Air Serbia and Turkish Airlines will expand their partnership, with the two carriers to boost operations between Belgrade and Istanbul, Ankara and Belgrade, as well as launch scheduled services between Izmir and Belgrade. This coming winter season, Air Serbia will boost operations to Turkey’s largest city, from the current ten weekly flights to seventeen weekly rotations, which will be complemented by Turkish Airlines’ triple daily service. The gradual increase in frequencies will commence on November 7. During the 2023 summer season, which begins on March 26 of next year, there will be a total of 42 weekly flights between the two cities by the two carriers, with Air Serbia maintaining 21 weekly operations and its Turkish counterpart the same number of weekly frequencies.
Focusing beyond Istanbul, Air Serbia will expand its codeshare partnership with Turkish Airlines’ regional brand AnadoluJet, with flights between Ankara and Belgrade set increase from two to three per week. In a statement, the Serbian carrier noted, “Air Serbia and Turkish Airlines also plan to expand their partnership to include flights between Belgrade and Izmir, to further improve inter-connectivity between the two countries. During the winter season, apart from seventeen flights a week from Belgrade, Air Serbia will operate two flights a week both from Kraljevo-Morava and Niš to Turkey’s largest city”. Bookings on flights to Istanbul have been notably strong, which has increased prices. Passenger numbers between Belgrade and Istanbul grew by 43% during the first three quarters of the year, becoming one of Belgrade’s busiest routes.
Commenting on the Serbian carrier’s growing cooperation with Turkish Airlines, Air Serbia's CEO, Jiri Marek, told the Czech "Denik N" newspaper, “When you can't beat someone, you better befriend them. We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Turkish Airlines and we are studying whether we could also proceed with the set-up of a Joint Venture”. Air Serbia and Turkish Airlines previously said the Joint Venture “would enable the two companies to offer more competitive and more affordable flights between Turkey and Serbia, improve the quality of service currently offered, as well as expand the offer and benefits for all passengers”.
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How many JU flights could we see to Istnabul?
ReplyDeleteIt depends on how many flights TK let them.
DeleteJust announced - 3 daily next summer!
DeleteIt's in the system already :)
DeleteFriday 4!
Delete42 weekly flights in total. This is approaching Tivat levels.
DeletePlus lets not forget the Pegasus flights to Belgrade :D
DeleteWow. Triple daily both from JU and TK. Looks like IST-BEG will be very busy next year.
DeleteStarting from the summer, every Friday there are going to be 8 flights between BEG and Istanbul! Now that's impressive.
DeleteI heard somewhere that the agreement apparently includes scheduled flights between Belgrade and Izmir. Not sure how reliable the info is.
ReplyDeleteWould TK or JU operate it?
DeleteTK doesn't have a hub in Izmir, it's a ''focus city'' for them.
DeleteJU will operate to Izmir.
Nice, it makes sense considering that TK has the Ankara flights.
DeleteThis is going to be a big thing for Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteI just wonder why TK and JU do not announnce these changes together? Or we are talking here only about JU presenting their changes on flight schedule to IST?
Probably changes to the flight schedule.
DeleteBring Turkish widebodies to BEG now!
ReplyDeleteThey wanted to this summer, but did not have enough planes.
DeleteWhat about Air Serbia deploying its A330?
DeleteThey sent it a few times this year.
DeleteDo you know exactly how many by any chance?
DeleteThey sent it only twice this year. On 13th of March and 18th of May.
DeleteThank you. Not much
DeleteIs it going to be equity as well?
ReplyDeleteOf course not.
DeleteWith the planned increases which are slowly being loaded for next summer, plus an expected increase to IST, howe many additional planes will Air Serbia need?
ReplyDeleteQuite a few by the looks of it.
DeleteThe rumor is 4 Airbuses A320-family planes are coming.
DeleteHope so
DeleteLet's just hope it's not more wet leases.
DeleteBy the looks of things announced so far, it looks as if they'll need at least 5 A320's and 1-2 ATR's. 1-2 aircraft will probably then come as wet leases. We already have 1 A320 that has arrived (YU-APO).
Delete2 ATR's will join the fleet this winter to complete the fleet renewal (YU-APZ and YU-ASA). With the VIE increases in the midday wave, rumoured OHD relaunch, JU's intention to boost SJJ and possible frequency increases on other routes, I wouldn't be surprised to see a further 2 ATR's join the fleet.
