Air Serbia is preparing for network expansion in 2026, with the Embraer fleet to play a central role in the airline’s growth. Following several years of steady development, the carrier is moving towards a fleet of 32 aircraft by 2026, including additional Embraer E195s, which will allow it to pursue new opportunities across Europe and beyond. The regional jets, which are well suited for short and medium-haul routes, are expected to provide the flexibility to test new markets, maintain year-round connectivity to secondary destinations and adjust capacity without the risk of oversupplying demand with larger aircraft. The airline has already indicated several markets that are on its radar in the upcoming period.
In recent months, Air Serbia has signalled plans to expand its network with a mix of returning and entirely new destinations. Among the routes under consideration are Helsinki, services to either Baku or Yerevan, or potentially both simultaneously, as well as seasonal leisure points such as Ibiza and Olbia. Commenting earlier this year, Boško Rupić, the carrier’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, noted, “When we launch certain routes, such as those in the Caucasus region, where we’re also considering additional points, the Embraers strengthen our position. They allow us to test new markets with more flexibility and achieve stronger initial results, which we can then build on by upgauging to larger aircraft”. Mr Rupić also confirmed the airline is evaluating mid-haul opportunities, including the potential introduction of flights to the Canary Islands. At the same time, the carrier has reiterated its intention to return to the Middle East. However, it stressed that while the region remains strategically important, more profitable opportunities currently lie elsewhere.
On the long-haul front, the airline has already indicated that both Miami and Toronto are under consideration. Earlier this year, Emir Pineda, Director of Marketing and Air Service Development at the Miami Dade Aviation Department, said the new service from Belgrade could be announced by the end of 2025 or early 2026. A key consideration for the airline is its widebody fleet. One of its A330 aircraft, registered YU-ARC, is scheduled to be returned to the lessor in November 2026. Extending the lease would require immediate investment in cabin upgrades, while at the same time, other A330s are beginning to appear on the market. Until any deals for additional aircraft are finalised, the carrier faces limitations in committing to the launch of a new long-haul route with full certainty that the necessary capacity will be available.
Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, has confirmed that the airline plans to add between five and six new routes in 2026. Outlining the carrier’s network development strategy, he explained, “We’re shifting our focus toward destinations like Tbilisi, where there’s a critical mass to support both connectivity and network development. These are markets where adding flights can also help feed the broader network. That said, the number of completely new destinations we can introduce is becoming more limited. So going forward, it will be a mix: a few new launches, realistically five to six per year, combined with route densification and seasonal adjustments”.
Air Serbia will participate in next week’s Routes World 2025 conference in Hong Kong, the industry’s largest annual forum for airlines and airports to explore new route opportunities for the year ahead. The airline will be represented by its Head of Network Planning, as well as its Airport Development Manager.
Bravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWe've been waiting for three years to see this expansion actually materialize.
ReplyDeleteThe airline added 7 routes this year. What expansion have you been waiting for?
DeleteWider expansion is needed before Expo27 surely. I can think of at least 20 new logical destinations at this moment; regional, short, mid and long haul
DeleteActual increase in passengers carried instead of this year's anemic performance maybe?
Delete@ you think it is normal for a relatively small airline can sustain 20 routes each year?
DeleteLoving all the experts on here.
DeleteWell, it sustained 2 years in a row. So yes, I think it is possible. Expo is a huge event, that can support another expansion
DeleteOne should be aware that a specialized EXPO is nowhere near in size as the one currently held in Osaka. It is more of a one-off fair with specific subject. Of course nothing can stop our government from painting the picture to their own agenda.
DeleteYeah we saw expansion with 2 weekly flights to new destinations. Their network is still relatively modest in terms of frequencies.
Delete^ it's always important to have something to complain about and be unhappy.
