Air Serbia handled its four-millionth passenger of the year on Sunday, November 2, following its busiest October on record. The milestone was achieved almost two weeks ahead of 2024, when the figure was reached on November 15. In October alone, the carrier welcomed 389.582 passengers and operated 4.117 flights, which represents an increase of 2% compared to the same month last year. Although the airline did not specify its average cabin load factor, it is believed to have hovered between 78% to 80% based on available seat capacity during the month. Tivat and Podgorica were once again Air Serbia’s two busiest destinations in the region, while Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt and Rome were the most popular in Western Europe. Flights to Larnaca, Istanbul, Athens and Barcelona had the most passengers in the wider Euro-Mediterranean region.
Air Serbia passenger traffic, 2025
Commenting on the results, the carrier’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “Reaching four million transported passengers already at the beginning of November is a strong indicator that our continuous growth is ongoing. We are proud that an increasing number of passengers recognise the quality of our services and our dedication to every detail of the travel experience. We owe this success to all our employees, whose commitment and energy contribute every day to Air Serbia being recognised as a reliable air carrier”. He added, “We will continue to expand our destination network, modernise the fleet and improve services, so that we remain the first choice of passengers from the region and beyond”.
Air Serbia is expected to announce several new route additions for 2026 in the coming weeks, having already confirmed the launch of Toronto next May. In recent days, CEO Jiri Marek held talks with the non-resident Ambassador of Armenia to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Montenegro, with the Embassy noting that “areas of cooperation” were discussed. Mr Marek has previously indicated that the airline intends to further expand its presence in the Caucasus region in the near future.
We are missing either Maribor or Graz in our region
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAir Serbia should double down on the Balkans. There are still airports with poor connectivity where they can dominate if they move now.
Delete^ Such as?
DeleteLjubljana trired, Sarajevo dvared dnevno, Banjaluka dnevno.
DeleteNiš dnevno.
DeleteНиш дневно - може!
DeleteI'd say INI twice a day is a no-brainer. They can get support from the government, it would do wonders for INI connectivity while also boosting BEG's numbers.
DeleteCant wait for MBX
DeleteBrac sommer 2026
DeleteIt's faster to go with a car to Niš
Delete@14:06 does anyone know the load factor between BG and Nis? Double daily doesn't sound particularly profitable.
DeleteOf course not. JU needs ATR42/600 for that. And OSI, TSR and TZL also
DeleteLJU 19-20 pw
DeleteZAG, OTP, SKP, ATH 17 pw
SJJ, SKG 14 pw
DBV 10 pw
SPU 10 pw
PUY 7 pw
BNX 4 pw
Now I'm wondering if it will be Yerevan or Baku or both
ReplyDeletethey have the right aircraft size mix now to make these mid-long thinner routes work.
DeleteYerevan can provide great feed for Toronto flights.
DeleteBelgrade could realistically become a niche hub for that region linking to Western Europe and North America.
DeleteBaku is certain and will be announced shortly. Yerevan is in preparation, as said in the article
DeleteLooking forward to it. Also really interested to see what the other routes they will introduce. Wonder if there will be some surprises :D
DeleteAnon 09:28
DeleteWill they schedule Baku as they did with Tbilisi, with crew having a layover there?
Dunno about that. We will see
DeleteWhy the crew has a layover there?
DeleteNo. It's way too close
DeleteTbilisi is even closer and still there is a layover there.
Delete12.22 It's a very short layover of a couple of hours so the aircraft can catch the morning wave of departures from Belgrade the following day. Don't know why people here see a crew layover as some exotic thing. Many European airlines have layovers on intra European flights.
DeleteCrews have a regular layover until the next flight home, same as will be the case with Baku.
DeleteCrews can work for 12 hours total and then have to have a 24hr brake. To fit into flight schedules, crews get normal layover. Also, you need to include 75 min pre departure and 30 min post departure into their working time, as well as the time on the ground at the foreign airport
Good. They have had growth each month when compared to last year except in July
ReplyDeleteA 2% YoY growth is low considering the fleet increases over the last 12 months.
ReplyDeleteThey have also retired aircraft from their fleet.
DeleteHe is right, the present capacity is way bigger than a year ago.
DeleteCapacity levels have increased 1.4% year-over-year.
DeleteSo much knowable followers.
