Air Serbia will reduce its operations from Belgrade to Russia due to pressure from abroad, Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vučić, has said. He noted frequencies will be restored to previous levels, indicating flights between Belgrade and Moscow will likely run seven to eight times per week instead of the current fifteen weekly operations. The Serbian carrier has seen a significant surge in bookings from the Russian market after it became one of the only European carriers still able to operate into the country, leading it to add an additional seven weekly rotations to Moscow. The increase in demand has also had a ripple effect on the remainder of its network, filling up flights to Europe, particularly Cyprus, France, Switzerland and Italy. Foreign carriers flying out of Belgrade have also benefited from increased loads. Air Serbia is yet to revise its schedules.
A number of foreign carriers continue to operate into Moscow. Turkish Airlines has also increased its capacity to the Russian capital, while Emirates, Qatar Airways, Gulf Air and Etihad Airways continue to maintain services to Moscow. Finland's state-owned railway operator VR has said its two daily trains from St Petersburg to the Finnish capital of Helsinki are fully booked with 700 passengers arriving daily. Due to Russian Covid-19 restrictions, only Finnish and Russian citizens are allowed on the trains. The Finnish rail operator is negotiating with Russian authorities to allow other nationalities on board, as well as the introduction of a third daily train service. However, none have received as much scrutiny for their continued operations to Russia, nor garnered as much international media attention, as Air Serbia’s fifteen weekly flights from Belgrade to Moscow. Last Friday, an anonymous e-mail warned of a bomb on board one of Air Serbia’s flights to Moscow, with the author of the hoax threat expressing their dismay at Serbia’s relations with Russia.
Commenting on the matter, President Vučić said, “They say capacity has been doubled, that we are profiting from Ukrainian blood … The truth is that instead of one flight we have two. The way they are going on about it, you would think we have increased flights from 100 to 200. They are not criticising those that are members of NATO and that are partially in Europe, who have thirty times more flights than us, like Turkey. Why aren’t they criticising Gulf countries that have fifteen times more flights to Russia compared to us, instead, they are begging them for oil”? He continued, “No problem, we are going back to the old schedule with one flight per day, so no one can criticise us for making money. Is 30.000 euros an issue? Ok, no problem. We will keep these double frequencies for another five or six days as people have tickets already booked and then we will go down to one flight per day. Then they will be happy again”.
On the other hand, some carriers, which are not restricted from flying to Russia, have cancelled their flights to the country, including Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines and Kazakhstan’s Air Astana. Both have cited issues over securing insurance for their aircraft while in Russia. Last week, Air Serbia was forced to suspend online ticket sales in Russia, directing customers to buy tickets through local tour operators. “Due to the suspension of servicing Visa and Mastercard cards in the Russian Federation, payments with cards issued by Russian banks are currently not possible. Air Serbia is working on finding an alternative option for online payments. In the meantime, you can buy tickets from our partners”, the company said.
That is bad news for JU.
ReplyDeleteYou don't say.
DeleteReally? A 3 year old knows that... Smh
DeleteEven worse news would be if a JU aircraft going tech while in SVO and needs parts. Short-term profits over long-term planning and sustainability is not worth the risk. Serbia's future is with the rest of Europe and not with countries that cherish autocrats and dictators.
DeleteSam +1000
DeleteA small risk for high yields. And how often do planes go tech during a rotation?
DeleteSam, other airlines operating to Russia are managing same risks regarding tech issue and parts. Apparently some are also preparing and finding alternative to insurance coverage changes.
DeleteKeep in mind Serbia is supporting integrity of Ukraine, voted against Russia in the UN, accepts refugees from Ukraine and considers Crimea as part of Ukraine.
President of Serbia went on a record asking current government of Ukraine to do the same thing, support integrity of Serbia and condemn 1999 NATO war against Serbia. Pre 2014, pro-Russia regime did it but the current government of Ukraine did not. That seems to be the trigger for Serbia to introduce sanctions against Russia and stop those flights.
Where is all the outrage at Finnish railways for profiting from the war and increasing services? Guess it wasn’t on the agenda.
ReplyDeleteFinish railways haven't increased their service though.
