Air Serbia CEO outlines Miami, Toronto and Guangzhou plans

Air Serbia is seeing encouraging initial bookings for its newly announced Belgrade - Miami service, while considering growing its seasonal Toronto operations for 2027. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News, the airline's CEO, Jiri Marek, said the strong performance of Toronto, particularly the unexpectedly balanced demand in both directions, had helped reinforce the carrier's decision to expand its North American network. The airline is examining the possibility of adding another weekly Toronto service next summer, while Miami is ultimately intended to operate on a year-round basis.

"I think it's still too early to tell, but surprisingly, the bookings are coming. They are coming more or less at a similar speed to Toronto when we announced it. We believe that it will work", Mr Marek said.

The CEO noted that Toronto's performance had played an important role in the decision to expand further in North America, particularly because demand patterns differed from initial expectations. "One of the key indicators for us was the performance of Toronto because a lot of things that happened there were quite different from what was expected and what any industry data was showing. The directionality, which held us back from Toronto for a very long time, actually didn't happen. I would even say there was almost no directionality. The flights were full in both directions, and that's something which is not visible on New York and Chicago. That encouraged us. We have the capacity and the data gives us confidence to test the market potential".

Although Miami is initially scheduled for the summer, Air Serbia intends for it to become a year-round route. "It's planned as year-round. All the new destinations, except Menorca, are planned as year-round. But at the moment we have put them on sale only for the summer because the million-dollar question is where fuel prices will be", Mr Marek explained.

The CEO warned that the continued rise in jet fuel prices, despite earlier expectations of a decline, could necessitate wider changes across the industry. "The majority of airlines that were hedged are seeing those hedges ending. Hedging at these prices is not very logical, which means that we expect ticket prices will need to go up, unfortunately. You can keep current prices for the short or medium term, but in the longer term, there needs to be some structural change".

Meanwhile, Air Serbia is examining the possibility of adding another weekly Toronto service during the summer of 2027, subject to slot availability, although no decision has been made. The route's strong performance has encouraged the airline to consider further opportunities in the North American market, with the carrier focusing on optimising its existing long-haul network rather than immediately expanding its widebody fleet.

Despite its continued long-haul expansion, Air Serbia is not currently planning to enlarge its four-strong Airbus A330-200 fleet. Instead, it intends to focus on optimising utilisation and potentially increasing frequencies across its existing intercontinental network. "We still have capacity on the current network. There might be some further optimisation during the winter if we are able to have some counter-seasonal destinations. If Miami works well, which actually has better seasonality in winter, there can be growth in frequencies", he said.

"We are living in a world which is super volatile in terms of geopolitics and fuel. Nobody knows how things will evolve. We are not worried about demand, but rather how fuel prices and the situation in the industry will evolve. With our current knowledge of the market and costs, we are stable. But if anything changes, we are able to react very quickly", Mr Marek added.

Elsewhere in its long-haul network, Air Serbia is reviewing the future of its Belgrade - Guangzhou service for the 2027 summer season following a substantial contraction in demand between Serbia and China. " We are currently reviewing the long-term performance and future development of the Guangzhou route. It's not related to Miami, and it's not because of fuel. Year to date, up to the end of September, there has been a 26% decline in the total market size between Serbia and China. It's impacting everybody, not only us, but also the two other Chinese carriers", Mr Marek said.

The airline reduced Guangzhou frequencies during the peak summer period in response to weaker demand. "There isn't really clear industry data, research or an answer as to what is behind it, but a 26% year-on-year drop in the market size is significant. We addressed that during the summer by going down to one weekly frequency", he explained.

Despite the decline, there have been some encouraging developments. "October performed very well, but in October you have the Canton Fair, so there is extra demand. We hope that Chinese New Year will again be strong, which is good because it has less seasonality. But next summer is still under question. We haven't taken a final decision yet. We will see how things evolve, but it will be driven by how the market size develops", Mr Marek concluded, in an interview conducted on October 30.