Serbia hopes to renew US flights
Serbia expects to be granted a “category one” rating by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States on March 24, paving way for scheduled flights between the two countries, currently impossible under Serbia’s “category two” status. Following a meeting with the Ambassador of the United States to Serbia Michael Kirby, Serbia’s Minister for Transport, Aleksandar Antić, said, “Given our country’s ambition to become a regional leader in the field of air transport, the FAA’s positive decision would be of great importance and would allow Serbia’s national carrier, Air Serbia, to fly to the United States as well”.
The Serbian carrier has previously said it plans to launch transatlantic flights in 2016. Last year, Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić said Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan has confirmed plans for the Serbian carrier to operate flights to Chicago and Toronto in 2016 with Airbus A330 aircraft. However, Mr. Vučić added he was pushing for transatlantic flights to be launched later this year, in particular to New York. The last time Serbia was linked with the US was in 2004 when Uzbekistan Airways operated flights from Belgrade to the Big Apple.
As part of the FAA’s International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program, the agency assesses the civil aviation authorities of all countries with air carriers that operate or wish to operate to the United States and makes that information available to the public. The assessments also determine whether or not foreign civil aviation authorities are meeting international safety standards. Specifically, the FAA determines whether a foreign civil aviation authority has the adequate infrastructure for international aviation safety oversight as defined by international standards. Serbia held a category one rating until 2002 when it was downgraded to category two. Croatia was granted a category one status on January 24, 2011. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Kosovo must be assessed again since, in the past four years, they either did not have direct flights to the United States, have no codeshare agreements with US carriers or have no significant interaction with the FAA.
It seems that Lufthansa's E190 that was supposed to operate Belgrade-Frankfurt this morning broke down and the flight was cancelled. Anyone with more info on this?
ReplyDeleteOh boy... if this happened to Air Serbia.
yeah, they'd be crucified.
Deleteand Admin, great picture. you could put some more, like DC10 in JFK or ORD
True, but I thought we want to make better company, with higher standards. Do we want Air Serbia to become Lufthansa?
DeleteBut in same time Lufthansa would never leave passengers in Podgorica 10 hours without food, drink and information, would never detour flights to Cologne because it is delay and comes to Dusseldorf after closing, would never leave passengers without help in that case, would never ignore captain "Zašuti više, majke ti". Etihad would never do so, also.
LOL do you know how many times a Lufthansa flight had to be cancelled because they did not manage to take off before the curfew?! There was even an article on how an A380 with 500 passengers on its way from Frankfurt to Johannesburg had to return to the gate because it was late and they would not allow it to take off. But then again, I guess Lufthansa can't be late so it must have been a fairytale.
Delete521 pax. Happened two years ago. And the pax that had no visa for Schengen had to sleep in front of the gate.. Very nice!
DeleteSimilar thing happened to Indian passengers on board an Air France A330-200 from Paris to Bombay. They were refused transit visas so Air France let them sleep in front of the gate for 24 hours, all they got from the airline was a €10 voucher. lol
Deleteto Anonymous January 17, 2014 at 9:55 AM
DeleteIf you think that LX would never do this, I've quite different real experience. Having LX flight to MUC, with transfer to EK flight to KL, with 7 hours leg time I expected perfect service. But, like todays FRA flight, pilot made mistake and broke something on the front gear making impossible flight. Waiting one hour, and after searching LX agent who knew nothing. We got no answer within two following hours, but sandwich and coke. No any effort to solve problem. When I had found opportunity to reach MUC via Zurich, a was offered to pay 400 euros to redirect besides obligatory of LX to do that. The final result was delaying of my KL flight for one day.
I've made offence asking compensation for that and was ignored by big LX. But, having no intention to give up, after TWO years I've got it (by the command of German national authority for passenger rights) WITHOUT any excuse of LX.
That's LX also. Besides I have two more incidents with LX (lost baggage and delay flight due to the fog when other comp. made it), and have to say that I believed JAT more then big LX.
