feeder flights, like Tbilisi, as well as diaspora and business routes, such as the recently announced Geneva. While the airline has not revealed its list of planned new destinations for the future, it recently noted it aspires to expand with new routes to Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. These would primarily be feeder routes to support the broader network. On the long-haul front, the airline has confirmed it is considering the launch of flights to Miami and Toronto, while services to Tokyo and Seoul could follow in the long-term.
Commenting on recent plans for the introduction of flights between Kazakhstan and Belgrade, the CEO said the Serbian carrier currently has no available capacity to launch operations to the country but supports the efforts of Kazakh airlines to do so. "We see great potential in this market and remain open to exploring commercial cooperation opportunities, including interline, SPA (Special Prorate Agreement) and codeshare partnerships. These would allow us to offer onward connections via our Belgrade hub to more than eighty destinations across our European, Mediterranean and North American network”.
European destinations with the highest share of point-to-point demand from Belgrade remain Dublin and Manchester. Mr Marek previously said, “Unserved destinations with the highest share of point-to-point demand are Dublin and Manchester but neither has been launched by a low cost carrier, which means that logically that can only be introduced if you have the hub behind. I am not indicating that those will be the destinations we will be opening but we are looking at them”. So far in 2025, Air Serbia has launched or announced flights to six new destinations. “We’re especially pleased to see a growing number of passengers from across the region choosing Air Serbia for their travels. We are confident that the remainder of the year will be successful and further strengthen our position in the market. According to our projections, we expect passenger numbers to grow by 6% in 2025 compared to the previous year, which would see us carry more than 4.7 million travellers”, Mr Marek noted.
I think they have so many opportuntieis in Romania. And with their Spain and Italy network, it could work well.
ReplyDeleteIf they're able to get proper slots, any Transylvania route will work plus Iaši
DeleteI wonder why he is so reluctant in launching DUB and MAN with so much direct demand plus all the connections JU could sell.
ReplyDeleteAll destinations in our region plus Russia, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Georgia, China could get feeder traffic from Ireland and Manchester.
Idk why Easyjet doesnt step in Manchester route
DeleteProbably because it's a longer roation. They would by able to operate two shorter European routes during the time. Also I'm not sure that there is "so much" direct demand. They have the most demand because almost evertyhing else with larger demand has been launched. I'm sure cities like Bergen in Norway are now also in the top 10 in Europe because most cities have been launched.
DeleteEasyjet could only serve point to point traffic, JU on the other hand can get also connections to the wider region.
DeleteAnon 09:07
DeleteMarek said that MAN and DUB are the highest share of point-to-point demand from Belgrade remain Dublin and Manchester. Do you think he is lying?
Where did I say he was lying? You need to learn to read more carefully before getting triggered. I said that it is questionable what the volume of passengers would be despite them having the most point to point traffic (in Europe btw not in general). The reason is that Belgrade now servies over 80 European cities. So routes which were previously 50th on the list are now in top 10.
DeleteAnon 09:12 - that doesn't mean there are many pax on those routes, they are just on top since all other popular routes have been launched.
Delete@09:14
DeleteYou seem to not get that the 80 routes that JU has selected to operate are not necessarily the 80 routes with the highest demand to BEG.
You can probably accept with confidence that Varna, Salzburg or Hanover have less traffic than DUB or MAN to BEG.
DUB will probably not be added until Dublin Airport lifts the passenger cap.
Delete@Anonymous09:57
DeleteIf it is a new route it gets approved almost immediately!. Just like AMS.
Ejets solve those problems very efficiently.
DeleteBtw, Belgrade is connected with more than 100 cities. But that doesn’t mean that Manchester, Dublin or Bergen should be avoided in the next expansion. Demand is here, you just need appropriate hardware. If it’s not thick enough for LCC’s A321, for JU’s E190 is just perfectly fit.
Dublin I would have been surprised about until the last few months when I hear how much commerce is happening there and people coming to Dublin. Thankfully for Air Serbia I can't see any airline flying Dublin to Belgrade apart from itself, unless Ryanair gets an opportunity to label Nis - Belgrade South (Joking of course, well I hope it is a joke but other capital airports are further apart than Nis and Belgrade in Ryanair's network and still share the same name as the capital)
DeleteJust guessing here. Not sure that there is really much tourist or business or even c connecting traffic to Dublin or Manchester. Looks like exclusively vfr traffic, which is low yielding. Now ju knows how to do these well, but their other vfr routes are significantly shorter, so the economics are different. There may be a lot of p2p traffic as would be evidenced in other carriers connecting traffic, but those same pax would have to be willing to pay the premium for nonstop services and perhaps ju is unsure that would work
DeleteWestjet flies from Canada to Dublin - great opportunity for JU to tap into that connection as well.
DeleteDUB &MAN will never happen for JU as long as there are visas for West Balkans pass holders for UK&Ireland, get over it.
DeleteAir Serbia should also focus on improving frequnecies on its current routes.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteEspecially on some routes in the region. Sarajevo should definitely be more than daily service.
