Air Serbia has continued its recovery from the coronavirus pandemic by posting strong passenger growth in February, with the airline planning to increase frequencies across its network this March. During February, traditionally the slowest month of the year for the aviation industry, the Serbian carrier handled 80.122 passengers, representing an increase of 78% on the same month in 2021. The figure is still 45% below the record-breaking February of 2020. This year, the airline was forced to suspend three routes during February due to softer demand as a result of the Omicron wave of the coronavirus pandemic, which peaked in Serbia during the month.
Commenting on the carrier’s results, the airline’s new General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Boško Rupić, who previously served as Head of Sales, said, “I am glad that we are continuing the trend of passenger growth, even though February is traditionally the weakest month in the aviation industry. The results accomplished show that we have made the right decisions and that our strategy was properly established. We are approaching new opportunities for further expansion - we look forward to the summer season, which begins on March 31, and the numerous new destinations which await us from as early as April and June”. During the first two months of the year, the Serbian carrier handled over 170.100 travellers.
Air Serbia is increasing frequencies across its network this month to respond to growing demand. Additional flights will be introduced on services from Belgrade to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Larnaca, Ljubljana, Skopje, St Petersburg, Tirana and Zagreb. Overall, the airline has over 187.000 seats on sale this month and is approaching pre-pandemic capacity levels. The carrier plans to expand its fleet in the coming weeks with the arrival of additional ATR72-600 turboprops, after taking delivery of its first of five aircraft last month. Simultaneously, the carrier has begun replacing older planes of the same type, with a 23-year-old ATR72-500, registered YU-ALT, recently returned to the lessor.
Good result
ReplyDeleteWonder how other airlines in the region performed in FEB.
ReplyDeleteWhat was their share at BEG?
ReplyDeleteProbably between 25% and 35%.They had massive cuts in February.
Delete^ definitely higher than 35%
DeleteDon't forget that these numbers include passengers from KVO and INI, not just Belgrade. I think their marketshare will start growing from March. February was a brutal month for them.
DeleteTrue, I forgot it includes INI and KVO.
DeleteHow many passengers could INI and KVO bring on a monthly level?
Delete30.000?
DeleteThat is way too much
DeleteMy guess is some 8,000 combined, according to INI pax data for Feb...
DeleteSo that would be around 73,000 from Belgrade
DeleteINI so far is having a fantastic run. Hopefully it continues in the coming month. INI-IST has fantastic loads!
DeleteLoad factor?
ReplyDeleteSuch a shame we no longer get that table with the frequencies and the little red and green arrows. I really liked those.
ReplyDeleteGood for JU and these increases. I guess BEG had around 140.000 passengers in February. All in all BEG should be around 400.000 passengers so far which isn't bad. March should be really good though. Demand seems to be strong all around, even Lufthansa upgraded MUC-BEG today from CRJ to A319 while on Sunday both flights from FRA are on the A321.
I think it's because the schedules are changing week by week.
DeleteBEG will be more than 140,000. If it was 140,000 it would mean JU had a share of 50%, which is highly unlikely last month.
DeleteI think it will be close to 200k
DeleteLjubljana is at 4x weekly since 28.3, did they not update the schedule yet?
ReplyDeleteThey really should update it... I mran it's 8th March.
Delete*mean
DeleteStrategic planning...
DeleteIt's really ludicrous for them not to have updated their timetables 20 days before summer season begins.
DeleteFrom 28.3 there is only 4 weekly flights scheduled to moscow as well; no idea what they are doing
DeleteNone of the schedule has been updated past 28.03. Why this is the case just 20 days ahead is really a question management should address.
DeleteIt's also weird there's no JU flights available through SkyScanner at all. Air Serbia should fix these issues ASAP. How they think people will buy what they sell? I thought blunders like these are past it.
DeleteTheir competition has already loaded the increases for April while they are keeping their extremely low frequencies which are making them unappealing.
DeleteLufthansa seems to be doing really well in Belgrade. This week they upgraded five flights from A320 to A321 and four are already upgraded for next week. I wonder how they are carrying so much.
DeleteRussians fly to Belgrade?
DeleteIt seems number of companies are doing well in Belgrade at the moment so JU should forget about June for expansion. June is too late, bring it forward and boost European destinations asap. They have pole position to catch Russians flying to Europe so don't let Lufthansa benefit most please.
DeleteI think part of it are Russians but a large part of it are locals. Don't forget that BEG had a good January and recovery had already begun.
DeleteTrue. BEG is growing faster than JU now.
DeleteBest part of it all is that the market is not held hostage by JU's lethargy.
DeleteJU is anything but lethargic. The most proactive ex-YU carrier, and probably a bit further afield too.
