The coming year, 2026, will mark the fifth consecutive one Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has seen its long-haul network grow after Air Serbia confirmed the launch of flights to Toronto. Since 2022, the airport has added nonstop services to Beijing, Chicago, Guangzhou and Shanghai, all of which ranked among Belgrade’s ten busiest unserved long-haul destinations prior to their launch. With Toronto, currently the largest unserved route by passenger demand, set to be added next May, the next most sought-after long-distance destinations from the Serbian capital include Miami, Los Angeles, Sydney, Melbourne, Bangkok and Boston.
Belgrade Airport's long-haul network evolution
Air Serbia has indicated Miami could be added in 2026, with indirect traffic between the two cities growing 40% between 2023 and 2024. “Miami is the first destination where success would rely on combining multiple market segments - leisure, diaspora, connectivity and possibly business travel. That naturally increases the risk. On top of that, considering the current market dynamics and volatility, it’s difficult to make long-term decisions. With long-haul routes, you typically need to announce at least eight months in advance - six months is already pushing it - just to allow enough time for effective sales and marketing”, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said recently. This year, the Serbian carrier also secured permits to commence flights to Beijing and has indicated that Seoul and Tokyo are its long-term destinations of interest, which could be added within the next five years following its expansion in North America where it has named Toronto and Miami as the only feasible new routes.
Other long-distance markets have also expressed interest in services to Belgrade. Recently, the Tourism Authority of Thailand tapped Air Serbia over potential flights to Bangkok. Foreign carriers have also indicated they may expand their operations from the Serbian capital. Last week, China Southern Airlines announced the opening of its Belgrade office, the appointment of a General Manager for the Serbian market and a potential increase in frequencies on its Guangzhou service next year.
For its part, Belgrade Airport offers discounts for the launch of new long-haul flights as part of its incentive policy. This entails discounts on the passenger service charge for departing passengers over a three-year span, as well as reductions in the passenger service charge for transfer passengers over the same period. Furthermore, for each new long-haul route, there is a 100% discount on landing fees during the initial year, followed by 70% in the second year and 50% in the third year of operations. In an effort to encourage the arrival of new long-haul carriers, the airport is providing an additional one euro per departing passenger for each new long-haul operator, along with an extra two euros if the route is maintained throughout the winter season as well.
Respectable long haul network for an airport of Belgrade's size. Hope we see Miami added next year too.
ReplyDeleteIf Air Serbia adds both Toronto and Miami, that would give Belgrade one of the most diverse long-haul networks in Eastern Europe. Impressive progress.
DeleteThey would be smart if they also launched DEL.
DeleteIt would give tremendous feed to both North American and European routes.
A route solely relying on transfers would not make any money.
DeleteThe transfers will allow O&D traffic to develop.
DeleteSorry, you can't send a 250 seat plane at least 2 weekly and rely on 99.9% transfer traffic. It would be a huge loss maker.
DeleteDelhi had its chance in 2021 or so, when there were many P2P passengers. Now when visas are in effect, that market has lost its potential.
DeleteBravo JU 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
DeleteI hope they manage to make Miami work. It’s a risky market but would really diversify their North American network beyond just diaspora demand.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSomething tells me MIA will follow the same pattern as YYZ, schedule it seasonally, probably winter and see how it develops.
Delete"with indirect traffic between the two cities growing 40% between 2023 and 2024."
ReplyDeleteHello Russians
Miami in general is becoming very popular across the world.
DeleteYes but I doubt demand organically grew 40% in that period. Also Miami and Florida are popular among Russians
DeleteThey are popular because there is a big Russian population living in Miami and Florida.
DeleteBelgrade Airport’s incentive program for long haul flights seems quite generous
ReplyDeleteIt's also good to see mid-haul growing with Astana starting next month.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey should announce MIA already!
ReplyDeleteMost Eyropeans book their holidays many months in advance. It would be smart of Air Serbia to get early sales.
They needs to resume Tel Aviv to aid MIA numbers.
DeleteTLV is a must
Delete+100
DeleteHow would launching Tel Aviv help, it already has flights
DeleteSay what you will but this is an impressive long haul network for a relatively small airport in the Balkans.