Good, that happens to LH from time to time... With 400 planes including subsidiaries. In percentage it is not even near to delays, rerouting and cancellation Air Serbia had.
DeleteAnd again, I thought that we want to make superb company with superior service.
One question: how many times in last 2 months Croatia Airlines has incidents with passengers, leaving them for 10 hours without information, food and drink, reroute or huge delays (even those small ones up to 1 hour)? And Croatia has more passengers on board than Air Serbia. Or Adria? And with our Air Serbia every 2-3 days some incidents, problems, passengers furious...
Air Serbia is still a new and fresh airline, let's give it few years time and then do the comparing...
DeleteOh yes, you are right. Both Adria and Croatia Airlines are perfectly run, that's why both of them are on the brink of bankruptcy.
DeleteAlso, the re-routing of the Dusseldorf flight happened once because of a delay the other time it was because DUS was closed due to heavy winds. Also, the issue which supposedly happened in Podgorica happened only once in the three months since the airline was established. That's not that bad.
Shall we remind you of all the problems Croatia Airlines had with its Q400 when it was introduced into the fleet? Every week a plane would return to Zagreb because of a mechanical issue. At least Air Serbia crew doesn't have to use butter to close its doors. ;)
I think Anonymous is right- both OU and JP ae great airlines and never do anything bad for their passengers. Lucky Kiev passengers, now they will have flawless and effective Adria taking care of them. Hahahaha
DeleteAir Serbia isnt a fresh and new airline, they are continuing the Aeroput/JAT 80+ year tradition. BEG has been there for 50+ years. What makes things different is that people running the 2 lacked any sense of planning.
DeleteRebranding JAT into Air Serbia isnt going well with things like a lack of providing basic assistance to its 'guests' is giving bad publicity on top of the numerous issues which really isnt their fault. Some things they cannot control, but some things Air Serbia can control, and service isnt restricted to the aircraft, rather as a whole from booking the ticket to leaving at the final destination.
LX may have caused you an inconvenience, they did at least offer food and drink as a minimum. Air Serbia have been wanting to change their image and to an extent have, with changes to catering, on board product, using customer friendly words such as 'guest' etc, but should in situations like these go the extra mile and be of better assistance, to ensure its 'guests' are being looked after to ensure trust for the customer to return.
@ 11:37 AM:
Delete"And again, I thought that we want to make superb company with superior service."
Correct, this is what we are hoping for.
When it did not happen within two weeks, you decided to hate the company.
So make up your mind:
Deleteis Air Serbia two weeks old, 3 months, or 80 years?
- it can not be that in some cases it is two weeks (Rome was not build in a day, give us a time and you will see)
- in same cases it is 3 months ("there is no so many problems in 3 months" - and even that sentence is not true, because Croatia and Adria does not have so many problems in 3 years)
- but when it is about pride, tradition and how big we are than it is 80 years!
P.S.
It is not true that CTN Q400 return to ZAG once per week in beginning of service. There were some problems, and all passengers get extra care (food, drink, hotel, information, extra points on ff, compensations) by EU rules. I personally get rerouting to SPU (instead DBV), money for rent'a'car, gas, toll, and compensation for inconvenience.
The first Serbian airline was created in 1927 by a Serbian businessman from the United States, that was Aero Put. Then, this carrier was re-branded as JAT in 1947 and the rest of the story you know.
DeleteSo traditionally the airline was founded in 1927 while the current one is three months old. There is nothing to make up the mind on. Air Serbia is a completely new airline with new employees, management and a business plan. That's why it's valid to say that it's that young and that it should be given time in order to mature. However, Air Serbia is the continuation of the same airline that launched flights in 1927.
Typical Serbian. Yes it is 85 years old, we are proved, but in same time it is new airline and you have to tolerate our baby-problems!
DeleteIt is not! Same company, same employees, even same planes was on 26th October as today
Even today most of Air Serbia fleet has Jat colors, and biggest problem is not to remove Jat logo from planes, but Jat from heads of most employees.