DeleteAdmin,
ReplyDeleteDo we know JU figures in February 2019?
Thanks.
It is said in the article... approx. 150.000
DeleteThat was 2020, not 2019.
DeleteFebruary 2019 was much less than in 2020. Back then they were still in cost cutting mode.
DeleteFeb 2020 was still normal month, Corona started in March 2020. That's why this is taken as a reference.
DeleteYes, but usually nobody takes first 2 months of 2020 as reference.
DeleteUsuallly all months of 2019 were taken for comparison (even by eurocontrol) measuring success (or not) airlines or airports done during pandemic.
In 2019 they had 113.000 passengers in February
DeleteThank you. It means that they had 71% of passengers comparing to February 2019.
DeleteIt is around European average.
Good result. As Europe starts ending restrictions, Air Serbia is increasing frequencies across the board.
ReplyDeleteI wonder which one of their planned routes is performing best in terms of sales.
ReplyDeleteI heard Amman is performing very well.
DeleteNice. What about ths others?
DeletePrvi letovi za Valensiju sledećeg meseca su gotovo rasprodati. Karte u jednom smeru idu i preko 40 000 din. Biznis klase rasprodate. Valensija je krenula više nego dobro.
DeleteGreat to hear. I think Spain will be very popular for Serbia this year. Barcelona is doing really well from what I hear.
DeleteWhen does Madrid resume?
DeleteApril 30
Delete19.05.
DeleteNot surprised about VLC, sales were good the last time it was announced before covid.
DeleteUbacili su i jedan let ponedeljkom. Pretpostavljam da će ukoliko prodaja karata bude dobra uvesti i taj treći nedeljni let kao što je bio slučaj sa MAD i BCN.
Delete@13,10
DeleteVLC was not announced before Covid. The destinations were AMM, ROV, KIV, LWO, GVA, FLR.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/02/air-serbias-turnaround-strategy-bears.html?m=1
No tickets were sold for VLC prior to Covid.
Tickets were sold to VLC as I remember I was looking at them. Flight was at 06.05 from BEG from what I remember.
Deletehttps://www.ekapija.com/en/news/2722896/air-serbia-to-introduce-new-routes-in-2020-flights-to-amman-chisinau
OSL, BUD and VLC never made the final list. Not enough aircraft to pull off those 3 routes. Only the 6 I wrote above ended up being launched. 2 A319's were to join for summer 2020 (and did) along with a CRJ900 which was scheduled on KBP, HEL, HAM, DBV, SJJ.
DeleteAgain no financial results.
ReplyDeleteNo one publishes financial results on a month by month basis.
DeleteWell done.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should inform the CCO that summer season begins 27th of March not 31st.
ReplyDeletelol true
DeleteThe war is increasing their numbers on all flights. The other day they had to send A319 to LJU because flight was overbooked.
ReplyDeleteThey also scheduled extra Larnaca flight
DeleteYes, this Friday. They also increased the lowest one way fare to LCA. I guess because of oil.
DeleteNot a single word about Airbus fleet expansion :(
ReplyDeleteThey will need more planes this summer, that's for sure.
DeleteMaybe wet lease B737-700 like last summer?
DeleteWet leases like last year will not cut it this year. More Airbus' will need to come. They were 2 ac short last summer and another 2 A319's have left in the mean time, which makes 4 aircraft. Plus the route expansions planned for this year should mean 5 A319's/A320's joining the fleet by June. Perhaps a conservative approach would be 3 dry leases and 2 wet for the July-September travel.
Delete@09,33
JU initially said nothing about the ATR's as well. It was reported here around 2 weeks before JU said something.
Capacity in March should be almost the same as in 2019.
ReplyDeleteThey are down 1 A320 compared to 2019.
DeleteYes, but didn't they add 2 A319s?
DeleteThey had B733's back in 2019.
Delete@11,34
DeleteThey did in 2020 (YU-APL, APM), but late last year 2 A319's were returned to lessor (YU-API, APJ).
Sounds promising
ReplyDeletesome good news
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Air Serbia
ReplyDeleteLet's hope that this growth will be reflected in the financial results as well.
ReplyDeleteThe added passengers they got from the current situation between Ukraine and Russia certainly will.
DeleteAll things considered pretty good. Number of handled passengers for first two months exceeded my expectations.
ReplyDeleteHow many passengers could they have by the end of the year?
ReplyDeleteJU thinks it will be the same as in 2019.
DeleteThat's a bit too optimistic.
DeleteAs we've seen with Covid and this war, it's very difficult to predict things in the world these days.
DeleteGood job, many airlines are in worse position than Air Serbia. Somebody is doing something right.
ReplyDeleteI think they had more luck than anything else.
