Iranian carrier Mahan Air plans to resume operations between Tehran and Belgrade as of this Sunday, with the airline recently putting tickets for the route on sale via its website. Mahan Air has scheduled two weekly services between the two capitals, each Friday and Sunday. The flights are aimed at Chinese tour groups, but seats are available for booking to the general public as well. "In addition to carrying Iranian and Chinese passengers between our two countries, Mahan Air is also connecting Chinese travellers to Europe in order to attract more transit passengers on our current European destinations", the Iranian carrier said. It added, "It is worth noting that we recently launched flights to Shenzhen, our fourth destination in China, in addition to our scheduled flights to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The number of Mahan Air flights to China amount to fifteen per week".
Mahan Air initially planned to shuttle Chinese tourists to Banja Luka. Despite being issued a permit by the Bosnia and Herzegovina Directorate for Civil Aviation, as well as selling tickets between Tehran and Banja Luka for almost two months, the airline now seems to have substituted the service with Belgrade instead. Serbia is one of only four European countries, along with neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, which does not require entry visas for Chinese passport holders. Iran itself is also waiving visa requirements for Chinese nationals at the end of this month. The Tehran - Belgrade service will be operated by the 202-seat Airbus A310-300 aircraft. The airline maintains scheduled flights to some fifty destinations.
The new service will mark Mahan Air's return to Belgrade after almost a year. It previously maintained several weekly flights from Tehran to the Serbian capital with its Airbus A340-300 jet. During the 2018 summer season, several Iranian carriers, including Iran Air and Qeshm Air, launched services to Belgrade after Serbia became the only European country to allow visa-free entry for Iranian passport holders. However, by October, visa requirements were reintroduced after an increased number of asylum seekers abused the visa free policy. Serbian immigration officers have since introduced an additional passport check at Belgrade Airport for all passengers arriving on flights from Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa. Travellers flying to Belgrade on Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airlines, Atlasglobal, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Flydubai and Tunis Air are required to immediately present their passports for inspection upon landing at the gate, after which their travel documents are checked again at passport control.
Flight details for Mahan Air's Tehran - Belgrade service can be found here.
I know the kind of comments that this news will produce but when your country is under severe sanctions and you are trying to maintain a business you have to be creative. If they think they can get transfers from Chinese then so be it. I remember JAT was very creative in the 90s so it could keep flying. They set up Air Srpska, MAT, even flew at one point to Tivat via Uzice so they could increase duty time for their pilots so they don't lose their licenses.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteYou do what you can with what you have.
The other day they increased IKA-IST from 21 to 26 weekly flights.
DeleteThe more airlines the better.
ReplyDeleteThe prices for the flights are outrageous. The first flight on Sunday is well over 1000 EUR and the rest are around 980 EUR return in economy.
ReplyDeleteBecause the flights obviously aren't targeted at P2P passengers if they are filled with tour groups but they still put some seats on sale anyway.
DeleteWell those who are price sensitive can fly on QR for 400 Euros. Or for even less on Pegasus.
DeleteI looked up if transfer flights to China would be any cheaper but its like 2000 euros+
DeleteFlights were just loaded, usually at first fares are extremely high. I think within a week or so they will come down.
DeleteWhy did they dump Banja Luka? These flights are actually an exact substitute for that, even the schedule is mostly the same.
ReplyDeleteThe way officials from Banja Luka were talking about this service, I would dump them as well.
Delete+1 last anon
DeleteThe way the minister and other officials talked about this, trying to hide the fact the airline was from Iran, denying that tickets for flights were on sale even though you could just check the net and book tickets, I am very happy that they decided not to fly to Banja Luka. It doesn't deserve these flights with those sort of idiots running the place.
DeleteThese are the same people who took 10 years to realize that letting an LCC fly to Banja Luka is a good thing, so I don't see why you are surprised.
Delete+1000
DeleteLet's see how and if this works out.
ReplyDeleteBut isn't Mahan Air blacklisted from flying to Europe?
ReplyDeleteNo. They fly to Barcelona, Milan, Moscow, St Petersburg and Rome.
DeleteAthens aswell
DeleteBut they have been banned from flying to Germany.
DeleteBecause of US pressure not because of safety.
DeleteThe EU! not EUROPE!
DeleteIt isn't blacklisted from flying to the EU either. The fly to Italy and Spain without any issue.
DeleteGreece too.
DeleteAccording to Wikipedia Mahan Air flights to Gall EU destinations have stopped.
DeleteWell wikipedia is not correct. Go to their website.
DeleteAnonymous 11:24
DeleteActually Wiki is correct on this matter. I checked all the EU's airports websites that Mahan's destination map shows as destinations and NONE has flights by them.
Then I tried to book a flight though Mahan's own website and it showed zero flights on any date selected.
Anon 11:23 is correct, they stopped flying to all EU airports/
You are not correct, check FR24 and you will see that yesterday Mahan operated the following:
Delete07.09 W5 136 IKA-BCN A346
07.46 W5 110 IKA-MXP A346
It's blacklisted because of sanctions...
DeleteCan't you read the post above? It's flying to Milan and Barcelona normally.
