Air Serbia is planning to restore some flights to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and is considering adding new destinations as part of its summer expansion plans. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the carrier served Tel Aviv, Cairo and Beirut in the region, although the latter was terminated just prior to the global health emergency as a result of Lebanon’s economic crisis, which has since worsened. As its replacement, the Serbian carrier planned to launch a new service to the Jordanian capital of Amman, however, those were also shelved due to Covid-19. Almost two years later, the airline is yet to make a comeback with scheduled flights to the region and is currently maintaining charters to Dubai and Egyptian holiday resort towns.
The Egyptian Ambassador to Serbia, Amr Aljowaily, recently held talks with the national airline over its return to Cairo. “We are in constant contact with Air Serbia, so we can look into overcoming the challenges of the pandemic and restore nonstop flights. I have conducted and facilitated numerous meetings in the aviation sector, with the aim of further expanding the network of flights and routes between the two countries. I look forward to positive results in this regard”, Mr Aljowaily said. Air Serbia ran up to eight daily rotations to Hurghada last summer and also maintained charters to Sharm el Sheikh. Egypt is again expected to be a major drawcard for Serbian holidaymakers this coming summer season.
Tunisia has also emerged as a potential market for Air Serbia in the North Africa region. Tunisair has maintained year-round operations from Tunis to Belgrade for over a decade, however, it suspended flights between the two cities at the end of the 2021 summer season. Facing significant financial issues, it is unlikely to restore the route this year. Last summer, Air Serbia restored charter operations to Monastir in Tunisia’s southeast after several years. The route was previously served by the airline’s predecessor Jat Airways on a scheduled seasonal summer basis. During last year, Tunisia’s Nouvelle Air also began serving the Serbian capital through summer charters.
Air Serbia has so far announced six new routes out of Belgrade for the 2022 summer season, with more new destinations to be announced in the coming weeks.
I think they will resume Cairo and introduce Amman.
ReplyDeleteTel Aviv too
DeleteCAI will be relaunched for sure.
DeleteMakes sense
ReplyDeleteWith so many new routes this year, they will be expanding their fleet significantly.
ReplyDeleteThey will. Rumors are ATRs and Airbuses are coming. Plus there will apparently be a wetlease for 2 planes.
DeleteATR's aren't rumours, the first one is in TLS already painted in the JU livery.
DeleteTunisia has lost its popularity in Serbia in recent years but there is a Tunisian diaspora in Serbia and there was a reason flights used to be maintained year round, so it might not be such a bad option for JU.
ReplyDeleteTunisia has lost popularity everywhere due to security issues. But it is dirt cheap to visit.
DeleteIt isn't even offered by Kon Tiki for this summer. How things have changed.
DeleteKon tiki ( now owned by big blue - it is now one same agency) was not option n1 for t³unisia. For the past decade it was sunline travel - they had contract with air srb for charter ( i am former kontiki employer)
DeleteGreat to see Air Serbia continuing to expand.
ReplyDeleteApparently another 6 will be added.
DeleteGood news for Belgrade too.
Delete@9.12 That would be huge! It would mean 12 new routes from BEG, plus the 7 new routes from INI and KVO plus the resumption of routes that have not operated since pandemic like Madrid, Venice, Nice...
DeleteWould it make sense to fly Hurghada as a scheduled destination?
ReplyDeleteWell Air Cairo does it on a year round basis quite successfully.
DeleteThey seem to do just fine with charters though. Much more profitable than flying it as a scheduled route.
DeleteI doubt we will be seeing flights to Beirut anytime soon as the situation in Lebanon is dire.
ReplyDeleteTel Aviv was operating last summer and Israir has scheduled flights to Belgrade next summer. I assume Air Serbia will finally resume flights there considering Israel has reopened for international visitors.
Recently an Aegean plane got shot at.
DeleteIt seems to have been celebratory fire from one of the homes near the airport.
DeleteCrazy!
DeleteI'm surprised there isn't more demand for Jordan from Serbia. It is a great destination. Amman in itself is interesting let alone Petra and Aqaba. Also visa is issued on arrival.
ReplyDeleteAround 10 years ago (maybe even a bit more). there were flights to Aqaba every summer. Kon Tiki used sell tour packages. Don't know why it stopped.
