Air Serbia will carry more passengers and operate more leisure charter services this summer season than during the pre-pandemic 2019. The airline initially planned to run some 800 charters but now has over 1.000 leisure operations planned for the coming months, with more contracts expected to be signed. As a result, the carrier is wet-leasing additional capacity with a Smartwings Boeing 737-700 aircraft (registered OK-SWT) expected to arrive in Belgrade this Thursday. Air Serbia is operating the most charters to Egypt, Turkey and Greece but has now also signed contracts for services to Monastir in Tunisia, as well as Mallorca in Spain.
Commenting on the developments, Air Serbia said, “In comparison, we operated 299 summer charters in 2020, while at this very moment we already have more flights planned than we operated in 2019 as well, or before the coronavirus pandemic, even though that year was a record breaker for us on all fronts. In May we handled over 100.000 passengers, an increase of around 50% on the month before, or 100% on March, and that’s excluding charter operations, which have now begun”. The airline’s most popular routes continue to be its scheduled services to Tivat, Podgorica, New York, Moscow, Athens, Zurich and Istanbul.
Air Serbia noted the three new routes it launched over the past twelve months, during the covid era, which include Oslo, Geneva and Rostov-on-Don, are performing well. “Our Oslo service sees a lot of transfer passengers continuing onto our regional destinations. Recently we have seen a significant increase in transfers from Russia, since we maintain operations to Moscow, St Petersburg, Krasnodar and Rostov. These are primarily holidaymakers heading to Turkey, Greece, Montenegro and Croatia, but also some Western European countries as well”, Air Serbia said. It added, “Due to relaxing travel restrictions and the fact that many of our citizens delayed their holidays last year, there is a lot of pent up demand. We expect a further increase in holiday traffic, as well as transfers from the region, to Spain when we restore operations to Barcelona in July”.
Good for them, with this extra revenue they will get extra cash and there will be less of a burden on taxpayers. The situation in the West is still bad. BA is sending some of its employees on leave once again.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean by extra revenue? They charge ticket prices for the destinations they fly to. What is extra about that?
DeleteI hope they do a charter to YYZ or ORD soon :)
DeleteIt just shows the market will recover much faster than some expected.
ReplyDeleteThe market here is referring to some parts of Europe. That’s not the case globally and there are still countries in a far better epidemiological situation that are not operating as many, if any, flights as what Air Serbia is. The vaccine rollout is what has saved them this year.
DeletePlus there was a study that the Chinese vaccine is the most effective against different strains.
DeleteReally? Every medical article I have read says that Pfizer is the most effective.
DeleteAgainst the current variant yes. mrna technology it uses just gives the cells the info on what reaction to make but it doesn't teach the organism how to fight it off itself. Chinese variant (and I think Astra Zeneca) are dead viruses so your body is forced to fight it out.
Delete@anon 07:17 - nope, only Chinese one uses dead virus particle. AZ and Sputnik use viruses (other than corona, in this case it's adenovirus) engineered to carry coronavirus genes which stimulates cells to produce coronavirus proteins while Pfizer/Moderna uses mRNA (genetic vaccines). And because Chinese vaccine contains entire coronavirus particle it gives wider spectrum of protection against other coronavirus strains. Or it should in theory.
DeleteI thought this is an aviation portal. Take the virus discussion somewhere else. And get vaccinated with whatever is at hand.
DeleteVaccines affect covid which has crushed the aviation sector. It's very much relevant to aviation. If you have a problem with this discussion you are more than welcome to skip it and keep reading other posts. We don't need you kind of negativity here.
DeleteTunis seems to be all the rage this year. Air Serbia is coming back, Tunis Air already resumed flights and now we even have Nouvelair flying. In the past they were blocked but I guess now JU doesn't have the necessary capacity so they are letting them in.
ReplyDeleteBtw yesterday Aegean operated the first ATH-BEG-RHO-BEG-ATH flight on the A320.
Th real "star of summer" is Egypt with Hurghada having 9 daily flights on some days.
DeleteWizz starting Greek islands seem to have been a very good idea.
DeleteTomorrow even Air Cairo has 2 flights to Hurghada.
DeleteAnyone know if JU is seeing a decrease to RHO and Crete now that there is fierce competition? I mean to HER there is Aegean, Wizz Air and Ellinair. Wizz upgraded some flights to A321.
DeleteOverall tomorrow:
DeleteAir Serbia - 4 flights to Hurghada
Air Cairo - 2 flights to Hurghada
Air Serbia - 2 flights to Antalya
Air Serbia - 1 flight to Dalaman
Nouvelle Air - 1 flight to Monastir
And this is a Thursday
@9.36. These are charter flights. You don't see increases or decreases based on competition. The competition came because they made contracts with tour operators because more capacity was necessary, capacity JU could not meet because of fleet constraints.
