Air Serbia marks two months since relaunch
The launch of Air Serbia has undoubtedly been the biggest event in the aviation industry in the former Yugoslavia in 2013. This time last year few could predict Etihad Airways would purchase a 49% stake in the debt ridden Serbian national carrier and relaunch it under a new brand. The airline’s CEO, Dane Kondić, says Air Serbia has achieved a lot since launching operations two months ago, on October 26. “In a short time we showed the world that Air Serbia is a dynamic and ambitious airline with a bright future. We have presented to the world the new identity of our brand, completely redesigned our offer and services, strengthened our sales and modernised the fleet”, Mr Kondić says. He adds, “We have also begun rebuilding our network, with our guests able to enjoy the benefits of a number of new destinations with favourable arrival and departure times”.
Since rebranding as Air Serbia, the airline has launched five new routes with a further six to come in the next five months. On March 30, the Serbian carrier will launch flights from Belgrade to Beirut, Budapest, Sofia and Varna, while Kiev and Warsaw will follow on May 29. All flights are currently planned to operate on a daily basis. “This will bring the number of destinations within our network to 35. That is an increase of 20% and brings us closer to our target to serve 39 destinations by June 2014”, Mr. Kondić says.
However, Air Serbia’s CEO believes there is still some way to go before the airline reaches its full potential. “Our journey has not finished and we still have a long road ahead of us. By lifting our standards we have lifted the expectations of our guests and that is why we have to continue to surpass them in every possible way. We must try even harder for our guests to be at the centre of attention, at the centre of everything we do”, the CEO concludes.
Etihad Airways will officially take over its equity stake in Air Serbia next Wednesday, January 1. As EX-YU Aviation News learns, Air Serbia will continue its close cooperation with Etihad and intends to begin codesharing on the airline’s service from Abu Dhabi to Perth next summer, subject to government approval. In addition, Etihad will organise cabin crew assessment days in Banja Luka from January 11, the first airline ever to do so in the city. It says it is a direct result of the partnership between Etihad and Air Serbia and an example of the benefit that this investment is bringing to the broader region. Meanwhile, the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate has announced it expects the country to be granted category one status by the United States Federal Aviation Administration next March, after the aviation authority completes its assessment of Serbian aviation regulations. The upgrade to category one will bring an end to bureaucratic restrictions for direct flights between Serbia and the United States.
Air Serbia is really doing good job these days. Their planes are packed in both direction, thus load factor for will reach 55% in December (for November it was 54%)
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get that information? I have heard it a few times, but nobody was able to provide any source.
Delete55% is really packed in.
DeleteBetter to fly with a low load factor than to have few flights such as Croatia Airlines and Adria. Air Serbia's low loadfactor is temporary. Eventually Air Serbia will grow and the rest will still be in their cost cutting measures. Who will be making jokes then?
Deletehahahahahahahahahaha
DeleteHardly a joke more an observation
DeleteOf course low load factors are temporary. It's because of New Year and Christmass when nobody is flying, it will definitely be much more in February. And yes, Flydubai doubles flights to BEG and Swiss sends 321 because this is temporary the worst time of the year for the airlines.
Delete^The numbers for December are not out yet.
DeleteThis summer will be very busy in Belgrade. It's good that they will open those bus gates as they need the gate space for all those extra flights. I am still hoping that Vueling will keep Belgrade as a year-round destination.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if they have fixed the gate A10? The last time I saw it, it was in a pretty bad shape with the end of the airbridge being closed off. I saw some flights depart from it these days so it got me wondering.
Will the remote stands be used only by turboprops or will they be also used by lowcost airlines?
The air bridge formerly used at the gate A3 is now mounted at the gate A10, it is fully operational. I think EX-YU announced that Air Serbia's load factor in november was 53.6%, am I right ? Was that information extracted from Air Serbia's official report ?
DeleteThanks for the update! Great to finally see all gates being functional once again.
DeleteExYu
ReplyDeleteThe launch of Air Serbia has undoubtedly been the biggest event in the aviation industry in the former Yugoslavia in 2013.
As far as it is all about ex Yugoslavia space, I would rather say, "Civil Air Traffic" instead of Aviation Industry..
From a pure, selfish point...
ReplyDeleteI am still seein B737 landing at LHR. And if I remember well, the plan was to start A319 on this route in December...
Launching new routes with fleet and staff not able to cope...