Typical anti-Serbian comment on this blog.
DeleteI guess punks like you just can't deal with the fact that Jat Airways is no longer with us. We have a new carrier which just received its fifth A319 featuring new livery and corporate identity.
Jat Airways was a mess and it takes much longer than three months to fix all the mistakes which were committed since 1947. The fact that you ignore this fact only goes to prove how clueless you are about Serbian aviation. Anyone who flew on JU before and who got to experience the new airlines will know how far the airline has come.
But anyway, I am a Serb and I live in Belgrade. It's far more important for me to be proud of my carrier which is finally featuring the national colours of my country. You can eat our dust, that's all you can do at this point. Use the next couple of months to vent your bitterness because soon these small glitches will be resolved.
Nemacka medicina je najdalje napredovala...
DeleteI always found it funny how Croats are the first to accuse the Serbs of megalomania when it comes to Air Serbia yet they never bother to do the same when it comes to the construction of an unnecessarily large terminal in Zagreb. I think some people should first look at their own garden before mocking their neighbour's.
DeleteIt is unbelievable how Serbs find everything what is not in superlative about Serbia as national tragedy, treason, nationalism against poor Serbs etc.
DeleteOne more time, yes, Air Serbia is big project. Much bigger than all other companies in exYU together. But only danger in this project is not luck of money, Etihad support and protection, potentials or vision. Only danger is Serbian mentality. In that way if you really want to have Air Serbia on level you want you have to loudly react on any Jatovanje in Air Serbia. Even more than you did in Jat. Because of danger that Air Serbia become Jat again. And unfortunately in these 3 months we have seen more Jatovanje than in last 3 years in Jat. Kondic must take Jat from Air Serbia employee heads. Urgently and with iron fist. He knows that and he is frustrated about if.
But sure, you don't have to see that in these 3 months working was not on high level, it was not even in level of exJat but much lower. And do not give me stupid stories that everything is changed and that you need time because it is new company, new system, much bigger number of traffic and passenger. Even now traffic and number of operations are not on level Jat was doing in July and August with ancient fleet and million problems, and without money, so it is not so big, something new for Jat “experts” and something you can not handle. With proper team and without Jatovanje.
It has nothing to do about Serbs refusing to accept anything other than praise for Air Serbia, the point is that some people who are as clueless as you are come here and preach some nonsense and yet they get angry the moment someone proves them wrong.
DeleteHere is the best example of why your comment should be disregarded:
'. Because of danger that Air Serbia become Jat again. And unfortunately in these 3 months we have seen more Jatovanje than in last 3 years in Jat.'
I guess receiving five young A319s in less than three months is equal to the Jat's fleet restructuring plans which never materialized even though they have been announcing them for the past three years.
Also, could you enlighten us by what you mean that Air Serbia is not operating on the same level Jat used to? I would like to remind you that in their first month of operations their passenger numbers rose by 12%, their December were over 20% while in the first week of January they handled 41% of the total passenger numbers Jat handled in January 2013. On top of everything, we all remember the Jat Airways fleet fiasco last January.
Yeah, there is definitely more 'Jatovanje.' And then you want people to take you seriously.
First time posting here but have been reading for a quite a while, Just wanted to say that I cannot believe the amount of hate coming from Croatia on a daily basis on every topic since Air Serbia started to fly.You should be ashamed of your self .This just confirms what I thought this summer I visited the country
Deletelast time, so much hate everyone.Grow up and fix your own problems first,End rant , ty
Actually, it would have been much easier if Air Serbia WAS a brand-new company; its main problem is the (lousy) legacy of Jat it still has to deal with. The project here is turnaround, not a fresh start - and turnarounds generally take much longer and are much tougher.
DeleteKondic has been hired as an expert in turning around, and has a proven track record; IMHO, what was achieved since August is impressive, but there is still a long way to go - the jury is still out.
