The 2021/2022 winter season begins on October 31, however, due to constant fluctuations in demand and evolving travel requirements, airlines are mostly planning their winter operations on a month-by month basis. The majority of bookings are still being made just ten days prior to departure. Air Serbia has said it will employ a cautious approach over the winter and will react to any changes on the market. “Our plans for the coming period have a certain degree of caution. We are carefully observing all developments and quickly reacting in accordance with market demand”, Air Serbia’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Jiri Marek, said recently. He added, “Before the pandemic, when scheduling the fleet, flexibility to cater for additional demand was rather limited, as everything was planned ahead. So, the pandemic has brought some challenges in terms of cost reduction, optimisation and efficiency. However, on the other hand, it has given sales teams a great deal of flexibility and has made it possible to be much more productive and follow demand, while being aware of the resources available”.
November is considered one of the slowest months for the aviation industry even at the best of times. With Serbian citizens and residents still being restricted from entering a number of European countries, Air Serbia plans to run 1.580 scheduled flights next month (return service included). It has put 178.224 seats up for sale on scheduled operations this November. It will primarily utilise its Airbus A319 fleet, which will be deployed on 58% of all flights, followed by the ATR72s on 39%, the A320 on 2% and the A330-200 on 1% of all scheduled services. The airline will maintain flights to 37 destinations, of which 36 are from Belgrade and one each from Niš and Kraljevo.
The table below displays the airline’s planned scheduled destinations and frequencies for the month of November, which is correct at the time of publication. Further changes may occur in the weeks ahead. It displays the carrier’s planned network out of Belgrade, with the airline also to run two weekly flights between Niš and Hahn, as well as two weekly services between Kraljevo and Vienna. Destinations with daily or more flights are marked in blue. Air Serbia will also conduct a number of charter flights next month.
Planned Air Serbia November network departing Belgrade
37 destinations is quite good
ReplyDeletewinter will be bad.
DeleteIf winter will be bad for Belgrade, it will be catastrophic for other airports in the exyu region.
DeleteHow many flights is Air Montenegro operating between TGD and BEG next month? I believe the 18 weekly Air Serbia is flying is more than before the pandemic.
ReplyDeleteActually the frequencies are the same as pre-pandemic to Podgorica.
Delete@9.04 Next month Air Montenegro has two daily flights to Belgrade - so 14 weekly from Podgorica and daily from Tivat.
DeleteSo in total 32 weekly to TGD and 19 to Tivat. 51 weekly flights between Serbia and Montenegro in Nov.
DeleteMost routes seem to be low frequency but I can't blame them considering the situation.
ReplyDeleteBut Brussels with 1 weekly :D
DeleteSymbolic.
DeleteHow many planes do they realistically need for a schedule like this?
ReplyDeleteBetween 10 and 15
DeleteAround 14
DeleteWhy are they not resuming more flights from Nis? I don't get it. It can't be restrictions. Ryanair is starting a new route from INI at the end of the month.
ReplyDeleteYeah but they have been delaying a few of them which shows there is still limited demand.
DeleteI also don't understand. These are mostly for gastos who have all been vaccinated in the countries they live so they won’t have a problem with returning back.
DeleteOnly reason I could think of is that there aren't enough of them to justify non-stop flights and many end up flying from other airports like BEG.
DeleteMost likely. Otherwise they would be flying those routes and getting PSO money. This way they get nothing.
DeleteIt's obvious that the choice of destinations was bad. I'm sure a couple of flights per week to cities like CDG, AMS, SVO would of been better choices, not only for O&D pax but connections as well.
DeleteInstead, we see a failed attempt at trying to compete with LCC with high fares and government subsidies.
Nice to see Bucharest and Tirana going strong in November.
ReplyDeleteLot of transfers from both.
DeleteIt good that JU is increasing Paris, Vienna and Zurich. It seems that tuff competition to Amsterdam trying to compensate with Paris.
ReplyDeleteVienna is interesting. I'm guessing this is strong point to point demand. When you add the flights from Kraljevo that's 11 weekly.
DeleteThey are still going to have 6 weekly to AMS. I think before covid in November they had even as little as 5 weekly.
DeleteIn 2019/2020 before Covid started they had 7 weekly flights to Amsterdam. So flying 6 weekly during corona times is almost the same. So KLM doesn't seem to have affected them, or they are keeping frequencies on purpose to better compete.
DeleteI think KL has affected them in the sense that they couldn't butcher their number if frequencies.
DeleteHighly likely. It is usually their strategy to not to weaken a route when they get competition... until they eventually just cancel it.
DeleteNice to see Ljubljana kept at daily and Istanbul operating daily as well considering it is a relatively new route. Moscow would be over 8 weekly if there wasn't a frequency cap. They are still operating a charter to Moscow each week with the A330.
ReplyDeleteJU basically dictates how big is the cap as Russian carriers want more frequencies but can't get them until JU wants to increase flights.
DeleteI believe Russia has a limitation on the number of flights.
DeleteLJ was actually increased. it was not daily in October.
DeleteI think LJU was increased to 8 weekly in October.
