Air Serbia has been selected as the operating carrier of ten routes of public interest, which will be maintained from Niš and Kraljevo, six of which are brand new. The Serbian carrier will commence flights from Niš to Belgrade, Cologne and Istanbul in two weeks, while services to Ljubljana will be restored and existing flights to Hahn continued. They will be joined by Athens on a seasonal basis, which will be complemented by the airline’s existing summer operations to Tivat. All of the flights will be operated twice per week with the Airbus A319 aircraft, with expectation to the new domestic service which will run four times per week with the A319 (twice per week) and the ATR72 turboprop (twice per week). From Kraljevo, Air Serbia will introduce operations to Istanbul, while new services to Tivat will be launched over the summer and maintained on a seasonal basis while Thessaloniki will be resumed. All flights will run twice per week with the ATR72 aircraft. The airline’s existing operations between Kraljevo and Vienna will be concluded next week.
New routes
| Route | Launch date |
|---|---|
| Niš - Istanbul | 04.01.2022 |
| Kraljevo - Istanbul | 05.01.2022 |
| Belgrade - Niš | 06.01.2022 |
| Niš - Cologne | 06.01.2022 |
| Niš - Athens | 15.06.2022 |
| Kraljevo - Tivat | 15.06.2022 |
Click on link for details
Returning routes
| Route | Resumption date |
|---|---|
| Niš - Ljubljana | 06.01.2022 |
| Kraljevo - Thessaloniki | 14.06.2022 |
| Niš - Tivat | 15.06.2022 |
Air Serbia is obligated to maintain the abovementioned routes from January 2022 until December 31, 2023. The airline has already put tickets on sale for those flights commencing next month. The contract for all ten routes is valued at around 23.8 million euros over the two-year period. Flights to destinations in the European Union will be covered to the tune of 13.1 million euros, to Istanbul amounting to 6.7 million euros, to Tivat 971.000 euros and the domestic service will be subsidised with three million euros over two years. The Serbian carrier was the only one to apply for the public call issued last month.
Commenting on the new additions to the carrier’s network, Air Serbia’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Jiri Marek, said, “We are happy that we are expanding our offer from southwestern Serbia and Šumadija. In this way, we will make it much easier for our passengers to plan their trips, as well as contribute to the strengthening of commercial and tourism activities in these parts of Serbia. For the first time, flights between Niš and Belgrade will be introduced, allowing passengers from Southern Serbia to travel to other European destinations in Air Serbia’s network via the capital, as the airline’s hub. Additionally, we are very glad that we are connecting Niš with Cologne, our fifth destination in Germany”.
Air Serbia’s flights out of Niš and Kraljevo are sold at low cost prices. Passengers on these services are unable to accrue miles through the airline’s loyalty program and no business class tickets are sold.
The prices are really dirt cheap. 30 euros from Nis to Istanbul :O
ReplyDeleteHelps that the flight is around 50 minutes. From what I can see two JU planes will be there at the same time <3
DeleteIt even makes sense to connect from BEG onto flights from Nis :D
DeleteThe fares are very tempting
Delete@09,03
DeleteIts even possible to purchase flights from BEG connecting in INI :D
Yes, from what I see there are connections from CGN to IST which is a massive market.
DeleteGood to see at least one ex-yu airline, JU, growing, but doubt very much CGN-IST will attract any transfer traffic : CGN/DUS to IST, and not only IST but entire Turkey market is really huge, but with THY, Pegasus, Sun Express, Corendon, and many others, operating dozens of daily nonstop flights with fixed low prices, luggage included, convenient timings, Turkish and German speaking crew and seats available practically until the last minute, very very very few would decide to fly JU
DeleteFlights are still not loaded into the system but I am sure fares are going to be cheap from CGN to IST. For them this is just a fraction of the actual business.
DeleteAlso don't forget that TK no matter how good they are, tends to be quite pricey. I know their fares from BEG to IST, they are rarely under €220.
I just checked, TK cheapest from CGN to SAW is €70 while to IST is €110. All JU has to do is offer 30% cheaper than TK and they might attract some passengers
Connections I have noticed is for example BEG-INI-IST. Long transfer times, but a cheaper ticket. It's up to the individual to choose what works for them, but it's good to have the option.