DeleteJU not only doubled frequencies but is also using the A330.
It's only outrageous if the company isn't from the EU.
Delete@9.07 Their CEO said they are trying to get approval for third train service. So obviously they are going to increase the service and would have done it if it wasn't down to bureaucracy.
DeleteTurkish has been shuttling 777-300s to Vnukovo like mad as of late. I guess they're also immune to criticism... won't even mention the Gulf carriers...
DeleteWhy is anyone surprised? This is the same EU that at the height of covid crisis banned export of medical equipment to Serbia.
DeleteThe way Serbia gets treated in general is a textbook example of double standards in international law.
DeleteLuckily Serbia has realized this and we are adjusting accordingly.
DeleteSerbia is an EU member candidate.
DeleteTurkey, UAE and Qatar are not.
Turkey is an EU member candidate and a NATO member.
DeletePlus both Qatar and the UAE are part of that NATO Middle Eastern project.
DeleteWell ok, If you wanna get technical.
DeleteYes sure, NATO membership seems to be a technicality for EU...
DeleteTurkey is as likely to be allowed to join the EU as Russia.
DeleteYet it is celebrated its 70 year NATO anniversary last month.
DeleteSerbia should remove
Deletetheir candidateship to EU and then do whatever they want. Turkey and Gulf countries are not candidates and do whatever they want. Sanctions come from EU - not NATO. Serbia thinkS they can have close tieS to EU, Russia and China and be immune to pressure coming from all sides. Time to chose a side in this new world era.
Anon 10:01
DeleteYou don`t have any option to choose anything now - look at the map, and it says it all.
@ anon 9:48
DeleteSerbia too.
EU candidate status means take the millions we give you and PLAY BY THE RULES!
DeleteWhere are those millions?
DeleteThey should finally lease that second A330 and deploy it to Moscow daily. That way one daily flight will be like two capacity wise.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a good idea. Afterwards they can use the plan for long haul flights.
DeleteThey have been using the A330 much more in the last couple of weeks. Apart from Moscow and New York, they have also sent it to Istanbul.
DeleteIt was expected it would come to an end at some point
ReplyDeleteI am sorry, but the speech and reaction of Vučić are ridiculous. Did he really expect that the entire continent will remain quiet in a war situation like this? ASL can make money by launching special charters or discovering new markets. Nobody prevents them from generating profit, but definitely the current way is not the best...
ReplyDeleteThey seem to be very quiet about Finnish railways.
DeleteThey are quiet on many different things like the Finnish railways, Turkish Airlines ... it's all politics at the end of the day.
DeleteWonder how many people from Russia then connect from HEL?
DeleteNo one says Serbian Railways cannot launch operations to Russia same as Finnish Railways.
DeleteOn the other hand, airlines are different thing and different sanctions are applied.
If they did, they would also be criticized.
DeleteNo, they wouldnt because rail services are still alowed in comparasion to airline ones.
DeleteOh of course they would. It has nothing to do if it's a train or a plane. The Guardian didn't fabricate a whole false story (they later had to apologies for) about how rich Russians are using Finnish trains to get to the EU but they did for another airline.
DeleteNo, they wouldnt because there are NO restrictions for train services.
DeleteOn the other hand, there are restictions for airlines so neither Finnair or some other EU company is allowed to operate flights.
Guardian? Who cares about them. They have 0 power to put restictions.
There are no restrictions on airlines outside the EU either.
DeleteYeah, and?
DeleteFinnair and other EU airlines are not able to operate to Russia not because EU imposed a ban on airlines in the EU to fly to Russia but because Russia banned them.
DeleteIf anyone was in any doubts about who is running and making decisions in Air Serbia - this article certainly clarifies it for everyone
ReplyDeleteOf course he is going to make a comment since this is a political decision. The business decision was to increase the flights, which was done by the management.
Delete+1000
DeleteHe normally comments on business decisions as well.
DeleteToday's two flights from SVO to BEG are sold out.
ReplyDeleteIs Mr Vucic for real??!!! What is he talking about??!!! Is he a president of a respected country or not??!!! Is this excuse that he said for real, or the main reason is that Russians can't pay their tickets with credit cards for the time being??!!!