Delete@anon 09:37
DeleteTomorrow is Wednesday :)
Oops wanted to write "this is a Wednesday" :)
DeleteAnon 09.38
DeleteWell competition is coming because they made deals with tour operators that might have worked with Air Serbia or Ellinair in the past (for Crete). That's why I would be curious to see if there was a shift now when Aegean and Wizz Air entered the market.
You still don't get it. Air Serbia can't provide the required capacity so other tour operators made deals with other airlines so demand can be met. People who are flying with JU are not going to cancel their ticket and go to another agency so they can fly Aegean and neither do people booking holidays know if it's going to be Aegean or Air Serbia or whatever other airline. BTW Aegean did fly charters to BEG in the past too, as well as Elianair. The only scheduled operator here is Wizz Air.
DeleteEllinair is also scheduled. You can buy ticket on their website.
DeleteAegean did not fly from HER in the past, only RHO. Also it's disastrous if these airlines entered the market because JU lacked capacity, I mean it would be extremely poor planning on their behalf. Charters started to boom months ago, around Easter.
DeleteThey did not start to boom in Easter. They started to boom now.
DeleteNot true, they started to boom at Easter as those few days we started to get crazy number of flights to Egypt. Then the situation calmed down a bit and now it's exploding. Also charters are not arranged a few days before but months. I don't understand how come JU didn't prepare for this. With so many charters they could have easily added another A319 in May until the end of summer especially with scheduled flights also being boosted. Like this JU can't react and foreigners profit.
DeleteSo does anyone know if JU is seeing any changes in charter flights to Rhodes and Crete? In the past they used to publish those flights on Aviolet website but they don't anymore.
Deletebeg.aero isn't very reliable as it lists only A3 and W6, they don't even have Ellinair which will have three flights per month from HER to BEG.
Typically, people would plan their holidays months in advance, however due to the pandemic, that people seem to be forgetting, the trend has been alot of last minute sales, roughly 3 weeks in advance.
DeleteJU isnt the only airline seeing large increases in holiday travel. LH will be deploying B747's and A350's to PMI due to sudden increase in demand. Its hard to prepare in advance due to the situation, especially when your capacity is pretty much based on 1 type (A319). The important thing is that JU is reacting to it, and not being passive as we have seen with another neighboring competitor.
With scheduled flights improving they should have gotten another A319. There would be so much money to be made this summer. Let's hope this helps them prepare for the winter.
DeleteGood to see. Nice to hear OSL performing well too.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations.
ReplyDeleteThis is the best way to make money. Through charters.
ReplyDeleteEasy cash
DeleteEver wondered why Lufthansa or Austrian do not fly charters (even now)?
DeleteIt's not true. They do.
DeleteGive me one example of them doing charters. And I am not talking about them flying scheduled flights to leisure destinations or occasionally giving ride to some football team because of prestige reasons.
DeleteDude go read the latest interview of the OS CEO and you will see how much he praised charter flights. LH doesn't have to because they have Eurowings for that as well as SunExpress.
DeleteSo upon reading this interview you cannot give me a single example. And this is because you dude are unable to distinguish between scheduled routes and charters. Check in the dictionary.
DeleteYou seem very frustrated and it's annoying and polluting this blog.
Delete----------------------
We all expected that leisure travel will recover faster than business travel. Fortunately, we always had a certain focus on leisure travel, and we are expanding that focus.
So just to give you an idea, this summer our current thinking is that our overall network will reach maybe 50% of pre-COVID levels by In July/August, but our leisure network will reach 100%.
We will also continue to invest into this because we want to capture a larger share of leisure trade.
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https://www.routesonline.com/news/29/breaking-news/295901/interview-austrian-airlines-ceo-alexis-von-hoensbroech/
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Today there is a charter flight at 12.35 OS 9005 Chania and tomorrow at 08.05 there is OS 9107 to Rhodes. Obviously over the weekend OS operates a lot more charter flights even though they fly to places like Larnaca, Varna, Dubrovnik, Split... where most of their passengers are Austrian holidaymakers. However to say that OS does not operate charters is extremely wrong.
As expected, you do not understand what the word "charter" means. None of these flights are charters. All are scheduled flights. There is also not a single world "charter" in the interview you cited.
DeleteI am really sorry for you.
I literally wrote charter flight numbers in my post that they will operate today and tomorrow. Your whole argument was based on OS not operating charters which is extremely wrong. Btw leisure travel also includes charters in addition to scheduled flights to seaside destinations.
