The Canadian Ambassador to Serbia, Kati Csaba, has said services between Canada’s and Serbia’s largest cities could resume soon. Speaking to “Cord” magazine, Ms Csaba noted, “Our trade colleagues, here at the Embassy and at our ministry in Ottawa, work with many enterprises from Canada and local partners in Serbia to develop stronger economic ties between our countries, and we hope to see more companies flying here for business. Maybe even with a direct flight from Toronto one of these days”. The Ambassador previously noted both sides were working on the introduction of flights between the two countries and said services would likely commence in 2020.
The Canadian Embassy has held talks with Air Serbia over the past two years concerning flights between Belgrade and Toronto to gauge the company’s interest, while Toronto’s Pearson Airport confirmed it held talks with the Serbian carrier in the past as well. However, since then, a Canadian carrier is believed to have expressed interest in serving Belgrade as Air Serbia has put a greater focus on its short haul operations. "The Air Service Agreement between Serbia and Canada has been signed and it allows us to advance the process of launching flights between Belgrade and Toronto. There is a large Serbian diaspora in Canada, but these flights would also be very useful for the business community”, Ms Csaba said.
Belgrade Airport’s operator VINCI noted last year it was "committed to opening new medium and long haul routes from Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport" in the near future. However, it is yet to deliver on that promise. Flights between Serbia and Canada were last operated just over a decade ago by leisure carrier Skyservice, which has since gone bankrupt. During the 1970s and 1980s, JAT Yugoslav Airlines maintained services from Belgrade to Toronto and Montreal. Presently, Zagreb is the only city in the former Yugoslavia linked to Canada though Air Transat’s and Air Canada Rouge’s nonstop seasonal summer flights from Toronto.
The Canadian airline that has expressed interest is Air Transat. But in the end they decided not launch it this year. Maube in 2021.
ReplyDeleteTransat might not be around 2021 as they are being swallowed by AC.
DeleteJU should launch 3 weekly in summer season, and 2 weekly in winter.
DeleteIf there is one overly cautious side of JU, then it's their long haul ops. I mean, try it out, try couple of summer or winter charters to YYZ.. But I'm afraid someone else might jump in before them and by then it will be too late.
DeleteYeah and that trying it out can cost them millions. I'm happier they tried out KRR or BCN because those have higher chances of making it short-term than any long-haul route.
Delete@anon 09:47
Delete+100
Millions? To charter a couple of flights per month to YYZ!?? OK, sure what ever you say. Do you realize what large diaspora lives in and around Toronto? Serbian, Croatian, Albanian, Macedonian, Bulgarian. But it's too risky, I know... Ok
DeleteAnd how big is their diaspora in New York? It's probably even bigger yet JU still manages to lose money outside the summer months.
DeleteTo charter couple of flights to YYZ you need to have wide body plane.
DeleteYU-ARA in summer season flies 6pw to JKF. So you can't use it for YYZ. You need to lease other wide body. Only leasing costs are half million per month.
So, yes it would costs millions
I know all of that. They could try it off season, like September until April. And leasing costs of A330 on the market are not 500,000USD anymore. That was a rip off deal what JU signed few years ago. You can easily get 2 now for that price. Because many airlines are replacing their widebodies with A350s and Dreamliners. Check it out, if you don't believe me.
DeleteNow we can go all day back and forth like this, but we can all agree where the problem is in flying one let alone two A330s. It their inability to fill them up all year round....and that is the problem with marketing and commercial my friend. Not leasing costs or landing fees.
I believe we could agree here up to the certain point.
DeleteYYZ is like JFK quite seasonal route and it would not be easy to fill that plane up from October to April. There is a good reason why in February YU-ARA sits on BEG tarmac 5 days in a week.
Leasing costs depend not only from the type of the plane but also from its age. YU-ARA is not that old (12 years) and 2xA332 could be maybe leased for that amount of money but not with that age.
I surely do agree that their problem is to fill up planes to JFK and YYZ. Therefore they need first to develop all their European network including 10 new routes planned for this summer and it takes time and money.
From one side JU500 started too early as Air Serbia's European network was not that developed 4 years ago to fill it up with transfer passengers ,but from the other side it was the first direct flight from wider region to JFK. They wanted to use in 2016 that momentum and start flying to New York (mostly for transfer passengers) although their European network was weaker than today.
