Air Serbia is expected to push back the launch of its new long haul service between Belgrade and Tianjin from late October to December due to delays with the arrival of its second wide-body aircraft, EX-YU Aviation News has learnt. The airline is set to lease an Airbus A330-200 jet from Aircastle Limited. The plane, which formerly operated on behalf of South African Airways, is currently stored In the Arizona desert but performed a test flight in September. Air Serbia is still committed to launching the China service and has received approval from the China Civil Aviation Authority to commence a one weekly rotation. Frequencies remain limited due to China’s Covid-related restrictions.
Air Serbia has not commented on the likely delay of its China service. The carrier previously said flights to Tianjin would commence at the start of the 2022/23 winter season, which begins in just under two weeks. It noted the incoming wide-body aircraft would have a speedy entry into service, which would prevent the carrier from immediately installing its own interiors. Rather, the plane would feature cabins from the aircraft’s previous operator South African Airways. Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, previously described taking on the second A330 as a “big deal” for a regional carrier. “We are very satisfied with the performance of our A330-200, because flying just to one long haul destination with just one aircraft is quite challenging. The new addition will be vital to our further expansion, launching new routes and increasing the frequency of flights in our existing network of destinations”,
Air Serbia looks to eventually introduce flights to Beijing and Shanghai but has opted for Tianjin as its first point in China due to Covid restrictions. “We would have preferred to start with Beijing and Shanghai. However, there are very strict restrictions in China due to the pandemic and also with regard to market access. So, you can't just fly wherever you want. Tianjin was the best alternative”, Mr Marek recently noted. During the next summer season, which begins on March 26, 2023, Air Serbia will have two A330-200s at its disposal, which will enable it to launch two weekly flights to Chicago. “The new aircraft will be adorned by the image of Mihajlo Pupin, one of the other all-time greatest Serbian scientists”, Mr Marek said. The aircraft will complement the other A330 featuring Nikola Tesla’s image.
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No big surprise here!
ReplyDeleteAny chance China might reopen by December?
ReplyDeleteNo. At the Communist Party Congress yesterday they said it was important to keep zero Covid.
DeleteZero covid is not really that big of an issue because these flights will cater for Chinese nationals. Currently international flights to China are at 5% of 2019 levels, meaning there is potential to carry Chinese passengers from whole of Europe.
DeleteThe delay is not related to the market but to the aircraft.
DeleteI think Hong Kong has relaxed its measures which is why airlines keep on adding frequencies. Latest are JAL and ANA
DeleteYes, Hong Kong has ended hotel quarantine for foreigners. But Hong Kong had different rules to China. It never actually banned people from entering Hong Kong. But they had to go through lengthy quarantine.
DeleteThis is an interesting piece of information from Hainan Airlines. They actually cover the cost of the antigen testing at BEG.
DeleteStarting from October 8, 2022, all passengers traveling to China from Serbia should arrive at the airport before 8:30 a.m. on the day of the flight (Serbian time) and complete the antigen test under the guidance of the staff. Passengers on flights to China must take an antigen test at a designated testing agency at the airport before taking off, and they can check in only after the antigen test result is negative. Please download the Informed consent for sampling (in English and Chinese) in advance, print it in advance and fill it out manually. Present the paper confirmation to the relevant staff on the day of the flight.
2. Explanation of fees: The antigen test fee is borne by the airline company. Passengers must undergo antigen testing as required. At the same time, passengers are requested to wait in an orderly line at the airport and undergo testing according to the instructed procedures. Passengers who fail to complete the requirements are responsible for themselves.
And then you arrive to China and have to be isolate for 10 days. What madness.
DeleteWoW
DeleteBaš velika ušteda, je l' da?
No, but it is an added cost for the operating airline.
DeleteWhat a surprise!!!
ReplyDeleteOne month delay is hardly ground breaking.
DeleteGoes to show that planning wasn't correct.
DeleteSeems like they are having a wider fleet issue. A330 arrival delayed, A320 was delayed, they have been making short term wet leases and yesterday many flights were delayed as a result
ReplyDeleteWet leases are expensive, I hope they are changing high enough ticket prices for these flights.