DeleteWhy not offer connections from Germany to Turkey via INI? I mean this is not their main business but if they can get 5 passengers per flight then why not, go for it. Can't hurt.
Delete@18,53
DeleteConnections like this won't work because of the schedules. If something could work, it would be HHN-INI-IST once a week and only in 1 direction, practically nothing to offer.
JU will offer one way connections via INI once a week, in both directions.
DeleteThese start in just 2 weeks?! Wow
ReplyDeleteWell the start date was known for a while now so it shouldn't surprise anyone really.
DeleteNot for us aviation fans but it's news for 99% of the general public.
DeleteI think BEG-INI will be a success and connections are quite good. This will make it much easier for south Serbia to reach the rest of Europe.
ReplyDeleteGreat. I notice you can already buy tickets with JU to Nis from all of their destinations.
ReplyDeleteEven JFK :)
DeleteMuch better selection of routes this time around.
ReplyDeleteAgree. They make much more sense.
DeleteI don't get one of the two weekly INI-IST flights. The return is earlier than the departure yet there is no BEG-IST flight that day from which they would get the plane.
ReplyDeleteYeah it's very interesting, I though it was a mistake but just checked their site and sure enough. Very odd
DeleteThis is because of the time difference. When 9am in Nis, it is 11am in Istanbul. Turkey doesn't change their time in October, it is fixed as it is a summer all year.
DeleteAhh true. I was calculating that there is only one hour time difference. Forgot it is two in winter.
DeleteBTW was it always like this or did they recently stopped changing time in winter?
They stopped changing the time about 5 years ago.
DeleteTuesdays flight is actually BEG-IST-INI-IST-BEG.
DeleteJU802 BEG IST 1415 1755
JU1805 IST INI 1840 1805
JU1804 INI IST 1850 2215
JU803 IST BEG 2300 2240
With a 23.00 departure from IST they will also offer a massive amount of connections from TK's network.
DeleteWhat in my opinion should be adjusted is turnaround time at new IST. 45 minutes is way to short and almost impossible to achieve. Sometimes one way taxi only is 20 minutes. Think it's better planning last landing in BEG 30-40 min later than having constant delays
DeleteTaxi time is factored into the block time.
DeleteIST-BEG is showing a block time of 01:40 but flight time is around 01:15.
I know very well that block time include taxi time. But with 2 short taxis on each flight plus 2 long ones, one with possible long line up on departure in IST can practically "eat" all extra time included in the block. Most of the companies operating 150 seaters to IST have one hour turnover, TK even longer, and the time will show who was right if the schedule remains the same
DeleteI think in IST it's hit or miss. When I flew from BEG on TK we taxied for 32 minutes. On the way back, our JU flight landed and in 7 minutes it was at the gate. It took us 11 minutes to reach the runway. I think it helps that JU flies out of IST when it's not crazy busy.
DeleteIt depends which runways are in use. I've flown 3-4 times in/out of IST and never experienced long taxi times.
DeleteJU seems to be doing well the past week, with flights landing up to 15 minutes early from IST. Taxi time in BEG is usually not more than 5 minutes on arrival, up to 10 minutes the most on departure if its busy, which leaves 30-35 minutes taxi time in IST.
DeleteJU's schedule in and out of IST is usually when it's not chaotic or just as it is starting to get busier so I don't think lengthy taxi times will be much of a problem.
Delaying the scheduled arrival back into BEG would also mean that JU couldn't sell connections for the midnight wave. I believe 45 minutes is the minimum connecting time in BEG if I'm not mistaken.
In all, I think they'll be fine, we will have to wait and see I guess.
45' minutes is the standard however the airport has allowed JU in the past to sell 40 minute connections. Honestly I think it's disastrous that they have the minimum as 45. One could easily sell 30 minute connections. If VIE can do it then BEG can too.
DeleteGood luck. Hope the new routes work out.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pitty you can't fly from BEG to INI in the morning and return at night on the same day.
