South Korea's long haul low cost carrier Jin Air has cancelled plans to launch services from Seoul to the Serbian capital in 2020, just over a year after announcing its intention to link the two cities. In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, an airline spokesperson said that it currently has no plans to introduce flights to Belgrade. Previously, during a press conference in Seoul, the airline's CEO, Jung-ho Choi, said services to Bucharest and Belgrade would be launched 2020. "In 2020, Jin Air plans to operate 52 domestic and international routes. In particular, plans have been made to introduce Bucharest and Belgrade in 2020", Mr Choi said at the time.
The budget airline, which launched long haul operations in December 2015, is a subsidiary of Hanjin, a holding company which also manages the national flag carrier Korean Air. It is Korea's only low cost airline to operate wide-body aircraft, with four Boeing 777-200ERs in its fleet. Jin Air utilises the aircraft on its medium and long haul network which includes Honolulu, Cairns in Australia, as well as Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia. Previously, the Deputy Minister for Civil Aviation in the South Korean government, Suh Hoon-Taik, said, "There is interest on both sides to establish scheduled flights between Korea and Serbia and we will undertake a study to determine if there is sufficient demand. The prerequisite for these flights is an Air Service Agreement, which was concluded with Serbia in 2016. I will also assist in increasing cooperation between Air Serbia and Korean carriers".
During the first five months of this year there were only 1.668 Korean visitors to Serbia, representing a decrease of 21% on the same period last year. Overall, there were 5.114 Korean nationals entering Serbia in 2018. The state-owned Incheon International Airport Corporation led an unsuccessful bid for the 25-year concession of Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in 2017. However, despite these indicators, the Serbian Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlović, recently said there was potential for nonstop flights between the two countries. Under a new Air Service Agreement between Serbia and South Korea, which replaced the one inked in 1980, both Serbian and South Korean carriers have rights to operate up to three weekly flights between the two countries.
Surprise surprise...
ReplyDeleteIt was not realistic so no surprise at all
ReplyDeleteProper companies usually plan and evaluate internally in advance before going to the public with new route launches.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteVery dilettante. This company's license was almost revoked last year.
With such low numbers in Korean arrivals it's no wonder.
ReplyDeleteTrue, keeping in mind it almost 500,000 annual visitors for Korean to launch ICN-ZAG.
DeleteSo are there more Japanese or Koreans visiting Serbia?
DeleteJapanese. But the difference is small. Around a 1,000 more.
DeleteSo where from do most Asian tourists come from to Serbia? Excluding China.
DeleteSo far this year
Delete1. Turkey
2. Israel
3. India
There are more tourists from India then from South Korea.
Turkey is mostly in Asia, too.
DeleteNumber of "Tourists" from India have increased only because of some projects from few companies in Serbia. Don't worry number will drop in next 2-3 years while number of Korean and Japanese tourists will increase just like number of Iranian tourists in case of direct flights are reeastablished
DeleteA great opportunity opened for JU to launch BEG-ICN flights.
ReplyDeleteBut look at the numbers. There would be no passengers.
DeleteIf you fly it they will come.
DeleteThe availability of a direct flight with affordable tickets would attract loads of passengers.
Yes, I am sure it is another great "opportunity" for large government subsidies to a commercially unsustainable route.
DeleteThe route would be well over 90% used by Koreans who would visit the region. I don't see how ASL would be succeeding in that market.
Delete@Anonymous2 July 2019 at 09:09
DeleteWhat a wise statement: Just open a route to anywhere and they will come.
Could they have paired up the flights? Seoul-Bucharest-Belgrade?
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see how many Korean visit Romania.
DeleteSame level as Serbia.
DeleteThey also planned to start flights to Budapest.
DeleteBez potpisivanja kod šera sa ErSrbijom ne vidim da linija može funkcionisati.
ReplyDeleteA strategy involving starting flights to Europe in Eastern Europe would never work.
ReplyDeleteNot odd. They have set a target to enter Europe for their own reasons. They don't want to compete with Korean Air their sister company and will instead serve Eastern Europe which is better suited for a low cost business model.
DeleteSerbia is slowly becoming number one tourist destination for the Chinese in the region. If we don't have non-stop flights to China then I don't see them happening for Korea whose numbers are tiny.
ReplyDeleteMay arrivals for Chinese are up by 31%.