Now they do not have to repeat the same mistake. They can make all new destinations work first and after that they won't need 5+ years to make YYZ route financially viable.
The more the regional network grows the more likely it will be they will add YYZ. Unfortunately due to politics JU was forced to start building their house from the roof.
Delete@10:40 +1000
DeleteThe charter idea is interesting. They could launch flights for the christmas holiday period (December - Mid January) where there is room for a 2 pw rotation. It would allow them to test the market without the need for too much investment.
Delete@09:59 umm, no, Canada has fairly weak welfare and social programs compared to Western European countries and yet European airports aren't as expensive. Quit your Fox News narratives
DeleteCanada has free healthcare, that's already expensive enough.
DeleteI don't think Air Serbia is interested in long haul any more.
ReplyDeleteI could see Rouge with the B767.
ReplyDeleteWith the massive network out of Toronto they could offer a lot of connections to both Canada and the US.
DeleteI think once or twice per week, seasonally with a leisure airline could be sustained on this route.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that the embassy seems to be very proactive about these flights.
ReplyDeleteYes but it takes two to tango. Serbian side obviously isn't interested or is incompetent.
DeleteWell the Serbian side has JU which isn't interested in expanding long-haul network so the canadian embassy is pushing for its own.
DeleteToronto has huge ex-yu and Albanian and Bulgarian. I don't see how Air Serbia does not see the potential in these flights.
ReplyDeleteAnd a big Macedonian diaspora too, on top of Serbian. It could work for them. Also I'm guessing some Canadian airlines would be more likely to cooperate with them unlike in the US.
DeleteKeep in mind that Toronto Pearson is one of the most expensive airports for airlines. It isn't cheap to fly there.
DeleteBecause other airlines already operate this route and offer connections. JU needs to first consolidate JFK before venturing into new markets. Boosting regional flying is definitely a move in the right direction especially Tirana which will have 14 this summer, basically JU and OS will offer the same number of flights while JU will have more in places like SKG which I find impressive.
DeleteComparing JU and OS to Tirana in summer 2020: JU will offer 2x daily with ATR, OS 3x daily with A319/A321
DeleteEh that Austrian Airlines adventure in Tirana won't last for long now that they have Wizz Air breathing down their neck. They took away all of their local passengers so yields are probably trash. Even their CEO complained about that phenomenon. JU on the other hand is growing exponentially in Tirana, from 9 to 14 in just a year. Also some flights to TIA are on the A319.
DeleteAustrian Airlines' A321s are really old and you can feel their age on the inside. Sure they put in the new (uncomfortable seats) but the rest feels super old. They are like 25 years old.
Delete@9.08 missed opportunity for JU in my opinion. Could have worked better than JFK.
DeleteI agree
DeletePo svemu do sada objavljenom u strategiji razvoja Er Srbije, nema namera nabavke srednjoprugasa ili dugoprugasa. Kada pokriju dovoljno i u vecoj frekfrenciji Evropu, Mediteran i bliski i srednji istok...
DeleteTada ce imati potencijal i objektivnu potrebu za nabavku cetiri aviona kapaciteta izmedju 220 i 270 putnika. Sa doletom destinacija Cikaga, Sangaja, Toronta, Singapura, Njujorka, Bejdzinga, Johannesburga su verujem gradovi sa kojima se moze odrzavati saobracaj. Jos kada bi dodali par kargo aviona do 30 tona, Er Srbija bila bi preporodjena
Dogradjen i izgradjen aerodrom Nikola Tesla od strane VINCI International Airports ce moci lako da opsluzuje rastuci saobracaj. U iducih 10godina ovo ce se i ostvariti. Razvoj drzave Srbije ce podrzati rast komercijalnih kapaciteta i Aerodroma Srbije.
Verujem da ce se nada ostvariti. Kao i do sada sto sam verovao.
Rodney Marinkovic. 🛫🇷🇸🛫🇦🇺🛫🌞🛫
TIA in summer is going to have 25 weekly flights to Vienna. TIA is booming fast from having 14 last summer
DeleteIf not YYZ they can also try YUL - cheaper slots
DeleteAre there flights from anywhere else in the region other than Zagreb to Canada at the moment? Bucharest, Sofia?