Also IMHO, declaring Air Serbia a success or a failure at this moment is ridiculously premature - like calling a marathon race at one-mile marker. On the other hand, a cautious optimism is warranted, again IMHO - as is saying that Air Serbia is already a much better airline that Jat was a year ago.
true... the only thing that is better is 5 new (no, they are not new) A319. Unfortunately Jat/Air Serbia did have nothing with it. It comes from Etihad...
Deleteeverything else, including unprofesionalisam is Jatovanje and still Jat in heads of Air Serbia employees.
Even those A319 was down most of time in beginning because of Jat unprofesionalisam. I just hope as less Jat colors you will have in planes less Jat would be in Air Serbia. For now, still most of fleet is in Jat colors. Not even one plane was repainted... well...
Let je zbog kvara kasnio 135 minuta, razumemo negativne reakcije!
DeleteIz "Er Srbije" stiglo nam je saopštenje u kojem se potvrđuje da je let na liniji Beograd - Dizeldorf kasnio više od dva sata, te da je zbog toga avion morao da sleti na aerodrom u Kelnu.
Avion "Er Srbije" Airbus A319, na redovnoj liniji Beograd-Diseldorf-Beograd, sinoć je kasnio sa uzletanjem.
Razlog je bio tehnički kvar koji nije mogao brzo da se otkloni, te je avion koji je trebalo da sleti u Dizeldorf, sa velikim zakašnjenjem sleteo na pistu u Kelnu. Razlog sletanja u Keln jeste taj što je aerodrom u Dizeldorfu otvoren do 22 časa.
Iz "Er Srbije" danas nismo dobili konkretan odgovor, ali je saopštenje u kom se ne negira istinitost naših informacija stiglo naknadno.
- Er Srbija potvrdjuje da je 16. januara 2014. zbog tehničkih razloga došlo do 135-minutnog odlaganja poletanja aviona iz Beograda za Dizeldorf. Kako bi se izbeglo otkazivanje leta, zbog posebnih pravila na aerodromu u Dizeldorfu, naši gosti su prevezeni na aerodrom u Kelnu, odakle su autobusima prevezeni do aerodroma u Dizeldorfu. U potpunosti razumemo negativne reakcije izazvane kašnjenjem letova poput ovog iz Beograda za Dizeldorf, ali molimo svoje goste da prihvate činjenicu da su tehnička ispravnost aviona i bezbednost posade i gostiju "Er Srbije" najvažniji i uvek na prvom mestu - saopšteno nam je iz PR službe "Er Srbije".
http://pressonline.rs/info/drustvo/297388/let-je-zbog-kvara-kasnio-135-minuta-razumemo-negativne-reakcije.html
Hahahahahaahhah sure man, if trashing and making up excuses about Air Serbia makes you feel better then I am happy for you. :))))
DeleteI just hope the airline's dust feels good because you can eat it. :D
Technical problems in "NEW" A319????
DeleteHow that can be?
^4/10. Trolling too obvious. Try harder next time.
DeleteThe 319 is new to JU, not a new aircraft. You know what we mean when we say "new". Any real new aircraft would never have a problem. The 787 had perfect reliability since the first flight.
As Humphrey Bogart would say, "Play it again Sam".
ReplyDeletehttp://exyuaviation.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/serbia-awaits-faa-decision.html
As we say in Belgrade: 'Uzasno si dosadan i pojacano smaras'.
ReplyDeleteYou don't like the blog, you don't visit it. You can do better, you do something better. And show some gratitude t ExYU because without his work on this blog you would not have a place to hate and troll, which seems to be your main occupation in life.
When FAA allowed to Airport Nikola Tesla-Belgrade category one, that will be news of the mounts. Let hope
ReplyDeleteSerbian civil authority up dated and finished all compulsory task's to be re granted from FAA so long awaited permit. I am not sure, do Belgrade airport is fitted with equipment on both side of the runway for very low visibility. Belgrade Airport should be much more use they profit for rapid development to upgrading and updating very fast growing traffic. AIR SERBIA is prime example how to organising and managing business. Well
know that is airport not developing fast enough to cope traffic in near future. With trust in fast growing Belgrade
hub, let looking positive way on this crucial development.