ReplyDelete+1
Delete+1
DeleteHow will they fill A319 between Nis and Belgrade is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteWhat a surprise they won the tender.
ReplyDeleteIt says they were the only ones to apply.
DeleteThat's also a surprise too :D
DeleteComments like this can come from malicious people like you.
DeleteThose are Serbian money given to the Serbian company to actually do something good for people of Serbia!
I've always wondered why there are no flights between Nis and Belgrade. Well done!
ReplyDeleteGood news! Bravo JU!
ReplyDeleteGood news for LJU too :P
DeleteSo out of all the former PSO routes only Nis-Hahn, Nis-Tivat and Kraljevo-Thessaloniki were v comercially viable.
ReplyDeleteAnd Ljubljana
DeleteI still believe KVO has more long-term potential than INI. It's an airport the government should keep on investing in.
DeleteThat area of the country is not poor, there is quite a lot of economic activity plus it's close to ski resorts so there is potential tourism demand.
Serbs love northern Greece but if you live in and around Cacak/Kraljevo it's not the most accessible area at least not until the new highway is built (Moravski koridor).
Right now it takes seven hours to drive from Cacak to Thessaloniki while the flight is not longer than an hour. That, coupled with affordable fares, encouraged more people to switch to flying.
The routes are not supposed to be commercially viable. If you read the tender guidelines, it specifically says these routes are not commercially viable but are being launched to generate economic activity, business and tourism. That's why they receive money for the.
DeleteAgree with Nemjee. I think Kraljevo has more potential. Hopefully the new runway is built so its potential can be fully realized and I don't just mean for Air Serbia. I think it could be popular with other airlines, especially LCCs.
DeleteHow big is the INI catchment area?
DeleteCivilian airport building is actually in Cacak municipality not Kraljevo. And new route by car will be shorter only 45 minute.
DeleteNonsense. Village of Ladjevci where the airport is located is in the Kraljevo municipality.
DeleteActually, the airport is not situated in Lađevci, but in an adjacent village (forgot the name, but they are famous for growing some sort of fruits, or so) - I saw a story about that on TV:)
DeleteYou can not read simple information. Airport is in Obrva but civil airport building is in Katrga which is Cacak municipality. Ladjevci has nothing with airport.
DeleteYet the airport is called Kraljevo and its code is KVO.
DeleteIt's right across from Tavnik village and the airport is wayyy closer to Mrcajevci than to KV. While it might be in KV municipality, it's pretty far. But it is right beside the new highway being built between Cacak and Kragujevac. Location location location!
DeleteWow! A319 between Belgrade and Nis!
ReplyDeleteSerbia for now have the best flag carrier in Ex yu/Balkans.
(A3 and TK also ;))
A3 is not considered flag carrier. It's a private company.
DeleteAnd still it is the flag carrier of Greece.
DeleteWrong!!! It might be a Greek company as sky Express Greece is but both are not considered as flag carriers.
DeleteThis will be a nice way to start the year :)
ReplyDeleteWill there be an aircraft stationed in Nis?
ReplyDeleteNo
DeleteSponsored by the Serbian taxpayer. :)
ReplyDeleteHad Ryanair won the contract, it would have been sponsored by Serbian taxpayers anyway.
DeleteI am glad the money will stay in Serbia.
DeleteThe same as it is sponsored in the neighborhood
DeleteIt would have been ludicrous to give state money to a private foreign airline when you have your own.
DeleteSerbia wastes so much money on subsidizing foreigner companies that giving it to a local company comes as a pleasant change.
DeleteSponsored by the Serbian taxpayer, why don't you take that attitude to another article published today about PSO? Curious how come there are no complaints about taxpayer money there.
DeleteSo what are they going to do fleet wise? They won't be able to maintain this schedule in summer with current fleet.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/12/air-serbia-plans-to-renew-turboprop.html
DeleteI think that next summer their fleet will probably look like this:
DeleteAtr 72-7 aircraft they will most probably retire the -200 if they get five new atr aircraft.
A319-12 aircraft they are going to return APJ to the lessor and if they want to have enough aircraft for the summer season they need to lease at least 3 more aircraft
A320-2 aircraft I really don't understand why don't they get lease another A320 and use it for charters it's definitely cheaper to operate flights to Antalya, Hurghada, etc with a 174 seat A320 than a 144 seat A319.
