ASL Airlines France eyes success on Belgrade route

ASL Airlines France, which will launch two weekly flights between Paris and Belgrade from June 24, 2019, is confident it will be successful on the route, despite strong competition from Air Serbia and Air France. Furthermore, the carrier says it will consider maintaining the service throughout the year, as well as introduce additional destinations, depending on the new route's performance over the summer. ASL France's Sales and Programme Director, Eric Vincent, told EX-YU Aviation News, "When you look at the traffic, you can see that in the summer time there is high demand that today's providers - Air Serbia and Air France - cannot totally fulfil. There is an opportunity for us. In terms of offered capacity, we will put 6.500 seats on the market. It is not much compared to the flows that are moving between Paris and Belgrade. We will not disrupt the market. It is an additional offer and, in the summer time, we are targeting a load factor of more than 80%. We think we can reach it. We have to be careful about the pricing so we achieve a good load factor. If we have 80% or above, it will mean we transport over 5.000 people. The target really is the families and visitors moving between the two countries".

Mr Vincent noted that the flights will primarily cater for the Serbian diaspora in France, but also stimulate tourism between the two countries. "We understand and we realise that these flights will serve the Serbian community, mainly family travellers that want to come back to Serbia. There is high demand on the French side and we are sure that there is big demand in Serbia also in this peak time of year for visitors to France because today the choice is limited with high prices". He added, "A lot of people will see our flights in the summer, with the possibility to spend a long weekend in a new city break destination - Belgrade. People in France, particularly younger ones, are looking for alternatives to Prague and Budapest, so Belgrade is an excellent opportunity. We see this as a real potential destination for city breakers and a lot of people will want to discover Belgrade and Serbia for holidays, so we will also focus on that clientele".

ASL Airlines France's CEO, Jean-Francois Dominiak, said he believes the flights, which have initially been scheduled to run seasonally until early September will be extended throughout the year. "First thing that we need to do is to make it a success during the summer time. That is a must. This will happen not if we are totally profitable but if we don't burn too much cash. It would be crazy for me to say at this moment that we will open year-long flights. We are very prudent in this business. We trust that it will work but we need to get some experience with Belgrade. What I can say is that, yes, if it works, we will then focus on winter flights and probably, that is my feeling, we will extend it to a year-long basis. However, first we need to focus on the summer and make it a success". He added that the carrier could potentially add services between Lyon and Belgrade in the future. "We have made some plans and we have had talks with tour operators and tourism specialists. Obviously there is demand for other routes, such as Lyon for example, and we will keep this in mind, since we have an aircraft based in Lyon. This could be a possibility. The biggest demand for us is Paris, but first we need to make it a success in summer. Of course, we are looking at all possibilities".

Asked by EX-YU Aviation News if the carrier's decision to launch services to the Serbian capital was influenced by the upcoming takeover of Belgrade Airport by France's VINCI, Mr Dominiak said, "Our decision to launch flights was only influenced by the market and the demand. I discovered myself only recently that VINCI is taking over the airport. We are working at some airports with them, so we will see what that brings. For the last ten years we have been in business with Jat Tehnika. They are mainlining our aircraft at the airport and the partnership is very good. Good services, nice prices, and we are developing more business with them". Questioned whether the carrier could add more destinations within the former Yugoslavia, the CEO noted, "Not yet. When we did our marketing survey, really, the demand was out of Belgrade to France, more precisely to Paris".

Tickets for the new route have been put on sale online, while TAL Aviation Group will act as the airline's general sales agent in Belgrade. Its Director for Global Sales, Rami Holtzman, said the new flights will create additional demand and cater for passengers who previously did not fly between the two cities due to high ticket fares during the summer season.