Air Serbia recorded its busiest month on record in August, carrying 616.479 travellers on 5.743 flights. The figure represents a 9.7% increase year on year, while the average load factor reached 83.6%. Between January and August, the airline handled 3.263.915 passengers, up 4.9% on the same period in 2025, with loads averaging 77.1%. A total of 34.641 flights were operated over the eight months. Tivat was Air Serbia’s most frequently served destination, followed by Podgorica.
Commenting on the results, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “The record passenger numbers achieved in August further reinforce Air Serbia’s position as one of the fastest-growing airlines in the region. This milestone reflects the dedication of our employees, our continued focus on enhancing the passenger experience and the ongoing development of a strong route network that offers customers an ever-growing range of travel opportunities from Belgrade”. He added, “Our loyalty programme also plays an important role, providing passengers with a range of benefits while rewarding their continued trust in Air Serbia. Together, our high standards of service, extensive network and benefits for our most loyal customers are helping us further strengthen our position as the region’s leading airline. These results provide additional motivation to continue raising the bar and to end 2026 with the highest annual passenger numbers in the company’s history”.
On the fleet front, Mr Marek confirmed that another Embraer E195 and an additional Airbus A320 are set to join Air Serbia, which currently operates 32 aircraft alongside eight wet-leased jets. The CEO added that the airline is seeking further capacity for 2027. Air Serbia is also preparing to launch five more routes by the end of the year, including services to Tenerife, Seville and Tromso from Belgrade, as well as new flights from Niš to Malta and Vienna. Its 2027 network additions are expected to be unveiled by the end of this month.
Good result
ReplyDeleteWouldn't surprise me if we see 650,000+ passengers in a single month next summer
DeleteI'm more interested to see how September and October perform. August is always going to be exceptionally strong.
Delete616k is impressive but August is the easiest month to fill planes.
DeleteHow many aircraft could we expect next year?
ReplyDelete2-3
DeleteJU needs more E195s. They seem ideal for opening routes at 3-4 weekly and then upgrading them to A320s if demand develops.
DeleteThe airline has clearly found the right formula with the Embraers. They should probably have ten of them eventually.
DeleteThey need A321's.
DeleteWhat for?
Delete4-6 next year. This year will be 6, if I am not mistaken
DeleteSo they handled almost the same number of passengers in one month as Wizz Air handled in three.
ReplyDeleteYes. But they have 36 more aircraft in Belgrade compared to Wizz Air...
DeleteFor me the biggest achievement is that growth is continuing from an already much higher base. A 9.7% increase in August is much harder now than it was several years ago.
Delete616k passengers is impressive. Air Serbia has come a very long way from where it was ten years ago.
ReplyDeleteSo how many passengers by the end of the year?
ReplyDelete5 million passengers for the full year is very realistic
DeleteAgree. Five million passengers this year looks increasingly achievable.
DeleteHow much growth would they need to reach 5 million?
DeleteThey would need to keep up the August rate of growth through to the end of the year to reach 5 million. They need just under 10% growth for the entire year to reach 5 million.
DeleteAir Serbia does not expect to reach 5 million this year
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2026/05/air-serbia-eyes-record-year-shy-of-five.html?m=1
9.4% Y-O-Y growth is highly unlikely. Unless Q4 sees crazy growth through August numbers are encouraging.
DeleteIt all depends what happens with Wizz in Belgrade this winter.
DeleteTrue. I hope for everyone's sale Wizz keeps its base.
DeleteSame. More competition is good. It forces everyone to keep fares reasonable and improve service.
DeleteWhen did Wizz improve service as a result of competition?
DeleteWizz service is in line with all LCCs. No issues with it.
Delete83.6% load factor with more than 600,000 passengers is probably the most encouraging figure here.
ReplyDeleteThe 77.1% average load factor for January-August shows there is still room for improvement outside the summer peak. August at 83.6% is excellent though.
DeleteActually, not too nuch. Many companies have bad LF during winter and make losses, but still keeping frequencies in order to retain passenger loyalty
DeleteHopefully the additional 2027 capacity means some existing routes will also receive more frequencies rather than everything going towards new destinations.
ReplyDeleteThey already said they will add more frequnecies. And usually every year they are growing frequnecies.
