More flights to Serbia
The Secretary General of the Association of European Airlines , Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, met with the Serb minister for Infrastructure on January 15 to discuss the outcomes of the liberalisation of Serbia’s aviation policy. "In the past weeks, the Serbian Government implemented a number of measures designed to facilitate travel; these include a visa waiver programme for EU citizens, coined the ‘White Schengen’, and a unilateral suspension of traffic right restrictions between Serbia and EU countries. In the first month since the implementation of these measures, traffic has soared between Serbia and EU countries by 20%, despite the general economic downturn", the AEA informed. Mr Schulte-Strathaus also met the Serbian Transport minister, Mr. Mrkonjić, thanking him on behalf of the AEA for this market oriented policy, which he credited the minister for having initiated. “This is good news for the consumer, the industry and the economic perspectives of this region”, The AEA Secretary General said. “It requires political courage to liberalise markets in times of economic turmoil, I must say, we are impressed by the action taken by the minister to promote competition in our sector”.Schulte-Strathaus said the entire region would stand to benefit from this market oriented approach and welcomed a conference, to be hosted by the Serbian Government at the end of February entitled “Open Sky over the territory of Serbia after the abolition of the visa regime“. Mr Schulte-Strathaus also met with the CEO of Jat Airways, Mr. Radovanović . “Jat Airways is one of the longest serving members of our association”, he said. “With this policy, Jat Airways positions itself in a region with high potential for sustainable growth. We look forward to a close cooperation with Jat Airways on how the interests of the consumers in this region can be best secured”.
The following airlines have recently commenced or announced plans of beginning new flights to Serbian airports:
| Airline | Destination | Frequency | Start date |
|---|---|---|---|
| TAROM | Bucharest | 3 p/w | 07.12.2009 |
| MALEV | Budapest | 7 p/w (11 p/w from April 2010) | 14.12.2009 |
| Wind Jet | Forli (from Niš) | 1 p/w | 26.12.2009 |
| Aegean Airlines | Athens | 7 p/w | 01.01.2010 |
| Niki | Vienna | 7 p/w | 01.02.2010 |
| Montenegro Airlines | Podgorica (from Niš) | 2 p/w | February 2010 |
| Adria Airways | Ljubljana | 6 p/w | 01.03.2010 |
| airBaltic | Riga | 4 p/w | 05.05.2010 |
Are we right to assume the OU flights are now cancelled as they aren't on the list of airlines into BEG as of 1 May (yet are still on the right panel of upcoming flights)?
ReplyDeleteAnd why doesn't the AEA secretary-general should call a spade a spade: this is simply allowing the free market to operate and to remove barriers, not any govt policy to help the AEA during an economic crisis.
Hello Mr Frequentflyer, the Croatia Airlines flight are cancelled to Belgrade, you can watch at www.staralliance.com on schedule. Croatia airlies starting new flights to Athens this year.
ReplyDeletePhilswe
Any rumours of an airline from Belarus arriving at BEG?
ReplyDeleteIs there any possibility to the intro of long haul to BEG? It doesnt have to be real long haul, jus something more than 3 hours away? Like EK?
^ There are already flights which are 3 hours longer from BEG.
ReplyDelete