Delete@15.26 not true. Geneva is 4 weekly, Tbilisi is 3 weekly
DeleteAnother should be aware that more than 130 countries will exibit at Belgrade. Ok, it’s not like Osaka 150 countries and 30 million visitors, but we can expect 5-6 million at least. It is thematic Expo, but Music, Sport, Art, games are wide enough to animate a lot of tourists
DeleteWe love you as well :-)
DeleteAren't the two E195s from Brazilian airline Azul supposed to arrive this year?
ReplyDeleteYes, and? This is about next summer.
DeleteSo are these aircraft arriving in 2025?
DeleteYes
DeleteWhen, do you have any real info?
DeleteMr Marek noted, “We’ve already signed a Letter of Intent for two Embraer aircraft, which we expect to arrive sometime in November or December. Timeline is still subject to change. As you know, even with commitments from lessors, there are dependencies on MRO slots, and delays are quite common.
DeleteThat said, we’ve structured our winter schedule so that we’re not reliant on those aircraft during that period. Whenever they do arrive, they’ll be more than welcome additions to the fleet.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2025/06/air-serbia-to-add-more-aircraft-looks.html
Former Azul E195 N688DR is already painted in the JU livery and expected to be registered YU-ATA.
DeleteThank you!
DeleteIn the article says that they are aiming 32 planes for summer 26. With 3 A319 retiring and 5 planes signed (2 E195 and 3 A320) we can expect one more to arrive. Hopefully another E195. And replacement for YU-ARC
DeleteI still can't believe that they leased an A330 for 5 years and it spent the vast majority of that time parked in BEG...
DeleteWhat a waste of money!
^ you shouldn't believe it because it's completely untrue.
DeleteAnon 14.06 any source to back your claim or is it one of those trust me bro moments?
DeleteInteresting you didn't ask 14.04 for source. Maybe the source is that until this year the aircraft was being fully utilised year-round. So I'm wondering where does the conclusion come that it has spent "vast majority of that time parked". Pure nonsense. The airline would have been unable to maintain its long haul operations without it up until this year.
DeleteDo they finally admit that leasing YU-ARC and not fixing/updating its run down cabin was a wrong move?
ReplyDeleteI still do not understand why they bought seats for Pupin if they are not going to use them.
DeleteBecause if not Pupin, they will use it on a replacement plane?
DeleteMore than a year before and they already know that the A330 they will lease will need to change its cabin?
DeleteWhat they need to do is to increase frequencies on the current route network before launching even more destinations with just 2-3 flights a week.
ReplyDeleteWhy not read what the CEO said?
DeleteI did and I agree with 09:12.
DeleteThey have to increase the weekly no. of flights to present destinations.
And that's what they say they will do.
DeleteThats what they are saying will do for the past 3 years, and somehow never manage.
DeleteNot exactly true as frequencies have been increased on routes this summer.
DeleteThey were, just never to the extent of their initial schedule. With CDG being the cashcow, I dont understand why they needed to wait for Easyjet to step in to add the third daily flight on select days. I lived in Paris for the past two years and flew to Belgrade once or twice a month. The planes are packed and almost exclusively flown by the A320. CDG can definitely sustain 21x weekly or even adding 7x to ORY and 14x at CDG to give more flexibility for people, with Orly being easier to reach with public transportation
Delete^ Agree 100%
DeleteI would also add that routes like CDG, AMS, FCO, LHR and others would greatly benefit for an A321 being available.
Anonymous10:21 yeah bcs CDG is an airport that has so many slots that are just waiting of JU to take
DeleteWell, he wrote they should introduce flights to Orly, too, which might not be a bad idea.
DeleteJU always adds more frequencies and then cuts them. They only increased CDG because of easyJet. and yes, there are enough slots at CDG, it's a massive airport.
DeleteReturn of Helsinki is long overdue. Also Tel Aviv, Cairo and Marseille could be reinstated again with E195 easily. JU needs fifth night wave to longer distance feeding flights.
ReplyDelete+1000
DeleteOMG why MRS with so low LF?