YU-APO started flying today. It entered service this morning to Milan, it was on FR24.
Delete@18,32
DeleteSmall correction. This morning it flew to FCO, it's tonight enroute to MXP.
According to Turkish media, agreement was signed on 14 October: As a result of the negotiations, the number of weekly flights between Istanbul Airport and Belgrade was increased from 14 to 21 frequencies, and the number of weekly flights between Ankara and Belgrade was increased from 2 to 4 frequencies. In addition, an agreement was reached to start scheduled flights between Izmir and Belgrade as 2 frequencies per week.
ReplyDeleteBut BEG-IST already is 21.
DeleteIt probably refers to JU.
DeleteScheduled flights to Ankara would make most sense considering the size of the market.
DeleteSorry I meant scheduled flights to Antalya, not Ankara.
DeleteI don't think Air Serbia wants to give up Antalya to Turkish Airlines.
DeleteAgree, but Antalya is a charter paradise and with scheduled flights and JU and tour operators would have to say goodbye to fuel tax. And that is no, no
DeleteTrue that
DeleteWondering what this close cooperation and partnership will eventually lead to.
ReplyDeleteJoint Venture.
Delete“When you can't beat someone, you better befriend them."
ReplyDeleteInteresting approach :D
With this sort of bilateral agreement, I don't think anyone can beat anyone.
DeleteSeems to have been a smart decision.
DeleteI think Istanbul is now the busiest route from Belgrade.
ReplyDeleteIt was in the first quarter at least
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/08/belgrade-airport-handles-over-700000.html
Q1 isn't that much of a surprise considering there were still a lot of travel restrictions elsewhere. I wonder if it stayed this way in the second and third quarter.
DeleteAre there numbers for the other two quarters?
DeleteGlad to see Air Serbia continue to develop its partnership with Turkish Airlines.
ReplyDelete6 daily between Belgrade and Istanbul :O
ReplyDelete8 flights on Fridays!
Delete4 Air Serbia
3 Turkish
1 Pegasus
wow
Deletewow wtf...
DeleteJU is the only serious airline in ex-Yu
ReplyDelete+1
Delete+1000
DeleteDang!
DeleteThis is crazy. So next summer (excluding charter flights) there will be:
ReplyDelete47 weekly flights Belgrade-Istanbul (JU, TK, PS)
4 weekly Ankara - Belgrade (TK)
2 weekly Belgrade - Izmir (assuming it will be JU)
2 weekly Nis - Istanbul
2 weekly Kraljevo - Istanbul
Is it AS flying from Niš and Kraljevo?
DeleteYes
DeleteThey are and the flights from INI and KVO are also full. Many are driving to INI because the tickets are cheaper than from Belgrade.
DeleteSo 57 scheduled weekly flights between Serbia and Turkey next summer. Add to that something like 50 weekly charter flights in height of summer.
DeleteCongratulations. These are some serious frequencies
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to Belgrade - Izmir :)
ReplyDeleteWonder if it will be a seasonal or year round route.
DeletePoor Pegasus. I wish they let them expand too.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. But they are making the most of it and are sending A321s to Belgrade.
DeleteLike that balanced set-up, fair deal for both sides
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia will become the second largest foreign operator at Istanbul Airport next summer, just behind Aeroflot.
ReplyDeleteWow! Ahead of all euro airlines (expect Aeroflot), pretty impressive for little Serbia.
DeleteNobody could compete TK in IST. Bravo JU for cooperating with TK.
DeleteCongratulations
ReplyDeleteCould someone list the daily departure times from BEG to IST next summer?
ReplyDeleteMonday:
DeleteJU806 BEG IST 0040 0320
JU800 BEG IST 0710 0950
JU802 BEG IST 1310 1550
Tuesday:
JU806 BEG IST 0040 0320
JU802 BEG IST 1320 1600
JU804 BEG IST 1745 2025
Wednesday:
JU800 BEG IST 0710 0950
JU802 BEG IST 1210 1450
JU804 BEG IST 1745 2025
Thursday:
JU806 BEG IST 0040 0320
JU802 BEG IST 1315 1555
JU804 BEG IST 1745 2025
Friday:
JU806 BEG IST 0040 0320
JU800 BEG IST 0710 0950
JU802 BEG IST 1215 1455
JU804 BEG IST 1745 2025
Saturday:
JU806 BEG IST 0040 0320
JU802 BEG IST 1310 1550
Sunday:
JU800 BEG IST 0710 0950
JU802 BEG IST 1215 1455
JU804 BEG IST 1745 2025
^ Thank you!
