Air Serbia will increase frequencies across its network this April as the 2022 summer season begins and the Easter holiday period, under both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, fall within the same month. The airline will begin to increase frequencies on a number of routes from mid-April and is set to launch flights between Belgrade and Valencia on April 21, as well as restore operations to three cities from the Serbian capital - Venice, Madrid and Krasnodar. Although services to Valencia will run twice per week, the airline will maintain three weekly rotations during its first week due to the Easter holiday. On the other hand, the resumption of flights to Krasnodar will depend on the airport’s reopening by Russian authorities. It has been closed since late February due to the war in Ukraine and its proximity to the warzone.
During April, Tivat will boast the most frequencies within Air Serbia’s network from its hub in Belgrade, followed by Zurich, Podgorica and Paris. The only destination on which frequencies will fluctuate throughout the month will be Oslo, with operations peaking in mid-April at four per week, before being decreased back to three weekly rotations. The Serbian carrier will also run two weekly flights from Niš to Cologne, Hahn, Istanbul and Ljubljana, in addition to the domestic Belgrade service, while from Kraljevo, the airline will maintain operations to Turkey’s largest city. Overall, from the Serbian capital, Air Serbia will serve 39 destinations during the month of April.
Air Serbia Belgrade operations in April
Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, frequencies are subject to change. The Serbian carrier plans to further grow its weekly number of flights throughout its network in May and June. It will also introduce new destinations from Belgrade to Amman, Sochi and Trieste on June 1, Lyon and Hanover on June 3, Bari on June 5, Bologna and Nuremberg on June 6, Salzburg on June 7, Palma on June 11 and Rijeka on June 15. Furthermore, new routes from Niš to Athens, as well as from Kraljevo to Tivat will be inaugurated on June 15.
Good to see growth across the board although frequencies on some routes, particularly in the region are quite low.
ReplyDeleteTheir regional routes like Sofia, Bucharest, Thessaloniki are all times to operate on days when their focus is on transfer traffic.
DeleteZRH, CDG, TGD and TIV seem to be the best performing routes for Air Serbia throughout the year.
ReplyDeleteI still don't understand the logic of not resuming Tel Aviv
ReplyDeleteI really wonder that FRA is still kept in on 5 weekly although we see later on that Air Serbia plans to increase it to 7 weekly.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that Lufthansa is not making their life easy. They are boosting flights to 14 weekly and they do have a very convenient schedule. Air Serbia has always struggled with slots over there so let's hope that this covid crisis helps them get better ones.
DeleteAlso, don't forget that from April Wizz Air is resuming Hahn flights. I am sure some local demand will shift to their flights.
We see here that Air Serbia is returning to pre-Covid frequencies on most of the markets and in FRA we have a situation that in last at least 10 years Lufthansa was flying 14 weekly (except between mid January until mid February), but despite it Air Serbia kept FRA on 7 weekly. I remember that back in 2014 they planned even to fly to FRA 10 weekly but they did not get available slots for morning flights.
DeleteThe situation in FRA now regarding to the slots is much more relaxed, but despite it JU keeps it on only 5 weekly. One of the reasons could be Wizz flying from HHN and you are right about it, but I believe that much more important fact is that Lufthansa simply offers much more to transfer passengers from BEG via FRA than Air Serbia can offer from FRA via BEG.
Even though FRA has been 14 weekly for a long time now, they have been increasing capacity. Just before covid, Lufthansa planned double daily A321 during the summer months.
DeleteI think they refrained from adding more flights to FRA as they focused on MUC-BEG. This route has nicely matured and on top of transfers, Lufthansa has a healthy dose of local traffic. I suppose we might see more flights to FRA once MUC goes triple daily A320 during the summer.
I do believe there is room for three airlines but it makes sense that LH is the dominant player. After all, FRA is their fortress hub.
Can they undertake all these increases with current fleet?
ReplyDeleteI think April schedule can. But from June they will definitely need more planes.
DeleteŠto znči da u Aprilu možemo očekivati nove A139,320 u floti.
ReplyDeleteNice to see Oslo up to even 4 per week (even if it is for a week). Considering the competition (Norwegian and Wizz Air) not bad at all.
ReplyDeleteThis route has performed really well for them, especially considering they launched it in the middle of Covid.
DeleteNorwegian diaspora is loyal :D
DeleteSeems like demand for OSL flights is quite large. Norwegian is also boosting BEG from 2 to 3 weekly in April. They plan 4 flights from April. I suppose they have transfers from their domestic and regional market so that helps.