Let future beginning neo and intercontinental aircrafts once again take off from this dynamic promised future on NIKOLA TESLA AIRPORT BELGRADE, Serbia.
Spozdravom kolegama u aviaciji.
Rodney Marinkovic, Aircraft Mechanical Engineer
Kraljevo / Sydney /Griffith, NSW.
FAA CAT I has nothing to do with BEG. It has to do with the laws and regulations in the Republic of Serbia that will maintain safe and secure air traffic. Airports in Serbia may be up to date with the latest security infrastructure and technologies but I believe it was a lack of an independant body in regulating air accidents and a couple of laws regulating air traffic that was hindering Serbia being regranted FAA CAT I status.
DeleteTrue, the air accidents investigations agency was the issue, but that was solved recently.
DeletePolako ali sigurno, dok OU slatko spava, JU se siri i razvija kao regionalni igrac. If the fares will be competitive, why not flying from Ljubljana to Belgrade and then to the USA?
ReplyDeleteThat is individual choice, just as choosing to fly Turkish to the USA for us in BEG. At the end of the day, Air Serbia will need to compete with LH who offer 17 destinations in the US, along with AF with 11, KLM with 7, OS with 4, LX with 7 destinations. Lets not talk about frequencies. Plus both BEG and Air Serbia need to sort their teething problems first before bringing in more pax into an already crowded and poorly run airport.
Deletedamn right. BEG has a lot to do in order to bear an increase in transit pax. especially if JU starts direct intercontinental flights
DeleteBEG needs new terminal and management, not Victoria's Secret and Boss stores, before starting any longhaul flights. That takes time so BEG ownership and expansion plans are becoming burning issue.
Deletehahaha I love your English mr from Sydney. hahahaha
ReplyDeleteDo you think yours is any better?
DeleteExcellent news! Lines are already forming for USA flights. There might be even 100 passengers... a month... because it is so easy to travel to USA.
ReplyDeleteYou are too funny. I guess you must have been the joker who spoke of the three monthly passngers to Varna.
Delete...or 20 to Istanbul in 737.
DeleteIf As flies 3 times a week beg-toronto-new york- beg with only jugo gastarbajters it eill be a minor success and what if others join a hug success
DeleteI dont see BEG having intercontinental flights this year. Mr Vucic is a politician, he will do whatever he needs to get the votes. Keep that in mind. ATH and OTP do not have scheduled flights, neither will Belgrade.
ReplyDelete2015 is more likely, seasonally during the summer. Or some summer charters.
And then, when they calculate all the LFs and yields they got from those flights in '15, they can see if regular flights to USA are possible in '16. That is what maybe Hogan thinks.
Flights to America...Why not.
ReplyDeleteBut then with Etihad or Emirates please!
Btw Emirates opens Dubai-Milan-NewYorkJFK.
And that although they also fly Dubai-NY nonstop.
Lets think some minute about it!
+ why not flights to America from UAE via Belgrade to NewYorkJFK
DeleteWe have a dream... said the Serbians.
ReplyDeleteGet real for a minute- Hungary, Czech Republic, Greece and barely Poland can't sustain any transatlantic flights but Serbia/Croatia can. For such a move you need:
1) Strong purchasing power - 90% of the profit on transatlantic flights are made by business/first class pax which pay up to 10 000€ for flights to US. Guess the answer!
2) You need strong political, economic, cultural ties to US. Do you have it?!? No. There is diaspora which travels max. 1 year + work and travel students but this is also in summer.
3) You need visa free regime. Not a single Balkan country has it.