ReplyDeleteRouge flies seasonally to Bucharest and Budapest. No flights to Sofia or Thessaloniki though.
DeleteOf course BUD! Huge diáspora there too...
DeleteThis would be really grand for BEG! The ambassador is a serious woman who knows what she is talking about. I am sure they held talks with airlines in Canada.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hands one can't fail to notice how well Belgrade has developed over the years. The network offered has really improved and the offer gets better and better each year. That said, this growth and expansion was mostly fueled by Air Serbia but others seem to be doing quite ok as well. Even LH managed to have 180 passengers on this morning's flight out of Belgrade. Would be cool to get a third daily from FRA at some point as well.
Overall great news for BEG and the wider region.
Absolutely agree.
DeleteBEG added 3,75 million passengers in last 10 years and posted far the best result in ex-Yugoslavia.
Of course that Air Serbia contributed to that growth massively, but we should not forget all the airlines that fly now to BEG with increased frequency and/or bigger planes or did not fly to BEG at all 10 years ago - Swiss, Qatar, Aeroflot, LOT, Air France, Etihad, Turkish, Transavia, Lufthansa...
And third LH flight BEG-FRA is really something we should expect from them. Nemjee posted few days ago here the information that every year traffic between BEG and FRA was increased for 10.000 passengers.
It is time for third LH flight something like
FRA-BEG (14:30 - 16:15)
BEG-FRA (17:00 - 18:45)
Let's not forget that at this moment last LH flight for FRA departs at 14:00h and after it there are no more LH connection to that city until next morning. Of course this flight would be used mostly by P2P passengers, but there would be possibilities also for some connecting flights from FRA after 20:00h
Maybe a morning departure to BEG would be better?
DeleteLook at these arrivals:
05.35 JNB
05.45 IAD
05.45 JFK
05.55 ORD
06.20 YYZ
07.15 PHL
...
All these have a long layover in FRA and a morning flight to BEG could cut it short.
Constant rise in charter traffic is the best indication of how bigger market is becoming each year. Last year JU handled 100.000 passengers after a 10% rise while this year growth is expected to be around 15%! Foreign airlines are also profiting from this as more and more Serbs can afford now to travel abroad. So BEG's growth is not just from transfer passengers.
DeleteWould have been even better (for the economy) if the charters were INcoming and not OUTgoing. But still, relaxed people are more productive after that :)
Delete@anon 09:53
DeleteThere is a morning flight from FRA to BEG (11:20 - 13:10) LH1406 meaning that all of these passengers could connect to BEG with bit longer transfer time but no longer than approx 5 hours.
At the same time we have LH1407 that arrives to FRA at 15:55 from BEG and cathes afternoon wave where again transfer time is max 5-6 hours - similiar as morning flight.
So this is the situation with transfer passengers.
As mentioned in my earlier posts new LH flight with departure from BEG at 17:00 would be mostly there for P2P passengers. Serbian diaspora in FRA is quite big and I believe there should be no problem filling that plane up.
It surely would not be seen positivily in Air Serbia as their JU 334 flight in summer season departs at 17:35 to FRA, but it is than their problem.
Anon 10.22
DeleteWell who says there aren't any incoming tourists? Red Wings introduced flights and the number of Russian tourists started to grow in double digits. Look at the arrival of Turkish tourists to Serbia, with JU flying to IST not only are they flying on a local airline but are also coming to spend money here.
Serbs want to go for holidays somewhere new, foreign. At least they are flying on a local airline which is cool.
In December 2019 there were 138.915 foreign tourists in Serbia, an increase of 15%. During the 12 months of the year, Serbia was visited by 1.846.551 foreign tourists which is an increase of 8%.
DeleteHere are some numbers:
Russians:
December: 3.637 (+33%)
2019: 64.103 (+29%)
Turks:
December: 4.883 (+39%)
2019: 107.695 (+11%)
India:
December: 795 (+68%)
2019: 9.497 (+24%)
Chinese:
December: 7.680 (+97%!)
2019: 144.961 (+42%)
Indian arrivals seem to be doing quite ok given that there is literally no promotion. If Serbia did more their arrivals could be similar to the Chinese ones.
As for Turks, their numbers fell a bit at some point but by the end of the year they started recovering. With Air Serbia going daily to IST numbers should keep on climbing.