DeleteSurprised they are flying to Sofia at all considering Serbian citizens can not enter Bulgaria at the moment vaccinated or otherwise.
ReplyDeleteNot Serbian citizens, but passengers arriving from Serbia regardless of nationality. Just to be entirely precise.
DeleteIt can only mean that they are seeing a decent number of transfer flights.
DeleteDefinitely.
DeleteWhat is happening nowadays with daily slots at Heathrow if they are not all utilized?
ReplyDeleteIt used to be “use it or lose it”. Did the authorities ease restrictions due to the pandemic?
Yes, the policy is no longer in use during Covid.
DeleteSerbian government does absolutely nothing to stop the spread of the virus. They aonly appeal to the peope t vaccinate. In meantime basically everyone is getting infected. However in 2-3 months from now this wave will naturally go by so the flight schedule would be reinstated. But in meantime there will be a lot of empty seat and people stripped from flights or returned due to constant changing entry requirements and regulations.
ReplyDeleteI think you are being overly dramatic. Serbian government has had this policy for months now and meanwhile BEG kept on booming. I think them not destroying our economy is what is helping airlines sell seats on flights to/from BEG.
DeleteCovid numbers started slowly dropping so the wave is finally finishing. Also it was reported that Serbia is getting Merck's covid drug which will be administered in domovi zdravlja reducing the harshness of symptoms and with it hospitalization.
Deleteanon 09:35. The wave was thanks to holidays to Turkey and Egypt which are lax with entry requirements and season there lastis until mid-October. In some 2-3 weeks from today BEG will be a ghost airport. Note that Serbian government did not yet utiliize the EU green pass, whilst almost all other surrounding non-EU countries did. Many people who would otehrwise be eligible to travel now cant only due to the fact - Sweden, France, Italy are lost for that reason.
DeleteAnon 10:05. Few days ago the numbers started to grow again. This week we are going to have new highs of all covid numbers and likely more travel restrictions imposed/. Air Serbia management can thank the Government to that.
Nonsense. Covid exploded this summer because of Montenegro where covid was raging, there were no entry restrictions and people got infected.
DeleteYou don't need the covid green pass to travel abroad, a simple vaccination proof is valid. In places where they ask for the pass you just show you were vaccinated.
In a week average weekly covid numbers dropped from 6.300 to 6.200 and this weekend hospitalization started to go down.
So please spare us these doom and gloom scenarios.
Are any increased compared to this month?
ReplyDeleteI don't think you can really compare schedules on a month on month basis, especially summer vs winter. But compared to November 2020, pretty much everything is increased.
DeleteIf they think it's going to be a tough winter they should already be planning to stimulate demand. Why didn't they launch Abu Dhbai or Dubai for example? So many European airlines are. The chances of these markets closing or becoming restrictive are near 0. There are other unrestrictive markets too like Jordan. They could have launched charters to Zanzibar which was a hit last winter...
ReplyDeleteI agree that they could have explored new markets. When main markets are limited because of restrictions, there are many others that are not.
DeleteTheir product is worse than FZ's and their costs are higher than Wizz Air's. They waited to long and now it's too late. The market has moved on and I don't think they have enough money to fight both of these for their own share of the cake.
DeleteThey should try to find new routes where are no so strict requirements to enter and stimulate demand.
DeleteI honestly think Amman could have worked over winter.
DeleteShortcomings in the strategic plan perhaps ?
Delete^ Here we go again... how don't you get tired.
DeleteI am not Anon 10.11 but I find those comments hilarious and I think Marek reads comments on here because he stopped saying it. :D
DeleteThis is actually a compliment to ex-YU Aviation!
@09,29
DeleteInstead of ZNZ, they could of tried YYZ with 2 pw flights to build up a case for more frequencies for next summer.
@ 09,36
Problems with product would be more with business class considering their narrow bodies don't have the dedicated cabin anymore, just an empty middle seat. Economy is still ok, throw in a complimentary meal service and that could be enough to make up for the difference in product between JU and FZ.
@10,06
I also think AMM would of made a good addition to their network.
Hope we see them expand more.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Tel Aviv?
ReplyDeleteThere is no point. For Serbian citizens to enter Israel they need to get approval from Israeli government and even if they receive it have to spend 14 days in quarantine.
DeleteI can't believe only 3 X a week to London! Not looking good!
ReplyDeleteIt has been the same throughout summer... In June, July, August...
DeleteGood thing is that key markets are still open for Serbs and gastos. I think only Norway is kind of closed off. That is why this November isn't as catastrophic as expected. I mean LH, LX, KL and OS will have a decent amount of flights in November.
ReplyDeleteAMS-BEG 12x
FRA-BEG 12x
MUC-BEG 13x
VIE-BEG 15x
ZRH-BEG 12x
Does anybody know why YU-API flew to JFK yesterday?
ReplyDeleteProbably to return it to the lessor at air Serbia hasn't been flying it since last year
DeleteAPI is on the move again over the US. Looks like it's going into storage, returned to lessor.
DeleteThat is correct.
DeleteIt is being returned to the leasing company.
The A330 utilization is tragic.
ReplyDeleteit always has been in winter. Nothing new.