4) Tourists - even Croatia can't attract them from the US because it's not really a known tourist destination in the US- at least not to sustain 2-3 weekly flights. When US people come to Europe ( less and less can afford this) they visit UK, France and Italy the most. Even when they come to the Balkans they make a journey including many countries which means they must transfer anyways so I guess they will choose FRA, VIE or ZRH over BEG. About tourists Croatia relies already on Asians and there are numerous flights but this is a completely other story.
5) Big carriers offer so frequent and fast conncetions to North America that is almost impossible to compete with them on frequencies or prices.
All in all we have a dream story..
In the summer of 1988/89 JAT had 10 weekly flights to USA (7 to JFK 3 to CHI and 2 to LAX) All these flights on DC10 where packed
DeleteYou bring up good points, but JU also has some qualities that would bring it a better chance of success.
Delete1) The diaspora is rather large, and centered around a few large cities such as Chicago, Toronto, Sydney, and that would help.
2) JU has a partner who already is in the business of flying long haul. Having a joint fleet would make everything a lot easier. Many previous ventures failed because airlines only had a few old aircraft.
3) JU could rely on some transit passengers from Bulgaria, Macedonia, Bosnia, Romania, ETC, these countries all have diaspora too, and some times they are centered in the same cities.
The only way I see JU having a successful long haul program is if it is clone of Etihad's program (Same planes, same product, same maintenance program.)
But I agree, 2016 is too soon for scheduled long haul. Perhaps JU could start with seasonal or charter flights with wet leased aircraft from Etihad, and see how well it goes.
Anon @ 6:18,
DeleteBack then JU was the flag carrier of a much larger country, with better ties with North America, and much better economic situation. Times also change. 2X weekly flights are nothing these days. Daily flights are a must to be successful.
Yeah because Doha or Abu Dhabi really have enough O&D demand to fill their aircraft heading to north American. They have a good network which feeds their flights. That's the same JU needs before they go into the business of long-haul flying.
DeleteAir Serbia should feed Etihad flying AUH-BEG-JFK.
DeleteFor example:
Varna,Sofia or Bucharest to BEG with Air Serbia and BEG-JFK with Etihad.
if Serbia gets FAA Cat I and Air Serbia obtains long haul aircraft, are there any legal obstacles to routing flight Abu Dhabi - Belgrade - New York (no plane change)?
DeleteThis analysis is correct for O&D market but not for mostly hub/transit role. CSA, Malev and to some extent LOT failed to attract enough transit passengers to sustain transatlantic ops. If Air Serbia is to make it, they need massive transit feeds at BEG for transatlantic flights.
DeleteOT:
ReplyDeleteCS 100 test flights, Anyone here following CS100/300 saga?
I am quite interested to hear of CS100 news, perhaps admin should start a topic on new airliners that should enter service in coming years, Russia is launching some interesting planes, Canada with its CS series is bound to attract loads of attention, Croatian Airlines already looking at getting 4 CS100 as a replacement for A320s and expansion of the fleet in 2017, I heard Czech Air might also be replacing its ATR72 with new CS100s, and Emberer is launching its E2 series which also look promising.
Luka, you should really start a topic on this one of these days, for its quite interesting topic for any blog.
CS 100 has 2 planes on test flights, the first just sent down to Wichitaw for more extreme testing. Plane number 3 is being handed over to test crews next week, new Gulf region airline just ordered 16 CS 300 planes. The 300 orders are leading the 100 orders 3-1, and with the lates order there are 300 firm and option orders. The first flight by a commercial carrier is now end of 2015, also CS 500 probably planned as the trend seems to be 140-180 passenger range!
DeleteAirlines for America (A4A), the oldest and largest airline trade association in the United States, has submitted a response to the US Department of Transportation regarding the joint application of Etihad Airways and Air Serbia for codeshare authority, calling the request “bizarre”.
ReplyDeleteDelta Airlines also responded with a similarly critical assessment, arguing that the application was “irrational” and “not in the public interest”. The letters from both A4A and Delta cite concerns about fair competition of privately held commercial air carriers with state-supported carriers.