DeleteMay: 15.583 (+31%)
01-05.2019: 40.588 (+33%)
Soon we will have more than 200.000 tourists per annum.
You do know that Croatia had much more new Chinese tourist last year than Serbia in real number? Of course percentage is huge if you star number was so low. But you should compare real numbers. And as real numbers are in fawoure of Croatia, how on earth Serbia would be no. 1 for Chinese tourists in region?
DeleteI said that Serbia will slowly become number one which if this trend continues will become true. Sorry if you are bothered by this fact. Serbia and China are way closer than Croatia and China not to mention that they don't need a visa to come here and that Chinese don't care about beaches. Serbia has been working for 2 years on bringing them and look where we are, 200.000 this year. Next year we are probably going to be between 230 and 250. Браво за Србију!
DeleteYou do not know who will become "number one" since you cannot see in the future. So you can predict, but still, the numbers are still higher and in favor of Croatia. Sure, Serbia has a big increase of Chinese tourists, no one isn't disputing that, but unless the percentage will be over 100% each year, the number of Chinese visitors will still be lower.
DeleteSo if others cant predict the future then why are you doing it?
Delete'but unless the percentage will be over 100% each year, the number of Chinese visitors will still be lower.'
You are basically predicting Chinese arrivals to Croatia will not fall or will keep on growing. How did you achieve that?
Also how about we see some of those numbers you speak of.
I literally just wrote that they can predict, but they do not know. Get the difference?
DeleteAlso, how do they know the the number of Chinese visitors will only climb and not decline, like you're mentioning that could happen in case of Croatia?
And, there were 42.700 Chinese visitors between January and April, 65% more than 2018.
Yes and I made a prediction that obviously triggered you. So the difference is minimal, you made it seem as if Croatia had a million more Chinese tourists. Typical of you guys to exaggerate when compared to you know who.
DeleteYou're the one that's throwing around terms like "number one", when you are obviously not and I'm the one that is exaggerating?
DeleteYou must be unwell from all this heat.
Go daydream some more.
Bye.
Interesting airline. I wonder how they make a profit on their long haul routes.
ReplyDeleteThey probably don't.
DeleteYou are probably right since they have terminated many routes they used to operate. They do have over 20 B737-800s though.
DeleteIn 2017 they had USD64.7 million net profit!
DeleteIn 2018 USD$37 million net profit.
Do they offer connections onto Korean Air?
ReplyDeleteKorean and Jin Air are partners owned by the same company. Like Emirates and Fly Dubai for example.
DeleteYes, they codeshare with Korean Air.
DeleteAnyone seen the insides of their B777s? The cabin look like they are from 20 years ago :D
ReplyDeleteNow that's what I call retro.
DeleteIt might look retro but I can tell you it looks ten times more comfortable that the slim seats most airlines now offer.
DeleteA 2-5-2 seat arrangement!
DeleteThe middle seat in the 5 abreast must be hell. And ion a 12 hour flight!
That's just crazy configuration. Imagine being stuck in the middle seat with two passengers on each side on a full flight.
DeleteThe planes are not that old actually. Around 12 yrs.
Delete2-5-2 is better configuration than the 3-4-3 config most airlines have on their B777s.
DeleteThe seats are actually from Korean Air, the only difference being that Korean has IFE in its seats while Jin Air doesn't. Also Korean Air has tighter 3-4-3 configuration.
DeleteI was skeptical these would launch from the start.
ReplyDeleteHad Koreans won the airport concession perhaps we would have seen flights from Seoul. This way, no chance.
ReplyDeleteJin Air is not prestigious enough :p joking
ReplyDeleteTrue, waiting for Korean Air :D
DeleteCorrect, if an airline does not offer metal cutlery in economy is unsuitable for our region!
DeleteHe was obviously joking...
DeleteYou got to wonder what our tourist board is doing. They should be attracting people from markets where there are so many travellers, especially since they spend a lot.
ReplyDeleteTheir main focus is China.
DeleteIf they did their job better, they would focus on more than a single market.
Deletelol not surprised Mihajlovic is still announcing flights. At one point she suggested flights to Mexico City.
ReplyDeleteTo be precise, she said it would be a great layover on flights to New York :D
DeleteHow incompetent is she for the portfolio she runs...
DeleteLike her or not, a lot has been done in Serbia's aviation sector since she has been minister.
