Kazakhstan’s SCAT Airlines, which plans on launching flights between Astana and Belgrade by the end of the year, is exploring options to add fifth freedom services from the Serbian capital to foreign markets. The development was revealed at the Kazakh-Serbian Intergovernmental Commission, which took place in Almaty last Friday, where the two sides discussed cooperation in trade and transport, agriculture, healthcare, tourism, science, biotechnology, education and culture. “Today, the airlines of the two countries are carrying out all the necessary procedures for the launch of the [Astana - Belgrade] flight. To increase the attractiveness of the route, an agreement is being reached to extend the service from Belgrade onwards to Morocco, Tunis, Barcelona and Larnaca”, Serik Zhumangarin, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy, said.
SCAT Airlines’ management, as well as Kazakhstan’s Minister for Transport, held talks with the Serbian Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, as well as Air Serbia’s CEO in late May. At the time, the two sides discussed fifth freedom flights. Fifth freedom flights are those operated by an airline between two foreign countries as part of a service that originates or ends in the airline’s home country. The airline picks up and/or drops off passengers between two countries other than its own, on a route that is part of a longer journey linked to its home base. As a result, SCAT Airlines would be able to sell tickets from Belgrade to a foreign destination other than its own country, such as Morocco, Tunis, Barcelona or Larnaca, as discussed.
Negotiations over flights between Serbia and Kazakhstan have been ongoing for almost a decade. SCAT Airlines operates a fleet of over thirty aircraft and a network of more than sixty destinations. Its fleet primarily consists of Boeing 737 family jets, including a number of new 737 MAX aircraft. During the Intergovernmental Commission, Kazakhstan also committed to building a multifunctional hotel complex in Belgrade, which, according to Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of Tourism and Sports, Yerzhan Yerkinbayev, “will give impetus to the development of tourism infrastructure and strengthen business and cultural ties between the two countries”.
WOW I did not expect THAT!
ReplyDeleteS C A T welcome to BEG🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
DeleteSeems more and more unlikely. 😥
Delete^ after reading the article, statement from minister that the airlines have reached agreement on the route, you have concluded it is unliekly. Well done.
DeleteDoes Spain, Cyprus, Morocco or Tunisia need to also give permission to SCAT for 5th freedom rights between them and BEG?
DeleteI think YES.
DeleteAstana-Belgrade on its own would unlikely work, so this isn’t a bad idea actually.
ReplyDeleteFifth freedom rights could make it more viable year round.
DeleteAlmaty was a much better option.
DeleteAlmaty-Belgrade would not work on its own either.
Delete...or Shymkent.
DeleteLet alone Shymkent-Belgrade.
DeleteWhole Scat's eastern and Kazakhstan network meeting in Shymkent-Belgrade would certainly work.
DeleteAstana has no feed.
That's why it was a stupid idea to start with and that's why they're looking for feed on the other end.
Majority of people in Serbia have never heard of a place called Shymkent and you expect full loads to there? Just because you travel there or know about it does not mean the rest of the country does or that they would fly there.
DeleteI think only people in aviation or geographers know😁😄
DeleteI expect loads to Astana, Almaty, Vietnam and China THROUGH Shymkent...
DeleteEver heard of Sharjah?
Yes I have heard of Sharjah. So much so that in 2019 Air Arabia was selling 4 weekly flights between Sharjah and Belgrade and cancelled it after 4 months of sale because of poor sales.
Delete@09:01 Astana-Belgrade would absolutely work on its own, there is no visa regime between two countries and lots of Russian expats would use the route as well
Delete@09:27 - Sharjah wasn't canceled from Sarajevo or hundred other destinations they fly to. Any city as a hub should work given it has feed on both ends.
DeleteSharjah has in fact been cancelled from Sarajevo. Not to mention the route was used primarily by point to point traffic.
Delete@9.53 tell that to BA on their BEG route.
DeleteAstana and Almaty have flights to Podgorica, and Shymkent to Budapest. I see no reason why BEG won't work, especially with 5th freedom.