ReplyDeleteTruth be told, he said nothing wrong.
Delete+10000 Bel Cielo. Hard and surreal to believe what he said. I had the same reaction as yours.
DeleteThere were numerous articles & posts on social media across Europe in last 2-3 days regarding Air Serbia flights to Moscow. So, yes, political pressure to scale down this is enormous.
DeleteI don't say there are no issues with credit cards in Russia but there are certainly ways to get around it, as we see Turkish is still flying....
When he talks about 30,000 EUR, is that 30,000 EUR profit per flight?
ReplyDeleteI think that is revenues per flight.
DeleteWhet a teenage kind of reaction from a president of a country! That's why politicians must stay away from commercial activities, even though the institutions belong to the government. Apparently once you are too much involved in (e.g. announcing new routes before the airline's management, defending the airline's hopeless financials etc.) you lose the perception and start talking like a kid whose toy has been taken from his hands.
ReplyDeleteIt would make sense if this statement comes from the airline's CEO or some other executive, but the president of a nation? Talking about 30,000 Euros the airline makes? Doesn't look good.
+1
DeleteVery interesting about what issues the President chooses to involve himself with.
DeleteNot that I'm defending him, but he made this statement as part of a two hour TV interview where he was asked about it... What was he supposed to say?
DeleteI wholeheartedly disagree with you. As long as the government is covering losses made by JU, they have every right to speak out when injustice is being committed. After all, this was the perfect opportunity for JU to reduce losses which means less tax payers money would be spent on them.
DeleteThis is not just a direct attack at JU but also a direct attack on Serbia's foreign policy. We have a saying here in Serbia: село гори а баба се чешља.
EU is being ravaged by inflation, factories are closing because they can't pay their bills, GDP growth for the EU is being downgraded, bookings throughout the EU are collapsing as we've seen yesterday ... and while all this is happening the EU is wasting its time with Air Serbia's 15 weekly flights to Moscow.
My 2 cents. I think he is very shrewd politician who plays to his base like fiddle. Elections are coming, he might feel the heat in Belgrade so lets ramp up ' poor us vs. mighty EU'. We do not know the background spin on this. If true, it reinforces my belief that Serbia is wasting time in working to join EU as they don't want us in. Frankly, we should stay out. Double standards non stop, so fu...them.
ReplyDeleteIf not true, then he is doing 'master spin' before elections, grabbing what he can to ensure he keeps lock on elections, more specifically Belgrade as the main price.
Russian credit card issue could also be a reason, and his response is even better, 'window dressing' it with 'West pressure' against us.
He's not making anything up.
DeleteDoubt it.
ReplyDeleteIf anything capacity should be increased.
It may be smart decision to lease A380 and keep the from the crazy EU required five time per week frequency. The capacity will remain the same as today, and EU bureaucrats will be happy.
ReplyDeleteBecause nobody will figure out that they are using a much bigger plane.
DeleteThey don't seem to have figured out that TK is flying 4 daily with B777 to Moscow and 2 daily to St Petersburg. Or that Finland is bringing in 700 Russians per day direct to the EU with their trains.
DeleteOh the EU very well knows how many flights Turkish has to RU, but Serbia is no Turkey in terms of foreign policy.
DeleteSo if you are from Russia you are now not allowed to fly according to some?
ReplyDeleteSeems so.
DeleteYou are free to fly to non western countries or domestically.
DeleteWars have consequences.
They have no consequences if the West starts a war.
DeleteNon western countries are perfectly free to sunction them.
DeleteMeanwhile, Saudi Arabian Airlines launching flights to Moscow tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThey actually brought foreword the launch. They schedule flights to start in April (before the war) but have now decided to start them a month early).
DeleteI hope the A320 comes out of maintenance soon, at least that can increase some of the numbers until another A330 can be procured.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of you who are citing double standards of the EU and ignoring NATO member and EU candidate country Turkey.
EU wants Serbia if it aligns with EU various policies - like any other members.
DeleteTurkey is an EU candidate in name only.
Delete@anon 10:59
DeleteThe way that EU treats Serbia, we will be a candidate for next 50 years too.