Nice so Turks passed 100.000 number in 2019. Is Serbia their top destination in ex-YU?
DeleteWould be cool to get a third daily from FRA at some point as well
DeleteNo, it would be much better if LH went down to one daily to FRA and MUC so *A partners can start thinking strait and start offering nonstop flights to BEG instead of treating passengers like cattle and forcing them to transfer at junk hub called FRA. For clarification on treating passengers like cattle, look up new WestJet commercial.
But your comment makes no sense, FRA is LH's main hub and that's where they offer most connections. Where else are they going to launch flights if not from there?
DeleteLH is introducing STR-BEG this spring through Eurowings.
Flights to FRA are not only for transfer passengers.
DeleteNobody forces you to fly through FRA.
And yes third LH flight to FRA would be great
Non transfer passengers already have an option to fly BEG-FRA on Air Serbia. Less LH flights to FRA - more chances of nonstop long haul flights to BEG. Cut out the middleman (LH)!
DeleteNot true. JU already transport many transfer passengers to FRA from other regional airports and they are not there for P2P only.
DeleteIt is very wrong idea believing that less flights from FRA would mean more long haul flights from BEG.
Let me remind you that after year 2000 Lufthansa did not fly from FRA to BEG at all. Only Jat Airways was flying this route 7 pw. How many long haul flights did we have at that time from BEG?
Zero.
Let me remind you that 10 years before that JU had extensive long haul network so Lufthansa was not wanted nor needed much for key long haul destinations. But then Germany could not have been happier to introduce sanctions that effectively destoyed JU and allowed LH to grow over time. Let's put LH on ice for a year or two to see if JU would take advandage of that situation.
DeleteThis is actually very good pice of news!
ReplyDeleteFirst - BEG to be connected to Canada by direct flight.
Second - Air Serbia not to make one more expensive adventure with long distance flights at the moment when they need to develop their decent European network (especially after adding 10 more new destinations soon) and to sign code-sahe with Canadian company that wants to fly to BEG.
Working on that way it would be win-win-win (Canadian company - Air Serbia - BEG airport)
code-share *
DeleteThe major issue with YYZ from BEG is seasonality.
ReplyDeleteSo? An airline can fly seasonally.
DeleteIf they cooperate with JU they could reduce seasonality and even keep some flights in winter time.
DeleteYYZ is the most expensive airport in North America (all Canadian airports are expensive). Also international flights from Canada are one of the most expensive in the world.
ReplyDeleteSo no chance of Air Serbia starting these flights?
DeleteThere is chance, but in my opinion it is marginal. If JU does not act someone else will. There is demand.
DeleteI doubt it. Not because of fees but because of the fact that they are not looking to add any long haul destinations and have no plans to lease more wide bodies.
DeleteWhy are they so expensive?
DeleteThe Canadian airports I mean.
DeleteUnlike the US, Canada has a massive welfare system that needs to be paid for by the taxpayers.
DeleteIsn't it a bit too late to start this route in 2020?
ReplyDeleteYes. If it happens it's unlikely before 2021 summer.
DeleteThere is chance, but in my opinion it is marginal. If JU does not act someone else will. There is demand.
DeleteSorry my last comment was meant for the thread above.
DeleteJU announced JFK in late February for a late June launch, so no.
DeleteIdeally, they should announce YYZ while YU-ARA isnt too tied to JFK enabling them a couple of months with the 1 ac and full utilisation.
Does Air Canada have a codeshare into BEG on another airline?
ReplyDeleteOn Lufthansa from Munich and Frankfurt from my knowledge.
DeleteAC 9166/9167
DeleteAC 9334/9335
Thanks
DeleteNo need to focus on Canada right now. Very seasonal and not so interesting destination. BEG must focus on Latin America just like Turkey. Sao Paolo, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile are all bigger and richer cities not to mention the Yugoslav and Balkan diaspora that need to be connected to their motherlands. Canada is just expensive.
ReplyDeletelol, you can't be serious. Serbia and Latin America may not have bad relations but they're still very weak in any given aspect, not to mention the distance is much greater, and how the community in Canada/US is much larger and more connected to the Balkans than the few thousand in Latin America who assimilated a long time ago
DeleteGood signal from the embassy. I really hope flights meaterialise sooner rather than later.