On September 19, 2013, Air Serbia applied for authority to place its existing code on now partner Eithad’s flights from Abu Dhabi to Chicago O’Hare, New York’s John F. Kennedy and Washington Dulles airports, as well as several European airports. Turkey was the first country to react, while some EU countries also lodged complaints.
Turkish aviation authorities have revoked slots (airport positions) and have transferred the new Serbian airline to Istanbul's other international Sabiha Gökçen Airport on the Asian side of the city.
Some (for now unnamed) European carriers, have asked EU regulators to cancel all slots that JAT had in European airports and claim that Air Serbia cannot inherit them, in particular due to regulations in the [EU-US] Open Skies Agreement regarding joint ownership [of airline companies] outside the EU.
Delta's main concern is the distortion of the market and confusion of travelers, as the two state-funded companies Etihad and Air Serbia seem to be planning on offering rerouted flights from Belgrade via Abu Dhabi to US cities, approximately an additional 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers), for the same or lower prices as other air carriers who fly directly. The state subsidies provided to the new Air Serbia company by both the UAE and Serbian governments are inconsistent with international aviation policy, Delta and A4A claim, as well as tax advantages, fuel and airport fee subsidies, and government investment in airport infrastructure that Etihad and Air Serbia benefit from.
Although both documents have been made public, Serbian media have shown little to no mention of this case nor any discussion about the possible repercussions for the new national airline should the former Serbian airline JAT's codesharing not be granted to Air Serbia for US and EU-bound flights, thus there is very little discussion about the matter on social networks or public forums. No media outlet in Serbia seems to have even made these documents available to the public, while Kurir simply quoted a tweet by Vladimir Todorić, a politician and member of the Democratic Party (DS), in a short article titled “HATE: Delta More Important than Serbia to the Democrats!”
Turkish authorities have been pushing out almost any carrier they can out of IST so as to make more room for Turkish Airlines. It has nothing to do with EY-JU tie up.
DeleteRegarding the EU airlines and their demand to revoke slots, well, that document surfaced in June 2013 and I think that if it was serious something would have happened since then.
Even if you wrote an unnamed airline, we all know it's Lufthansa.
Regarding JU's codes to the US, they have only protested about their ones from AUH to the US, not for the ones JU intends on placing on AB's flight.
Here is a link to the related topic on a.net: http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5973647/
DeleteIt seems like FAA has refused JU's request to put codeshares on EY flights to the US. Their explanation as well as TK and A4A complaints against this seem very bizarre to me personally...
OT:
ReplyDeleteI have done many searches of flights during the summer between different airlines. Air Serbia seems to offer the CHEAPEST (by a LOT) prices on flights to/ from: (with a transfer in BEG)
Vienna - Kiev, Istanbul Sabiha
Thessaloniki and Athens - Warsaw,
Beirut - Budapest, Warsaw, Vienna
Zurich - Kiev
Sofia - most of west destination network
Rome - Moscow (!)
(these are just some examples, I am missing a lot)
not to mention for almost all of Ex - Yu cities, Air Serbia offers great connection times and DIRT cheap prices through Belgrade to its destination network which will be quite impressive!
forgot to mention:
DeleteFrankfurt - Athens
Tel Aviv - Warsaw, Zurich
Larnaca - Zurich
Paris - Thessaloniki
also from Varna to many destinations!
Kiev - Rome
DeletePrague - Thessaloniki, Athens
Milan - Tel Aviv, Beirut
Bucharest - Zurich, Warsaw
Berlin - Athens
could go on and on..
Larnaca to pretty much anywhere, they have really good fares out of Cyprus.
Deletenot to mention Aeroflot has been sending A321's on BOTH of their daily flights! Could we possibly see this route grow even more capacity wise in the summer, especially with connections? Also!!!
DeleteAIR SERBIA
Zurich to Abu Dhabi !!!
Ljubljana - BEY and mostly all of Air Serbia's destinations!