DeleteThis is also kind of a warning to Qatar Airways. With so many flights between BEG and IST and the codeshare between JU and TK, I expect more and more people will transfer to IST for long haul flights and prices should come down. So QR will need to up their game, either by starting to send widebodies or increasing frequencies.
ReplyDeleteGood point. But QR has been killing it on the DOH-BEG-DOH route this summer. Prices are sky high, LF on most flights is almost 100%, and they are enjoying the benefits of not having to compete with Etihad.
DeleteQR is struggling to get aircraft, with a few A330's brought in from Oman Air to operate flights for them. 2019 frequencies haven't been returned as they simply don't have the aircraft to do so, among other reasons, so I don't think we will see QR react anytime soon. FZ in the meantime have doubled frequencies, and they have the added bonus of Dubai being home to a decent sized Serbian expat community (estimated at around 20.000 in the UAE) as well as being a tourist destination for Serbian nationals.
DeleteIstanbul has the advantage of having huge O&D demand, with Turkish tourist numbers increasing (Top 3 tourist arrivals to Serbia or roughly 100.000-120.000 people), Turkish nationals moving to Serbia for employment (Belgrade Waterfront project for example), Serbian nationals vacationing in Turkey (roughly 250.000). IST will see a drop in demand now that Serbia last week returned visas for Burundi nationals, while Cuba, India and Tunisia are to follow. However, O&D demand was surpressed by bilaterals, which is now improving, and alot of focus is being thrown on to increasing tourism between the 2 countries (Turkish embassy in Belgrade is looking to increase Serbian tourist arrivals to 300.000).
https://balkaninsight.com/2022/10/25/serbia-ends-visa-free-regimes-with-tunisia-and-burundi/
You are making it sound as if these flights are being used by migrants. Very few actually use flights and enter through land borders.
DeleteSerbia has had visa free regime with Cuba and Tunisia since communist Yugoslavia. And I am sure Air Serbia knows about future visa changes and is increasing flights. Which shows organic demand as I am certain they can see who is using their flights.
Also I would take anything Balkan Insight writes with extreme caution. The site funnels anti Serbian hysteria on a nearly daily basis which is not surprising considering who funds them and where they are based.
Balkan Insight is more reliable than 90% of Serbian media. I hope you do not prefer Informer.
Delete^ their reporting is just about the same.
Delete^ no, it isn't.
DeleteYes it is. Bias reporting and a distinctly anti Serbian rethoric. Often they write compmetely false information, to the point where I wrote to them on one occasion earlier this year to point out their mistakes full of factual inaccuracies which they later amended. Meanwhile it's sunshine and lollipops in Kosovo.
DeleteCan you give us some more info about Balkan insight please? I hade no idea about that
Delete@14,29
DeleteI will take a very good guess and say that either you don't live in Belgrade or are in denial and spreading misinformation. No need for newspapers to tell me about something we see on a daily basis. The link was clearly to add information to the comment I made. For months in the city centre there has been an increase in Burundian migrants, all of them have bags with airport check in luggage tags, especially if you pass the Zeleni venac area, where they mostly hang around the kafanas to drink draft Jelen beer all day. A popular connection for them was the following: ET810 / ET720 / TK1079. No where did I suggest that TK was operating flights exclusively catering to those migrants, but it is a decent amount of pax considering their numbers. Women and children from Burundi are part of those migrants so they're definitely not crossing land borders.
Around Savski trg is mostly the Middle Eastern migrants and you can see them around the cafes and hostels in that area, as well as in Kamenicka street. The only bags they have are backpacks, no luggage tags, suggesting entry via land borders. Middle Eastern migrants are exclusively men.
You also have hostels not only in the city centre (across Beton hala for example), but also in Ledine/Surcin where you will have Indian nationals overstaying their 30 day visa free entry into Serbia to illegally work. Hotel Jugoslavija was also full of Indian nationals. They are a little more discreet when not following girls on public transport to chat them up, as reported on a local instagram page several times. There are Indian tourists that genuinely visit for tourism, but are definitely outnumbered by those seeking work and migration to the EU. Indian migrants from my personal observation is exclusively men, but not 100% sure.