DeleteAdmin we are not talking about scheduled capacity but about available fleet capacity. Number of aircraft and number of seats.
Delete“available fleet capacity” is not a usable or comparable metric.
DeleteIt actually is. It is the basic resource that the planning department makes the schedule around it. If you underutilize it it costs you in higher cap. expenditure plus loss of potential revenues.
DeleteJU revenue this year will also be at record levels at over 700 million EUR
DeleteThe only proper comparison is actual scheduled available seat capacity (ASKs/ASMs) or even better sold seats (LF). Fleet seats tell you nothing on their own.
Delete@10:11
DeleteDon't know where you learned that idle resources of a company, especially the most expensive one are irrelevant. Hope it wasn't Zama academy.
Well olympic airlines before its closure , with tha same number of airplanes and much less international network , they had 6 million passengers in 2009 . So.......
Delete^ i love how you purposely chose to deceive with your comment. In 2009 Olympic Air was transitioning, with the old Olympic Airlines brand ceasing operations in September and the new Olympic Air launching with a fleet of 21 aircraft. Before September, so for 8 months, Olympic Airlines was operating a fleet of 41 aircraft. Nice try, better luck next time.
Delete@anon 11:03 Greece has 10.4 million people and more developed than Serbia; there were 3.115.000 domestic passengers, so more than 50%, so it is not comparable....
Delete4 million by early November is no joke. Whatever anyone thinks of them the numbers are there. And they have a winter schedule that looks fairly strong too.
ReplyDeleteLooks like they will end the year with 4.6 million.
ReplyDeleteYes,
DeleteThat would surpass the JAT record.
DeleteI disagree. More likely 350k November and 400k December. So, my tip 4.75 mil in 2025
DeleteAt the start of the year they said they expect 4.7 million this year and I think they will achieve it.
DeleteIdemo dalje...
ReplyDeleteLoad factor is good for October.
ReplyDelete5 million in 2026 is absolutely within reach.
ReplyDeleteNo chance
DeleteA lot more routes and frequencies would need to be added for that goal to be achieved.
DeleteThis year they will add +300.000 pax, so I don't see how is it not doable to do the same thing next year. They just have to maintain the modest growth and on top of that the fleet will be expanded.
DeleteJako dobar LF za Oktobar. Ako isti zadrže naredna 2 meseca, na godišnjem nivou može biti preko 80%, što je odličan rezultat.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteČini se da bi neke exclusive wannabe kompanije iz regiona mogle da dođu na doškolovavanje u Air Serbia-u:)
DeleteМолим вас да пишете на енглеском.
DeleteI hope they maintain this momentum in winter.
ReplyDeleteI hope, they add more flight in LJU next summer, 3 per day would be great, and maybe one of them with E190.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteNext step: fix business class long haul hard product. If they want to be taken seriously as a hub carrier, business class needs to be consistent, not random.
ReplyDeleteAgree! They need to standardize long haul hard product across the 4 planes.
DeleteAlso Belgrade Airport must work on improving transfer experience if Air Serbia wants to be a proper hub carrier
DeleteI flew the other day from BEG with my flight departing at 5.30AM. I was at the airport at 4 and to my surprise almost all stores past security were working. This wasn't the case a year or two ago.
DeleteA corporate department able to handle frequent corporate clients needs to exist as well.
DeleteWithout schedule densification they can not peel corporate customers away from LHG airlines.
DeleteAgree. Uniformity matters at this size.
DeleteAbsolutely. I keep on repeating how they need to do more to increase key European destinations to 14 weekly. Until then, Lufthansa Group will keep on profiting.
DeleteOn Monday I flew BEG-VIE-BRU and there were 173 passengers onboard the A320 to Vienna. From what I could see we were 8 who continued to BRU. Roughly 50% of the passengers were transfers.
I was supposed to fly back on Tuesday evening but we ended up spending hours onboard due to the drone situation. We boarded the plane at 19.30 and we landed in VIE at 00.24. We spent the night in Vienna and I flew to BEG on Wednesday morning. That flight was roughly 90% full and almost all passengers were transfers.
JU has the E90/95 now so they can become more aggressive in markets such as Berlin, Milan, Copenhagen... I think they are too cautious with BRU. It's a market they should definitely focus on. The E90 is the perfect plane for this market, especially since they need a lot of frequencies in order to break through Star Alliance's defenses.