Not so sure...
Just to say that it seems that Air Serbia's concept is to be a major transit airline. With very low fares it tries to attract clients to fly between A and B via BEG. This is the concept of Etihad or Emirates. But there is a big difference, the airports of DXB and AUH belong to the same ruling family and the profits are part of the broader view. The same is with subsidized fuel and other things. Indians and Bangladeshis work for EY and EK for "peanuts" very hard. So? Do we have this constellation in Serbia. Hardly. One part of the secret deal between EY and the government must be that sooner or later they get control of the airport. With a proper management BEG airport can make profit of up to 50 mio € p.a. These and the agricultural deals will cover the losses of Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteWhen will people understand that Belgrade airport takeover was never part of the initial deal. It was just recently that they announced it due to circumstances changing. So no, they are not forced to take it because they can't make JU work.
DeleteSure it was not. That just came to them like that... and there will be no more war, hunger, diseases... from 1st January. What, you are 3 years old or 4?
DeleteYour comment just shows how mature you are. They were forced to take over the terminal because of internal problems with people working there. Things are not so rosy between BEG and JU as some might think. ;)
DeleteTrust me, I know what I am talking about.
Belgrade airport was NOT part of the deal. It became part of their plan once BEG (recently) officially refused to transfer to JU Terminal 1. Works on T1 refurbishment were to be already started by now. There is a whole conflict going-on in the background with lots of political activity, Sheikh visited Belgrade recently. Etihad would like to fire entire BEG's management and JU's directors but can't cause they still haven't trained the new managers (that is why a whole group was sent to Abu Dhabi as early as October). Next step is splitting the airport operations: all the handling business goes to Air Serbia/Etihad under AIR SERBIA GROUND SERVICES (ex- SU-Port) with the other part being infrastructure, that could remain BEG's airport property for the time being, but not necessarily for long.
Delete54% LF, only 4 A319 in the fleet, delays....was it good start?I hoped Etihad management would do much more and better than results shows.Well from 1st of January Etihad will be 49% owner of Air Serbia and i am hoping they will do much better they have been promised. I am skeptical about all those new destinations because of lack of planes , especially ATRs (which are not painted in new livery yet)...so, to much marketing, low results...but i am am still hoping in improvements because hope dies the last
ReplyDeleteJU's load factor in NOV was 53,6% http://exyuaviation.blogspot.com/2013/12/exclusive-air-serbia-sees-double-digit.html OU's was 57% though OU has one of the lowest lf amongst AEA members. I think a lot has been done in 2 months. People usually just see planes and catering but the entire cost structure has changed, new cabin crew, pilots, mechanics hired. A new aircraft type has been introduced to the fleet, new destinations introduced, completely new timetable with actual departure waves, the business has been transferred from point to point to mainly transfer and all of this in 2 months. People are overly critical and their expectations are over the top. I wonder why no one was so critical of JAT which had 6, yes 6 planes in January in operation, which cancelled hundreds of flights during the peak of summer, which treated passengers like they were the last shits on the earth and which would have gone bankrupt this January since the government will no longer issue subsidies to any state owned company from JAN1.
ReplyDeleteOU LF was not 57% in November, but 64%. So, you lie! We know CTN is shit of company, but Air Serbia pretend to be professional and leader in region. With this LF, delays, prolongation of new lines, planes, unprofessionalisam in crew, hardly.
DeleteNew crew? Those who can say "Ajde ne seri više, majke ti?" to the purser during security demonstration?
And how can you say that we were not critical to Jat? That is so far from true!
@Anonymous above
DeleteProlongation (LOL) is certainly their biggest problem :)
I agree some people tend to be overcritical to JU, while there is still a huge room to improve what they did in just 2 months is tremendous.
Wish them all the luck in 2014 as well as to the rest of ex-Yu carriers!
Prolongation is huge problem in business because it makes problems to potential costumers which plane in advance, but even bigger problem is that this shows management is not serious. Professional management will not announce things in advance when they are not sure. That is policy of Etihad in first place. Why not in Air Serbia?
Delete- announcement: "Planes will come in September"
# just 1 came in end of October, just 4 till end of year, they don't fly full capacity, rest of 6 of them should come till April - will they?
