Air Serbia and Air Montenegro are both on course to deliver a net profit in 2025, supported by strong financial performance as the current year draws to a close.
The Serbian carrier recently indicated it remains on track for another profitable year. “At the moment, we are on par with last year’s profitability, which was a record in terms of earnings. However, it is important to note that costs continue to rise, so our ability to remain flexible and adapt to market conditions is a key driver of our success”, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said. He added, “All of our KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are showing strong year-on-year performance, and what is especially important is that those with a direct economic impact are improving the most. For example, passenger numbers are growing faster than seat capacity, which is driving a notable increase in load factor. Overall, all our key metrics are moving in the right direction, and we are very pleased with the results”.
Air Montenegro has also expressed confidence in its financial performance. The carrier’s CEO, Vuk Stojanović, noted, “The financial result for the first ten months stands at around three million euros. This is a preliminary figure which will likely improve further once the final review and checks are completed”. He added, “These results confirm the passenger trust in us and motivate us to continue improving service and developing our airline. It was in June four years ago that our first regular commercial flight took off on the Podgorica - Belgrade route. Today, four years later, we look back with gratitude and pride at what we have achieved”.
In 2024, Air Serbia registered a record profit of 41.3 million euros, up from 40.5 million the previous year. Additionally, the airline’s total annual revenue in 2024 exceeded 700.3 million euros for the first time. Air Montenegro registered a net profit of 540.000 euros in 2024, down from 3.4 million in 2023. The airline’s revenue totalled 62.8 million euros.
Congratulations to both carriers
ReplyDeleteWell done, especially to JU with all its expansion and still in profit. Truly, well done.
DeleteBoth airlines reported profits. Great. Now let’s see improvements: consistent product, fair prices, better digital platforms. Money means nothing if passengers aren’t benefitting.
DeleteSay that to LH, Ryan,....
DeleteI wonder if there will be some surprise in JU's financial report like for last year when they bought 3 aircraft.
ReplyDeleteOU?
ReplyDeleteabout minus 30 million
DeleteAir Serbia profits: ✔️
DeleteAir Montenegro profits: ✔️
Croatia Airlines: buffering…
It's almost as if investing half a billion euros into leasing aircraft after already being unprofitable isn't the best strategy.
Delete-30 million seems realistic. Unfortunately this summer they really underperformed financially.
Delete@09:23 how do you invest half a billion if you are leasing them?
DeleteIs that Zama academy economics?
Because the leasing costs of the 10 year lease amount to that much. It is not my figure, it is the figure they publicly announced.
DeleteSo it is 50 million Euros per year in fleet costs. Which is reasonable for 15 new aircraft.
DeleteThe issue is the payments are not being made per year and it doesn't involve associated costs like training, maintenance and acquiring aircraft parts. That's why their finances are so bad at a time when most of the world's airlines are ultra profitable. Not to mention they are also paying leasing for all their other aircraft.
DeleteAircraft lease payments are monthly. That is the standard practice in the aviation industry.
DeleteUpfront costs of introducing a new generation of aircraft are also unavoidable.
For an airline that hasn't turned a profit in years, those are major obligations to take on.
DeleteYou will never be profitable flying inefficient 25 year old aircraft than need a lot of expensive maintenance.
DeleteAnd profitability is not the prime priority for a national carrier of a small country. Connectivity is.
With its barely 30 destinations and average load factor of 60%, Croatia Airlines certainly isn't delivering on connectivity either.
DeleteThe great increase in traffic for the last 2-3 years shows they increasingly do.
DeleteWhat 'great increase in traffic'? They haven't even reached 2019 passenger levels, when they were also loss making.
Delete^ The fact that there are people defending their terrible passenger and financial performance tells you why this airline will never change or improve. It could have been on a different level. But many like the person here are over the moon with 59-60% load factor, 30 million euro loss, 13 international routes in winter and 30 in summer. So no need to change anything.
DeleteConnectivity is not important: Look at Adria, they were never profitable, went bust and Slovenia has all the connectivity they want now. A politician recently said that it is good for a small country not to have a national carrier as connectivity will be managed by the LH group in Slovenia. Croatia should follow suit instead of making losses.