DeleteHahaha we have reached a new level of delusion when even facts written right in front of their eyes get ignored.
DeleteI stayed in a hotel full of Iranians in Barcelona some weeks ago !
DeleteBarcelona is in Spain, no problems at all.
Do not forget Spain is in EU and Nato.
Even with visa there were many of them and by their looks and behaviour they were probably upper middle class and very nice people.
No, they are not on the black list. They are in possession of TCO (Third Country Operator) issued by EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency).
DeleteMaybe they end up sending their A340s like last time.
ReplyDeleteIt was a nice sight. Especially when they parked the A340 next to Air Serbia's A330.
DeleteYes! There are pictures of that online,. Such a majestic sight. I think the A310 was usually parked at A1.
DeleteSo that's why I saw those flights listed on BEG's seasonal timetable.
ReplyDeleteI really wonder if these flights will be used for Chinese tourists.
ReplyDeleteIt only took 15 minutes for conspiracy theories to appear.
DeleteWhen was the last time a passenger A310 landed somewhere in ex-Yu?
ReplyDeleteLast year in Belgrade but it was shortly after upgraded to Airbus 340-300.
DeleteLast year, both IR and Mahan sent them to Belgrade. It didn't take long as both increased capacity real fast.
DeleteMahan introduced flights to BEG with the A310.
Number of Chinese arrivals keeps on increasing more and more so airlines see a market potential (so there is a market) so they are responding. Qatar added additional 3 flights, Aeroflot added a third daily and TK waned to send widebodies.
DeleteNice to see this market maturing.
@9,22
DeleteTrue forgot about that. Thanks.
Welcome back!
ReplyDelete+2 , Welcome back Mahan !!!
DeleteWhat are the other two European countries that don't require visas for Chinese?
ReplyDeleteOne is San Marino, that I know.
DeleteBelarus is the other. San Marino is just for show seeing as you can't enter the country without going through Italy.
DeleteBut with a San Marino passport you can stay visa free in China for 90 days :) Relations between S.Marino and PR China have a long history, they are trading and cultural agreement in place it's not that bad.
DeleteLOL
ReplyDeleteMan... BEG just can't stop winning!
ReplyDeleteAny pics of the interior of this old bird?
ReplyDeleteHere's a trip report, cabin looks normal, modern.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwmqx-t4gj0
Thank you. Looks decent.
DeleteGood news for spotters.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting development. So Belgrade gets Chinese tourists AND flights to Tehran.
ReplyDeleteIt's really great, what's also super is that Mahan is posititoning itself on the Serbian/regional market when sanctions against Iran get suspended. Like that they can compete with others from their region. Iranians are really smart and unlike their Arab neighbors, they make long-term plans and strategies.
DeleteThis is so fishy
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Sounds quite amateur...
DeleteWhy? Because they have chosen BEG instead of some other airport in the neighbourhood?
DeleteSorry, you will have to deal with it...
Interesting, there is a lot of potential, even for Indian tourists who no longer need visas.
ReplyDeletePEK-IKA-BEG A310/A310
00.15-04.45
06.30-08.20
CAN-IKA-BEG A346/A310
00.01-04.50
06.30-08.20
PVG-IKA-BEG A346/A310
23.00-05.00
06.30-08.20
DEL-IKA-BEG A343/A310
02.40-05.20
06.30-08.20
Good luck.
ReplyDeleteEx-yu, slight mistake, Armenia and Georgia also don't require visas for Iranians.
ReplyDeleteGeographically neither of those are in Europe.
DeleteAre you sure?
Deletehttps://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/eu.htm
Yes these are essentially those Banja Luka flights. The flight times are the same, except it was 30 minutes longer to Banja Luka. The operating days are the same too.
ReplyDeleteThey recently launched CAN flights too but shame they don't connect to these. It's a decent alternative to highly overpriced HKG.
ReplyDeleteLet's see if these flights happen. When Iran Air was launching flights to BEG they were delaying it each week for 2 months.
ReplyDeleteLuckily those flights turned out to be extremely successful. Also Mahan isn't relying on Iranian tourists but Chinese ones who are arriving in massive numbers to Србија. Why shouldn't they fly via IKA like they do via IST, DOH, SVO...
DeleteThese flights will help open up Serbia to Chinese tourists. I think by end of 2020 we can expect 500.000 to 600.000 Chinese in Serbia!
ReplyDeleteHow many additional passengers could this generate?
ReplyDeleteCouple of thousand until the end of the year.
DeleteSo with these flights, this winter we have:
ReplyDelete+7 to CDG
+7 to BUD
+2 to KBP
+2 to HEL
+3 to KRR
+1 to GVA
+2 to IKA
+2 to LCA on Wizz
So that's an additional 27 weekly flights.
Madrid, Barcelona and Rijeka are also year round routes.
Delete33 with MAD, BCN, RJK.
DeleteThat's almost extra five daily flights. I know it's not a new flight but I wouldn't skip on Belavia going non-stop, more seats to MSQ this winter.
DeleteMore seats to MSQ this winter are surely needed!