ReplyDeleteWell that small airport had long haul destinations in that past, that whenever you come from, you can dream about it.
DeleteTaj aerodrom je bio glavni aerodrom u zemlji od 23 miliona stanovnika. Srbija danas ima oko 7 miliona. Zemlji koja je više od 3 puta manja danas.
DeletePa sad, JAT je u toj zemlji imao dva haba: Beograd i Zagreb, plus konkurenciju Adrije.
DeleteOut of those top unserved Los Angeles, Sydney and Melbourne ain't gonna happen but the others are feasible.
ReplyDeleteThose should be pursued thru good codeshare. Especially Australia that has a sizeable diaspora living there.
DeleteWould love to see flights to Bangkok!
ReplyDeleteFlights to Seoul or Tokyo would be fantastic too.
DeleteFun fact: Serbia has no embassy in Bangkok and vice versa.
DeleteReally?
DeleteAir Serbia should focus on strengthening its existing routes first.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI have a feeling some new odd China route will pop up from some Chinese carrier when you least expect it.
ReplyDeletePossible but I think the bilateral between China and Serbia is very restrictive. China only designated three airlines for flights to Serbia - Hainan, China Southern and Air China. I don't know if that means their subsidiaries can also start flights.
DeleteDidn't know that. Interesting
DeleteThat's a shame. Xiamen Air wanted to fly to BEG but bilateral likely does not allow them.
DeleteAfter decades of limited intercontinental links it's great to see these developments.
ReplyDeleteI'm very interested to see what will happen with LOT next summer in BEG. They carry most of the Toronto transfers. I remember there was an article here that Belgrade is the second transfer destination for LOT from/to Toronto. Air Serbia will take a lot of that business away.
ReplyDeleteYes, BEG and SKP are in the top for LOT
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2025/03/belgrade-and-skopje-top-lots-toronto.html
It would be strange if an airline like LOT were to be significantly affected by the opening of a direct route between BEG and YYZ. Of course, price and its relationship to service quality remain as a means of competition between these companies.
DeleteI think it could be impacted because overall majority of their Belgrade traffic are North America transfers (they said that in some interview that was published here). There is not a lot of point to point or Belgrade-Europe transfers on LOT.
DeleteWell they can compete with price. We will see what they will do. Remember though that LO flies year round to Toronto, while Air Serbia will be seasonal.
DeleteIf Belgrade Toronto load factor percentage during inaugural season makes it to low 80's, Air Serbia might carry only about 15 thousand passengers during the season. Other 25k or so passengers will have to be carried predominantly by StarAlliance and other carriers. Plenty of opportunities for both Air Serbia and others. Passengers will have a choice of nonstop or connecting flights.
DeleteWill Air Canada codeshare on the Toronto flights?
ReplyDeleteNo chance
DeleteWhy not? You can already redeem Aeroplan points on Air Serbia flights.
DeleteTheir codeshare partners to BEG is Lufthansa
DeleteWe will see. I would not rule out AC as a codeshare partner.
DeleteJU and AC should at least renew their interline agreement, which would allow passengers to start their journey in other Canadian cities.
DeleteIf they sign a codeshare, that would drastically improve the loads and would give us a sign that AC might start one day YYZ-BEG as well.
Belgrade should aim for one or two solid new long haul routes a year, not too many at once. Slow and steady growth is better than overexpansion.
ReplyDeleteThe worrying thing is that for the time being exept the two chinese carriers , no US or Canadian carriers is interested in flying to BEG .
ReplyDeleteWhy should it be worrying. How many American carriers are flying to neighbouring countries with significantly larger tourism industries and number of American guests?
DeleteHe can't write something negative about the size of the long haul network so he had to find something obviously.
DeleteRumor has it that DL representatives met with executives at BEG over possible seasonal LAX flights in time for the 2028 Olympics.
DeleteWould be nice but I highly doubt it.
DeleteI think it is far more likely they'll launch ZAG by then.
DeleteZAG is getting US flights every year...
DeleteI honestly believe dubrovnik will get a second US flight this summer
DeleteI’m surprised Boston is among the top unserved routes. That shows how strong the Serbian community is across the East Coast of the US.