Lufthansa Group corporate passengers are generally funneled by their corporate travel booking systems to LH Group airlines. They are not always at liberty to choose competing airlines, and are likely not choosing LH Group for convenience.
DeleteI flew recently on LH out of BEG, checking-in using their app. Without asking, app checked me in assigning one checked bag, even though I had two. I tried to modify/cancel without any luck. Tried non-AI chat using app only to be told they couldn't do it. Asked for full name of the person, only a generic first name was provided. I called LH Belgrade phone line and got recorded message their office would open on Monday morning, that would be after I departed Belgrade. Called long-distance to get main LH call line where I was told I could only change number of checked bags at the airport, they could not even tell me how much it would cost! Showed up at the airport, at LH check-in desk they were unable to let me pay for the bag. Sent me to separate office where instead of existing point-of-sale terminal, service clerk read my credit card info to someone at LH over the phone. I was asked to wait 10-15 mins until someone else at LH sent email with payment confirmation back to the clerk, that sent me back to LH check-in desk.
Now why would anyone sane want to repeat this 1970's-style customer torture and want to fly with Lufthansa EVER again? No one, ever. Auf Wiedersehen Lufthansa!
But A220 will save the day (sarcasm towards bravo hr bots)
ReplyDeleteIt will not only save the day. It will save the Universe. And wider. After all, it's bright and shiny, Intergalactic Spaceship, incomparable, exclusive, prestigious...🤣
DeleteBravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteUnthinkable before Covid. They’ve completely changed their scale.
ReplyDeleteI still think their marketing could be stronger abroad.
ReplyDeleteDon't know abroad but they are doing a lot of marketing in Serbia. Lots of ads on social media, billboards in the city recently too.
DeleteI am Serbian living in francophone Switzerland and I am being targeted on social media. Getting their BEG GVA adds multiple times per day. Other gastos also being targeted?
DeleteI am Serbian living in Serbia and I'm also getting bombarded with GVA adds at the moment xD
DeleteI'm in Serbia and have been getting a lot of Malta adds lately (and I never even searched for it :D)
DeleteIt’s interesting how Tivat and Podgorica are ALWAYS at the top. It shows how strong Serbia–Montenegro traffic still is year-round.
ReplyDeleteIt's really not surprising.
DeleteDoes someone know when the new Embraer / a320 are coming ?
ReplyDeleteBoth by the end of the year.
DeleteThe E-jets from Azul are supposed to arrive this month.
DeleteFF is out of radar...no news on that front
ReplyDeleteImpressive numbers but let’s see how winter holds up
ReplyDeleteHope they announce Yerevan
ReplyDeleteAll that matters is profitability
ReplyDeleteI don't agree profitability is all. But when you have profitability, connectivity, good pricing policy, good marketing, good network, courage to think out of the box, flexibility, immediate reaction to market changes and strong growth combined, that's what I call the model to be looked at, admired and praised. Therefore hat down, deep bow and respect!
DeleteI wonder how much of this growth is transfer vs pure O&D
ReplyDeleteThe political crisis certainly isn't helping.
DeleteResults in october are good, now they need to utilize wide body aircraft, why are they not coming out with any winter tourist destination already, as seasonal route?
ReplyDeleteWhat about the FF program?
ReplyDeleteI see Marek keeps talking about "modernizing the fleet" when he says this does he just mean embraers and airbus getting leased that are mid-aged. Or since he said we will test out the A220s from air baltic could we finally see a new aircraft order?
ReplyDeleteWet lease age has more than halfed with the new deal with Air Baltic to start.
Delete~35 year old B733's were replaced with younger aircraft. Again we are seeing ~20 year old A319's replaced with ~10 year old A320's and E195's. We also saw the ATR fleet go from older -200 and -500 series to newer -600 series.
It's an ok result which makes sense after all those years of rapid growth. I wish they would put greater focus on their IT department. They are still old school when it comes it.
ReplyDeleteNovember to March will be an interesting period. In many ways it will be interesting to see how they perform and what they offer in summer 2026. As mentioned above, I think they have enough destinations. Now it's time to start densifying their network especially during slower days.
Sure densification is necessary, but I think they are lacking at least 20 destinations of all types: long haul, medium haul, leisure, transfer, regional. So they should find some balance
Delete