- announcement: «crew for Airbus will immediately start training»
# even today they are not flying but crews are from Slovenia, UAE... That is why still A319 are not flying in full capacity
- announcement: «we will start with 10 routes till end of year, Banja Luka and most of them in October»
# just 4 flights per week starts in October to Abu Dhabi, just 4 routes in December, 2 of routes will not even start in March, but much later, Cairo not even than
- announcement of time table where Banja Luka and some others will have flights party in morning partly in evening
# it was changed several times before defined flights at 14:00 hours
- announcement of date of starting selling tickets
# prolonged for Winter time-table, and again for Summer time-table
- announcement of new web page
# it is still same Jat shit with new name, but even that «name change» was prolonged for several weeks
- announcement of huge change in inflyte service
# in reality they change something in business class, but everything else is nothing important, no TV in each seat, not entertainment in economic class, food is nothing special, for sure not spectacular as it was announced, that is not near to service Etihad have in their planes
- announcement of huge collaboration with Air Berlin as code-share, intercontinental flights from BEG by Air Berlin
# just few minor code-shares with Air Berlin
- announcement of huge code-share deal with Etihad
# it is so far away from huge code-share deal
- announcement of huge fleet change
# basically those planes are old, some of them very old, 50% of A319 fleet has UEA registration
- announcement of professionalism and new image
# delays are much bigger than it was in Jat who was known as «Joke About Time», delays are every day reality, some of them even few hours
- announcement of professionalism in crew
# so many incidents and unprofessionalism we witnessed in this 2 months
- announcement of intercontinental routes, buying companies in region
# why on earth, especially that Etihad will demand those information even if they really negotiate about it
Your level of hatred towards Air Serbia is so obvious... will address your bull... point by point shortly.
Deletebtw did you fly with Air Serbia during last two months?
Yes. And you are far, far, far away from true when you say that I hate Air Serbia. On contraire, I really want Air Serbia to succeed and to be totally different than Jat was. Because of that management must remove Jat from head of employee, but also from their head. Those kinds of announcements for sure are not part of Jat removal from company. And by Jat principals to stay in Air Serbia for sure we will not have regional leader to be proud of.
Delete'On contraire' really? ;)
DeletePeople who bitch about JU being a shitty airline can eat its dust. Air Serbia has already become the best airline in ex-YU region and there are not enough arguments to prove that wrong. Delays have been reduced, new aircraft were introduced...
Also, I never understood those creeps who complain that the they 'lied' about when the first aircraft will arrive. WHO CARES?! The most important is that they are here.
Delays have been reduced? Yesterday 15 flights were delay few over one hour.
DeleteReally? Which ones?
DeleteWe were expecting detailed report today, with seconds of how late they were included.
How about to get some life?
Can you list them,all 15?
DeleteThe only real issue i see here is of PR nature. Etihad announced "10 planes and 11-12 lines right away" while it has all been much more gradual, but it all happened. Already 4 or 5 planes were refitted and introduced, in only two months, 5 lines launched and many other things that you can't see right now. Not too bad in my opinion. It is their original statement that was overly optimistic, deliberately or not. Not a big deal if you ask me, they gave the media what they expected to hear - a radical change.
DeleteKondich is extremely dissatisfied with the overall situation (in organization) but there's only so much one man can do. Yesterday the traffic-director was summoned by Etihad's management for the delays and other issues. I think they'll need 2 years to turn-around the company substantially and that's perfectly normal and expected given the circumstances.
DeleteThere'll still be a lot of problems to solve (especially old Jat's management to get rid of), i'm not gonna mention them all, but that's all necessary and unavoidable. Their partner is probably the wealthiest airline in the world and committed to turn Belgrade into their European hub.
NB: Jat's Airbus crews are currently from:
Delete- Air Berlin
- Adria Airways
- Bel Air (not the Albanian but AB's daughter)
- Fly Niki
- Etihad Airways
Some JU's pilots already came back from training, others are set to return in January.
Today all flights are on-time, most even ahead of schedule.
DeleteDon't say that! Air Serbia has to be late otherwise those who care the most for it will be angry.
Delete+1
DeleteShame on you Anonymous at 4:00 PM
Deleteand stop spreading lies around.
First of all not a single flight was one hour late both departures and arrivals check beg.aero which I am sure you do every day.
Secondly, only 3 flights were late during departure: Skopje 27', Podgorica 37' and Paris evening one 40'. Arrivals-3 as well: Zurich 26', Paris morning 50' and Stockholm 40'.