Delete@Anon 11:00
Delete"And profitability is not the prime priority for a national carrier of a small country. Connectivity is." - This is a rather bizarre observation. Its like saying "doesn't matter ones family is bankrupt, at least we have a house over our head."
Profitability and connectivity are both important. But achieving neither is hardly good business practise.
How much of the JU profit is being generated by Russia ops?
ReplyDelete120%
Delete^ I'm sure. They phoned you and told you.
Delete^
DeleteIs it so hard to see sarcasm?
I believe most of the profit comes from Russia operations.
DeleteIf you believe so...
DeleteDefinitely, most is from Russian operations. Rest is pure loss making. (again sarcasm)
DeleteGreat to see both airlines in the green.
ReplyDeleteGood. More focus on fleet improvements should be made now.
ReplyDeleteIn JU's case most of that profit needs to be repaid to the state budget.
DeleteAnon 09:10
Delete+100
Cabin upgrade and standardization is definitely needed.
Agree. Cabin standardization across the fleet is something they should invest in.
DeleteCongratulations to both of them, especially JU. Glad to see how they keep the great Yugoslavian heritage alive and shaped up for the future. This is not just gifting Serbia but also the rest of ex YU. THANK YOU 🙏🙏🫂
ReplyDeleteWill be interesting to see what happens to Air Montenegro's finances next year when Wizz Air opens its base in Podgorica.
ReplyDeleteBy then they will likely have a PSO contract and will be getting millions from the government.
DeleteCan't wait to see which routes they put up as part of PSO.
DeleteWe already know Brussels will be one.
DeleteGood for them
ReplyDeleteFour years young and already profitable. That’s a pretty big achievement.
ReplyDeleteHow about investing some of those profits in fleet renewal now.
ReplyDeleteWell Air Montenegro has already announced they plan to get a fourth E195 next year.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2025/11/air-montenegro-to-add-fourth-aircraft.html
DeleteAnd Air Serbia is getting five planes in the next few months.
Delete^
DeleteWhen are the two E-jets from Azul coming?
The first one this month.
DeleteBoth were supposed to arrive last month.
DeleteNo they were not. We have already been over this a wrek ago when you fabricated this.
DeleteWaiting for ”tax payers money” crowd…
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSo far not many comments of that nature. JU i feel is generally popular with the tax paying public, and connectivity is a very important feature of Serbia's geographical position key to its economic future. There are other things (non-Aviation related) that might rile the "tax payers money crowd"
DeleteIt will be interesting to see by how much the profits are up or if at all compared to last year.
ReplyDeleteIf they remain in profit that will be all that matters.
DeleteWell profit growth or decline in profits is equally important.
DeleteWill the government's of either privatise their national carriers?
ReplyDeleteIf they are profitable, why privatize them?
DeleteBecause they might not be profitable forever and it is easier to sell when their finances are in order.
DeleteI doubt anyone would be interested in either
DeleteI wouldn't be so sure that there would be no interest.
DeleteIf they were actually profitable, i.e. in market terms (business revenues exceeding business expenses) there would be interest in buying them.
DeleteSadly that's not the case.
Serbian government might sell it when they need money. Which might be sooner rather than later.
DeleteI don't see that happening. ASL is Vucko's kid and he is not going to lose public face by selling it to a foreign airline.
DeleteI wouldn't be so certain. It can always be spun as a major success because it can be sold to someone.
DeleteI don't see anyone being interested other than some Chinese airline, which I don't think would be in JU's best interest.
DeleteWould a Chinese or a Turkish airline be allowed to get the majority of JU shares? As long as we are not a member of the EU or we still need to keep over 50% of it?
DeleteNo they would not be allowed. 49% is the maximum. That's why Etihad had 49%.
DeleteI don't think a Chinese airline buying JU would be in Serbia's national interest. JU seem to be among the rare things in Serbia that are currently functional, and should be rightly praised and also encouraged.
DeleteGovernment should never do that. Turn national airline into some else’s feeder would be gigantic failure
DeleteAnd how much do they get from the state?
ReplyDeleteHas the price of oil gone up or is it still stable?