DeleteI have a feeling Riga with Air Baltic will be back in time for winter!
DeleteShame LYS is seasonal.
DeleteIt is not.
DeleteIt is check www.wizzair.com
DeleteCongratulations to Mahan Air for thinking outside the box. I am curious what kind of route these tourists will take?
ReplyDeleteSerbia, Bosnia and Montenegro.
DeleteWell this was unexpected
ReplyDeleteYou can say that again.
DeleteAir Serbia should codeshare with Mahan.
ReplyDeleteThat could affect flights to JFK.
DeleteOn Beg Airport timetable is 3pw saobraća 26.06. do 25.10. (izuzev od 26.06. do 17.07.)
ReplyDeleteIt just seems as though Belgrade keeps winning like this on a weekly basis. Surely the Q3 growth will now firmly be more like 12-13%...
ReplyDelete27% :)
DeleteDo Serbian passports need visas to enter Iran?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteIranian visa on arrival is in 99% of cases a pure formality. Although it does take up to an hour to get it done at IKA.
DeleteI am sure the Chinese initiated this as they are quite cozy with the Iranians. Plus it's also helping Iran get some additional business to overcome the sanctions. It's a win win situation.
ReplyDeleteHad the Chinese initiated it they would get a Chinese airline to operate the flights. One thing Chinese do is never give jobs they can do to others. Even roads and bridges that are being built around the world through Chinese loans are built by Chinese construction companies and construction workers.
DeleteIt was obviously Mahan's idea to drive up passenger numbers. They say so themselves.
DeleteChinese infrastructure projects in Serbia use local workforce.
DeleteNice. Let's see if they upgrade the equipment.
ReplyDeleteThis is nice but I think we need a Chinese airline to launch flights.
ReplyDeleteWell Hainan Airlines tried but didn't succeed.
DeleteThey didn't really even try
DeleteMark my words, this will become A346 in no time.
ReplyDeleteFor 2019 summer timetable Mahan actually planned daily flights with the A340-600 .
DeleteUnfortunately politics came in between ...
I love Belgrade but this is weird. Don't you know what is happening in the Gulf?
ReplyDeleteSo? Chinese tourists will keep on coming to Belgrade so why shouldn't Mahan profit from if they can?
DeleteAs for the Gulf, China already said that any attack on Iran is a direct attack on its interests. It was a clear message. There won't be war and Iran knows this so why shouldn't Mahan earn some more money if they can?
Also a month ago IKA opened a great new terminal, it's really modern and nice.
Beggars can't be choosers.
DeleteHuh? Who exactly is the beggar here?
DeleteObviously both BEG and Mahan Air.
DeleteBEG is trying to get any airline willing to give our market a try and Mahan because BEG is one of the few European destinations they are still allowed to fly.
I'm sure it's "your" market ;)
DeleteAnonymous at 12:23
DeleteThank you for proving my points!
Your "points" are completely wrong. First of all Mahan Air is not banned from flying to the EU. If it was it wouldn't have flown to both Barcelona and Rome yesterday.
DeleteHaha yes BEG and Mahan are beggars here just because they are trying to open yet another route for the Chinese tourists to take.
DeleteFully expecting that TAP and Lisbon will be back any day now.
ReplyDeleteTAP had over 100 million Euros of loses last year.
DeleteI believe they are scaling back expansion to new markets for the time being.
The route network from Belgrade is really starting to look impressive I must admit.
ReplyDeleteIf this service succeeds in bringing tour groups to Serbia from China as outlined, does it mean there will be no Air Serbia service to China?
ReplyDeleteJust checked prices for return trip Belgrade - Tehran for 8-15 September. It is 1587 eur. Ridiculous!
ReplyDeletePrices will get adjusted in some time
ReplyDeleteWith Mahan back, LOT starting Budapest daily and all the other recent additions, I'm sure this is exceeding even the rosiest projections for BEG!
ReplyDeleteA rosy projection for Belgrade i would call one million additional pax if Ryanair finally opens a base there.
ReplyDeleteA couple of comments coming from a Chinese:
ReplyDelete(1) It's reasonable for Mahan to switch from Banja Luca to Belgrade if the primary purpose is to attract Chinese tourists - virtually no one has heard about Banja Luca here, whereas Belgrade is much more well known amongst Chinese (for good reasons).
(2) Mahan had a separate online booking site in Chinese language and they are advertising CNY 4378 (~EUR 568, all taxes and fees included) for a China-Tehran-Belgrade Round Trip in Economy and CNY 8877 (~EUR 1153) in Business. While not exactly cheap, these fares are reasonable - especially in Business class where you can get a ex-Virgin Atlantic business class seat on the A340s that Mahan uses on China-Tehran flights.
Really smart to have a Chinese booking system since like that they can get around the sanctions and limits on credit card payments. I am sure this route will do well and it will open another path to Belgrade.
DeleteChina-Belgrade via Tehran is the perfect Silk Route path. :D
Ex-yu, apparently these flights will be three weekly
ReplyDeleteEx-yu, which of your guidelines were broken by saying a gate passport control was disgusting?
ReplyDelete