CEO: Decision on Air Serbia’s long haul expansion imminent

Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, has said the airline is soon expected to make a decision on weather to lease a second Airbus A330-200 aircraft in order to expand its long haul operations. An additional twin-aisle jet will enable the Serbian carrier to launch new destinations in Asia and North America, as well as increase frequencies on its New York service. Earlier this year, Air Serbia undertook due diligence and drafted a business plan for the introduction of flights from Belgrade to either Shanghai or Beijing in Asia, as well as Chicago or Toronto in North America. Mr Marek confirmed the airline had initially planned to wet-lease an A330-200 for this summer season but gave up on the idea due to rising fuel prices.

Last year, Air Serbia replaced its A330-200 jet with another aircraft of the same type, that has lower leasing costs, which is believed to have contributed to pushing its sole long haul service, between Belgrade and New York, into profitability. This summer, in addition to serving the Big Apple, the jet has also been trialled on shorter popular routes such as Paris, Barcelona, Zurich, Istanbul and Moscow.

Earlier this year, Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vučić, said, “After almost five years of hard work, the service to New York is finally profitable. Now we want to increase frequencies on that route and introduce another destination in North America, either to Toronto or Chicago”. He added, “In Asia, we are initially planning one route to China, which would increase to two. We are talking about Belgrade - Shanghai and Belgrade - Beijing. I believe we can be successful in this pursuit. Of course, we are seeking certain discounts and incentives from the Chinese side, in terms of airport fees and taxes. We believe that flights to China will become profitable earlier than was the case with New York”.

During the pre-pandemic 2019, China (excluding Hong Kong) was the largest long haul market from Serbia based on OAG data, just outperforming the United States, which was followed by Canada. Shanghai and Beijing were Belgrade Airport’s two busiest unserved routes in 2019. That year, a total of 62.526 passengers flew indirectly between Serbia’s capital and China’s largest city, while a further 52.289 travelled indirectly between Belgrade and Beijing on a single itinerary. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Shanghai was still Belgrade Airport’s busiest unserved destination in 2020, while Beijing came fourth, falling behind Toronto and Chicago. There is also believed to be notable cargo demand between the two countries.