As we all know, times on BEG site shows time of take off during departure/parking at the gate during arrival and up to 15' even 20' regarding those times is never and nowhere considered as delay.
Somebody really has to be an ass... to post malicious bullshit and spam day after day here.
6 planes - or even less, that's the entire OU fleet today.
DeleteJust few days and co-owner of AIR SERBIA, the ETIHAD AIRWAYS official cam to Belgrade to managing this exciting project . Hopefully in future project will be faster developing Belgrade airport with engagement of partners from UAE company, including ETIHAD AIRWAYS. With wish you a MERRY CRISTMAS and Happy New year to every body.
ReplyDeleteRodney Marinkovic, AME (ret.) Kraljevo / Griffith
On Thursday I was on board of A319 from TXL to BEG ... loadfactor was 100% even in business class ... many connecting passangers to ATH, SAW and TLV ... quite a huge number of Germans chose Air Serbia ... so it's not anymore diaspora airlines ... and I think those results are very promising, since I flew TXL-BEG route many times before, and lf was always around 60%
ReplyDeleteService was impressive ... but cabin crew was from Etihad, although speaking Serbian, and pilot was also from Etihad
Im Italian, currently living in Milan but very often in the UAE as I do work in oil & gas. Have been to BEG many times during the last years, and flew Milan - Belgrade last week with Air Serbia. Was extremely impressed, it looked like flying a completely different airline when compared to the old JAT: great service, good food, attentive and smiling cabin crew, clean and fresh A319, great onboard magazine - a pleasure to read. I see some negative comments on the new Air Serbia here - in my opinion you guys should have nothing to complain about.
ReplyDeleteIM German, currently living in Dusseldorf, but very often in the UEA as I do work in oil and gas. Have been in BEG many times during the last years, and flew Dusseldorf-Belgrade last week with Air Serbia. Was leaving with no information, than put in bus to Cologne without anybody in bus, then asked to leave bus in parking, then try to find someone from Air Serbia with other passengers, coming to Belgrade 4 hours latter than timetable. There was old 737-300 and it was no pleasure at all.
DeleteAnd yes, I have negative comments on Air Serbia. If you thing I have nothing to complain about... well, are you sure you are from Italy?
Wow what a nasty and biased comment, not only against Air Serbia but against the Italian guy. Get off your high horse. The reason why you had to take a bus was because the airport was closed due to bad weather, the old B737-300 has new interiors and is no worse than the average aircraft cabin in Europe.
DeleteSome people on here portray Air Serbia as a flying disaster or some sub-Saharan airline. It is not. Yes, there are some problems but overall the airline is a major improvement from the old Jat.
As for our Svaba friend, feel free to fly on Lufty or Austrian Airlines the next time you go to Belgrade.
I am not Svaba and I thing you want to insult me. That tell things abot you. So many times one can read here that one should fly with some other airline. That is strange as it would be normal that you thanks fir critics and try to change bad things in company. Well I think I should fly Lufthansa or Austrian.
DeleteYou should fly them indeed if you like them that much. I personally always fly with airlines offering value for money prices, but one of most important factors is flying with airlines whose product and services I enjoy. If I am not happy with an airline I might try them once or twice more, and after that won't fly with them. As simple as that.
DeleteI had some of the best and some of the worst experiences with Lufthansa- that doesn't mean it's a shitty airline overall. Something the German tried to do with Air Serbia.
DeleteAustrian on the other hand is one of the worst airlines around simply because of its crew. Stuck up Austrians who treat you as if you are some sort of peasant and that they are doing you a favour by allowing you to fly with them. I had almost 40 flights with Austrian Airlines and I can't remember a time when I met a pleasant crew. Lufthansa on the other hand is a different story.
It is true that for some reasons, several flights to Dusseldorf ended up landing in Cologne, and flights got terribly delayed on the way back to Belgrade. Anybody know why? It was mostly the evening flights (all other airlines in DUS were on schedule).
DeleteI think that was the day when Belgrade saw horrible fog. The only two airlines that managed to land were Aeroflot and Lufthansa.
DeleteThe flight landed in Cologne instead of Dusseldorf. Twice. It had nothing to do with weather conditions in Belgrade which were perfectly fine. Something was wrong with Air Serbia flights in Germany. Btw, all flights in Dusseldorf (except for the Air Serbia flights) landed hassle free. Maybe some missed payments to DUS?
