Air Serbia will commence operations to its second destination in China and fourth long-service on September 30. As EX-YU Aviation News learns, sales for the inaugural flight have been performing strongly, both with point to point and transfer traffic, particularly from Guangzhou to Western Europe. Air Serbia believes the Chinese market has a lot of potential, and it is also seeking to benefit from cargo operations with a Free Trade Agreement between Serbia and China going into effect today. Under the agreement, approximately 90% of the products traded between the two countries will be exempt from tariffs, while over 60% of them will enjoy zero tariffs as the agreement goes into effect. "The Free Trade Agreement between Serbia and China will unlock new cargo opportunities and even a segment of corporate travel. It is such a big market that there is an opportunity to grow more", Air Serbia's CEO, Jiri Marek said recently.
Late last month, Air Serbia’s management toured China, taking part in various meetings and conferences in Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Tianjin. Although Guangzhou Airport initially announced that Air Serbia would serve the city once per week, complementing China Southern Airlines, which will launch two weekly rotations on the same route, the Serbian carrier has scheduled a two weekly service between the two cities, with its third Airbus A330-200 aircraft to go into maintenance this week in preparation for its delivery to the airline.
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| Guangzhou Airport presentation at Guangzhou Aviation Hub High-quality Development Conference |
Air Serbia is currently limited to operating three destinations in China, with the carrier planning to commence Shanghai at the end of the year. Its first Chinese service, to Tianjin, which commenced in December 2022, will continue to operate. “We launched Tianjin during Covid. There was no other option available to fly to China at the time due to the pandemic. Since those flights became profitable from day one, we don’t have the need to change to somewhere else at the moment”, Mr Marek, said last month. During the carrier’s presentation in Tianjin late last week, the carrier said it transported over 33.500 passengers on the Tianjin route since its launch with the current cabin load factor exceeding 90%.
Wishing them success.
ReplyDeleteWhen is Shanghai planned?
DeleteDecember
DeleteBravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if there is some wider agreement with China Southern.
ReplyDeleteA codeshare would be important.
DeleteWould be very useful for Australia connections.
DeleteIf they conclude an agreement with China Southern it would be a good idea to move from Tianjin to Daxing. They could even increase frequency and connect to CZ flights.
DeleteJU should move to DAX. That way they are serving a city close to Tianjin but a more lucrative market, but not directly competing with Hainan, as it is another airport.
DeleteDaxing is PKX.
DeleteThey could start Daxing PKX and keep Tianjin.
DeleteRead the article
Delete"Air Serbia is currently limited to operating three destinations in China, with the carrier planning to commence Shanghai at the end of the year."
Weren't experts here claiming how Tianjin doesn't work for them? JU doesn't seem to think so.
ReplyDelete>90%
DeleteIf the Chinese aithorities had allowed JU to fly to BEG and SHA do you thing the airline would have chosen TSN and CAN instead? 😁
DeleteYou realize Guangzhou is the busiest airport in China?
DeleteAir Serbia has received permit to serve Shanghai. They are now seeking slots.
Delete@09:30 you do realize it is 99% DOMESTIC traffic, right, right?
DeleteAnd that's why it is ignored by European carriers, right?
Air Serbia applied to operate flights to Guangzhou and has said it wants to fly there for the past 3 years. You do realize that, right, right? Some of you really need help.
Delete@9.39
DeleteFirst of all, very few European carrier fly to China at all. Second, European airlines are very limited to where they can fly to China, either by freqynecy or number of destinations. Currently, there are just 2 European airlines that fly to more than two cities in China - Turkish and Aeroflot and of course both fly to Guangzhou. You only have to look at the number of non European and non Chinese carriers serving Guangzhou to realize it is an important destination. Air Serbia will serve Tianjin (instead of Beijing), Shanghai and Guangzhou. And I really don't see a problem in that or why you are making a problem of it.
It's all good, but where's the opportunity for growth? Being locked to 1 pw or 2 pw is limiting and doesn't sound fair to, compare, Hungary & Budapest... So it's not all roses and butterflies over there. Airplane sitting for 24h at the airport is not something to be praised. Unless we agree it's now good to have non-operating aircraft on the ground for that long time...
DeleteActually, Air Serbia first announced it was interested in serving Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai back in 2021 - there are articles from back then about it here! So the argument some are pushing here how they never wanted to fly to Guangzhou and were just given it because they can't fly elsewhere is really dumb.
Delete@anon 09:56
DeleteOne can't realy compare tourist mega hub Budapest with Belgrade. Also economy wise, China is investing muliple ammount of what they do in Serbia. And there are only Chinese carriers fly to BUD. Regarding all of that and a general protectionism in China, Air Serbia is doing fantastic job having three China routes in near future.