DeleteDan Air A319 was supposed to fly back to Craiova last night but in stead it stayed in BEG and operated the heavily delayed flight to Rome. It's crazy how their fleet is falling apart. A few days ago they had another Dan Air A320 and now Trade Air is flying for them.
DeleteAnd Air Montenegro E195 to Milano tonight. It seems that JU has a lot of money for and hoc wet leasing
DeleteThis is bad because they will burn a lot of money they made over the summer. They need to do a better job at keeping people in the company. You can't imagine how many people quit recently. The other day one lady from Operations quit and she was working for JAT back in the day, very experienced and smart woman. Very few people are left there.
DeleteHow can we know it won't be made up to JU taking in consideration that supplier of YU-APO did not bring plane on time?
DeleteBecause YU-APO is not the main problem, two A319s broke down and they have not fixed them yet. Also there are staff shortages in JU and BEG.
DeleteWell the fact that YU-APO was late it was unable to cover at least one of the A319s that broke down.
DeleteIsn't one of them on C check and only one broken?
DeleteYes but the C check is taking longer than expected to be completed. It has been over a month since the A319 (I think APB) went for a check. Then APO was delayed and another A319 broke down and real mess happened.
DeleteI just checked, YU-APB has not flown since 14.09.
DeleteYU-APL has been out of service since 28.09
It was really unlucky to have YU-APL broken at the same time when YU-APO was delayed.
DeleteMaybe they can't get full compensation from YU-APO supplier, but some portion should surely come as they planned flights with that plane.
Honestly, I am not surprised there are delays with YU-APO. The plane was parked for two years.
DeleteOut of curiosity, how long does it take to paint the A330?
ReplyDeleteOr how long did it take to paint YU-ARB?
DeleteYU-ARB took 8 days to paint.
DeleteThanks!
DeleteOh and do you know where they painted the plane?
DeleteShannon, Ireland
DeleteThis is a cool timelapse of the painting
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtV7-i3GxD0
These flights won't materialize.
ReplyDeleteOf course they will.
DeleteCan't they just launch the flights with YU-ARB? They will have just one weekly flight anyway
ReplyDeleteMy thought too but maybe there is a limit on the number of cycles the plane can do because it is due to go for heavy maintenance soon.
DeleteThere could be an issue with insurance. Remember the insurer does not allow Air Serbia to use YU-ARB to Russia. It is likely they don't want to allow them to use Russian airspace at all.
DeleteLet's hope this doesn't turn into another Amman which they scheduled twice and never launched.
ReplyDeleteThe first time it was cancelled because of Covid!
DeleteWell they never scheduled Tianjin so they haven't cancelled it.
DeleteThey just shouldn't have made grand announcements how they will introduce this route in October if it wasn't 100% sure.
DeleteWhy not? They got free adverisement and nobody was hurt.
DeleteWell actually they originally planned to start China as early as this summer. Marek said they wanted to wet lease an A330 for these flights but in the end gave up because it was too expensive.
DeleteAnon@10:08
DeleteWhat about their reputation?
Ask MoL about relation between free advertisement and reputation.
DeleteMind you, his company is highly profitable.
Why doesn't Etihad their shareholder offer them a plane?
ReplyDeleteNo thanks. Last time a lease went through them (YU-ARA), Air Serbia was paying one of the highest leasing costs for this type of aircraft.
Delete+1 last anon.
DeleteBetter not get Etihad involved.
DeleteDoes anyone know the registration of the A330-200 they are supposed to take delivery of?
ReplyDeleteIts current registration is N634AC
DeleteAir Serbia gave freedom to China to pick Beijing for Hainan over Air Serbia and to allow Air Serbia only one weekly flight to Tianjin instead of PEK, based on covid. If Serbia gave same freedom to Canada as it did to China, Air Canada would get to pick Toronto at any frequency while pushing Air Serbia to Hamilton just once a week. But Air Serbia would't even allow AC 3x weekly. Different standards for China and Canada?
ReplyDeleteYou are basing your entire argument around Canada on flawed rumors how someone didn't allow this or that.