DeleteDude, DUS experienced massive delays and cancellations due to nasty winds. It had nothing to do with paid or unpaid bills.
DeleteOff topic - I see Swiss A330 on FR 24 making circles around Pula, like doing touch and go... Does anybody know what's going on?
ReplyDeleteAlso, few days before there was A340 also from Swiss.
Regular practise. Swiss use PUY for training
DeleteI am a bit surprised that people on here thought that Air Serbia will become a perfect airline after just two months. It's getting there slowly, slowly... Rome wasn't built overnight. I am personally happy how things turned out to be. Maybe it's because I was a frequent flyer with Jat Airways so I know how things were before.
ReplyDeleteI have to fully agree with you, Nemjee
ReplyDelete@German guy: 100% Italian here - just made a double check on my passport. You ever flown Alitalia mister? not a big fan of my national carrier here - new planes, nice comfort, but what about cabin crew? they should get a life, and maybe smile and be nicer to passengers? You can really see the arabic footprint on Air Serbia - thats the reason of the improvements. By the way, your Lufthansa is surely still a good airline, but nobody can beat Qatar, Etihad and Saudi Arabia these days.
ReplyDeleteOf course I flew Alitalia. And Air Serbia. I am not huge fan of Alitalia but my experence with Air Serbia was not the best one.
DeleteHe is German as much as my grandma is, and I am from Serbia btw.
DeleteGlad that you had nice experience with Air Serbia, hope they keep and even improve their level of service.
I am yet to try them, and will do so in mid January to PRG.
Regards from BEG
@Italian guy
DeleteYour English is impressive :) Vocabulary significantly exceeds one of the "oil and gas guy", and the Syntax definitely doesn't reflect native Italian speaker. Best regards !
Huh? What a stupid comment. As if no Italians live outside of Italy or as if no Italians are educated in foreign schools. God, you are such a backward-thinking, bitter Balkanite.
Deleteand those few comment on this blog
Delete@ "Italian guy"
DeleteThis comment abut "backward-thinking, bitter Balkanite" definitely shows that you are no Italian. When you have no arguments to oppose my statements about linguistics, which prove my point, then you go on with placing on me different labels. Clearly shows who is backward and Balkanite, whose comment is stupid and what your real reason of being here is.
It was not written by the Italian guy, it was written by me, a Serb.
DeleteJust wanted to stress im 500% Italian. Im 27, and did attend fine Business Schools abroad. Thats why my English is that perfect.
DeleteFor those interested I will give a short flight report on JU 651 SVO-BEG (27th Dec). B733 YU-ANK; seat 2A. Load factor 100% (both J and Y classes). Departed gate 16 min late due to late start of boarding. Cabin crew purser in early 50's but all other members significantly younger. Crew did not provide assistance with overcoats but welcome drinks served. Newspapers, menu and food orders taken by purser while taxing. Served after take off drink with warm nuts ..++!. Choice of main food between chicken with vegetables and staffed zucchini. Appetizer consisted of 2-3 shrimps and salmon. Chocolate cake for desert very tasty. Choice between 2 red and 2 white wines and good selection of aperitifs and non alcoholic drinks. Overall good meals and selection but nothing spectacular. Service was good and there is nothing to complain about but it lacked a bit of final touch to categorize it as something one remembers ...no refills offered (same with bread basket) but after asking I got everything. Cockpit crew made 2 announcements to welcome passengers and also gave in flight details. Arrived BEG about 15 minutes after schedule at gate A10 (operational air bridge). Luggage came in shortly but priority tag status was not observed during delivery. Overall fair rating would be 8 (out of ten). To be improved: earlier check in, time of departure punctuality, assistance with coats, a bit more leg room, appetizer could be better and a salad would be a +, additional runs with bread / wine (without asking) would be nice. Absolutely not worst than AF or LH European service in business but not quite like Asian or Middle East airlines. Srecna nova 2014 i Hristos se Rodi!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for a nice and detailed TR...Srecni praznici!
DeleteThanks for that. I think we can also add online check in to the list of what needs to be introduced.
DeleteIts in Italian, but still:
Deletehttp://www.aviazionecivile.org/vb/showthread.php/131416-TR-AIR-SERBIA-KOTOR-E-PERAST
Great review!
DeleteThanks for sharing, how did you find it?
