TRIP REPORT: Air Serbia’s first domestic flight

TRIP REPORT

On Thursday I flew on board Air Serbia’s first domestic flight between Belgrade and Niš and returned the following day. Both flights were operated by the Airbus A319, registered YU-APM. The return ticket cost 6.662 RSD or about 56 EUR.

I arrived at the airport around two hours ahead of departure, although this really isn’t necessary if you are using this service. The airport was rather busy at around 11.20 AM when I arrived, and I headed to the Air Serbia check-in desks. There was a dedicated check-in counter for the flight to Niš. Since I was returning the following day, the check-in agent issued me the boarding pass for the return flight too.

The departure gate listed was A11, a new bus gate made specially for this domestic flight. It is located on the ground floor of terminal 1 near the check in counters. Therefore, there is no immigration and security is performed at the gate, as is the case elsewhere at the airport. I assume they will make new arrangements once the airport is fully reconstructed and reconfigured.

There would be 18 passengers on this flight, as well as a set of Air Serbia crew who were positioning in Niš. I was surprised to see quite a few transfer passengers on this flight. One lady, who was speaking to one of the security agents said she had just arrived on a flight from Berlin and was about to head to the bus station to go to Niš when she looked at the departures board by chance and saw there was a flight to Niš. Not knowing anything about it she inquired at the information desk and purchased a ticket. She was really overjoyed at the fact that she could fly to Niš instead of having to go by bus explaining how she would have arrived in the evening. Another two people who were traveling together then interjected and said they had also just come off a flight from Berlin, although they were aware of this domestic service and had purchased tickets in advance. Transfer passengers flying via Belgrade to Niš enter Serbia in Belgrade, meaning they have to pass immigration, pick up their luggage and then drop off their bags again at the check in desk (although they are issued a boarding pass at their original point of departure). Those transferring from Niš via Belgrade have their baggage checked through to their final destination. Once they arrive in Belgrade (passengers are dropped off at the same A11 gate upon arrival) they have to proceed to immigration in the departures area. The cabin crew makes an announcement about this on the flight.

The bus arrived around 20 minutes prior to departure, and we were taken to our plane which was parked at the C5 gate. We went up the stairs to the air bridge and entered the plane from the bridge. The crew was pleasant, and boarding was completed within 5 minutes. 

We pushed back and took off for Niš. The captain informed us the flight would take thirty minutes. The flight was uneventful. There is no service on board for this domestic flight. A passenger asked for a cup of water which they got but otherwise there was nothing offered. Soon enough we began our descent and landed at Niš Airport where we were welcomed by a water cannon salute.

Construction work at the airport

Descending into Niš

The terminal building at Niš is vintage and small although there are major expansion plans in the works.

I spent the day in Niš and the city was a big surprise for me. It was my first time there and I didn’t have any expectations, but it has some interesting historical sights to visit, the city is really well maintained, clean, both taxi and bus transport really well organised, signage in both Serbian and English everywhere and everyone I interacted with was extremely polite and friendly. In fact, to tell you the truth, I found it to be much more organised than Belgrade.

The following day I arrived at the airport just an hour prior to departure as I already had my boarding pass. At the time, passengers on a Wizz Air flight to Vienna were passing through security so the staff asked for the Belgrade passengers to wait while they cleared security and departed. There were around twenty passengers on the return flight to Belgrade, as well as another set of Air Serbia crew repositioning to Belgrade.

Around half an hour prior to take off we went through security and into the departures area. This was Christmas Day in Serbia and again, most passengers seemed to be transfers. There was a family speaking Russian and there was also one young couple speaking French (from what I concluded she was Serbian and her partner French) and there was another couple speaking a mix of Serbian and German. Some fifteen minutes before take off we were invited to board. The same crew members that took us to Belgrade were working this flight as well. Similar to the outbound, there was no service on the inbound either, and the total flight time was just twenty minutes.

Descending into Belgrade

We landed in Belgrade on time and parked at the C5 gate again. We were asked to disembark through the back door down the stairs and into the bus. We were taken to the same A11 gate we departed from which has an exit straight into the Terminal 1 check-in area.

Overall, I enjoyed this short domestic experience and was quite glad to have finally visited Niš, which for some reason I never got around to seeing. I know this is basically an aircraft positioning flight on which they sell tickets, but with a little promotion online I think these flights could actually be popular considering the first two had some transfer passengers despite their being little mention about it beforehand and tickets being put on sale less than two weeks before they were inaugurated.

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