DeletePaying airlines to fly various routes doesn't require any skills.
DeleteWho has she paid? Air France, LOT, Ludthansa, Swiss? Who?
DeleteJU. From both BEG and INI.
DeleteNo need to act surprised.
And how much money did the government give to Jat Airways, yet it flew 20 routes? I will tell you that in 2011 the government approved 55 million euros to JU just for that year.
DeleteAlso I don't see an issue funding a business you are a majority shareholder of. The question is how you use that money.
Same way Croatia approved over 100 million euros to Croatia Airlines a day before the country entered the EU.
There is no "udruzeno oglasavanje" in Serbia.
DeleteAirlines fly here because they have financial interest to do so and not because they are paid to do it like on some airports in the neighbourhood
You are right, there is no "udruzeno oglasavanje" in Serbia.
DeleteFor everything else, there are happy tax payers :)
Yes, and udruzeno oglasavanje is funded by who? Plenkovic or happy tax payers?
DeleteBoth are tax payers - true. So, there is no reason to be pathetic with comments like -> There is no "udruzeno oglasavanje" in Serbia.
DeleteAlso no reason to be pathetic with comments that airlines are paid to fly to Serbia, since its not true. Other than the national airline which is 51% state owned and gets state funding, others are not paid to fly.
DeleteI am not happy at all giving subventions to political projects.
DeleteThere is only one analyst that uses the word subventions. That word now appeared under Happy taxpayer alias. Draw your own conclusion.
DeleteAnonymous at 15:12
DeleteIf you have poor English skills is not my problem. This is my only alias. If you can't debate use your time better, maybe by opening a dictionary!
VINCI should first focus on getting more European legacy carriers to BEG.
ReplyDeleteEurope is now really well covered. And they won't be attracting more direct competition to Air Serbia.
DeleteThey have done well in covering Europe. 9 new routes from Air Serbia, plus Lyon, two new airlines to Paris including Air France and increased frequencies from LOT, Norwegian, Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, Aegean, Aeroflot, Red Wings, Qatar Airways, Etihad, Flydubai (winter)...
DeleteTime to focus on destinations and airlines further afield.
DeleteThere is a rumor Wizz Air will base third plane in BEG next summer. So we will probably get 4 new routes from then if it materializes.
DeleteLOT, Norwegian, Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, Aegean, Aeroflot, Red Wings, Qatar Airways, Etihad, Flydubai has nothing to do with Vinci.
DeleteMore to do with market demand.
Anonymous at 10:36
Delete+1
W6 has massive orders, they have to base all those NEOs somewhere.
How about a base in ZAG, they have zero planes there?
DeleteHad they made a deal with Air Serbia they could have filled their plane with passengers to Montenegro, Macedonia, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, even Croatia...
ReplyDeleteIt would still be insufficient to make this B777 route profitable.
DeleteAnon 9:52
DeleteMaybe they could open a Jin Air base in BEG (10X B737) and fill flight to Seoul, why complicate with AirSerbia?
Well for those who a realistic this is not a big surprise. So far this year there are more tourists from Brazil entering Serbia than from South Korea!
ReplyDeleteJU should start BEG-GRU flights!
DeletePity, would have been exotic :)
ReplyDeleteWhy Serbia is not popular at all among Korean and Japanese visitors meanwhile nearby Croatia, Budapest etc. (even Bosnia is more popular I think) are so popular for them? Serbia seems so underrated in this aspect.
ReplyDeleteCroatia is popular obviously because of the coast but it became popular because of a TV show. Bosnia benefits from the popularity of Croatia because most Korean tourists enter Bosnia by bus from Croatia.
DeleteBecause Serbian tourism board is incompetent to market the country's natural beauties. I'm not talking about visiting Belgrade, but about the rest of the country.
DeleteCreating a five minute youtube video isn't enough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk7FGRnMjGQ
Anonymous at 10:14
Delete+1000
Just to pick up on the point of anonymous@10.14 - the incompetancy of the Serbian Tourist Board is nowhere moreso obvious, than when you look at how poor the arrival numbers are out of the major European markets of UK, France, Germany, Benelux, Italy and Austria.
DeleteThese are all markets within 3 flying hours of Serbia, with HUGE outbound numbers, yet they spend so much time on trying to convince Korean and Chinese tourists to come to Serbia, when they can't even do so with bigger markets much closer to home.