DeleteHere is the link in English:
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=ru&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aviazionecivile.org%2Fvb%2Fshowthread.php%2F131416-TR-AIR-SERBIA-KOTOR-E-PERAST
Great review! If I am not mistaken that's the first report made for Air Serbia, no?
Delete"Newspapers, menu and food orders taken while taxiing".
DeleteAccording to both ICAO and EU OPS (contin.to JAR OPS) the ONLY and ONLY actions allowed by cabin crew during taxi are SAFETY and safety related matters and actions.
Not even on SOF-BEG shouldn't something like this be happening, not to mention almost 3 hours SVO-BEG flight, where not even short duration could be the excuse.
And it's not clear from the report what were pilots saying in their addresses - Did they ask somebody "da ne sere vise, majke mu" ?
For me, enough to evaluate "achievements" of "NEW" airline flying "NEW" planes.
Hater's gonna hate :)
DeleteSo, you want to tell me it is not against regulation and that we just hate?
DeleteIs it against regulation or not? If it is it is not our hate but JU violation.
Again, and again - it seems that all written material for JU is made somewhere else by someone who didnt bother to look at the map (or Serbian grammar for menus) - according to them:
DeleteTivat and Podgorica are NORTH of Split and Dubrovnik
Sarajevo is NORTH of Banja Luka
Budapest doesnt seem to have a dot.
http://s1182.photobucket.com/user/SEPOLCRALE/media/DSCF5239Copia_zpsd1ef2c65.jpg.html
They could have blown up a larger separate map of Europe to show all destinations - like this is just careless and sloppy.
I was wondering why Skytrax.com hasnt updated JAT to Air Serbia yet -> http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/jat.htm
ReplyDeleteAnyone knows why?
hater, just for your eyes. 28 december, From SVO more than 70 transit passengers, ZRH 25, FCO 35, CPH 35... on 29December will be from MXP 40, SAW 55, ATH 30, SKG 20, SKP 40....to SAW 30...have a nice sleep
ReplyDelete+1
Deletethats good, but give me a source or tell us how do you know
Deletethanks
Air Serbia has a quite a few flights shown in SVO btw. Either its own equipment or codeshare with SU to LED :) I was pleasantly surprised seeing it myself. TXL is as well even more. AUH was another airport with many JU codes and calls even before the Air Serbia launch. Thanks btw for sharing these numbers, is interesting to see. Hope you can share more with us. I am surprised when you search flights ex SAW that Air Serbia is a frequent best option.
DeleteInfo is from GDS, have access to it. If you have option please double check it and tell me if I am wrong.
DeleteI find it very interesting that 35 people flew from Moscow to Copenhagen via Belgrade when they could have just taken a more direct route. Good for Air Serbia though! No wonder Aeroflot keeps on sending its A321 to Belgrade, I am sure they are flying a good number of connecting passengers as well.
DeleteNemjee how did you find that the passengers where flying from Moscow to Cophenhagen? Can you give a bit more info
DeleteOh sorry, I misread it. My bad.
DeleteGotta love this 'pefection' expected. What do you people want?
ReplyDeleteDelays:
- JAT = aircraft in maintenance, which led to hundreds of cancellations. JAT aka Joke About Time because of its on time performance?
- Air Serbia: The flights are delayed, but they did start operations with delapedated facilities in BEG and with next to nothing usefull in JAT. They rescheduling of all its flights isnt a small thing.
Aircraft:
- JAT: It wasnt known how many aircraft will in the end be air worthy, with the lack of spare parts grounding aircraft!
- Air Serbia: The biggest mistake was moving from all Boeing to all Airbus, All JAT flight crew were well trained and well experienced to Boeing 737 aircraft, and here comes EY and it becomes all Airbus? Air Serbia's fault there? They have to consolidate their fleet to that of Etihads as part of this deal unfortunately to be able to get cheaper a/c etc.
Catering:
I cannot believe that one can say that the catering hasnt dramastically improved. It can only be that of someone who had NEVER flown JAT. It is amazing how they overnight basically changed the entire catering. It can only improve from there, nothing more.
Code shares:
JAT had a codeshare agreement with Lufthansa which they cancelled, JAT codeshared and had agreements with many companies. For Australia, JAT flew to Beijing, then it was an agreement with Egypt Air and finally in 2002 with Emirates which was fantastic. The EK deal later went via HAM for JFK flights as well, to be later cancelled due to LH pressure. Codeshare deals began already, and the JU code is on many destionations. MEL, SYD, BNE, KWI, AUH, SEZ to mention a couple with EY. Soon it will be extended even further. The codeshare part was realised and is being extended as will grow when the Air Serbia nextwork settles down and expands.