@10,12
DeleteWord is that it'll be in maintenance until the 18th.
March flights to/from Russia by foreign airlines
ReplyDeleteAir Arabia
Moscow - Sharjah (UAE), 7 flights per week, plus several additional flights in March
Yekaterinburg – Sharjah (UAE), 2 flights per week from 30.03.2022
Air India
Moscow – Delhi (India), 2 flights per week
Air Manas
Moscow – Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), 5 flights per week from 28.03.2022
Moscow – Osh (Kyrgyzstan), 3 flights per week from 30.03.2022
Yekaterinburg – Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), 1 flight per week, from 30.03.2022 – 2 flights per week
Yekaterinburg – Osh (Kyrgyzstan), 1 flight per week
Air Serbia
Moscow - Belgrade (Serbia), 15 flights per week (reduction to 7 flights per week announced, dates not yet clear)
Armenia
Moscow (Vnukovo) - Yerevan (Armenia), 14 flights
Moscow (Sheremetyevo) - Yerevan (Armenia), 3 flights per week
Voronezh - Yerevan (Armenia), 1 flight per week from March 27
Belavia
Moscow - Minsk (Belarus), 35 flights per week
St. Petersburg - Minsk (Belarus), 14 flights per week
El Al
Moscow - Tel Aviv (Israel), 14 flights per week
Emirates
Moscow - Dubai (UAE), 14 flights per week, from 04/03/2022 - 7 flights per week
St. Petersburg - Dubai (UAE), 7 flights per week
Etihad Airways
Sheremetyevo (Moscow) - Abu Dhabi (UAE), 7 flights per week
FlyOne Armenia
Moscow - Yerevan (Armenia), 5 flights per week
Fly Arystan
Yekaterinburg – Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan), 1 flight per week
Yekaterinburg – Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan), 1 flight per week
Gulf Air
Moscow – Bahrain (Bahrain), 4 flights per week
Mahan Air
Moscow - Tehran (Iran), 1 flight per week, 3-5 flights announced at the end of March
Qatar Airways
Moscow - Doha (Qatar), 6 flights per week
St. Petersburg - Doha (Qatar), 3 flights per week
Qanot Sharq
Moscow - Tashkent (Uzbekistan), 3 flights per week
Qazaq Air
Yekaterinburg – Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan), 3 flights per week
Novosibirsk – Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan), 3 flights per week
Omsk – Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan), 4 flights per week
Kazan – Aktobe (Kazakhstan), 2 flights per week
Royal Air Morocco
Moscow - Casablanca (Morocco), 1 flight per week
Turkish Airlines
Moscow - Istanbul (Turkey), more than 30 flights per week
St. Petersburg - Istanbul (Turkey), 14 flights per week
Ekaterinburg – Istanbul (Turkey), 3 flights per week
Turkmenistan Airlines
Moscow – Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), 7 flights per week from 03/27/2022
Scat
Moscow - Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan), 2 flights per week, from 15.03.2022 - 5 flights per week
Moscow - Aktau (Kazakhstan), 1 flight per week, from 03/16/2022 - 2 flights per week
Moscow - Shymkent (Kazakhstan), 1 flight per week, from 03/30/2022 - 2 times a week, from April - 3 flights per week
Moscow - Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan), 2 flights per week from 03/15/2022, in April - 7 times a week
Grozny - Aktau (Kazakhstan), 1 flight per week
Makhachkala - Aktau (Kazakhstan), 1 flight per week
Somon Air
Moscow - Dushanbe (Tajikistan), 7 flights per week
Moscow - Khujand (Tajikistan), 2 flights per week, from 29.03.2022 - 3 flights per week
Moscow - Kulyab (Tajikistan), 2 flights per week, from 28.03.2022 - 7 flights per week
St. Petersburg - Dushanbe (Tajikistan), 2 flights per week
Yekaterinburg - Dushanbe (Tajikistan), 1 flight per week
Ekaterinburg – Khujand (Tajikistan), 1 flight per week
SriLankan Airlines
Moscow – Colombo (Sri Lanka), 2 flights per week
Uzbekistan Airways
DeleteMoscow - Andijan (Uzbekistan), 1 flight per week, from 30.03.2022 - 2 times a week
Moscow - Bukhara (Uzbekistan), 3 flights per week, from 27.03.2022 - 4 flights per week