A330-1 aircraft
Congratulations Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteWith these new routes plus the ones from BEG, they could be very close to reaching 2019 passenger numbers next year.
ReplyDeleteWe will see. This year they will have around 2 million passengers. I believe they had 2.8 million in 2019.
DeleteNis-Tivat has been a surprising success and subsidies are really not needed on this route. I think Kraljevo-Tivat will be the same. Nis-Ljubljana also worked out really well.
ReplyDeleteSo they will fly with bigger plane from Nis to Ljubljana then they do from Belgrade to Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind they have much more flights from Belgrade to Ljubljana than from Nis.
DeleteINI-LJU is on the ATR.
DeleteJust another way to subsidize Air Serbia
ReplyDeleteAs they should.
DeleteOr to put in a form you would better understand: "Neka pati, koga smeta".
Why not allow miles accrual from Nis?
ReplyDeleteBecause prices of these flights are really really cheap. They are cheaper than most LCCs on comparable routes.
DeleteI think for the Economy Comfort fare they should of allowed miles.
DeleteAlso, there is still no catering on the INI and KVO flights which is disappointing and a lost opportunity for extra revenue.
When you calculate how much money they receive for this flights, ticket prices are not so cheap. You could very often fly with FR for 5 euros, without any money from our budget.
DeleteThere is money from the budget because Ryanair pays just 3 euros to use Nis Airport.
Delete@12,40
Delete5€ is almost always for 1 sector. And usually its 10€ to be precise. The return sector will always be more. You have examples of this ex ZAG since FR launched ops there. Throw in a suitcase and prices are pretty much around what JU is offering.
And as mentioned above, all ops out of INI are subsidised with low handling fees and taxes which brought W6 and FR in the first place.
I hope this will be followed up by new routes from Belgrade next year.
ReplyDeleteI don't think so. I think we will see more routes restored in their network next year and then from 2023 we will see new routes.
DeleteMakes sense.
DeleteJU did launch 3 new routes without returning to their full network (OSL, GVA, ROV). It will very much depend on the entry requirements of each country.
DeleteSpeaking of returning to their full network, it will be interesting to see if they keep NCE now that W6 will start BEG-NCE 2 pw from 29.03.
Knowing JU, I am sure they will put up a fight. I don't recall a market since MLA that they just abandoned to Wizz Air. Also in NCE they get quite a few connections so I don't think they will just hand the market to them especially not since Wizz attacked in BCN and FCO.
DeleteBtw first BEG-BCN flight on Wizz had 180 passengers.
Would love to see them join an alliance as they keep growing their network. it would generate more passengers.
ReplyDeleteSome good developments for JU and more to come.
ReplyDeleteJU at five airports in Germany!
ReplyDeleteIt was 10 under previous PSO.
DeleteSo that is 20 additional weekly flights for Air Serbia for these ten routes.
ReplyDeleteThat's more than half a million euros for each route per year.
DeleteYou have in the article exactly how much each rout will be subsidized over two years.
DeleteHow does this work with crew? Aren't they all Belgrade based?
ReplyDeleteThey have crew based at a hotel in Nis and then they rotate them every few weeks.
DeleteCrew is sent from Belgrade. As mentioned above, they have a crew hotel there. I think with the new schedule they will send 2 sets of crew:
Delete1 to operate BEG-INI-XXX-INI and layover in INI.
The second INI-XXX-INI-BEG.
IST on Tuesdays will operate BEG-IST-INI vv, while LJU seems to be BEG-INI-LJU-INI-BEG, which requires 1 set of crew.
Why should they not have crew based/living in Niš?
DeleteThe base isn't big enough to justify it.
DeleteIt's cheaper to send BEG crew to INI for the few flights rather than dozens of crew from Nis to BEG every other day.
Lots of airlines shuttle crew between bases.
And just like that... Air Serbia gets 24 million euros.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts too. That's a million euros every month if it is for 2 years. Sounds way too much....