ReplyDeleteIf the Russia-Ukraine war ends, the price of oil will plummet.
Delete@10.04 they have been modestly growing this year.
DeleteThe price of oil has been steadily going down this year.
DeleteSource: https://oilprice.com/oil-price-charts/
That's a lot of revenue at JU. Unexpected.
ReplyDeleteLove it! Well done
ReplyDeletehow much of these profits are generated through transit passengers? JU’s success is heavily tied to connecting Balkan traffic over Belgrade. Any shift in regional competition could quickly erode margins.
ReplyDeleteTransit traffic is a big part of JU’s success, no doubt. But that’s the whole point of having a hub. Using Belgrade to connect markets has less demand for direct flights. As long as BEG keeps expanding and JU continues adding routes, the transit share actually strengthens profitability. Every major airline relies on transfers. Why should Air Serbia be any different?
DeleteConnecting traffic has lower profit margins than direct.
DeleteJU should keep pushing to get a bigger share of O&D passengers, especially those traveling regularly and booking last minute tickets. Those are the customers who bring you the most money and that is true for all legacy carriers of the world.
And you know they are not doing that how exactly?
DeleteI see LHG and TK getting most of the corporate pax in Belgrade. Offering double daily frequencies to most important international destinations is a must for business clients.
Delete@10:42
DeleteAfter 10+ years of JU's existence it still doesn't have a corporate clients department or a FF program. It is coming next year but why did it took them so long?
These things are the major diversification factors with the LLCs.
You can't outWizz Wizz on ticket prices so you have to go after the frequent flyers who travel for business reasons and are willing and able to pay more than 29.99€ tickets.
So they are doing nothing to attract point to point passengers. Ok, if you say so.
DeleteI'm puzzled how they have so many passengers and so much profit considering the commentators here claim they do absolutely nothing year round.
I think that one thing that JU does very well is provide reliable connections for those of us (and there really are a lot of us) who need to travel around the region with frequency. Reliable timings to essentially all the major cities of the region is very important. Also its role as a regional transit provider will never be matched given Belgrade Airports central location for the whole of south eastern Europe. Strengthening and maintaining its EXYU ops will be an important part of sustaining profitability which is, of course, part of the challenge as the airline matures.
DeleteGood news. However, Marek's statement worries me a bit. Sounds like "we did nothing, but people just travel more, so yay!"
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I am aware of the long haul expansion and a few other new routes, but besides that, in their Europe ops, which is probably 90% of their business, they didn't do almost anything.
What I would do:
- Get more Embraers, A220s, ATRs
- Densify the regional and Euro-Mediterranean network with more frequencies
- Work on the brand: standardise livery, seats, hard product
- More targeted online marketing (make Georgians living in Czechia aware that they can fly with you to Tbilisi, for example)
- Introduce the FF programme, make it easy and fun to use, with real benefits everyone can feel (even the not very frequent flyer)
- Make the inflight sandwich look like it's from this century, not from a worker's canteen in the 70s
- etc...
They only launched 8 new routes and also another long haul service, got 2 Embraers, got A320, got another A330 and to you that is doing "almost nothing"?!?
DeleteAnd profit isn't generated only through opening new routes. So they obviously did something right.
"Make the inflight sandwich look like it's from this century, not from a worker's canteen in the 70s"
DeletePriorities... apart from the fact that it looks fine.
I'd much rather see densification of existing routes rather than launching a few more 2-3 times a week new destinations like they have been doing.
DeleteAND standardization of the cabins which is a must plus better maintenance and cleanliness of them.
But you first claimed they did nothing, which isn't true at all. And then you said it sounds like he said "we did nothing, but people just travel more, so yay!" which he didn't say at all. If you look at the 2025 summer timetable, they added frequencies on a total of 35 routes this summer when compared to last summer.
Delete@10:45 I agree to a degree. However a twice weekly leisure route that is deemed profitable, or to open up a market that another airline might attempt to corner, is not a bad idea. That being said, regional ops are key to JU's success, and any improvement to the onboard experience when flying them is of course welcome given the vast number of P2P options many destinations in Europe have nowadays.
Delete