DeleteIt's amazing how on this site all commentators seem to have data on load factors for every single route, passenger numbers by route, yields etc. Truly amazing.
DeleteBecause Marseille is second largest city in France. Also, I think JU needs another destination in western France, closer to Atlantic coast: Nantes, Bordeaux or Rennes. It’s pretty important for both p2p and transfers
DeleteMRS didn't work on Marathon's E190. Forget about it.
DeleteThe Embraer fleet is definitely the right move.
ReplyDeleteThe Embraer strategy reminds me of LOT’s regional expansion in the early 2000s. If executed well, it could completely change Air Serbia’s position in Europe.
Delete+1
DeleteGreat to hear about Helsinki and the Caucasus being considered. Those are markets with good connectivity potential, especially for transfers via Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that they’re not rushing into the Middle East again.
ReplyDeleteMost of the routes would be low yielding from BEG as they would be there mainly for diaspora transfers. Plus it's far away. But they definitely need to find some market in the Middle East and should start developing flights to that region.
DeleteBrac will be great
ReplyDeleteI also think it could be a good summer seasonal addition.
DeleteNot sure Mali Lošinj csn even handle an ATR but it woučd be great for many people vacationing there in the summer
DeleteSorry for the typos, texting from my phone
DeleteMali losinj is not on Brac,
DeleteNot yet ...
DeleteCanary Islands should be the nest route in Spain, alongside Ibiza.
ReplyDeleteHow long approximately would a flight from Belgrade to the Canaries take?
DeleteZagreb-Lanzarote is scheduled at 4 hours 45 minutes. So from BEG it would be slightly longer. Around 5 hours.
DeleteAbout 5hours for Belgrade - Gran Canaria for example. Both Wizzair and Ryanair operate routes from Budapest which are scheduled at between 5hours 25 and 5hours 35 but often achieve it in 5hours.
DeleteCan the same crew do a turnaround on this route?
DeleteIf Wizz Air and Ryanair crew can do it, I don't see why JU crew can't.
DeleteThe only thing is the duration of such a flight. It would be doing this rotation for 11 1/2 hours, meaning half of the day on a single route. And = they need all the aircraft can get...
DeletePerfect for night flight. Most of the planes are sitting on tarmac during the night
DeleteAt least JU crews can work for 12hrs, which includes an hour before take off and 30min after arrival back to BEG. With a block time of 5.30 they cant do it with a single crew, they would need to organize layovers
DeleteDuty time is 13-14 hours (depending on flight segments) with 3rd pilot they are good
DeleteMorocco would be nearer than the Canaries.
DeleteMarrakesh should be high on the list.
Even if its only for charter.
I still think we will see another new route this winter.
ReplyDeleteIt's not out of the question. JU has the knack of scheduling new routes just weeks before they launch.
DeleteWhen will they announce new routes for summer?
ReplyDeleteLast year they announced them at the end of November and in early December.
DeleteThanks. So I assume it will be the same this year too. Not too long to go.
DeleteHopefully 2026 will be the year that Air Serbia FINALLY launches Manchester (MAN). Such an unserved market and given the lack of Caucasus links from MAN, would allow Air Serbia to use Belgrade as a great hub for the route
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI might be wrong but apart from the US and LHR, JU doesnt fly to any destination that requires visas for Serbian citizens
DeleteHelsinki would be good. I believe there are currently no direct flights from ex-yu to Finland right now so they could get transfers.
ReplyDeleteFor the past several years, Marek and JU management in general have been talking about densifying their network. Every year, they publish a very ambitious schedule, and then they go down and reduce it in the middle of the season.
ReplyDeleteJU has positioned itself in ex-YU, for sure, but the region should stretch beyond the Yugoslav mentality that is still present. Caucusus is obviously a success story of summer 2025 and it would be reat if they use this momentum to launch Baku and Yerevan. Something similar happened with Spain where JU for years was out and several years later they have 7-8 routes in Spain/Portugal with decent frequencies.