DeleteWill be interesting to see how Wizz Air performs here. Filling that A321 won't be an easy task.
Will the charter flights begin already next month?
ReplyDeleteYes, some charter flights are already launching next month, especially around Easter.
DeleteYes. Hurgada has been added from second part of April into the schedule.
DeleteNice. I assume there will be quite a few charters around May 1 holidays too.
DeleteWhich of these routes will be at pre-pandemic levels?
ReplyDeleteParis, New York, Barcelona, Madrid, Tirana, Zurich, Tivat, Podgorica.
DeleteOh and St Petersburg too. With Moscow they are close to pre-Covid. They used to have 10 weekly, now 8 weekly.
DeleteNot bad at all
DeleteMore routes will be at pre-Covid levels by June.
DeleteLet's hope they increase Moscow during summer.
DeleteActually given it's the A330 operating most of the days capacity should be higher.
They also have A330 to LED today.
Yes but unfortunately they are not able to properly manage these treats, look at the delays impacting the entire schedule.
Delete* threats
DeleteBut BRU! This route just can't work (same situation during Jat Airways times)
ReplyDeleteEven in summer 2019 this route was just 4 per week.
DeleteBRU is for politicians only. Very few others.
DeleteBEG-BRU performance illustrate the best relations represented by its passengers ;)
Brussels was always a very difficult market from Belgrade. Back in the day Jat used to operate it via AMS while even Wizz Air tried CRL but they eventually cut it and never mentioned it again.
DeleteBrussels and Charleroi have/had dozen of flights from both Lju and Zag. It proofs that until EU integration would increase number of Serbians working for the EU and all other organizations, lobbying and consultancy companies, AirSerbia nor anyone else cannot go much more on this route.
DeleteSo basically we can call it parasite express, flights which are subsidized for EU bureaucrats making huge amounts of money.
DeleteIt's important to have a direct connection to BRU from BEG at least 3-4 weekly even if it does not perform very well.
DeleteIt's not important if you are not in the EU like Serbia.
DeleteFor us air links to Paris or Berlin are much more important than Brussels. Overpaid bureaucrats can connect at one of the hubs.
I think it's important because Serbia aims to be a member of this club which is based in Brussels.
DeleteVery nice developments from JU this summer.
ReplyDeleteThey need to find a way to improve their sales so that their summer seasonal routes can survive the whole year.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on Valencia route. I really hope it works out.
ReplyDeleteI'm no fanboy but this seems like a respectable network in these times. Nice to see a lot of increases.
ReplyDeleteDo they have more LHR slots?
ReplyDeleteYes they own 9 LHR slots during summer.
DeleteWhat happened to Nice? Is JU becoming like Wizz, opening new routes left right center with fancy announcements and silently closing them a few weeks later?
ReplyDeleteNice is a summer seasonal route. Air Serbia resumes Nice on 1st of May.
DeleteThe table in the article is only for April.
DeleteBut it will be interesting to see if JU and W6 can coexist on the Nice route. Wizz starts Nice next Tuesday.
Delete@Anon 9:25, Initially it was supposed to start 14. April, hence my question
DeleteYou are right. I just checked. Well we will see. I know the Nice flights in the past used to have quite a few Russian transfers which won't be happening this year.
DeleteWhy being malicious, Anon 9.23.
DeleteFirst, article is about April, so Nica was not even planned.
Second, even if it is true that Nica has been silently closed, and it isn't, it would be just 1 route like that and now "left, right, center"!
Try to think positive, to talk positive, to be positive and world will be better for you, my friend.
And what about Malta?
DeleteOh I like the pic with the new look BEG airport behind :)
ReplyDeleteSame but what's up with the engine paint?
DeleteThey replaced part of the engine. When the plane goes for bigger check it will be painted.
DeleteThat sounds lazy. Not a good image for the airline.
DeleteA worse image for an airline would be for many flights to be cancelled because one of your aircraft is sitting having its engine painted. When there is a mechanical issue, it is fixed as quickly as possible. Painting can be done later.
DeleteI'm surprised Ohrid didn't work out for them a few years back. Would be nice to see them back.
ReplyDeleteOver the next two years, Microsoft is moving some of their German and Danish positions to Belgrade. They already signed a lease for Usce 2, they took the whole building, all 22 floors which is 30.000 m2.
ReplyDeleteBlackRock which is headquartered in New York is also expanding in Belgrade. They leased three floors (5.000 m2) in the new AFI tower which should be completed this year.