DeleteLet's see how their new battles with Wizz turn out this summer on Rome, Barcelona and Nice flights.
ReplyDeleteThey have held up quite well against Wizz on routes they competed head to head.
DeleteI see Wizz Air does really, really well in BCN. I guess JU is to blame, they were quite full but refused to add more flights so Wizz Air used that to their benefit. I wouldn't be surprised if they add a third flight in summer from June.
Deletereally, really well ...
DeleteI also think they are doing well in BCN. It was the only route they resumed in February and didn't see any cuts. Good for them. Shame on JU for not boosting this route since there is enough demand.
DeleteI'm glad regional fleet renewal is finally happening.
ReplyDeleteI notice the article mentions Tirana frequency increase. How many flights has it been increased to?
ReplyDelete9 weekly
DeleteThanks
DeleteWhat about Ljubljana?
Delete10 weekly
DeleteAnybody informations about the next ATR 72-600 arriving? Registration and origin?
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious some at Air Serbia are against long haul expansion.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get that from?
DeletePrevious statements
DeleteThat's quite possible. In general, people put their own career safety ahead of risky corporate goals.
DeleteThis is pure speculation, but it possible some may choose to play it safe and support only regional and Europe growth instead of taking responsibility for failure if long haul expansion does not work out according to the plan.
^ I like that
ReplyDeleteLong haul expansion is coming this year. It has already been anounced
ReplyDeleteI was sceptical of it, but with Aeroflot out of picture they should launch China sooner rather than later.
DeleteJU hasn't announced it. Care to give details?
DeleteThey could fly Belgrade - Portoroz with new ATR42-600
ReplyDeleteWhats with the obsession for POW?
Delete- No more Yugoslavia nor a border with Italy.
- POW has to be operated with weight restrictions.
- JU serves PUY, and from June TRS, which better serves POW's catchment area, as well 16 pw LJU this summer.
- JAT didn't need ATR42's, they got rid of them quickly and replaced them with ATR72's. So why should Air Serbia complicate their fleet with a type they don't need?
ASL ne bih imala nikakvu korist od linije za POW treba se malo dalje gledati bliski istok afrika kao sto je to takodje predlagao Aerologic moj prijatelj , nadam se i da je on jos na forumu.
DeleteATR42 ne moze da zaradi ni na toj liniji ni na drugima neku veliku svotu novca i taj avion bi bio samo smetnja.
INN-NS
Trenutno je jako dobro stanje i popunjenost je jako dobra. Steta je samo sto se onda odustalo i od smanjenog broja A320 NEO koji bi sad dobro dosao. Jos ima dosta potencijala na nekim trzistima na bliskom istoku i nazalost africi koja je dosta zapostavljena. Takodje ima i dosta povoljnih uslova za dodatni A330 koji ce se svakako ostvariti uskoro, ja bi jos dalje isao i uzeo dodatni A330 ili cak A350. Naravno uz sirinje Americke, Aziske mreze uz sezonske linije zimi prema nekim egzoticnim mestima gde bi se mogkla ostvariti dobra saradnja sa balkanskim agencijama.
ReplyDeleteINN-NS
koji halucinogen pijete da imate ideje da je moguće da JU vozi nove avione, a pogotovo A350?
DeleteGospodine ako se ne slazete oko neceg mozete i malo lepse da odgovorite. I u ostalom ako ne znate trenutno su dosta povoljne cene lizinga niko nije spominjao ni nove avione. Ali svakako ne bih ni uzimao u opticaj dodatne sirokotrupce bez zanimljivih feed linija koje sam gore naveo.
DeleteINN-NS
JU is pretty fast to react. i am expecting to see increased capacities with russia
ReplyDeletethis could be a monopoly moneymaker
I happened to pass by the JU check-in desk at MXP this morning and the queues were enormous. Apparently Russians were more than 50% of the pax this morning, and they have to undergo thorough checks including some form that many pax just didn't have, so the check-in took forever (although the plane seems to have departed on time). I'm guessing JU is having the same situation across most Western European destinations. Will be interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks.
ReplyDeleteFirst Covid, now this.........2 for 1. Probably the worst period in airline industry....sadly only the beginning as this Ukraine/Russia thing will last. Dark times.
ReplyDeletehttps://finance.yahoo.com/news/explainer-sanctions-against-russia-battering-025221577.html
Chillax
DeleteAnyone have know how INI-BEG is doing?
ReplyDeleteNext to empty.
DeleteIt was ok around the holidays and now it's around 10 to 30 passengers per flight. It's basically a positioning flight and like this they at least reduce some costs from flying them plane from one airport to the other.
DeleteUpade im sekira u med.
ReplyDelete