Delete“In the long haul sector, China is one of the three most important markets. And it is forecast to grow much faster than already mature markets such as North America. In addition, there is great demand there for both passenger and freight. Another reason [for selecting the Chinese market] is that Chinese travellers do not need a visa to visit Serbia, and Serbian citizens do not need a visa to enter China. This is very rare in Europe. So, China was the logical choice for Air Serbia”, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said.
DeleteIt's not a rumor, Serbia wanted 2pw limit in a bilateral. Following is also a fact: China got the dibs on PEK. Also a fact: Serbia wanted to fly to PEK and PVG, got TSN. Once a week.
DeleteWhere exactly is it documented that Serbia wanted 2pw limit in the bilateral. Other than in the comments section of a site?
DeleteI don't know about Canada but it would be total mess here in the comment section if US said you can't fly to JFK but to EWR. When done by China it's partnership and brotherhood, when not done by US or EU that's western hypocrisy, right?
Delete@12,54
DeleteHU only has the inbound flight direct from PEK. The return sector is to Dalian. Almost no international flights are arriving into PEK, while most domestic flights into PEK are canceled. PVG is better, however still more flights are canceled into PVG than being operated. China has some strange rules regarding quarantine which is also affecting Chinese airlines, hence why HU is operating BEG-DLC and not BEG-PEK. TSN is just a temporary solution, a route which has been flown previously for cargo. LOT is also flying WAW-TSN due to the Chinese Covid restrictions. All other international carriers are having issues with operating to China.
Anon at 13:00 Article was published here, not a comment, where Air Canada went on a record about restrictive 2pw billateral being a deterrent to launching Belgrade service. That could mean only one thing: Serbia imposed the limit.
DeleteAir Serbia explained why they prefer Chicago over Toronto. Since Air Serbia doesn't want it, why block Air Canada from running at least 3 weekly service? China is given far more liberty to make decisions about China-Serbia air traffic than Canada about Serbia-Canada air traffic.
DeleteThe agreement was negotiated by both countries and agreed by both countries. Air Canada is not blocked from flying to Belgrade and can launch flights at any moment.
DeleteThis means that Havana not going to happen.
ReplyDeleteNot a big issue to push back by a month.
ReplyDeleteImportant to have this route functioning and operational by Chinese New Year when there is huge demand for travel to/from China, especially from the Chinese community in Serbia.
ReplyDeleteFigured considering they haven't even started ticket sales.
ReplyDeleteHainan Airlines put tickets on sale just a week before the flights launched.
DeleteI'm really interested to see what will be the fares like.
DeleteWonder if it will be similar to JFK or if the fares will be outrageous because the flights are limited to one per week.
DeleteFlights to JFK on JU from BEG are not cheap at all.
DeleteHainan Airlines is quite pricey on the BEG route.
DeleteFares will probably be cheapish for transfer passengers. As for point to point, I'm not so sure.
DeleteDolaskom drugog Erbasovog A330 pocinje novi razvoj saobracaja u interkontinentalnom saobracaju.
ReplyDeleteIstina da jedna lasta ne cini prolece. Ali bez laste ni proleca nema. Verujem da ce u iducih dve do tri godine pridruziti i treci A330 avion u Er Srbije floti. Jedno je sigurno. Pod uslovom da mir u svetu ostane, Er Srbija ce prevazici u prevozu broja putnika i kargo usluga od prethodnika JAT - a
u njegovim najuspesnijim godinama. To ce se dogoditi u iducih pet, sest godina. Objektivno je verovati da ce novi prosireni Hab na Beogradskom Aerodromu primati vise putnika nego svi aerodromi bivse drzave... Er Srbija ce biti
jedna od najznacajnijih u rastu u ovom delu Evrope. ✈🇷🇸🛫
Radovane, na kom delu evrope mislite?
DeletePostovani Anon12:28. Prvenstveno mislim na sledece
DeleteDrzave Jugoistocne Evrope. Sloveniju, Hrvatsku, Crnu Goru, Bugarsku, Bosnu i Hercegovinu, Severnu Makedoniju, Albaniju i jos nekoliko zemalja po Evropi.