DeleteFrequency guy strikes again… You can not add frequencies without extra demand. And extra demand is created with new destinations (transfers from them). So you need to grow both
DeleteWell extra demand is also stimulated by manipulating fares and offering more and better connections. Adding and adding destinations that eventually would have almost no local demand will not work for JU, even if those obsessed with size (and so many av geeks are so very obsessed with size) would like that.
DeleteI wonder what the next batch of routes will be
ReplyDeleteDublin, Manchester and maybe another destination in Spain would all make sense.
DeleteNo chance of Dublin and Manchester
DeleteI'm hoping they return to Cairo
DeleteHelsinki could also be a possibility
DeleteThe upcoming network announcement should be interesting. With the airline's 100th anniversary and Expo both happening in 2027, I suspect they have something bigger planned than just two or three new European routes.
DeleteAny chance for new long haul route?
DeleteUnlikely in these market conditions
DeleteThe fact that they are announcing the new routes so early is an idnication that there will be a long haul route involved.
DeleteOne thing JU has done well is balancing regional, European and long haul growth pretty much every years for the last few years.
DeleteActually Marek announced one new long haul destination next year.
Deletehttps://www.rts.rs/vesti/drustvo/6031189/er-srbija-oborila-rekord-u-avgustu-prvi-put-vise-od-600000-putnika.html
DeleteAt 10:30 at the video
I don't hear that he said its next year. From what I hear he says "there will be a new long haul route but I won't say which one" but he does not mention next year. correct me if I'm wrong.
DeleteFive more routes before the end of the year and another expansion announcement this month. JU certainly isn't slowing down.
ReplyDeleteI think Expo 2027 is going to result in a very aggressive summer schedule. They will want as much capacity in place as possible before May.
DeleteAlmost all visitors will be regional. You think people in the UK or Spain will be rushing to a concrete field in the sunmer sun in vast numbers?
DeleteTenerife and Seville will be interesting to watch. Spain has become a much bigger focus for Air Serbia in recent years.
ReplyDeleteThey brough forward the Tenerife launch so I'm guessing there is demand.
Delete*brought
DeleteTenerife should do very well.
DeleteSeville is a more interesting one. Curious whether it will generate enough year-round demand.
DeleteNex Spanish new route perhaps Ibiza?
DeleteYes they have been trying to get suitable slots for Ibiza for 2 years now.
DeleteOr Billbao
DeleteHopefully 2027 finally brings more aircraft that are actually operated in-house. Eight wet leased aircraft is still a very large number.
ReplyDeleteThe wet leases are obviously helping them grow quickly but long term they need a more stable permanent fleet and fewer different operators.
DeleteThe wet leases aren't a problem since they allow JU to respond quickly to demand. Plenty of airlines use ACMI capacity.
Delete"High standards", "enhancing the passenger experience" LOL!
ReplyDeleteI had a good laugh too
Delete+100
DeleteThey should invest in standardising their cabins.
DeleteAa proper cabin refresh on all aircraft is more than needed.
DeleteThat would be epic stupidity. To invest new cabins in 15-20 years old planes which aren't JU's ownership, just to change their colours, so some idle commenters would be pleased? Thank God they are NOT running the company. And no lesor would allow that anyway.
DeleteCabins are quite OK, actually. Passengers are more than satisfied with them.
Nice figures, but please fix the passenger experience and improve customer service when things go wrong. That's where Air Serbia still has plenty of room to improve.
ReplyDelete+1
DeletePassengers are satisfied with experience. Polls are open all the time.
Deleteprofitability is what ultimately matters
ReplyDeleteIt is remarkable how important Montenegro remains.
ReplyDeleteIt's hardly surprising
DeleteNow we wait for the September network announcment.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait
DeleteVery strong August
ReplyDeleteHas the ATR that wasdamaged by ground handler in BEG returned to service?
ReplyDeleteYU-ASF, not it has not.
DeleteThey said it would take several months. It has been out of service since 28 July.
DeleteThanks. Hope they get it fixed soon.
DeleteI would like to see more expansion from Niš instead of everything being concentrated in Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteThey are adding two routes from INI next month...
DeleteMy prediction for 2027: one more long haul route, three or four European destinations and lots of frequency increases.
ReplyDeleteThat would be perfect
DeleteSo what would be the long haul one? Miami, Beijing or something else?