ReplyDeletejetBlue could serve it.
Delete^ with what equipment exactly?
DeleteFlights to Boston would be ideal. There is a large SPC parish in Cambridge and the flight to Boston would serve the entire New England area.
DeleteCurrently, JU/Jet Blue connection via JFK works well, but BOS is served by essentially all major european airlines which gives a lot of options.
Jet Blue is huge in BOS.
DeleteIt would be great if JU were to launch flights and have them provide connections.
Next mission:
ReplyDeleteLAX!
Mission (almost) impossible. JU really cannot offer the service quality for such a long route.
DeleteSorry, how did you got that conclusion??
DeleteA332 would fly with payload restrictions to LAX, further reducing the yields. It can physically fly but it would be uneconomicsl
DeleteSeoul next please, thank you.
ReplyDeleteNext line for long haul will be something like this Miami, Toronto, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, Boston, Delhi, DC, LA,...
ReplyDeleteYou might have missed the new that Toronto starts in May.
Delete*news
DeleteThe long haul network is getting bigger and better, but since they do not add feeder routes such as TLV, DEL, GYD, EVN, CAI, BOM, BEY, AMM, etc. they cannot expect such a success, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteDo you realise how expensive it would be to operate a loss making route to Delhi or Mumbai just as a "feeder". Some of you people are out of your minds.
Delete+1
DeleteExcuse me, but I have never said to launch that routes ONLY as feeders so you cannot buy tickets and fly between cities. There were talks about launching or relaunching all routes I mentioned. All routes mentioned are capable of having success even without marking them as "feeder" routes, so yes, in my opinion they can work anyways.
DeleteNo, there are no P2P passengers between Serbia and India to sustain year round flights, even with transfers.
DeleteA two weekly (minimum) flights from Belgrade to Mumbai and Delhi means 2000 seats per week between India and Serbia. As there is non existent P2P demand the majority would have to be filled by transfers to New York, Chicago and Toronto. There are at the moment 38 weekly nonstop flights between these cities, not including multiple daily one stop flights by Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad which are all huge in India against which JU would have to compete. The only way they could compete is by offering dirt cheap prices. That way, you not only generate a loss on the India-Serbia sectors but also impact your Serbia-US/Canada flights because the ticketed segment would be dirt cheap compared to a passenger buying a ticket to New York from Belgrade or any other city in the Balkans via Belgrade to the US/Canada. So you would be occupying seats with low yielding passengers from India making a double loss on two secotrs.
@10.57
DeleteIndia is the most populated country in the World with millions of very rich people who travel a lot. Also, India is very attractive tourist destination for tourists from Serbia, ex-yu and wider region. Indian, Nepalese, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi workers are plentiful in the region. India produces tons of goods which could be carried as air cargo. Writing the service to Delhi would be "just feeder" is absolutely wrong
^ and with everything that you wrote there were under 7,000 people from India that have entered Serbia so far this year. 6,783 to be exact. Let that sink in - 7000. That is barely enough to fill one week worth of flights at low fares. Even with additional demand you would generate with transfers and a nonstop service you are operating a heavily loss making route.
DeletePublished here last November
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/11/air-serbia-rules-out-india-flights-in.html
"Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, has said services to India are not on the airline’s radar in the short-term. Speaking at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit in Belgrade, the carrier’s CEO noted, “During Covid there was an extreme inflow of tourism from India. This was a result of a travel bubble during the pandemic. It was a niche that worked during Covid, and some airlines were influenced to increase flights to Belgrade as a result of that demand but at the moment it is not on our radar for the next couple of years”. "
@Anon 11:32
DeleteSource: trust me bro!
Trust me bro on what exactly? I gave you actual flight numbers, tourist numbers etc. You only have your imagination.
DeleteI am interested to see if some other airline will enter the market, but unfortunately, I highly doubt. It would be nice to see an airline from Southeast Asia in BEG
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming you foresaw the entry of Asia's largest and world's fourth largest airline China Southern in Belgrade as well?
DeleteWell done BEG
ReplyDeleteBravo!
ReplyDelete