ReplyDelete''Maybe even with a direct flight from Toronto one of these days”.
ReplyDeleteWould an ambassador really make such a statement if she didn't know something was bound to happen? If they start flights in June they would have four months to sell tickets which isn't bad.
My thoughts too. Let's not forget JU put tickets to New York on sale in late February for mid June launch.
DeleteBelgrade Tourism fair is coming...
DeleteGood catch Anon 10.01. Do you know when it is? That sure is a great moment to promote these flights.
DeleteFeb 20-23. The New York flights were put on sale at the tourism fair and promoted by the US ambassador who bought the first ticket. So you never know :)
DeleteWhat combinations to passengers from Canada primarily use to reach BEG and vice verse?
ReplyDeleteI think LH Group hubs dominate this segment, especially FRA. More recently Vienna has expanded flighs to Canada with OS launching Montreal and AC taking over their YYZ route.
DeleteI think AF-KL are in second place but with incomparably much more modest numbers.
I think TK is also getting quite a lot of bookings to US and Canada, even if it means going eastwards and then back westwards. I think they have competitive pricing.
DeleteIt's unfortunate that Air Serbia could not get a codeshare to Toronto from New York. They could have had Canadian pax on their flights (at least diaspora most of which have Canadian passports and wouldn't require any visas for transferring in New York).
DeleteTransferring in the US is not that convenient as you need to check in your bag once again. Covering Canada via European airports is much better in my opinion.
DeleteA lot of people also go via Amsterdam and Stockholm and then with JU.
DeleteAgree with anon @10.00. I think number one is Lufthansa via MUC/FRA.
DeleteLast year, when my daughter and I travelled to Zagreb, we travelled with Air Canada Rouge. As I recall there were quite a number of passengers who were travelling onward to Belgrade and Skopje. The connection to Belgrade was via Air Serbia. Connection time was between 2 to 3 hrs. On the other hand, the CTN Skopje flight was at around 2pm. I also found that on the AC flight, people were from the DTW and ORD
DeleteAs Air Serbia does not have code share agreement with Air Canada Rouge I suppose that passengers continuing to BEG must have purchased 2 separate tickts and checked-in again for ZAG-BEG flight.
DeleteIt is quite risky abd I would never do it especially on long haul flights.
JU and AC have an interline agreement so that's how those people were travelling.
DeleteAir Canada and Air Transat are merging. Both announce new European destinations in Sep-Oct timeframe, so 2020 flights would be unlikely. Seasonal, twice weekly service in 2021 by either Transat or Rouge brands now seems probable. Great news for both YYZ and BEG, all the best!
ReplyDeleteIf Air Canada Rouge can fly to Algiers and make it work I don't see why they couldn't to BEG.
ReplyDeleteHaha good point!
DeleteConsidering that the Serbian diaspora in Canada is double the size of the Algerian one, it would make sense.
DeleteWhere are the majority of Canadian Serbs concentrated?
DeleteToronto. It's the third most Serbian populated city outside of Serbia after Chicago and Vienna.
DeleteWasn't Sydney number 2?
Delete@10:27 plus there are large Serbian communities in neighbouring Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo and Niagara Region. This area is referred to the Greater Golden Horseshoe and I would say it's home to an even larger Serbian community than Chicagoland (where a lot of the Serbs living there migrated earlier and therefore lost ties to Serbia as they have become assimilated Americans)
DeleteI hope this materializes. It would be fantastic to be linked with Canada in addition to USA.
ReplyDeletedirect BEG service would be more than welcome.
ReplyDeleteThere are only three possible airlines that could fly this route. We all know who they are.
ReplyDeleteGood news. I hope some serious discussions with an airline has started. It will benefit the Serbian diaspora.
ReplyDeleteI actually think Toronto could perform better than NY.
ReplyDeleteMe too.
Delete@1114 +1000
DeleteEtihad could have flown AUH-BEG-YYZ.
ReplyDeleteWhy would they do that?
DeleteCanada already restricts the number of flights that carriers from the UAE can operate into Canada. They refuse to increase the permitted frequency and they certainly won't permit fifth freedom.
DeleteLet it Rouge 767 on BEG...