Moscow - Karshi (Uzbekistan), 1 flight per week
Moscow - Navoi (Uzbekistan), 1 flight per week
Moscow - Namangan (Uzbekistan), 5 flights per week, from 27.03.2022 - 3 flights per week
Moscow - Nukus (Uzbekistan), 2 flights per week, from 29.03.2022 - 1 time per week
Moscow - Samarkand (Uzbekistan), 3 flights per week, from 03/26/2022 - 5 flights per week
Moscow - Tashkent (Uzbekistan), 14 flights per week, plus additional flights in March, from 27.03.2022 - 16 flights per week
Moscow - Termez (Uzbekistan), 3 flights per week, from 30.03.2022 - 2 flights per week
Moscow - Urgench (Uzbekistan), 3 flights per week, from 28.03.2022 - 2 flights per week
Moscow - Fergana (Uzbekistan), 2 flights per week
St. Petersburg - Tashkent (Uzbekistan), 7 flights per week
St. Petersburg - Samarkand (Uzbekistan), 1 flight per week
Kazan - Tashkent (Uzbekistan), 5 flights per week
Ekaterinburg – Tashkent (Uzbekistan), 2 flights per week
Novosibirsk - Tashkent (Uzbekistan), 5 flights per week
Krasnoyarsk - Namangan (Uzbekistan), from March 29, 1 flight per week
From April:
Royal Jordanian plans to start flying between Domodedovo (Moscow) and Amman (Jordan) from April 26 (2 flights per week).
Oman Air announces Domodedovo (Moscow) - Muscat (Oman) flights from May 1 (7 flights per week).
Good to know JU is the only one that is problematic lol.
DeleteThanks for the list. Very interesting
DeleteAnon 10:17
DeleteNo one says that JU is problematic. It is reasonable if you restricted Russian and EU airlines to operate flights between two entities that you should also restricts usage of your airspace for flights to Russia.
From all these airlines only JU is using EU airspace for flights to Russia.
EU did not ban use of its airspace for flights to Russia.
DeleteAnd I endorse the integrity of the list. Highly deserved by Air Serbia :)
Delete@10,36
DeleteTK uses EU airspace into VKO and LED.
So they will probably also be asked the same.
DeleteHahahahhah sure they will. I still haven't seen a single article by righteous European media organizations written about them.
DeleteOh, no. A tabloid said something, it sure is immportant.
DeleteI think demand for these Moscow flights will reduce once everyone that can leave Russia does so. The sanctions, inflation and inability to do international transactions will have an impact on any future movement of people.
ReplyDeleteYes, highly likely.
DeleteTrue dat!
DeleteOn the BBC they said that Russia is already facing a brain drain and intellectuals are leaving the country for good. As usual, the richer will flee first followed by the poorer ones. but yes, demand will fall for sure.
DeleteSo based on the comparisons here:
ReplyDelete1. Air Serbia has a disproportional amount of traffic to Russia.
2. The only country that is a serious EU-candidate (I am sorry for Turkey, but I believe this is the EU point of vies)
3. The EU therefore cares more about traffic from Air Serbia, than perhaps Turkish or SCAT or FlyArystan
4. I completely agree with SF, elections are coming. Leaders all over the ExYu region will try to reinforce their position before these elections.
5. If the argument is that the EU is not responding to Turkish and other airlines, you're calling the EU hypocrite. I believe that could be true.
However, it still doesn't justify the (moral) decision to double flights.
That's child politics. He was doing it, so I am doing it too! come on: this is our Balkan flaw people. This is why we aren't progressing the way we could and perhaps should.
Air Serbia doubled sh*t.
DeleteThey simply replaced Aeroflot.
Frequencies are the same counting that Aeroflot was forced to pull out.
Like this Russia will become simply inaccessible to Serbian citizens cause fares of the potential (still don't believe they'll do it) one daily flight will simply be astronomical.
