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DeleteThe product is outdated.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Delete@13:50 It's okay to call cabin outdated, but describing it as falling apart is malicious and deceiving.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
The cabin may be fixed but the reputational damage is done
DeleteIt's a positive step forward in improving the product but they're very late in making that step.
DeleteIf things aren't turned around relatively quickly I see JU next summer with no flights whatsoever to CAN.
DeleteMaybe they would have more success launching PEK.
@18:52 CaN is full during autumn, winter and spring months, summer is their low season...I don't see why JU would cut CAN...mayble drop it to 1 during summer, but during later winter and spring they can increase it even up to 3x
DeleteCAN is not full outside the summer months it's problematic because of China Southern. What happened to the codeshare Marek announced? Is CZ selling JU flights to CAN?
DeleteBTW they maybe fixed the screens but the interface is outdated.
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.
Great analysis, thank you so much! You are awesome!
DeleteI really appreciate those who follow developments on a daily basis with understanding of minutia and are capable of connecting the dots based on that info.
JU should cut CAN and boost PVG to 4x
DeleteSo, 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.
DeleteCroatia Airlines is known to be unreliable and generally very poor. Does Air Serbia not want to be better?
DeleteIt is vastly better.
DeleteAirlines cut frequencies all the time. That agility is an advantage. For example Qatar is reducing A380 ops by over 50%. Does that make QR unreliable and discourages booking long haul with them?
Delete18:26 you do realize you are comparing apples and oranges, right?
DeleteQR is in the middle of a war zone and bombs were falling in them until a month ago
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.
DeleteIndeed there was an initial high rate of bookings, simply because the main ME hubs were isolated from the rest of the world.
DeleteNow, the interest in traveling from Asia to Europe and vice versa has slightly dropped because of the obvious reasons. It will take some time until the market is recovered.
Maybe JU missed its chance, they should have added a 3rd weekly flight when the war was ongoing
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..
ReplyDeleteMaybe fly to another destination that is not served?
ReplyDeletePersonally i think this is a good route for JU which will take a long time to consolidate. I've not flown them longhaul but i think there is significant potential for them in China goong forward so lets hope they weather it out.
DeleteWith EXPO approaching I wouldn't cut a major hub for Chinese industry such as CAN.
DeleteMaybe even add NRT and or another North American destination.
Because of Expo they should focus on Shanghai and the government should allow CZ to add a third weekly flight
Delete