ReplyDeleteAlways lots of talk about this route and no resoult so far. TS was in talks to lunch BEG and DUB this year and that has been stopped due to AirCanada taking over Transat .Honestly hope Rouge does not start BEG as their 767 are horrible and even service on those flights is soo bad . Etihad has enough 330 to lease to YU over summer months (4x weekly) and see potential reduce winter service (2 weekly ).
DeleteAir Serbia is JU and not YU.
DeleteEtihad's A330s are on the way out and anyway their engines do not match.
Deletesuch a shame that JU has no more interest launching this line as well as buying new A330, but i guess they’re totally focused on expanding european network only. Also i think Beijing could work from BEG, don‘t know why they failed so miserably.
ReplyDeleteAir Transat is gonna fly to BEG with A321neoLR, as they already fly with them to Europe, 200 seats are enough
ReplyDeleteI don't think it can make it all the way to Belgrade, flight is close to 9 hours.
DeleteMislim da jos uvek nije kasno da AS pokrene letove do Toronta u 2020-oj. Letovi mogu poceti u oktobru 2X kad JFK ide 4X nedeljno. Tako ba ARA bila solidno iskoriscena u zimskim mesecima a za sledece leto bi dosao drugi A330.
ReplyDeleteSanjaj...
DeleteSvet je lep kada sanjamo,hajde zajedno da sanjamo...
DeleteМноги су рекли да сањамо и прошле године када је ЈУ најавила своју прву експанзију. Сетимо се само колико је било скептика који су тврдили да линије попут Хелсинкија или Краснодара никада неће успети. Еххх... снови су лепи али нама је реалност много лепша.
DeleteAC mainline to ZAG? The B788 would work nicely.
DeleteY: Slightly underperforming on Rouge. B788 has less Y than rouge B763, so that’s perfect for increasing the LF.
PY: Performing pretty well, would be full on B788, it has a speck less PY than rouge B763. Way better product than Premium Rouge. Higher fares wouldn’t matter as long as it’s not too big a difference. Besides, anyone in Premium Rouge can pay for Premium Economy or Signature Class.
J: That is a guessing game. B788 only has 20 J seats, so it’s a good plane to start with. But it would probably have a good LF too. I always see a solid 5 other pax, other than myself on busy ex-YYZ flights (AC872, AC876, AC846, AC898...) in J that are continuing on to ZAG. I’d predict a solid 75% LF in J during the first year.
Maybe they could send Rouge to BEG? It would attract tons of cheap fares, and that’s sort of the point of Rouge.
What does Y, PY, & J mean?
Deletetypes of classes - economy, premium economy, business, premium business
DeleteThanks poz from Riki.
DeleteAC mainline to ZAG? The B788 would work nicely.
ReplyDeleteY: Slightly underperforming on Rouge. B788 has less Y than rouge B763, so that’s perfect for increasing the LF.
PY: Performing pretty well, would be full on B788, it has a speck less PY than rouge B763. Way better product than Premium Rouge. Higher fares wouldn’t matter as long as it’s not too big a difference. Besides, anyone in Premium Rouge can pay for Premium Economy or Signature Class.
J: That is a guessing game. B788 only has 20 J seats, so it’s a good plane to start with. But it would probably have a good LF too. I always see a solid 5 other pax, other than myself on busy ex-YYZ flights (AC872, AC876, AC846, AC898...) in J that are continuing on to ZAG. I’d predict a solid 75% LF in J during the first year.
Maybe they could send Rouge to BEG? It would attract tons of cheap fares, and that’s sort of the point of Rouge.
I gather Y, PY, & J are seat (price) distinctions, but could you explain the difference and the relevance? Thanx.
DeleteBalkan people need direct link to YYZ. Catchment area can fill one A330 easily at least through summer season. JU as most capable regional airline should act upon this and not let other global players constantly take over regional travelers. Btw prices for additional services have gone up on US/Canada market in last couple of months.
ReplyDeleteNow that Air Canada Rouge is getting rid of B767-300 due to COVID outbreak, which carrier could fly these flights ? Unless AC Rouge is receiving B787-8 from AC, could we see Air Transat or another airline flying YYZ-BEG route ? AirSERBIA ? or why not a foreign airlines such as Ethiopian Airlines, as they do with DUB-IAD / DUB-YYZ which means that ET have to serve BEG and flying freedom routes
ReplyDelete