Delete+100 on SJJ.
DeleteI think both Sarajevo and Ljubljana would benefit also from using the E jets on them
DeleteAny new gen jets in 5-year plan?
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for Air Serbia to open Manchester or Dublin
ReplyDeleteOh wait…
DeleteAnd Munich also :-))
Delete^ you are obsessed. Take a break.
DeleteI'd rather take a seat on a JU E jet rather than having to use the LH monopoly.
Delete12:25
DeleteI am just joking, didn't you notice smiley at the end of the message? I am not MUC obsessed guy
Air Serbia needs to expand to Romania (Cluj and Iasi) and Poland (Wroclaw, Gdansk and Warsaw).
ReplyDeleteAlso, they should expand Spain more and introduce Bilbao, Ibiza and Seville.
Furthermore, they should launch Helsinki with E195.
They should also attack Lufthansa and launch MUC daily with E190.
They could go daily E190 to Memmingen instead of Munich.
DeleteYAP.
DeleteE190 could easily do MUC double daily.
DeleteThere is the dream and the reality. Yours would be rather dream xd
DeleteHelsinki, Bergen, Alesund, Reykjavik, Manchester, Dublin, Canary Islands, Casablanca/Marakesh, Rihyad, Jeddah, Amman, Muscat, Iasi, Cisinau, Warsaw, Brno, Damascus, Tehran.
DeleteOMG, how many nonsenses! Alesund? Riyadh? Jeddah? Damascus? Tehran?
Deletebefore all of those, Yerevan, Bremen, Bordeaux, Seville and maybe even Leipzig or Dresden.
DeleteWho would fly to Bordeaux or Leipzig?
DeleteYerevan is needed.
Bristol, Tampere, Faro, Ioannina, Kosice...lol I mean people seem to forget that when the market conditions are right they'll identify routes. Belgrade's connectivity is nowadays very good and Air Serbia's approach to profit, frequencies and service should be priority. I passed through Belgrade twice this week and I must say the electronic passport gates are a positive development. The arrivals experience in the airport will forever be rather bad I fear, but departing is really smooth and efficient I find.
DeleteWho put Alesund in the list hahahaha
DeleteI think Riga or Talinn should be high on a list
DeleteBtw where is YU-ARC?
DeleteTo Leipzig, many Serbs and Albanians from Albania and KiM living in Saxony and Saxony Anhalt. You could've not imagined how many technical engineers and medical doctors live from exYu work and live there.
DeleteTo Bordeaux well, more than to Alesund or any Arabian city for sure. It is great city near atlantic coast of France. That region is great for wine and French food lovers :)
Cairo should be back ASAP
DeleteBordeaux is a beautiful tourist destination, though it remains pretty unexplored. I would love to see Air Serbia expand their reach in France.
DeleteJU do not fly anywhere near western France. Bordeaux catchment area is pretty large, would be interesting route
DeleteThe Embraers will open up many new opportunities. Also, since ATR utilisation can be imporved in winter, there is more space for regional routes.
ReplyDeleteThey have surprised me with the number of new routes so far this year. Looking forward to more.
ReplyDeleteMr. Rupic revealed more info when he was being interviewed on one TV channel couple of days ago. The next expansion will focus on Caucasus and Middle East.
ReplyDeleteWell they are launching Tbilisi next month
DeleteAfter Tbilisi obviously
DeleteBaku and Tel Aviv?
DeleteEVN would get a lot of Russia traffic. Plus connections to Europe and the US.
DeleteBecause expanding into war region is the best strategy, and best timing to expand there is during the war.
Delete1102, how would that expansion impact the insurance cost, flying to a war zone?
DeleteEVN isn't a war zone.
DeleteCorrect me if I’m wrong but E195 twice a week might be the right “match” for Dublin and Manchester. That is, when new E195 arrive.
ReplyDeleteI think so too. I assume E195 can make it to Dublin right?
DeleteFully agree.
DeleteIt would probably have more pax than TSN.
@Anon 09:51 easily!
DeleteIt can make it. But it cannot make the route profitable I fear. The awful visa issue lifts its head. Dublin is also very well connected nowadays to places such as Sofia, Bucharest, Croatia with direct flights. Why on earth would anyone connect via Belgrade to places they can reach on direct flights. The Irish market is a mix of price-sensitive workers and students and Irish tourists. I'm not sure totally what market JU would be able to capture serving Dublin anytime soon. I would suggest a better route would be Nis-Dublin with Ryanair twice weekly.
DeleteWell, despite your confusion, Dublin is still top unserved BEG p2p route. Add some transfers to China and some other route in the network and you will get profitable route
DeleteI'm not confused at all. Dublin has many options to connect to China already. As others have said it might be the top unserved P2P but that does not make it a viable route for now. Air Serbia have far greater issues in terms of sloppy and inconsistent service to solve before launching a country into which is own citizens cannot enter without a complex visa process. It would be very bad business.
DeleteAlthough there are 3 daily flights to London in the same country?