DeleteIt's a shame they're not trying 3 pw again now they're more settled into the market.
DeleteTourism for August is out, here are some key numbers:
ReplyDeleteForeign tourist arrivals: 136.288 (+445%)
1. Russia - 6.031 - 37.473 - +673%
2. Slovenia - 3.524 - 16.100 - +138%
3. Turkey - 7.813 - 28.508 - +236%
4. India - 4.936 - 16.163
5. China - 1.239 - 8.125 - +299%
6. UAE - 1.538 - 3.952 - 132%
I used these markets because that's where we got most additional flights this summer. UAE seems to be stimulated by both FZ but especially Wizz Air from AUH.
These should be compared with 2019.
DeleteI think India has already surpassed 2019 total.
DeleteWhy should they be compared with 2019 when circumstances are not the same as back then? In 2020 we pressed the rest button and we had to start from scratch.
DeleteAll things considered, November network is not bad.
ReplyDeleteIn total around 182 scheduled flights per week.
ReplyDeletefrom BEG I should day. One way. With INI and KVO that's 186.
Delete*say
DeleteSo it seems easyjet was victorious on the Geneva route. I’m guessing JU kept it over winter last year since they got incentives from Geneva airport to fly the first full year. Now that it is no longer there it becomes summer seasonal.
ReplyDeleteIt's questionable if it will return next summer either.
DeleteThey could have substituted it for Lyon.
DeleteHopefully easyJet adds a new destination next summer. That said I don't know what could work besides maybe ORY. However the market is crowded with JU, AF and W6.
DeleteEasyjet could add some seasonal destination in Greece or Spain next summer and I believe that could work quite well for them
DeleteHonestly I think there is room for a third player on BEG-ATH in summer. Maybe someone like Wizz Air could launch flights. I don't see Ryanair or Volotea doing it.
DeleteWizz had success with fights to the Greek islands so maybe they do consider Athens.
DeleteSkyExpress would be great addition, and not just to ATH, but also to some islands
DeleteAnon @11:33 Honestly I don't think third carrier is needed on a route where two carriers already operate. It would be far better for BEG to get new destinations than to get 3 or more carriers on existing routes. Except for one's selfish reasons, of course.
DeleteYou can get a third carrier if the market is large enough like the one to Athens is.
DeleteOr you can get 3 more carriers to Athens because you want to fly there for 5 eur. Very selfish. Airport operators always create incentives for BRAND NEW destinations not for someone like you.
Delete@Anon 18:27 LOL if market is large enough existing carriers upgauge planes from A319 to 320 or 321 and/or add more frequency.
DeleteWill they fly charters in winter?
ReplyDeleteYes, they always do
DeleteYes. They have one weekly Dubai charter plus I think they will keep flying to Egypt.
DeleteThey should expand their charter operations in winter.
DeleteEspecially to Egypt but also Morocco.
Marrakech would be a hit for travellers who want to escape cold and boring winter time.
@17,48
DeleteProblem with Morocco is visas.
Serbia could recognize Moroccos claim of Western Sahara for visa free regime for its citizens easily .
DeleteDoesnt Serbia have a foreign ministry ?
It does recognise it. Obviously it does not bring visa free travel.
DeleteSo there is more demand to Larnaca than Brussels?
ReplyDeleteThey have quite a bit of transfer traffic to/from Cyprus, especially from Russia.
DeleteHopefully things will get better in terms of frequencies. In terms of destinations, they have really good coverage.
ReplyDeleteSeems like exapnding LCC options from Banja Luka have really hurt Air Serbia thrte. The two weekly flights must only be catering for local traffic. I doubt they get any transfers anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe schedule doesn't look convenient for transfers, so I guess it's mainly for O&D pax.
DeleteTicket prices are not that cheap either for the flight regardless of the subsidies JU gets at BNX which I guess doesn't make them competitive compared to going by bus.
This is good. Austrian at the end of last week cancelled hundreds of flights planned for November and December. Just shows the situation the aviation industry is still in.
ReplyDeleteNo surprises. November is a dead month for travel and life in general. But why not more flights from Nis? And why not utilize the A330 for other destinations?
ReplyDeleteJust 4 weekly to Sarajevo :/
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia did flights to Shanghai and Beijing the last days.
ReplyDeleteThey could fly with their single A330-200 to China this winter till summer when they add a second A332.
Good for JU, just look at the cuts introduced by TK in November:
ReplyDelete-BOS goes from 7 x W to 5 x W, JFK 19 to 17, LAX 11 to 7, SFO 10-7
-AMS 35 to 28, ATH 18 to 14, BJV 63 to 21, BKK 5 to 9, BUD 14 to 7, CPH 17 to 14, LHR 28 to 21, MAN 14 to 10, Male 7 to 11....
Crazy to see a mega airport like Budapest get reduced by 50%! Good for Belgrade which will have a total of 25 weekly flights to Istanbul on three airlines.
What's going on with BUD, why such a slow recovery?
DeleteShame what they did to INI. They should fly at least to two more routes, there is demand for sure. They should also consider flying to Moscow, Istanbul, Paris, Berlin. INI has good potential which JU should use.
ReplyDelete