These two alone should stimulate additional demand for flights from Belgrade to the US. Hopefully BlackRock's expansion in Belgrade provides JU with additional corporate traffic to New York. Then again, knowing what JU's corporate program is all about, I wouldn't be surprised if these guys fly on KLM or Lufthansa.
This could be a great opportunity for JU to get some additional business and to encourage B6 to actually sign a codeshare agreement with them.
Nice. Hope JU pays attention to that. Could be very good news for their business class loads to JFK.
DeleteIndeed especially since business class already has good loads. Hopefully this uptick in corporate demand boosts yields outside the summer season so that they can at least have three weekly.
DeleteIn total 44 routes just in April. Meanwhile Croatia Airlines, a national airline for a country with a huge number of tourists will have 46 routes in peak of summer! I'm not writing this to compare whose is bigger but just to show my complete disappointment at OU and how little it has done for its country.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Air Serbia
DeleteHow dare you @An. 09.34? You should have written Bravo Hrvatska instead LOL.
DeletePeople always expect OU to rush in with new routes for upcoming summer season.
Delete... We need more studies first... hahaha ...
The only thing missing from BEG is direct flights to Lisbon and Dublin, and then the airport is pretty much covered evenly across Europe.
ReplyDeleteDublin would be a good destination for 2pw flights.
DeleteI don't think so.
DeleteDon't forget that Serbian citizens need visa for Ireland and transfer possibilities through Ireland are not that attractive as through Schengen airports.
Agree with anon 09:41.
DeleteAll these reasons are correct plus there is no big Serbian diaspora in Ireland.
Just for the fun of it, BEG should reach out to FR with an offer to launch Porto flights. They should give them whatever they are asking for.
DeleteBEG-Portugal seems to be a market that just won't work. So find someone who has low costs and low fares and they might stimulate someone else to launch BEG-LIS.
Wizz planned LIS in 2020. Most of the destinations they planned that year they didn't realise in their expansion in 2021 and 2022. But maybe we see them start in 2023. Portugal has had very strict entry requirements for Serbian citizens (and I still think you can't enter with Chinese vaccine).
DeleteFrom their government website:
DeleteAccepted vaccines authorized by the European Medicines Agency - Comirnaty (BioNTech and Pfizer), Nuvaxovid (Novavax), Spikevax (Moderna), Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca), COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen (https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory/overview/public-health-threats/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/treatments-vaccines/covid-19-vaccines) - and Sinopharm (Vero Cell), Sinovac (Coronavac), Bharat Biotech International (Covaxin), Verity Pharmaceuticals, Fiocruz, R-Pharm.
So all vaccines seem to be accepted. Serbia has the EU Covid Certificate valid and non-essential travel is allowed. Those who are not vaccinated can get a PCR or antigen test done.
Portugal is fully open for Serbian travelers. Shame that airlines are being racist and don't want to connect the two countries.
Racist?
DeleteI hope that JU's long term plan is to at least fly double daily to ex-yu airports.
ReplyDeleteNot only Ex-yu.
DeleteFor all Balkan airports.
DeleteStill hoped to see BWK in their schedule considering the most covid regulations have been cancelled and it's close to Serbia
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to see JU serve SPU at least a full summer season.
DeleteSounds promising
ReplyDeleteThis will be an ideal year for JU. New routes, new aircraft...
ReplyDeleteBut no long haul expansion it seems.
DeleteI wouldn't exactly say ideal year since we are still facing uncertainty with the virus and the way the Ukraine war will turn out.
DeleteI doubt we will see long haul expansion until 2023 or even 2024.
DeleteComments back in 2016:
DeleteI doubt we will see long haul expansion until 2017 or even 2018.
Comments back in 2018:
I doubt we will see long haul expansion until 2019 or even 2020.
You get the picture.
Air Serbia long haul expansion is dead. Air Canada getting 26 A321XLR in 2024 means another nail in the coffin. AC could operate Toronto-Belgrade seasonal flights with XLR and easily beat JU A332 on cost.
DeleteGame over for Air Serbia. They had an opportunity but blew it.
I am not sure A321XLR can make it from Toronto to Belgrade, especially not when you factor in a full load, winds and the petrol the plane has to carry. XLR is best suited on route up to 7 hours and I believe YYZ-BEG is close to 9.
DeleteIt can make it for summer season.
DeleteJU frequencies are still quite low on most routes across the board.
ReplyDeleteDemand is still relatively low across Europe. But things are picking up.
DeleteThe demand is at 75% in Europe. I truly don't know if JU is at 75% of 2019 capacity.