TBH, I think he is just making a show for the media. According to the schedule, JU flights will go on as initially planned (15 per week). Wouldn't be the first time his words do not reflect reality xD
ReplyDeleteIt isn't. From the 27th of March, there are 8 weekly flights, as before.
DeleteBut isn't that when summer schedule kicks in? JU hasn't been very diligent with finalizing the summer schedule.
DeleteIt is finalized. Read the article.
DeleteThe EU is complaining about Air Serbia flights, which are mostly EU residents evacuating from Russia. Who's crazy here?
ReplyDeleteNo security insurance issue for the Air Serbia aircraft(s) flying to Russia?
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone here really believe him when he says that Air Serbia will cut back the number of flights? Is anything ever ever done when he promises it in a childish way? No usually what happens is exactly the opposite so I expect the number of flights to be increased.
ReplyDeleteThe number of flights are already reduced in the booking system.
DeleteVerovatno i bolje resenje kao sto je i presednik rekao, zato sto je neverovatno koliko su zapadno evropske novine pisale o tome , cak su i spominjali sankicje za ASL sto je naravno suludo.Ali po mom misljenju nece dugo biti tolika potraznja za tolikim brojem letova.
DeleteTreba se pokusati vise fokusirati na trzsita kao sto su : IKA,BGW,MCT,EVN i EBL cak i neke africke destinacije poput NSI ili ABJ.
Uz drugi A330 i pojacavanje letova ima trenutno dosta A319 povoljno jako ili se moze ici cak i na A220.
INN-NS
I'm pro-EU and I think what Russia is doing in Ukraine is criminal. But sanctions only hurt ordinary people and increase chances of prolonged war, so if I would be Vucic I would tell the West that we respectfully disagree with their hypocrisy and I would keep the flights, if not increase them even further.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am Pro Russian but I agree with you that qty of flights should be kept to suit oir interests.
DeleteHow do sanctions increase chances of prolonged war? Currently the Russian economy is crumbling and the war effort is expensive to fund. Remember, the cold war was won economically and not militarily. As far as Vucic, it was easier for him to cave and it will help his election chances. Win win for him. He has proven time and time again that he does not do what is in the best interest of JU and yet somehow there are all these shocked commenters here.
DeleteA country where the PM has nothing better to do than making statements about airline scheduling issues.
ReplyDeleteSerbia wants to join the EU, ergo you are open to blackmail.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I say, keep out of EU, join EFTA and be independent. EU under current set-up will sooner or later break apart. In this conflict stay neutral as both sides, especially the US/Ukraine duo has a lot of mess to hide.
https://zeitgeschehen-im-fokus.ch/de/newspaper-ausgabe/nr-4-vom-15-maerz-2022.html#article_1306
The article Die Politik der USA....... is from a colonel in the general staff of the Swiss Army who has worked for the Swiss intelligence service, UN and was later detached by the EDA for 5 years to NATO and was 2015/2016 also involved in the Ukraine. This interview gives a good oversiew of the situation behind the scenes. Interview is in German but can be translated with deepl.com
Only correct. Those on russias side should be regreting
ReplyDeleteChecked prices for SVO-BEG-SVO in April / May ...all I can say is that they went crazy asking for about 1000E for a return in economy (mind you with water and nodlice included). This is a rip off!
ReplyDeleteFly with Turkish instead then. Also it's noBlice, not noDlice :)
DeleteIt was a typo and thx for the suggestion about TK, I was not aware this option exists!))
DeleteBomb threat again on flight to Moscow, A319 returned to BEG
ReplyDeleteYU-APK is again on the way to SVO.
DeleteBlackmail is the modus operandi of the European Union .
ReplyDeleteIn the future airlines will have to lease and insure aircraft in countries that are outside the EU and USA/UK as for example China, the UAE or India .
Number of flights should be INCREASED not decreased.
ReplyDeleteCome on Serbs, where's "inat"?
If it is a Boeing aircraft then using the remote with Boeing's help, these companies which have leased can can crash and claim insurance.
ReplyDeleteThe trains between SPB and Finland are a joint RŽD/VR service...
ReplyDeletePS - The Allegro is operated by Karelian Trains, a joint venture between VR and RŽD.
ReplyDelete