DeleteYes. Because there is a market. Unlike to Dublin irrespective of the numbers of potential passengers. This is does mean profitable passengers.
DeleteDublin is a hub for low cost-carriers which are great for some things but not for passengers that have luggage and need connections. JU has the ability to book straight through to a number of destinations in China and Russia - Yes so does Istanbul - but there is a market available.
DeleteDublin is served by all
DeleteOf europes major legacy carriers. JU would NOT work from Dublin in the current period.
I would love to read that 5 year plan :D
ReplyDeleteBravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDelete“This means that if we need to temporarily suspend a route, we can quickly introduce a new one in its place......" Interesting quote from one CEO and manager
ReplyDeleteDon't see an issue with it. If circumstances change they can act quickly. Or you think no airline has ever suspended a route and only Air Serbia ahs done so?
DeleteJust remember cry from Skopje for LH two months.
DeleteIt's normal to cancel route but first time to hear that CEO announcing that, even before new destinations are announced. There is a process of planning that should prevent scenario of cancelling new destinations at first. Obviously who cares about passengers, just important to buy tickets and let the cash flow
Delete^ what are you talking about? Read again.
DeleteVery interested to see if we will get new routes in winter season.
ReplyDeleteI actually think they could have done really well if they were the one that launched Astana or Almaty,
ReplyDeleteI think there are better opportunities closer to home.
DeleteAt least they’re open to codeshare deals with Kazakhstan carriers. That could bring in passengers from Central Asia and open new markets without stretching their own fleet.
DeleteTashkent is the largest netwo out there.
Deletemarket*
DeleteAt which point do they go for an actual order? So puting out tender for 5-10 frames?
ReplyDeleteI guess they will order brand-new E2 in some 5-10 years.
DeleteManchester and Dublin are long overdue. Surprised no LCC has jumped on them yet from Belgrade. Could be strong additions, especially for VFR traffic.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is a major (or even midsize) Serbian diaspora in Dublin or Ireland in general.
DeleteIt's tiny and many of them hold Croatian citizenship meaning the connect via London using LCCs.
DeleteIf they manage to pull off Tokyo or Seoul in the long term, that would be fantastic for both BEG and JU. But they’ll need a widebody fleet expansion first.
ReplyDeleteThey already have enough wide body, too much for now...1 and 1/2 are not gonna be used at all during peak July- August season this summer, not to mention months with less frequencies, winter months etc..
DeleteSeems that ARC is on cabin retrofit now. It's already 2 months out of service
DeleteI'm really hoping for more flights to Spain. There is definitely room in the market.
ReplyDeleteTampa should also be considered since most of the diaspora lives there not Miami, if they fly twice a week to Chicago l don't see them flying more than couple of times a week from Miami
DeleteTampa and Cleveland should be the next two A330 destinations.
DeleteToledo much more likely to work than those two
DeleteIsto kao ovi sto licitiraju Muscat i Alesund. Fried aligator tail is really good.
DeleteMersin would make sense actually, it's quite underserved.
ReplyDeleteAlot being said without much being said, if anyone reads it correctly
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts exactly, literally nothing was said in the whole interview. That said, there are two major developments to follow:
Delete1. if their traffic will collapse this summer.
2. will there be cuts in winter and if they will manage to reduce seasonality.
Exactly, he said absolutely nothing..Same like in interview for Business Focus few days ago, mentioning introduction of Miami flights, eventualy 😄
DeleteIt seems to be a pattern with him. I do find his comment about cooperating with the Kazakhs quite interesting since their cooperation with TK and QR did not produce any of the desired effects.
DeleteThat's why I always prefer to watch what he is doing (or isn't) rather than what he is saying.
I hope they will open Canary Island, Menorca, Cluj...
ReplyDeleteTheir frequencies are s**t to basically everywhere.
ReplyDeleteAs long as they dont change that they are going nowhere.
Absolutely. KL understood this early on and that is why they wasted no time boosting BEG to double daily. BA didn't get it and that is why they failed.
DeleteHopefully JU boosts their network in the coming months. They have enough destinations.
Air Serbia will fly this Jun-Sep to 15 destinations with frequency of 13 weekly or more. Basically double daily to/from core hub network that covers key transfers. For comparison, OU will have only 4 destinations out of Zagreb with 13 weekly or more during the same period.
DeleteNo one is or should compare JU and OU.
DeleteFrequencies are key to sustain hub model and now they need as much E-jets as they can get. A whole year wasted after that mess with Marathon. Business decisions should not be made emotionally and ad-hock but calm and cold head. If they just blame the stupid pilot and use the situation to made better deal with Marathon. A couple of months after the incident nobody even mention it.
DeleteTripoli is a possibility in the near future as well.
ReplyDeleteI don't think so.
DeleteTampa will definitely be on their radar but not until they open Miami. Just like with NYC it's the prestige of opening direct flights to a city like Miami. I'm not saying Miami will not be profitable like JFK was not for years. I just believe that is Air Serbia's mentality.
ReplyDelete