DeleteI think the tours were rather expensive
DeleteIn 2008 Royal Wings even operated one weekly flights from Amman to Belgrade. Lasted for just one season for two months. Their plane used to arrive at 5.10AM and depart at 06.10.
DeleteWhat equipment did they use?
DeleteA320 operated by RJ
DeleteShame these didn't continue but I guess they were only aimed at tourists. And it is true that spending your holiday in Jordan is more costly than alternatives like Egypt, Turkey and Greece.
DeleteHopefully JU brings back AMM
ReplyDeleteKuwait City would be a good destination for Air Serbia. There is quite a sizable Serbian diaspora living there and I think it has constantly been the top unserved destination in the Middle East based on previous articles here.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a good alternative for them in GCC region considering they can't compete to Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
DeleteI doubt they are looking to fly that far away anyway.
DeleteSerbian nationals require an airside visa to transfer through Kuwait, hence no way until it changes.
DeleteI believe it is visa on arrival.
DeleteGood. Hopefully this should help BEG in its recovery.
ReplyDeleteIt makes little sense for Air Serbia to fly to the Middle East with its current hybrid model
ReplyDeleteWhy? Flydubai has hybrid model but flies successfully to Belgrade. Wizz is a LCC but flies successfully from Abu Dhabi to Belgrade.
DeleteService on Flydubai is much better than service on Air Serbia. Business class is incomparable.
DeleteThey already tried and failed with hybrid model in Abu Dhabi.
DeleteIf Air Serbia was smarter and worked on the transfer model they could have had a more active role in the Middle East and Central Asia. Now foreign carriers are eating the cake.
ReplyDeleteThere are still opportunities
DeleteJU should have restart CAI, TLV and maybe AMM too.
ReplyDeleteThese routes are important for hub operations.
DeleteGreat move for JU!
ReplyDeleteExcuse me but what do you see as great move here? the article itself is just pointing to some potential destinations but nothing specific so to call it a "move" is a bit exagerated!
Delete^ You will see ;)
DeleteThey should have brought Cairo back earlier.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Should have done it last year. Very few restrictions, Egypt has also become very popular with Russians who are very limited in where they can travel, they could have benefited from fewer transfer options.
DeleteDidn't CAI have poor results even before pandemic?
DeleteWhere did you get that from?
DeleteProves a lot of people wrong who always have something negative to say about this airline.
ReplyDeleteBut also proves a lot of people right who always have something positive to say about this airline.
DeleteSlowly but surely there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel.
ReplyDeleteSeems so. Really happy to see them starting to look towards the end of this crisis.
DeleteGood luck. Hope there is more good news soon.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised they generally don't have a more extensive route network in the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteIn the future they could add: Baghdad, Teheran, Baku and Tbilisi.
ReplyDeleteAre you serious?
DeleteDidn't Mahan start Teheran Belgrade flights already?
DeleteBagdad is to far away, Baku or Tilbisi same at the moment.
So pretty this summer they should restore almost their entire pre-Covid network plus add a few new routes.
ReplyDeleteThere is only so much you can plan for in situations like these.
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia plans return to Middle East and North Africa but does not plan return to Far East and North America.
ReplyDeleteYes, because this plan does not require them to lease a wide body plane which is not cheap to run.
DeleteAt least Air Serbia is now honest about having no interest in long haul expansion. Hopefully we won't be hearing their executives trying to convince us about "Air Serbia looking at China, US and Canada" like they did last year.
DeleteThey'd be crazy to look at China now. That country will not open to travel before the summer schedule 2023. And even then, it is a question of how fast, how much and how practical the travel to China will be.
DeleteMeanwhile, the largest unserved diaspora community (CHICAGO) remains without a flight.
DeleteLet's hope these materialize.
ReplyDeleteCAI and TLV will for sure. I'm pretty sure AMM will too.
DeleteAir Serbia shall consider Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. It has enormous diaspora in the West, Germany and Sweded in particular, also there are some ties between Serbia and Kurdistan. Erbil is the fastest growing airport in the Middle East. And unlike Amman or Beirut it does not have a strong airline based and seated there.
ReplyDeleteDoes Austrian still fly to Erbil? They benefited a lot from a lack of other foreign airlines there.
DeleteThey do
DeleteIs there an agreement to enable flying to Irak?
DeleteSurprisingly yes!