Here are some of my suggestions for the expansion:
ATR routes:
- Vlore (VLO) - they just received their first confirmed route to ZRH starting next June. JU needs to be present their from day 1.
- Košice, Slovakia
- Cluj
- Iasi
- Sibiu (relatively close to Cluj but covered by both Austrian and Lufthansa, so no alternative to Star Alliance there)
ATR/Embraer
- Wroclaw
- Katowice
Embraer:
- Cairo
- Tel Aviv
- Amman
- Helsinki
- Baku
- Yerevan
As we saw in the article yesterday, the number of pax from Sofia is growing, with probably the majority of pax being transfers. JU has strengthened its Western European presence substantially, but they need to look eastward to position itself as a hub
P.S. Krasnodar was just recently reopened for traffic, but reopening that route is not just a commercial decision but predominantly political.
DeleteFlying to both Krakow and Katowice makes no sense. Better develop KRK to daily flights.
DeleteI think launching Krasnodar would be a safety risk. It is extremely close to the war zone and we shouldn't forget what happened to that Azal jet relatively recently.
DeleteI agree there is no point flying Krakow and Katowice at the same time. Speaking about Krakow. I flew this route this Wednesday. Full ATR but the passenger structure was really interesting. I would say absolute majority were Poles and they were of all ages. Seniors, middle aged and families with young children. Not sure if they were transfers from somewhere. The rest were mostly younger Serbian couples. Flight was good. We were ready to pushback on schedule but pilot informed us of airspace congestion. We eventually pushed back 10 minutes behind schedule. After arriving in Krakow, interestingly my photo and fingerprints were taken even though this does not start until next month in the EU. Maybe a practice run?
DeleteIn Katowice JU would be primarily after the transfer market as a summer seasonal route. From legacy carriers, it has only Lufthansa and LOT, but a huge number of seasonal charter services to the Adriatic, Egypt, Greece, etc. For these passengers, it is important to go from their home airport instead of driving 1hr 45 min (at this moment, according to Google) to get to Krakow.
DeleteInteresting list. I agree on the last six as really serious contenders for future expansion, however some of the others are less easy I would argue.
DeleteI'm not convinced we would ever see passenger numbers nor yields significant enough to maintain a Cluj - Belgrade flight. There will be very little point-to-point traffic, and Cluj airport (which already serves 3.4 million passengers) is already extremely well connected to western Europe. As for Eastern Europe and long-haul connections it is served via LOT, Lufthansa and Swiss as well as Turkish Airlines. What exactly would JU bring to the party? connections to the Croatian Coast during summer perhaps. It might work, but enough to fill an ATR? I'm not convinced.
Again with Sibiu I just cannot see JU making such a route work on what is price sensitive market. Although in the case of Sibiu JU might be able to become niche connecting route as the airport offers fewer 'legacy' airlines.
Vlore airport - I'm not convinced, however might be worth a shot and sure would be fun if JU could get ahead of the game. Personally i think the airport will become somewhat of a white elephant.
Košice. In reality this is a small market that during the summer is very well served by charter flights. Air Serbia might be able to fill some seats during the summer with connections to Greece and Croatia, but many of these destinations are served by charters.
Wroclaw and Katowice, interesting options, but again. What really does JU offer a passenger from these cities that Ryanair, Wizz or Enter Air don't cover directly? Katowice is already very well connected, especially during the summer months.
@10:53
DeleteThe argument of what JU will bring to CLJ is one that can be made to a number of JU destinations but they seem to pull it off. Same for the Krakow/Katowice argument, where JU already have a few destinations within close proximity of each other.
JU has the ex-YU region and Greece fairly well covered. Romania is where JU can do alot better. Its a large market in close proximity of BEG making it ideal for ATR ops, which is alot cheaper and less risky in comparison to it's competitors. 50 pax for JU isn't as bad as 50 pax on LX, LO or Wizz. Quite a number of routes out of CLJ are on low frequencies so JU going in with say 5 pw flights could easily be popular due to JU's wave structure and connection possibilities. JU should be looking into 1-2 additional destinations in Romania as well as a 3rd daily OTP in the short term, especially with HiSky growing long haul ops.