CAN is best airport in China regaring transfe...China Souhern flys to noumerous destinations in South-East Asia, and Australia, main tourist destinations...Being very south of China, Guanzhou is just less then # hours flight from majority of destinations in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, to add half more and you are in Phillippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia...Its quite reachable to Hanoi with train and bus as well.. Perfect choice to fly there for AS, better than Shanghai
DeleteActually now BEG will have the same number of frequencies to CAN as BUD.
DeleteAgree with Treshnja. Good choice,
DeleteExperts or "experts"?
DeleteThat is the question
If Chineese destinations work well, then it would be catalyst for much more passangers
Wonder which western market there is most demand for from Guangzhou on the Air Serbia flights
ReplyDeleteLooking at it empirically, France and United Kingdom have the largest Chinese diasporas in Western Europe, but both are served pretty well by Chinese carriers, so it'll probs be Italy, which has the 3rd largest
DeleteNot surprising considering how competitive their fares are at the moment compared to other airlines.
DeleteThank goodness there is at least one airline in ex-Yu developing long haul. Would be very boring otherwise.
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteWell done Air Serbia!
ReplyDeleteJust one question...
" Since those flights became profitable from day one, we don’t have the need to change to somewhere else at the moment”, Mr Marek, said last month. During the carrier’s presentation in Tianjin late last week, the carrier said it transported over 33.500 passengers on the Tianjin route since its launch with the current cabin load factor exceeding 90%."
If Tianjin worked so well for JU why did they decrease it to 1 weekly? And they do not intend to return to 2 weekly at all...
Ah, here’s an expert. Maybe that’s the amount that JU have rights for?
DeletePerhaps 1 weekly is what works for them and they can be profitable. Maybe with second weekly it would not be profitable.
DeleteNo, i am not an expert, but thank if you think so.
DeleteJU had rights for 2 weekly flights and they were flying 2 weekly on the beginning. I agree that maybe only once weekly might be profitable for them but it shows in that case the limitation of TSN as their destination.
I hope they will have more success in CAN and PVG.
Yes, we should hope they have more than 90% LF and being profitable, because both of those are a disaster.
DeleteWhich both? At this moment JU flies only to Tianjin.
DeleteYes, I hope more successful with more than one weekly flight.
Both metrics.
Delete90%LF, impresivno. Srećno sa drugom i trećom Kineskom destinacijom.
ReplyDeleteI hope that there will be AirSerbia Cargo one day, considering the new free trade agreement with China. Hopefully 767 will be JU's cargo plane since a lot of them will be retired and I believe that Jat Tehnika can now do 767 conversion from passenger to cargo plane.
ReplyDeleteA 767 cannot take standard LD3s. They are used for parcels.
DeleteThey should use their 737 and Atr's to start with.
DeleteB737s are no longer in flying state and most have been sold.
DeleteDid they ever manage to find those Chinese speaking assistance for China flights? They were supposed to assist cabin crew but were mostly supposed to be there to help with translations etc. I know they advertised for the positions but I wonder if anyone applied.
ReplyDeleteThey had to by now. I guess someone at JU or a passenger that flew BEG-TSN-BEG would know.
DeleteI don't think so. They would have promoted it if they have, because it would be excellent for marketing purposes. They were also advertising the same position for the Air Serbia lounge and as someone who is in that lounge once a month, I can guarantee you there is no Asian staff (other than Asian/Indian cooks :) )
DeleteYou don’t have to be Asian to speak Mandarin/Cantonese.
Delete^ True
DeleteWell, as 9:35 mentioned, they will now cover two language areas of China, as in Guangzhou Mandarin is not the local language (it is in neighbouring Shenzhen, though).
DeleteNo one officially speaks Mandarin in CAN. It would be like speaking the Nis-Leskovac-Vranje colloquial in central Belgrade. Everyone would laugh at you.
DeleteSorry meant to say Cantonese. Cantonese is the colloquial.
DeleteThe schedule for Guangzhou are fantastic. It allows for numerous connections from/to CAN, of course if they make some deal with China Southern.
ReplyDeleteOk, you can buy seperate ticket, right? Anyways, you're right, great timing friday afternoon, since China Southern has soo many flights departing friday evening, to all tourist destinations in South-East Asia, in order to reach destination by midnight friday night, and to catch whole weekend...Depart BEG on thursday night, and reach your destination in SA Asia by friday night, and utilize 2 weekend days off entirely..Perfect
DeleteCAN airport really could have found a correct photo for Belgrade for the slide advertising China Sothern's new route :D
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteNoticed that too haha
DeleteGuangzhou is a very important destination for cargo. Also huge catchment area with Shenzhen and Hong Kong nearby.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Canton Fair is the largest annual fair in the world.
