UPDATE Air Serbia promises “exciting” developments

Air Serbia hopes to fly to the US in next twelve to fourteen months

Air Serbia has said it will unveil “exciting developments expected during 2015” during the 37th International Tourism Fair which began today in Belgrade. The airline held a presentation at its stand, which was attended by the Serbian Prime Minister. The carrier has been notably silent over the past few months on its plans for the upcoming summer season. As EX-YU Aviation News learns, the airline is expected to release its audited financial results in the coming month, which was later confirmed at the presentation (updates available below). In a statement, the carrier said, “In focus this year will be Air Serbia's rapidly growing reach, which currently comprises a network of forty direct destinations in thirty countries in Europe, the Middle East and the Mediterranean”. The fair lasts until Sunday.

Air Serbia’s CEO, Dane Kondić, highlighted the importance of the upcoming event. “In the past year, Air Serbia has made great strides and the fair is the perfect occasion to share these developments with industry partners and the travelling public. The tourism industry is delivering growth and showing great potential to be one of the key drivers of Serbia's economic growth. As Air Serbia consolidates its position as the region’s leading carrier, it is proud to play its role to support the further growth of tourism and the creation of employment opportunities for Serbs across the broader economy”, Mr. Kondić said. He added, “The International Tourism Fair in Belgrade is one of the most important events in the industry's calendar in this part of Europe and we are pleased to once again take part in its success. The official country partner of this year's fair is the United Arab Emirates, the home of our equity partner Etihad Airways, making this event an even more significant gathering for Belgrade, Serbia and Air Serbia”.

Over the past month, Air Serbia launched a new look website, while the media leaked the carrier’s plans to introduce wireless on board Internet this summer. Yesterday, the airline announced it would boost operations to Tel Aviv compared to its current winter season schedule. However, the new frequencies represent a cut of two weekly flights compared to last summer. Furthermore, the Serbian carrier announced yesterday it would be moving its operations to Terminal 1 at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, which is exclusively used by Alitalia. Earlier this year Air Serbia’s part-owner Etihad purchased a 49% stake in Alitalia. The CEO of the Italian carrier, Silvano Cassano, said the airline plans to work “more deeply” with Air Serbia in order to increase customer choice across the networks of both carriers.

---

UPDATE

---

• Air Serbia's CEO, Dane Kondić, told "The Australian" newspaper, "We’ve made some public statements that we are working towards a small profit for the year of 2014. Once the auditors finish their work and confirm that, I think it will probably be one of the most amazing turnarounds in history. For a small airline, going from a 73 million euro loss to something in positive territory is going to be a herculean effort". He added, "The aircraft utilisation of the old fleet was something terrible. I think it was about five hours a day, it was point-to-point flying. We moved to a mini-network carrier basis so we were connecting cities and we’re driving the fleet very hard; we’re up around twelve or thirteen hours a day. We’re trying to develop Belgrade into a hub and so it’s really starting to compete now against the likes of Vienna, which was probably for many years the hub in that part of the world, which was the gateway to central and eastern Europe. Everybody’s done an amazing job up until this point but we’ve got to run harder, faster to get fitter. In terms of Belgrade and Serbia re-emerging in the world, it’s a natural ambition for the country to want to reconnect to many of the markets and places that they used to fly but Air Serbia had no aspirations to fly all over the world the way Jat Airways used to". Furthermore, Mr. Kondić states that the airline will also look at other parts of the world, continuing to build Belgrade as a hub to achieve the critical mass necessary for longhaul flying. It has already revealed plans to fly across the Atlantic, and the CEO said he hoped he could realise that ambition in the next twelve to fourteen months. Commenting on Etihad's tie-up with Alitalia, Mr. Kondić said, "Alitalia will be an interesting future partner once they bed down. Air Berlin is another one".

• Audited financial results for 2014 to be released on March 2 or 3. The results will be presented to the public and media and more information on future plans are likely to revealed then. The airline is said to have ended the year with a profit.

• Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić: Air Serbia recorded better results so far this year. So far in February, during the slowest month in the aviation industry, the airline has carried significantly more passengers. Without Air Serbia, the country's tourism industry would be at a great disadvantage.

• The President of the Air Serbia Supervisory Board Siniša Mali: Air Serbia has boosted the desirability of Belgrade as a tourist destination and changed the country’s image.