NEWS FLASH
Air Serbia will temporarily reduce frequencies on its Belgrade - Guangzhou service. The airline's two weekly rotations will be cut to one per week from today until August 24, after which the route will return to its regular twice weekly schedule. The reduction comes amid strong competition from China Southern Airlines, which operates the route twice per week with 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. The Chinese carrier has been successfully competing with Air Serbia, attracting both Chinese tourists travelling to Serbia and transfer passengers connecting beyond Guangzhou. Air Serbia recently ran a promotional sale which ended on June 30 for flights to Guangzhou for travel between August 17 and October 31.
Air Serbia will temporarily reduce frequencies on its Belgrade - Guangzhou service. The airline's two weekly rotations will be cut to one per week from today until August 24, after which the route will return to its regular twice weekly schedule. The reduction comes amid strong competition from China Southern Airlines, which operates the route twice per week with 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. The Chinese carrier has been successfully competing with Air Serbia, attracting both Chinese tourists travelling to Serbia and transfer passengers connecting beyond Guangzhou. Air Serbia recently ran a promotional sale which ended on June 30 for flights to Guangzhou for travel between August 17 and October 31.
I saw their A330 there a few weeks ago as I transited fron Japan on China Southern. Was nice to see a familar bird so far from home.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense that China Southern is beating JU... They treat the market poorly, sending primarily Pupin that is falling apart and having an inferior product.
ReplyDeleteHope they pick up the pace and start investing in the market
Pupin was fixed and now is fine. There were trip reports saying that
DeleteThe product is outdated. Compare it to China Southern.
Delete@15:18
DeleteNot entirely. There is only so much that can be done with that cabin. The fact is the product is underwhelming, especially when compared to what the competition provides.
A major issue is that Chinese people from China, especially tourists going on holiday with tour operators, which is what most do in China, prefer to fly with Chibeee airlines.
Delete@13:50 It's okay to call cabin outdated, but describing it as falling apart is malicious and deceiving.
Delete@15:48 A fair amount of tape is being used to hold things into place...
DeleteCabin in Pupin is now fixed, its ok,I flew in May and all screens were working, also seats are fixed and better..The biggest problem is horrible meal, and service from crew is not on good level..They tend to treat chinese passengers in not so nice manor..Also toilets were dirty, that needs to be addressed on such a long flight..They need to improve food much much more, because China Southern food is like Sheraton comparing to JU..Also they need to give more training to crew how to be more polite with pax..
DeleteThis was done because of the competition recently
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2026/06/air-serbia-upgrades-china-route-catering.html?m=1
Decision is a normal one and entirely reasonable, rational and market-oriented. Smart people. Fuel prices are high and they are cutting routes that are losing money.
ReplyDeleteNot entirely. This is more of a result in launching a route without proper investment and expecting passengers to show up.
Delete2 pw doesn't attract high yielding customers who have daily or multiple daily one stop options elsewhere. JU's schedule is fantastic for connections across Europe but the same can be said for TK, QR and EK.
Add to that a subpar product and service and you're chasing a low yield segment that isn't leaving alot of room for profit.
Sector length, especially on a full A330, probably doesn't allow for alot of cargo either and Guangzhou should be a cargo heavy destination which JU can't adequately accommodate.
Fuel prices isn't the main issue as evident in January.
So, we should not expect JU in Beijing, which I think is good. The market is already served, they should try new one. If they try Beijing, I fear that the outcome would be the same with Hainan.. Maybe Tianjin was a good destination..
ReplyDeleteJU should work on more frequencies rather than adding more destinations at 2 pw. PVG can definitely go for 1-2 more flights pw.
DeleteTSN was great while it was the only direct route to China. It isn't where the market wants to travel to, which is what we saw the moment other routes were launched.
Not the first time they do this. It's very unreliable, discourages booking long haul with them.
ReplyDeleteI mean its quite a niche route for a European airline as things stand. Better they trim operations and then return for the autumn than waste money.
Delete@14:42 Other airline from ExYu region made significant cuts also not the first time, but you failed to call them "very unreliable, discourages booking" with them.
DeleteThis could be also linked to the fact that less Chinese tourists have entered Serbia this year so far. Looks like ME crisis has made an impact on outbound traffic.
ReplyDeleteME crisis should have made a positive impact for JU and not the other way around.
DeleteWell, this is not season for CAN anyways...Guangzhou peak season is winter and spring...Only that there is pretty large Serbian expat comunity in south China that tends to come on vacation to Serbia during July- August....They need to be attracted to fly with JU instead of China Southern..especially 'cause JU's got better days and timing..
ReplyDelete