DeleteYou seem to be unable/unwilling to understand a simple sentence: the flight numbers you gave are NOT charters, but scheduled flights.
DeleteInteresting. Will they be leasing any more aircraft besides the Smartwings 737.
ReplyDeletePossibly that SmartLynx hiring call for Serbian cabin crew has something to do with more aircraft leases
DeleteTrade Air would have been the better choice.
DeleteSmartlynx is such a crappy airline..
We don't even know if SmartLynx has anything do to do with Air Serbia. And wet lease contracts are not made on personal preference. There are many factors involved.
DeleteMy guess is that one of the bigger tour operators will use their planes for this summer. I think they have A321s which make sense for charters especially to busy destinations like AYT.
Delete@Anon 09:10 That Aegean flight is in practice charter flight, because you can not buy tickets, just thought agency travel package. As I heard some agencies were not satisfied with Air Serbia conditions and went to Aegean
ReplyDeleteYesterday's flight to HER was sold out.
DeleteAre you the same guy who keeps posting how agencies were not happy with JU? In what way precisely? Bear in mind JU was not the only airline tour operators had contracts in the past.
DeleteDon't forget Aegean boosted ATH BEG to 4 starting from 01.07
DeleteI am not that guy but I am someone who is seeing a trend of JU getting more and more competition in charters, a large source of income for them where until a few years ago they had no competition.
DeleteWell, there's so much demand they simply cannot meet all of it. Unlike previous years, Greece is now at the bottom of JU's charter ops - Egypt and Turkey are all the rage. JU is wetleasing equipment fr the summer, but just because there is a lot of demand during 2.5/12 months does not mean they should take into longterm lease aircraft that will then sit on the tarmac for the rest of the year.
DeleteCorrect.
DeleteI just wonder if B733 fleet could have made it without D check until the end of this summer.
Well their fleet is still down compared to 2019 and their network has grown meaning it might be even tight in winter when planes go for the scheduled C checks. I just hope JU plans ahead and doesn't make a similar mistake in 2022.
DeleteSince they are struggling with capacity, it's a shame the government blocked Anadoloujet.
Scheduled flights are still down on 2019.
DeleteFantastic to read some good news :)
ReplyDeleteIt's going to get even more busier with school holidays starting at the end of the week.
ReplyDeleteThis weekend will be crazy
DeleteDid the capacity per flight lower? I mean were b733 of higher capacity than the a319 used now?
ReplyDeleteNo. The B737 and A319 have the same number of seats - 144.
DeleteA319 -> 128 seats (JU)
DeleteB737-300 -> 144 seats (JU)
^ no. That was the old configuration. Before 2016.
Delete"The new Recaro BL3520 seats will increase capacity on the A319 aircraft from 128 to 144 seats and on the A320s from 155 to 174 seats"
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/05/air-serbia-unveils-new-seats.html
Anon 17:20 is right. The pitch was reduced from 32" to 30" and the number of seats grew to 132 economy plus 12 business.
DeleteThere is no set number of seats in business. It is aletered depending on economy bookings/loads I believe.
DeleteAnd to think that the original trademark "Etihad know how" in 2013 wanted to get rid of all charter flights. Took the Jat guard to persuade them otherwise.
ReplyDeleteThe Etihad know-how was planning Tivat flights at 3am departure :D since that's how it's done in the Gulf.
Delete3am!!? Hahahahaah
DeleteThat was the original schedule. Until they were told A) the airport does not work in Tivat, B) no one is going to fly at that time.
DeleteYou think that's the funniest part? I think it's the fact that they proposed that time when they should have known that TIV doesn't have night traffic, last flight is arranged in coordination with what time the sun sets. Great job EY, that's why you are there where you are today.
DeleteI don't think even BEG expected this because if they did they wouldn't close A1 to A4. The other day LH's MUC had to board from a remote stand. lol
ReplyDeleteTalking of Lufthansa, seems like they are improving their performance in Belgrade. Today MUC was upgraded from E95 to A319 and FRA from A319 to A320. I wonder who they are carrying. Maybe Serbs from the US? Gastos?
DeleteNice to see more flights to Spain this summer.
ReplyDeleteGood to see charter demand growing.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the article both charter and schedule demand is growing.
DeleteAre they operating any charters from Nis this year?
ReplyDeleteYes, I think to Antalya.
DeleteNice, thanks
DeleteINI AYT by Barcino.
DeleteWill there also be charters on routes that already have regular service ?
ReplyDeleteLike Belgrade-Tivat or Belgrade-Split ?