Expecting an explosive and amazing summer! When planes are more full and more people prefer Air Serbia, then we could see a great raise in prices and profit :D and even more growth!! ZIVELI
Well, Air Serbia will be upgauging its Moscow flights to an A320 (7/14 frequencies) while Aeroflot will be sending its B737-800 which has less seats than what they have now- then again they are supposed to be sending two A319s per day but due to increased demand the A321 is very common. My guess is that it really helps them that they have Air Serbia's codeshare on their flight. Their 01.55 departure during the summer season will be an absolute hit with connections from the region.
DeleteHowever, it will be really interesting to follow the developments within this particular market.
Yes! Today there were 2 A321's with Aeroflot.. Even with Air Serbia upgrading from a319 to a320 for one daily flight, I feel like it is necessary to increase capacity even more on this line, and believe they will do so this summer, either Air Serbia or Aeroflot, the only question is who and how? A 5th daily flight, is A330 even a possibility? SU is code sharing on flights with Air Serbia out of Beograd also increasing traffic
DeleteEven if Aeroflot decides to send its widebodies to Belgrade, which I doubt will happen, it will not be an A330-200 but rather a B767-300.
DeleteWhat I see happening is that Air Serbia will add another 3 or 4 weekly frequencies so as to bring one of its morning or afternoon flights up to daily rotations. That's it.
We are still a long way from seeing widebodies on this market.
Perhaps we may see a few Il-96s before they get taken out of service. That would be nice.
DeleteThe demand to SVO is because its the only regular line to Russia. Belgrade is missing LED from its network, so I expect something will happen soon. JU could open the line with SU codeshare, and codeshare with SU on other lines in Russia.
DeleteI know a lot of people who fly to Asia via Moscow, Aeroflot has some impressive and very competitive fares- especially to places like Thailand and China. The last time I flew on Aeroflot there were at least 35 to 40 Chinese people onboard.
DeleteAeroflot also codeshares with Air Serbia to Tivat and Podgorica and interestingly enough that flight to Podgorica is operated by an A319. Is it safe to assume they have quite a few guests (lol) connecting onto JU's flights to Montenegro?
Today they are sending an A321 and an A320.
It also helps that there is a visa-free regime between Serbia and Russia. Lots of Russians come to Belgrade for holidays (the biggest increase in 2013 in number of tourists was for Russians)
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Shina
OT: 875.60 cheapest fare for this summer from IAD (Washington D.C.) And JFK (New York) to Beograd, also to Zagreb I believe! Very good prices with good connecting times in Moscow! Aeroflot to Moscow and mix of Aeroflot and Air Serbia / Aeroflot to/ from Moscow. I will be doing the Aeroflot / Air Serbia connection there and back, can't wait! Many people from the eastern states in the US and even Canada are driving or taking busses down there to catch the flights, which are almost half of those flights from cities such as Cleveland on legacy carriers such as United and Lufthansa.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy. As for me, by far the worst experience in travel was with SU. Ground staff in SVO are hopeless, rude and arrogant. I flew with them 2 weeks ago. It took them 1 hour and 4 check in agents to notice I had an electronic ticket.
DeleteOh yes, they are quite helpless when it comes to stuff like that (read customer service). Last year we were in India and one of the friends flew with them from Copenhagen. So we wanted to go back early and we needed to change our flights. I flew on Emirates so all I had to do is make a phone call to their global call centre and my ticket was changed in two minutes. My friend spent 5 hours on the phone and with airport officials trying to change the ticket. It was unbelievable how the airline did not have a representative at the airport. Naturally, it did not help either that the airport employees were Indian who were trying to rip her off. Initially they wanted €800 for the change and they couldn't issue a bill, after a few hours of fighting she ended up paying €150 just to get out of that Hell hole called New Delhi.
DeleteI do not know if this was a one off case or the norm, however the experience was far from a pleasant one. Not to mention that she got to fly on an archaic B767-300 which was four hours late.
Emirates FTW. :)
Really? March 24 of all dates? Really?
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