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/05/serbia-and-iraq-ink-air-agreement.html
Nice
DeleteEBL is way too far to fit nicely in their main waves.
DeleteIf they can work on more Western European flights departing BEG around midday arriving by 19:00, a 20:30 departure as they do with ROV would work perfectly.
10am departure is too early for anything from Western Europe, 1pm wont get then back into BEG before 8pm, while 11pm misses many arrivals and departures on the return.
I could not agree more! Erbil could be a great potential feeder for JU, it's a great network and market fit in my opinion, and JU is more than capable with competing with LH and TK (they've demonstrated it in BEY). And I mean - if EW made it, there is no doubt JU can nail it. :)
DeleteYes indeed Erbil would be great. There is ex-Yu community both in Erbil and Baghdad. Why not Iraq. Traditionally we have good ties with Iraq.
DeleteGood to see they are planning for the future.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the current situation in Algeria? Algiers can be the option only if the visa regime is abolished and if JU finds oportunities for connecting traffic to somewhere "on the other side"... China perhaps?
ReplyDeleteAlgeria is open
DeleteI wonder how people fly there from BEG now. I remember most using Alitalia to reach Algiers (I know a few people who had to travel there often a couple of years ago).
DeleteWhat happened with Morocco? There was lots of talk about possible flights a few years ago. In 2020 Air Serbia even had charters planned to there but were cancelled because of Covid.
ReplyDeleteMorocco still has a ban on international flights. I don't think it is a viable option.
DeleteOh and also they still require visas for Serbian citizens which is a deterrent.
DeleteLet hope to renewable fleet. Including for long destinations. Air Serbia is national airline. 🛫🌐✈
ReplyDeleteWell done Air Serbia! Please don't judge me or attack me but don't they need extra planes for this expansion? It's not nice to have delays 2 or 3 hours during the summer season, unless those routes will be served once or twice a week.
ReplyDeleteThey will be getting ATRs and it seems like they will lease Airbuses too.
Delete@Bel Cielo
DeleteIt's a little hard to not judge your comment.
You have a fair few articles lately you can refer to. The first of the new ATR's is already painted in the JU livery so new ATR's are joining the fleet. More aircraft are coming.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/01/air-serbia-to-take-delivery-of-first.html?m=1
2 A319's have left since the summer season while 2 were leased short term during the peak months, which means they are down by 4 aircraft for next summer. Logic would have that at least 4 A320 family aircraft will join the fleet next summer. Do you honestly see Air Serbia as an airline that schedules flights without having the aircraft to operate them?
Can't wait to see al of JU's new routes.
ReplyDelete*all
DeleteChina before all.
ReplyDeleteAfter that Baku, Tbilisi, Kuwait, Baghdad, Tehran, Ankara…
China is completely closed. In fact, China at the moment does not allow anyone in from Serbia.
DeleteI vote for Kuwait and Baghdad too. There is a big ex Yu community in both Kuwait and Iraq.
DeleteSuch a shame JU didn't get BCG to "consult" them LOL
ReplyDeleteBCG ?
ReplyDeleteReferring to fraudulent contract OU has with "Boston Consulting Group", the results of which are zero changes in OU and increased rip off of tax payers
DeleteFraud is a serious accusation. I strongly doubt BCG would sign a fraudulent contract. Have you read the contract, and final report/recommendations? Has there been any investigates by Croatian media into this?
DeleteWhat happened with those two middle eastern airlines that were interested to fly to Belgrade this summer ?
ReplyDeleteEx Yu wrote about them in december .
Belgrade airport should give incentives to Flynas and Jazeera Airways .
It is only January, there is a lot of time for new route announcements.
DeleteWaiting still BEG-HEL
ReplyDeleteI think they said when they stopped flights that it is a permanent termination, not a suspension.
DeleteI have just looked on Air Serbia site for the tickets to/from Amman. Noone mentioned that there will be a stop over in Istanbul. Sorry but it would not suit majority of passengers. Travel time is 9 or 10 hours. At first when I heard the news about new destination to Amman I was happy. Now, not anymore.
ReplyDeleteThere is no stopover in Istanbul. You are looking at the wrong dates and days. They don't fly to Amman every day, so on days they don't fly there you get the alternative via Istanbul.
DeleteHere is the schedule:
https://www.exyuaviation.com/p/air-serbia-belgrade-amman_25.html