DeleteThose are flights for tourists. Only if Belgrade plans huge campaign in Kazakhstan cause it’s unknown as city break destination over there… But I doubt it’s gonna be effective, didn’t spot Belgrade campaign in years…
DeleteThe Shymkent guy again 🤣 It's becoming the new Lagos
DeleteIt is usually one person who travels there who believes an entire route is needed so they can have greater convenience.
DeleteEXPO could be advertised to Kazakhstan which held the previous one I might add and thus bring a lot of Kasack visitors to Belgrade.
DeleteI believe that Belgrade is most European coty they can see without visas. With a little advertising, that could be a hit. Kazakhs have good economy and fair salaries
DeleteIt also needs to be some traffic from our region to Kazakhstan.
DeleteSo they need to advertise as well here and show that this is not the country people think it is because of Borat.
@anon 14:40 They can also see St. Petersburg without visa.
Deletewhere the hell is shymkent
DeleteThis is very interesting. BEG is incentivising North Africa flights, so Morocco and Tunisia kind of make sense. Barcelona and Larnaca are very surprising though. Could it be Air Serbia pushing them to start these with some cheap fares to better compete against Wizz if JU is unable to put extra capacity on these routes?
ReplyDeleteNo way JU will allow another airline to enter BCN market, one way or another they will try to block them.
Delete"To increase the attractiveness of the route, an agreement is being reached to extend the service from Belgrade onwards to Morocco, Tunis, Barcelona and Larnaca”
DeleteWell it seems these is being negotiated by the two airlines. Perhaps JU will codeshare and gives them the option to put more capacity on routes being attached by Wizz.
So basically JU is adding more capacity on BCN and LCA without actually adding it's own capacity. Nice.
Delete^ exactly
DeleteAjde bože pomozi
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteInteresting development. Fifth freedom flights from Belgrade could open up some unique travel options, especially if the fares are competitive.
ReplyDeleteThis is what I call creative route planning
ReplyDeleteWow, this would be wonderful
ReplyDeleteWhat happened with Sofia? Are still they have this as idea ? ALA-SOF-BEG?
ReplyDeleteNo one ever said they would fly to Belgrade via Sofia.
DeleteThey said were considering Sofia as a destination.
DeleteYes, but not on their way to BEG.
DeleteThey should not be given access to Barcelona or any other route already served from Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this is taking just FOREVER...
And you are impatient because you want to buy a ticket?
Delete...in the meantime Uzbekistan Airways launches flights without any pre-conditions.
DeleteWell Uzbekistan Airways is not launching flights to Belgrade so your comment is irrelveant.
Delete09:07 Exactly! Why should JU have SCAT take a slice of it's Cyprus and BCN markets?
Delete@ anon 09:30
DeleteAsking the same question myself. Maybe to put some pressure on W6, knowing they are adding capacity left and right from Abu Dhabi base leftovers. On the other hand, both BCN and LCA are very strong markets out of BEG and it's a matter of time when we could see Vueling or someone else launching flights so JU would need all the capacity they can get.
But it won't be JU capacity but SCAT, they will be the ones getting the revenue from operating these 5th freedom routes.
DeleteIf anything it will pressure ticket prices downwards which it won't be desirable for either JU or W6.
READ THE ARTICLE. The two airlines are negotiating meaning it will be some revenue sharing agreement. And it will most likely be Tunis or Morocco not the other two. They can't launch all four otherwise they would have to fly at least 8 times per week to BEG.
DeleteI hope it won't be a codeshare type agreement like they have with TK where only the most expensive fare classes are available to book via JU.
Deletelol
ReplyDeleteWho the hell would travel on this flight?
ReplyDeleteNot long ago, people were writing that no one would fly to Tbilisi.
DeleteGeorgia is a country with a huge diaspora, the route was launched by Air Serbia, which flies to 100 destinations, by chance SCAT flies to 100 destinations? Kazakhs travel mainly for tourism abroad, there is a small diaspora in Russia, China, Germany, Turkey.
DeleteThe Russian diaspora is anything but small nowadays in Kazakhstan.
DeleteOh gosh, I‘m not sure about this. I feel like they‘re also here only for the Vinci‘s money just like Air Algerie…
ReplyDeleteSome way more serious airline is needed on medium haul route like Fly Astana, otherwise I doubt Serbia and Kazakhstan will be ever connected.