Don't think. so. Scheduled flights can cover the demand.
DeleteJU should do charters to Zadar and Bol
DeleteNot enough demand for Zadar and Bol charters. What market there is can fly via SPU on scheduled flights. Croatia is not a main tourist destination for Serbs, I don't even think it's in top 5.
DeleteZAD was a seasonal route that hasn't come back for a second season. RJK was supposed to be year round, but went seasonal, and isn't returning this season either. DBV and SPU are roughly half capacity compared to 2019.
DeleteMore Serbian people would travel to Croatia if the prices were better. Unfortunately, there is still a fear of Serbian registered cars being damaged on the Croatian coast, while airfares are ridiculously high. Looking at SPU for example, 37.000 din return (with luggage) for beginning of July while ATH is around 27.000 din. Packages for Greece during the same period is as cheap as 250€ for flights + 5 nights accommodation. JU today is advertising CDG from 99€, and with luggage included is still cheaper than SPU. JU could do soo much more on the Croatian coast if they had a better pricing policy.
I never paid more than 140€ return BEG-SPU in pre-COVID times, so if the flights are 300€ this far out, that must mean demand is crazy. They should introduce additional flights to the Croatian coast then.
DeleteI have the fear JU will sacrifice its presence in Dalmatia for short term profits ..
DeleteRecent attacks on Serbs in Split didn't help in attracting more Serbs to visit Croatia. I have to admit that Croatia did its best, it put ads all over Belgrade, even OU had ads for SPU-BEG and the numbers are still not there. People just don't want to go no matter what the price is. We have to understand that there is a security issue as pointed out by JATBEGMEL.
DeleteSerbs always loved going to places like Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Tunis... so all this demand shouldn't surprise or shock anyone really.
Great news for Serbia!
ReplyDeleteWondering how many passengers BEG will manage this year considering the entire situation.
ReplyDeleteThat is very difficult to predict. It depends what happens with the epidemiological situation, the travel bans and so on.
DeleteEveryone seems to be doing well. Last night's OS E95 flight was maybe 85% full.
DeleteNot surprised about OS, next week they are boosting BEG to 12 flights, the week after 15 and the week after 17.
DeleteAnyone know the airport in the photo?
ReplyDeleteI believe it is Nice.
DeleteI also believe it is very nice :)
DeleteNice, France :D
DeleteHope they resume this route though
DeleteTheir fleet is going to be starched to the limit.
ReplyDeleteOvako i onako nemamo rezervnih aviona, sve leti 100%.
DeleteSem YU-API i YU-ALT
DeleteThose two have left the fleet for good.
DeleteAs they managed to get charters to pre-pandemic level, lets see how fast they can restore regular flights and possibly add new destinations.
ReplyDeleteFlorence, Nice, Madrid, Amman and Helsinki look like a no-brainer in the next few weeks (most probably as soon as a wet-lease aircraft enters the fleet they will add some new route).
And thats it basically. No more aircrafts :(
If I understood well, none of their aircrafts are idling...all are back in operation back-to-back.
Well, cancelling of Aviolet looks like a bad idea from this perspective, but to be honest, fleet was ancient and it went to well deserved rest
So, whats next? How to develop network for winter 21/22 and summer 22 when you are fleet constraint?
Option 1-keep it simple and do your business the same way as summer 21.
Option 2-lease more aircrafts and finally start building bigger and more respectful network.
More cities in Romania, more Bulgaria, more Central Asia, more middle East.
More respectful network is not a business goal.
DeleteWhat's next is taking advantage of exploding charter demand in the next 2-3 months. Some calculations say next wave could arrive in the fall fueled by Delta variant and increased summer mobility. Air Serbia should think about that and how to use winter season to better prepare long haul, regional and charter ops for next summer.
I think the wet lease will be adequate for the summer season, as well as their current fleet for the winter season, which anyway is traditionally lower in demand. I wont be surprised by January we hear of a couple A319's entering the fleet along with more destinations.
DeleteIn the mean time, I don't expect more than increases to frequencies on their scheduled routes to be announced. But JU does know to surprise us.
Wasn't there a rumor they might launch Dubai?
DeleteIt seems that leisure routes are on the high rise in the whole continent and most especially to Greece. That said. Gullivair is probably considering charter flights from SKP to Greece at least according to their website.
ReplyDeleteAs for ASL, it's time to think of long-haul leisures and combine them with JFK in winter.
Gullivair is desperate and struggling right now. They operate only SOF-AYT with the ATR.
DeleteWhat about Morocco?
ReplyDeleteUnder current Covid rules Serbian citizens are not allowed entry into Morocco.
Delete