DeleteSo, for around 1800 return flights they are getting over 23mil EUR! What a sweat deal for JU!
ReplyDeleteIt is for two years. Not one.
DeleteThere is a huge difference between sweat and sweet deal.
DeleteAny new routes in this climate are good news.
ReplyDeleteMnogo veca su ocekivanja od 2022 godine. Bar sto se vazdusnog saobracaja Srbije tice. Dogradnja Beogradskog i Niskog aerodroma je prevvashodno.
ReplyDeleteMedjutim aerodromu izmedju Kraljeva i Cacka dogradnja nije dovoljna. Vec gradnja nove piste.
Kargo centra i ostalog kompleksa koji je neophodan da bi aerodrom samoodrziv bio. Sto i jeste osnov i cilj.
Sto su osnov i imperativ opstanka. Nekoliko tekstova
je vec bilo o Ovom aerodromu danas. Aerodrom je bez malo polovina puta izmeddju ovih gradova. Koji su izgradnjom Moravskog Koridora udaljeni 15 minuta.
Postaju predgradja jedan drugom. Ovaj prvi Srpski motorway omogucuje brzi dolazak iz grada u grad.
Nego sto se moze stici sa jednog kraja na drugi. To je fakt. Bez pravog i dovoljnog ulaganja, nema ni uspesnog poslovanja bez gubitaka.
Dovodjenje vekike kargo kompanije koja ima trziste, flotu i mrezu za koncesionara je imperativ za uspeh.
Srecna Nova 2022 godina.🛫🌐✈🇷🇸✈
Rodney Marinkovic and Aviation Enthusiast Associate Group. ✈😀🛫 Kraljevo i Sydney. ✈
Bravo Čika Rodney. Uvek zahvalni Vašim cenjenim komentarima.
DeleteExact dates for the ATH-INI route ?
ReplyDeleteThey haven't been scheduled yet.
DeleteAirSerbia weren't flying to Istanbul just back in 2-3 years ago but now they operate to Istanbul from 3 different Serbian cities.
ReplyDeleteIf they codeshare TK also with those flights from Nis and Kraljevo, they can have access to TK's midnight Asian network. I'm sure they will work it out.
Truly incredible to put 2 flights on the same day Belgrade-Nis. They could at least make a little effort, so if nothing else, one flight should be in the morning and the other in the evening. This shows that they really do not care whether there will be passengers, whether these lines will have some potential for the future. And I can understand that Duncan and Jiri do not care at all, but the rest of the management is silent about it.
ReplyDeleteWrong. They scheduled them exactly like that on purpose because on those days Air Serbia offers the most convections via Belgrade, one for the morning wave, the other for night wave. You had the article a few days ago about their hub and spoke model and if you read it it notes that they are focusing on purpose on several days during the week.
DeleteHaving an airline being so scattered across a country and not having a proper base may be an issue. Air Serbia is now in all its towns and shifting away from its capital. You can't have planes based in secondary cities but combined with your base rather than connecting your secondary towns with your base and avoiding O&D LCC model in secondary towns.
ReplyDeleteYes, those flights are basically heavily subsidised as we saw in North Macedonia, but we also witnessed that the model is basically fragile and viotile due to the demand.
Debrecen and Timisoara are 2 good examples of airports with forced air connections yet very poor attempts to permanent yields.
Good luck to JU with the permanent sustainability of those secondary airports.
You lost me at:
Delete'Air Serbia is now in all its towns and shifting away from its capital'
Whaaaaat?
Few days ago i bought return ticket with W6 Bg Abu Dhabi for 498 din or 4,4 e, so this tickets with Air Serbia are still expencive
ReplyDeleteHahaha 4.500 din one way maybe. AUH was never 498 din. Not sure what lying was supposed to achieve. FR doesn't even sell tickets this low, especially on a 6 hour flight.
DeleteWait until it gets cancelled.
DeleteHahaha yeah even Wizz doesn't sell tickets that cheap. I think cheapest promo fare is around 2.200 Dinars or €18.
DeleteFares for BEG-AUH this month are very high, cheapest is 17.000 one way while the flight on the 31st is sold out.
In January, average one way fare is currently 7.640.