DeleteI think Asia is where the next big opportunities are, especially with transfer traffic to the wider Balkans.
DeleteBangkok would certainly be popular but I am not convinced the yields would justify it.
DeleteThe existing China strategy should probably be consolidated before adding too much more.
DeleteThey could extend Toronto
DeleteWill be interesting to see what happens with YYZ next year. They havent' scheduled it yet.
DeleteHow much of the Montenegro traffic is transfer passengers rather than local O&D?
ReplyDeleteMajority is P2P but there is also a considerable share of transfers too.
DeleteConnecting passenger numbers are probably growing substantially given the increasingly broad network.
DeleteNot necessaritl. Wizz Air's expnasion in TGD has probably taken some of the connecting traffic.
DeleteIt hurt them for sure
DeleteHopefully the additional A320 is a relatively young aircraft and not a dinasour like the last two.
ReplyDeleteKnowing them it will probably be 20 years old.
DeleteIt will be the plane that they can get the best deal for financially. That's why they are profitable.
DeleteHas this year been their biggest in terms of network expansion? 12 new routes is pretty crazy considering the state of affaris in the aviation industry.
ReplyDelete2019 was the record. 23 new routes
Deletewow forgot about that
DeleteThat was the year they finally started growing again after they shurnk from 2017 to cut costs. I think that year Marek became Chief commercial officer.
DeleteAir Serbia should focus more on improving transfer times at BEG. Many people are missing connections due to late arrival of planes. Some due to general mess in European airspace but many due to Air Serbia simply being late.
ReplyDeleteBetter lounges, better digital tools and more reliable disruption handling would make a big difference.
DeleteHopefully they also improve catering
DeleteWhatever one thinks of Air Serbia, the transformation of the airline over the past decade has been enormous.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteVery good result
ReplyDeleteFuerteventura is nice, I am often there and it can work for sure. To reach Tenerife or Fuerteventura, u need plane that can fly for 5 hours straight. With A320, I am not really sure about it.
ReplyDeleteA320 can make a 5 hour flight. They are using A220 to Tenerife though
DeleteReasonable. At long routes less fuel consumption engines are proving investment
DeleteThe first flight is on an A320. Then A220s. I'll make a trip report.
DeleteVery curious about the end of month announcement. I suspect there will be at least one destination nobody is expecting.
ReplyDeleteThe north of England is a glaring gap in the network.
DeleteFor a reason.
DeleteAlmost 10% growth in the busiest month of the year is pretty good
ReplyDeleteBravo
ReplyDeleteThe focus will be on Expo for sure but it would be great if they could add at least one more route from Niš/and or Kraljevo.
ReplyDeleteI believe Air Serbia has a perfect opportunity to upgrade its Brač route from the ATR-72 to the Embraer 190 (or E195), provided we negotiate under very specific, aggressive commercial terms. Since Brač Airport extended its runway to 1,760 meters, there are no longer any technical limitations holding us back.Here is exactly how Air Serbia should pitch its demands to the Brač Airport management for the upcoming season:
ReplyDeleteDemand 1: The "ATR-72 Tariff Match"Air Serbia should demand to pay landing fees and airport taxes for the Embraer at the lower ATR-72 rate for the first season of operations.Negotiation Leverage: The Embraer brings about 40 to 50 more seats per flight compared to the ATR. The airport can easily absorb this discount because those extra 40+ passengers per flight will dramatically boost their non-aviation revenues, including passenger facility charges, duty-free retail, and food & beverage spend.
Demand 2: Complimentary Crew Training FlightsAs Air Serbia actively expands its Embraer fleet and continuously requires pilot training, we should demand free touch-and-go training slots at Brač during the shoulder season (e.g., May or September). The airport’s runway is mostly underutilized during these months, meaning it costs them virtually nothing, while saving our airline massive amounts in crew training expenses.Conclusion:By taking this approach, Air Serbia effectively shares the commercial risk of capacity expansion with the airport. We get to test the market with a larger jet during the peak summer season while keeping our operational cost risk at an ATR level. For Brač, hosting an Air Serbia Embraer is a massive boost for their prestige and traffic numbers, making this an offer they can hardly refuse.
What does this actually mean? Strange.
Delete