DeleteGuangzhou actually makes way more sense than Tianjin.
DeleteCongratulations to Air Serbia and especially its network and fleet department on this milestone. Without their effort these China flights would not have happened.
ReplyDeleteGood work to everyone involved. We expect more pleasant surprises like this in the near future.
DeleteDo we know how many frequencies they will have to Shanghai?
ReplyDelete1 or 2.
DeleteExcellent news
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for JU's third A330 to arrive
ReplyDeleteAnd to find out who is on the tail :D
DeleteProbably Milutin Milankovic.
DeleteHopefully no one.
DeleteI don’t understand the people who hate the fact that JU puts famous Serbs on their wide bodies flying around the world. It promotes the country and national pride. Yes, their livery is nice, but this is better.
DeleteAutochauvinisticus Serbianus, a common subspecies in Serbia that makes a great deal of noise but is generally harmless.
DeleteHahahaha, perfect description anon 11:01!
DeleteCongratulations!
I don't hate it, but I'm not a huge fan either. It can work as a temporary thing, but I think Air Serbia is far from having the kind of brand recognition that would enable it to fly special liveries on their widebodies year-round. First they need to make that eagle famous and recognizable, then they can play more with special liveries.
DeleteJust my two cents, of course.
Would have made a whole more sense to put them on narrowbodies flying around Europe doing multiple rotations per day than on wide-bodies where brand recognition is way more important.
DeleteHong Kong would be a great addition as well.
ReplyDeleteHong Kong is only about 150km from Canton.
DeleteGuangzhou makes more sense because of Chinese passengers, while one can catch a train to Hong Kong.
DeleteBEG is well positioned to handle more long haul flights. In my opinion there is a market and the airport has the infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteBut is there enough gates at BEG for these wide-body jets in the future?
DeleteI ask because even now with all gates it is tight. KLM and Swiss are regularly parked on remote stands.
DeleteThey are still expanding the C gates.
DeleteMore gates are being built. But I think a time will come when the effectiveness of all this pretty work will need to be assessed after which they will need to start flirting with the idea of building a totally new terminal.
DeleteHonestly, it is time for them to start thinking of building a new airport altogether as BEG is limited by the neighborhood surrounding it. If they start building a new airport next year, it would probably be completed by the early 2030s.
DeleteThey really should look into a new airport or at least terminal because BEG will be at max capacity really soon…
DeleteThe question is what the new location should be.
DeleteI wouldn't say necessarily a new airport, but definitely a decent new terminal.
Delete@11.07 according to the urban plan an area in Dobanovci has been designated for future airport site.
Delete@11.11 I would love them to build a new terminal but the issue is there is nowhere to build it anymore.
@11:27 Why not across the road from cargo? There's nothing there. Or instead where cargo is now...
DeleteThey don't need a new airport, they need a new runway and terminal. Dobanovci is literally next door. Where is the sense in that? The 2 could not operate together.
DeleteI am not really sure if this is going to work out. Lets see
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteIt's already working out based on booking volumes. So please don't be troubled with too many uncertainties and dilemmas.
DeleteIt will work outz
Delete^ hope so
DeleteAir Serbia moving into what could have been a real opportunity for OU. I can see them do a pretty aggressive expansion into the Croatian coast next summer and particuarly when they launch Japan and South Korea as they have also announced. This could finally give OU the catalyst to act..... unless it's again too soon.
ReplyDeleteThe only act they will be catalysed to do will be a theatrical one with their state-of-the-art A220s and long-coveted regional supremacy. lol.
DeleteI am so excited for when JU launches Tokyo and Seoul.
DeleteWhen Air Serbia talk about Japan and South Korea, 100% a part of the planning here, is transfers to the Croatian coast. A market has be proven to exist and Air Serbia has realised this. Too bad OU hasn't.
DeleteTrue dat.
DeleteTourist operator could hire B777 operator for charter flights between Japan or Korea to Croatian coast.
DeleteI'd rather they launch Thailand and Singapore. Japan is having a hard time and many Japanese are not travelling because the Yen is so low.
DeleteThey are not going to launch Japan tomorrow bit in 3 years.
DeleteWith the launch of Shanghai, JU will be the one out of three European airlines that serve more than 2 destination in China. Well done JU
ReplyDeleteThey ought to order 330-900 by 2027 right? No way they keep operating with aging birds, whilst Airbus is desperately try to sell NEO versions.
ReplyDeleteOdakle im pare za taj avion?
DeleteMEA has ordered four.
DeleteOne -900 is maybe coming at the end of the year
DeleteWith JU and CSA both flying twice weekly to Guangzhou, Belgrade will have the same frequency as Budapest has.
ReplyDeleteNot bad at all!
Guangzhou is the third most important city in China so flying there is a big achievement.