Mnogo jos promena i usavrsavanja ce pomoci da se
Personal Er Srbije izjednaci sa referentim avio kompanijama. Naravno i prosirenje fleksebilne flote.
Ljudi koji povlace poteze u stratezij za buducnost sa verom i upornoscu jesu put na kome je civilna avijacija Srbije. Na prvom mestu Er Srbija.
Vama pozdrav i uspesna jesen.
Rodney Marinkovic and Aviation Enthusiast Associate Group. ✈♥️🛫🇷🇸✈🌐🛫
What about Havana?
ReplyDeleteThinking or planning, my dear, big difference https://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/08/air-serbia-planning-havana-service.html?m=1
Delete^ Read the actual article dear
Delete“We are starting to consider long haul flights to some exotic destinations. In that respect, we are looking towards the East and the West. One such destination, that is looking more and more certain this winter, is Havana”
Do you want to say that admin put the title that do not correspond to the rest of the article? I would not say that, dear
DeleteTry actually reading the article.
DeleteJust last week Havanna confirmed that Air Serbia approached them as well. It was always more than "thinking about"
DeleteDear
Yep, there are negotiations ongoing. It was published in several news. And Cuban authorities just confirmed last week. And I will be first on that plane.
DeleteIf they launch it by the end of the year it will be good.
ReplyDeleteMakes more sense to start it just ahead of travel rush in December that in October or November anyway.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why they are rushing this route. Wouldn't it make most sense to start it in spring of next year and by then restrictions in China will probably be eased?
ReplyDeleteBecause they can now capitalize on the situation that
Delete1) Few European airlines still fly to China
2) Serbia does not have visas for Chinese so they can use Serbia as a transfer point
3) Air Serbia would be the only European airline allowed to overfly Russia on the way to China
4) There is a lot of cargo
It is obvious that they have more than enough planes when they can allocate planes for sports charters of 3 days, so the plane is grounded for 48 hours where the match is being played... During that time it would make 8 flights...
ReplyDeleteOuch...
DeleteThis A330 has been parked for over 2 years. Probably needs some work done.
ReplyDeleteThat aircraft was operated by South African, they are famous for bad and poor maintenance. Who know in how bad condition is aircraft especially after 2 years of parking. And knowing AS tech reps, they probably don't want to do anything if they deem it flyable.
Delete^ Bingo. The main reason these flights will be slightly delayed.
DeleteSo the most "exotic" destination we'll get is... Malta?
ReplyDeleteYou will get Tianjin in 2 months. Is that not exotic enough for you? You will also get 10 new routes next summer.
DeleteI didn't expect anything exotic, that was their announcement. Maybe it was PR stunt.
DeleteYes, they announced it for next summer.
DeletePity there are no plans to serve other markets in Far East Asia for the time being.
ReplyDeleteGood luck
ReplyDeleteSerbia will probably be one of the first countries Chinese authorities will let their citizens travel to. There is likely to be a huge increase in demand when that happens.
ReplyDeleteHopefully we will see Havana in the end of December?
ReplyDeleteNope.
DeleteWhy?
DeleteKind of cool to see the test fight route: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N634AC
ReplyDeleteI don't know where the surprise is. So many airlines are currently adjusting, cancelling, postponing and delaying their schedules. This stupid, idiotic war that does not even concern us, has turned the mood quite strange all across the continent. Airlines do not know what to do and keep struggling. We are all suffering just because the elite don't get along together.
ReplyDeleteThe times when Moscow was connected to the rest of Europe, when TAP used to freely travel from Lisbon to Moscow or Russians not having to think to vacation in Europe just because the prices are 10 times as high or the ordinary people affected.
Today we see the Ukrainian flag next to the LGBT or BLM one and nobody longer cares about aviation. A very very important industry that brings a lot of money to a country. We saw the other day how ridiculous Netherlands has became in imposing its "green economy" and I understand now Air Serbia with the China delay and probably Cuba maybe. Crazy times ahead and tough winter.....
A lot of people loosing their lives each day over there, sorry for aviation not being top priority atm.
Delete