DeleteAccording to Eurocontrol traffic in first 2 months of 2022 is on 69,5% of 2019 (January 68%, February 71%).
DeleteJanuary is long gone, during the last week (week 11) the traffic in Europe was at 74.3% of 2019
DeleteGood to see Air Serbia growing
ReplyDeleteAnyone knows what's going on with TLV? Did they give up from reintroducing those flights?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what are the current restrictions for entering Israel.
DeleteAnd which pre-Covid routes still haven't been restarted?
ReplyDeleteTel Aviv and Cairo are the only ones. For Helsinki and Kiev they said the routes were terminated (back in 2020).
DeleteThere is also Beirut but that one was terminated before covid due to the deteriorating economic situation in Lebanon.
DeleteI think Amman is a good substitute for Beirut.
DeleteIn case of adjusted timetable for morning flights SJJ has potential for a 7 weekly flights.
ReplyDeleteSJJ and other Balkan airports should go double daily at least in summer time.
DeleteSJJ could easily be double daily. Second daily could be a mixed morning/evening rotation.
DeleteAs for other Balkan routes, they would attract alot more O&D pax if prices were not sooo high. There is no justifying the fact that a family of 4 can often travel cheaper to places such as LTN or NYO compared to the price of 1 ticket to SJJ, SKP or SOF. Looking at fares for almost all flights next month, BEG-SOF return without luggage is over 21.000 din! BEG-SJJ 19.000 din! BEG-SKP 12.000 din! I'm not suggesting to sell 10€ fares like Ryan Air, but their prices are waaay too high for their regional destinations. I also don't understand the logic behind Montenegro being the only market not to have Economy Light fares.
Bring some 50-60€ return Economy Light fares and you will see demand rise as well as frequencies.
Exactly. Or don't lower prices but provide some family promo. Aegean had month-long promo that included even summer bookings with all the kids travelling free with 2 paid tickets for parents.
DeleteOr they could have 80 eur two-way basic fare price policy for entire regional network, that's fair price. And cut water and cookies for those flights, who cares about cookies when flying 45min.
During Yugoslavia, from Sarajevo, JAT operated 2 daily, morning and evening to Belgrade, mostly DC-9 /B737, two daily, morning and evening, to Zagreb, mostly on DC-9, 4 weekly to Ljubljana, DC-9 /B727, 4 weekly to Skopje, DC-9 /B727, two weekly to Rijeka, DC-9, for few years, not all the time. Pan Adria /Transadria, while existed, operated F27/Metro to Maribor and Pristina, up to five weekly. Adria operated to Ljubljana, up to four weekly, DC-9 /MD80, and to Zagreb, two weekly, DC-9 /MD80, international only, to connect onto Germany "workers" flights.
Delete@pozdrav iz Rijeke
DeleteHow were the fares at the time? Was traveling by plane affordable for the average Yugoslav citizen?
JATBEGMEL, regarding your 15:19 comment, you are terribly right about the high O&D rates to the neighbouring Balkan capitals. Yet again, for JU it will be a loss to sell tickets for 40€ using an ATR. I think they rely heavily on transfer traffic which is a mistake because many people are eager to make a weekend break or even a short business trip to Belgrade. Why not make it versatile to visit both Belgrade and transfer to fly to New York for instance?
DeletePlus the distances to most Balkan capitals are "laughable". Look at Ryanair, they are very quietly launching 2 weekly service say between ZAG and TGD or SOF and OTP with big planes. I do not see why JU cannot do the same yet again they offer super cheap oneway tickets to say CDG or ARN via BEG, which on my opinion is a mistake because not everyone wants to go France or Sweden.
BEG-OTP is a roughly 600km, BEG-SOF is less than 400km, BEG-SKP is 430km which are all short distances comapred to European standards but the prices from/to BEG remain high. Then they blame the people why they use cars or buses.
@JATBEGMEL
DeleteTravelling by plane was affordable. Very roughly speaking, ticket prices for the plane were some 50% more expensive compared to bus or train. Domestic services were not charged at commercial prices and were operated at deliberate and planned loss, with purposes of having (at that time) excellent connectivity, as well as feeding of its long haul and euromediterranean network, which was profitable and "covering" the losses of domestic operations
Wasn't Ljubljana supposed to go to 12 weekly? Or it will happen later in summer season?
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't ASL buy Air Pink and use its planes on ultra thin regional flights or to deploy it on additional frequencies? They have the perfect planes.
ReplyDeleteCosts to high on such planes & flights - that 's why they operate private charter, not public scheduled
Delete