What is Fly Astana?
DeleteAir Astana* sorry
DeleteTunis and Morocco would be great additions
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSCAT could tap into niche markets that bigger airlines overlook
DeleteIt would, if SCAT timings would align with JU waves from both directions
DeleteSerbian tourists won't be visiting Morocco much since serbian citizens need visa with quite strict rules ( emoloyment, selary, vacation proof etc..)
DeleteThat will be solved pretty quickly. Negotiations are ongoing
DeleteI did not have this on my bingo card for this year haha
ReplyDeleteSame :D Belgrade to Morocco via SCAT? That’s a routing I never thought I’d see.
DeleteMorocco would work only with VOA
DeleteLet’s hope this doesn’t stay just a memorandum.
ReplyDeleteIt will depend heavily on marketing. Most passengers won’t even know SCAT exists unless they advertise hard.
ReplyDeleteBelgrade could become an interesting stopover hub for them.
ReplyDeleteThe fifth freedom legs could be a clever way to make the Astana route profitable.
DeleteHow would this work? I'm guessing they would fly to one of those four destinations listed. I highly doubt they would have 4 weekly flights to BEG at the least.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering that too.
DeleteFinally, some movement on the Astana - Belgrade route
ReplyDeleteIf this works, maybe other Central Asian carriers will look at similar arrangements.
ReplyDeleteHow long has these talks been going on for flights to Kazakhstan? It seems forever.
ReplyDeleteIt says in the article. But news of SCAT Airlines plans only appeared this May.
DeleteHow long would the flights from Astana to Belgrade take?
ReplyDeleteWhy in the world would someone name an airline by the name of SCAT and become object of ridicule. Didn't they know they will be flying out of Kazakhstan?
ReplyDeleteThen people here make fun of CHAir.
It means Special Cargo Air Transport.
DeleteWho here makes fun of Chair?
I don't know who by name. We all appear annonymous in here haha.
DeleteThanks for shedding light on the abbrev. Goes to show that opting for abbreviations is not really that smart. But I am open minded. I say: Go SCAT, go SCAT! Lol
I know, right? It’s an awful name. And considering it has an English abbrevation, even worse.
DeleteWhat does fifth "freedom services" mean?
ReplyDeleteWhat does "fifth freedom services" mean?
ReplyDeleteIt is written in the article. Second pargraph.
DeleteProof people do not read the article and just turn up on here trying to cause arguments
Delete100% I go straight to the comments 🤣
DeleteNot something to be proud of
DeleteWhy not?
DeleteMayby the hotel will cooperate with scat, bringing kazakh tourists to stay there, mayby even kazakh speaking personal
ReplyDeleteIf Air Astana can fill A321neos to Podgorica then any airline from Kazakhstan or the other Stans can fill an A320 to Belgrade-especially if they have fifth freedom flights to Montenegro, the Mediterranean or Morocco.
ReplyDeleteMarrakesh-Belgrade-Almaty would be a fantastic routing.
DeleteTGD and TIV are JU's and 4O's backyard. We don't need any asian company to serve it
DeleteYes we need them more than anything else.
DeleteFrequencies are too low and prices much too high!
Frequencies are too low? There are 102 flights from Serbia to Montenegro this week. The nonsense some people write here.
DeleteIf you would ad daily flights with decent ticket prices they would be booked in no time.
Delete102 or 123 flights a week - it doesnt matter.
If all flights are sold out, then the frequencies are too low.
DeleteDemand for Belgrade-Tivat/Podgorica flights will always exceed what airlines alreday do offer.
DeleteI really, really want to meet the person who thought SCAT is a good name for an airline. Well, for anything actually.
ReplyDeleteEven if they're dead, I'd just wanna laugh. lol
Here in Bulgaria scat is fish and tv Chanel.
Deletescat airlines jumpscare
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, Air Astana was supposed to launch LCA flights this year or early next year. So, seeing LCA on the list here isn't very surprising since Kazakhstan and Cyprus have been working on establishing flights.
ReplyDelete