Vlore is interesting to analyse. Again, a destination in relative proximity of BEG and easily reached by the ATR however growing demand for Albania as a summer destination could make it viable for ops on a larger aircraft. The possibility to operate it in the midday wave allows for quick connectivity to alot of markets across Europe. I see the route as summer seasonal for local tour agencies and connecting pax.
Kosice, again another destination easily reached with the ATR. JU has alot of destinations across the region popular with Slovak tourists, which is something other airlines including charters can't come close to covering.
I think that JU should fly to Gdansk, not Katowice. Very rich area of northern Poland. Also, Craiova makes more sense than Sibiu. The rest of the list I agree, but I would add also ATR: Graz/Innsbruck, Debrecen, Brac, Chisnau.
DeleteEmbraer: Helsinki, Manchester, Marakesh, Villnus, Bilbao, Sevilla.
A319/320: Ibiza, Tenerife, Ajjacio, Dubai/Abu Dhabi.
A330: Miami, Toronto, Peking, Los Angeles
Can we expect two daily flights to Sarajevo during the summer?
ReplyDeleteIs Sarajevo the last regional capital with only 7x weekly flights?
DeleteHopefully so, 2 flights would do wonders for some of the connections
DeleteSometimes new info is not available for publishing and that tells a story. For example, info from the whole long-haul section has been published before, and the lack of any new info in months is a story in itself. Not even the slightest update from the airline.
ReplyDeleteAnd why would they have to update you about their internal decision making?. The representative from Miami airport said tickets are expected to go on sale at the end of the year or early next year. What exactly do you need? Weekly updates?
DeleteAnnual updates will do. Let's circle back this time next year to see if Air Serbia is still considering Toronto.
DeleteYes, you do the circles. They have only introduced two new long haul routes in the last year. Too few for you. Should have been 10.
DeleteI don't get it. If you want annual updates then wait for next year :) you got an update about MIA and YYZ in June.
DeleteAirlines usually announce transatlantic routes and start selling tickets at least 7-8 months in advance. To start operating late into SUTT, for example from 1 Jun 2026, Air Serbia should announce Miami and Toronto in two months time or by 1 Dec 2025 at the latest. If they only announce Miami by then, that would suggest Air Serbia would not operate Belgrade Toronto route in 2026. No need to wait for annual update.
DeleteHow about Volos or Skiathos? A huge number of Serbs but also Slovaks, Poles and Romanians are visiting that part od Greece every summer.
ReplyDeleteIdemo dalje...
ReplyDeleteHow about Dublin and Manchester?
ReplyDeleteWith the Bulgaria Embraers in their fleet this is the perfect time to increase Palermo and Catania to three times weekly in summer.
ReplyDeleteTwice weekly was ok when they turned those two charter destinations into regular destinations.
But next summer its time to move further.
^Sicily is absolutely wonderful!
DeleteWould never expect it to be like that-safe, stunning weather and the food..
LYS is turning seasonal, with the exception of Christmas/New Year holidays. Even with E190, it's not sustainable in the winter
ReplyDeleteExpected, especially after GVA resumption.
DeleteIn the years before they at least tried to make LYS work during winter, now it’s not worth it.
I think a new destination in Greece could be launched also. Greece be performing pretty good for JU and every year we see a new destination or increased frequencies. Kavala, Volos, Skiathos or Kalamata could be potential new destinations in Greece!
ReplyDeleteThey already fly to Skiathos for years.
DeleteAlso the flight are high frequency with A319.
But JUs Atrs would be perfect for Ioannina in Epirus.
Skiatos is charter and not scheduled seasonal. Same as Kavala.
Deleteall this and no Dublin??
ReplyDelete