Registrations:
JAT did lease foreign a/c in the past WITH foreign registrations when they had strikes and fleet shortages. Air Serbia has 2 A319's that are registered in the UAE (A6-SAA, A6-SAB) which are expected to take Serbian (YU) registrations. They are with A6 registrations to allow subsidised fuel purchases in AUH, a plus for Air Serbia.
Webiste:
People forgot the old JAT website already? I think it was 2005 when the new site was launched. JAT website was user friendly from my perspective, simple and easy to use. I expect further improvements and maybe soon an Arabic version. Air Serbia has got the old JAT media department to my knowledge and that will soon change. Expect more soon.
Crew:
Serbian crew do fly with Air Serbia as much as possible. Etihad does have Serbian crew flying for them which are frequently sent on multiple day trips to BEG flying as both Etihad (AUH-BEG-AUH sectors) and Air Serbia crew (ie: BEG-ATH/BEG-DUS). JAT crew were B737 trained, not A319. Once again the A319 came to consolidate the fleet with EY for future purchasing power.
Ticket Sales:
Air Serbia is selling tickets and for 2 months now. More destinations are being added as was announced on this site.
Fleet:
JAT's first B733 (YU-AND) was delivered in 1985 making it as per 2013 28 years old. The oldest Air Serbia aircraft (A6-SAA 'Emir Kusturica') is 14 years old. A6-SAB is 1 year younger, the other aircraft are registered in Serbia and are roughly 2006 models making them under 10 years old. It is a DRASTIC change. They will start to be replaced in 2018 with the A320 neo order worth over USD$1 billion ordered in the Dubai Air Show. Air Serbia can not get factory fresh aircraft before this time, and not point to replace a brand new a/c after 2 or 3 years of service. Air Serbia A319's will not operated at 28 years old as with the former JAT. What is your point?
IFE:
Air Serbia has the same same IFE (or lack of it) as compared to LH, LX, SU, BA, IB, AZ, OS. No point investing millions of Euros in IFE screens which will be replaced in the next couple of years. The A320 neos I expect will have a MINIMUM of fold down screens in Y class.
Lets compare the ex-YU region for a moment. Air Serbia in the WORST period served hot coffee, tea, cold pepsi, beer, mineral water etc where as OU serve a few crackers and a glass of water! With JP i dont expect any better. YM is apparently serving specialties of Montenegro which is a nice touch. As for JA? Good luck getting a flight that doesnt end up being cancelled!
DeleteCrew behaviour:
Standard practise in the Balkans. JAT were nothing less than FANTASTIC crew when i flew with them. Their image sometimes did have their set backs, but who can blame them? You try smiling to some retart who is abusing you because he didnt get his seat preference, yet the crew havnt recieved their full pay for several months! One is complaining because they have nothing better to do, the other one because they want a window seat, pax trying to run out of the aircraft at diversion points due to bad weather at the final destination...I had an LH pruser screaming over the PA at pax because the ERJ they sent to BEG couldnt fit normal cabin sized bags and was arguing his point with pax. Professional?
Has anyone ever asked how has JAT survived a world war, the tragic end to its home country, the loss of its assets, hyperinflations, fuel shortages, 3 currency changes, 5 country changes (Kingdom SHS, 1st Yugoslavia, SFRY, FRY (S&M) and Serbia) a decade of sanctions and another decade of missmanagement from the government who abused it to the maximum? Name me 1 other airline that has!
Very good post, thank you for that.
Delete+1
DeleteHere is another Yugoslav relic in the heart of Belgrade which has been refurbished and brought back to life, the same way Jat Airways was. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.beobuild.rs/read.php/626.html
Na facebook stranici Aerodroma Nikola Tesla su objavili nepotvrđenu vest:
ReplyDeleteEmirates otvara 5 novih destinacija u Evropi iduće godine, među kojima je Beograd (avgust 2014.). Na ovoj liniji leteće Erbas A330-200.
gde si ti to video? daj link molim te
DeleteBilo bi to fantasticno, ali dok eventualno ne potvrde- ne verujem, mada molim Boga da je istina :-)
DeleteImate na ovoj stranici, jedan od poslednjih postova
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/beg.aero?fref=ts