But wait, the per diem's are obviously not as attractive closer to home as they are in far away Asia - so of course these people need to get their priorities right :)
+1
Deletelol
ReplyDeletegreat contribution to the discussion.
DeleteIt;s not just Belgrade, their entire European expansion has been put on hold.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the main points of interest for the Asians (Koreans, Japanese, HK) visiting Serbia, except for Beograd?
ReplyDeleteAt this point the only Asian carrier I could see in Belgrade is one from China.
ReplyDeleteChina Eastern from Shanghai.
DeleteThis what Korean Air's new CEO said last month
ReplyDeleteWalter Cho: “Jin Air is looking into expanding the long hauls. They are already flying Hawaii and we could expand that to some European cities or the US where the traffic rights are not constrained.”
“They have been asking for more [777-200s) and it is a possibility we will utilise Jin Air to compete in that market.”
So it seems that in the future there is a possibility this route could be launched.
DeleteHas anyone noticed Mahan Air flights to BEG three times weekly at: https://beg.aero/cir/sezonski?
ReplyDeleteMore to this?
Fuel stops
DeleteIt seems Czechia and Hravtsko remain 2 important countries for Korea of the former Eastern bloc.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's time to persuade Japan and Thaiair to Belgrad.....
Ex Yu was never a part of the Eastern Bloc, so Eastern Europe is a more appropriate term in this context
DeleteFor westerners we were all part of the "eastern eastk" along with Albania...
DeleteIt surely speaks more about them than about us...
DeleteThere are no "westerners". There are educated and well behaved people in the "west" , to the less extent, and majority of "white trash". This is for @11.08. For original poster : before commenting certain content, it's advisable to read something about it. If you did, you would knew the following :
Delete"Eastern Block" : Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania
"Western Block" : UK, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, West Germany, Denmark, Norway
Neutral and Non-aligned countries : Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Yugoslavia, Malta, Albania, Cyprus
But than you are probably one of the group with Croatian president trying to convince us we had one type of yogurt in Yugoslavia although there were 74 brands on the market
Looking at the long haul destinations Jin air operates, they're pretty exotic holiday markets. Didn't really make much sense from the start for them to launch Belgrade as it just doesn't seem to fit in with their long haul network.
ReplyDeleteAlso on the topic of Koreans, interesting how the numbers dropped this year considering they're one of the nationals the government subsidizes tour operators to bring in
A lot of people talk about low number of tourists but it doesn't change the fact that the airline planned to launch flights to BEG in spite of these numbers, as announced by their CEO. So there must be some potential. Their Europe expansion has been delayed but that does not rule out flights to BEG some time in the future.
ReplyDeleteAre there any Korean factories in Serbia? Tyre or electronics?
ReplyDeleteYes there is. Biggest one is Yura. It has two factories.
DeleteThe way they treat their workers is horrendous.
Delete. Izuzev dobre zelje da da postoji direktni letovi izmedju eula i Beograda, kao sto su neki pre mene rekli jeste tesk
ReplyDeleteostvariti. Ne postoji dovoljno jaka poslovna saradnja.
Kao ni za sada dovoljno interesantnih mesta izuzev Beograda da bi leteli dvadesetak sati, od Seula do Beograda i nazad. Verujem da se moze uspostaviti
trziste. Ali za sada u direktnim letovima sa turistickog aspekta nije izvodljivo. Poslovne i trgovinske veze su takodje minimalne da bi generisale letove...
A Kraljevo? Ja bih organizovo kao zavrsnicu regate skakanje s mosta u Ibar i u Moravu blizu usca samo da ih dovedem. Turneja dve skakonice naravno iskopao malo dublje korito gde su skakonice. Pa krenu od Maglica olese se pivom na Ibru pa dodju i oni da skacu i da ih vade ronioci posle. Ima da se leti Seul KVO sa tri 777 samo za te dane cim Mihajlovicka udari jos jednu pistu.
DeletePostovani Anon 14:46.
ReplyDeletePa organizujte sto ste naveli u Vasem studijskom tekstu.
Sudbina Kraljeva i pista Aerodroma Morava je u Vasim rukama, verovatno?. Pominjete i tri sedmice. Da li ste misleli na Boingov B777?
Prijatno Vam leto. Cuvajte se od sucanice.
Ovo je ozbiljan forum...
Sa pozdravom Radovan. 😀