If migrants are not flying into Serbia, why did 3 Iranian carriers stop flying to BEG once visas were returned for Iranian nationals? Migrants will, where possible, use flights to enter Serbia as it is alot safer and alot cheaper to do so. Kurds, Syrians, Afghanis, Moroccans use land borders as they need visas to board flights. Indians, Cubans, Burundians, Tunisians don't (or didn't) need visas and logically they would do the cheaper and safer option of going by plane. Common sense.
I do live in Belgrade but I certainly don't have the time to study what people drink around zeleni venac and if they have a bag tag, although I live just a street off zeleni venac.
DeleteSuggesting these flights are filled by migrants is ludicrous as less than 2% of migrants passing through Serbia arrived by plane according to the EU statistic. We are talking about numbers less than 6000 people for the entire year, most of them Indians. But I guess they filled TKs afternoon flight. The city centre is definitely not filled with people from Burundi like you claim and I don't understand the reason for this sensationalist exaggerations. It's sad that someone that doesn't live in the city might actually believe you, thinking the city is overrun by migrants
The main reason there is so much demand between Serbia and Turkey is primarily because of a significant rise in Turkish tourists. This is because Turks travelled in huge numbers for city breaks and holidays to Ukraine and because Turks have less money for expensive holidays due to the collapse of their currency. At the same time Turkish tour operators have become very active and developed many packages to Serbia.
There is also increased demand to travel from Serbia. The collapse of the lira has made Turkey affordable and more people can afford to travel.
But there are a lot of Burundi people in Belgrade and I do see them exactly how JATBEGMEL described them, usually as families. Not get me wrong, I'm on the side of migrants, everyone should be able to live the life he dreams of, but neglecting their presence is... ludicrous.
DeleteThen we must live in a parallel universe. I live in the city centre and have not seen these hordes or Burundian migrants drinking beer. But ok. You are all right. The 42 weekly flights between Belgrade and Istanbul are for migrants from Burundi and Tunisia.
DeleteYou live in city centre and you haven’t noticed so many non-Serbians??
DeleteThey usually settle in neighborhoods like Zeleni Venac and Savamala. Sometimes you can hear more often foreign languages in the streets than Serbian. There’s a variety of fast food places with Middle Eastern or Hindu food. Also there’re barber shops and cafès on Sava Square as well. This part of Belgrade has really become multi cultural just like in western European cities.
I didn't say I haven't seen or heard foreigners, I said I haven't seen the city overrun by Burundians arriving with Turkish Airlines baggage tags. The biggest influx of foreigners this year is most certainly from Russia. Russian can be hard everywhere and I even saw a poster advertising a dentist completely in Russian.
DeleteGuys & gals
DeleteIncrease of frequency between Belgrade and Istanbul is due to anticipation changes in geo-economic realities in the world. Turkey is positioning to be conduit of trade between Russia and Italy. To smaller extent Serbia as well. Its just new realities. Gas hub will be built on the European part of Turkey.
Sorry, not just Italy but part of Europe that wants to continue the the trade. Europeans are dissenting.
DeleteSince February 24 1,000.000 Ukrainians settled temporarily just in Germany, 2 million in Poland
Deleteand now EU is pissed on Serbia by few thousands migrants from Tunisa and Burundi. Go figure! LOL
People are dont have food in Ukraina so that is legit; but on the other hand people in Burundi, Tunisia, Libia dont have food also. So why double standards?
EU should look in their foreign policies in the last 30 years in order to correct them so we should not have this migrations in the first place.
Guys, entering Serbia with ID for Turkish nationals is extremely big news in Turkey. My friends there all complain that tickets went crazy expensive since that announcement.
DeleteYes, because Turkish travel passport is extremely expensive.
DeleteOne of the most expensive in the world.
If I were Marek, I would immediately opt for A72 conversion to freighter, base it in INI and schedule regular cargo route INI-IST plus regular one to Leipzig (DHL hub), thus serving complete industry of Serbian south.
ReplyDeleteJust to remind TK Cargo have had regular cargo route from Istanbul to INI during cargo golden 2017, carrying more than 2,5k T of cargo.
My 2 cents to this JV...
BEG-LJU would work as well, i hear that swft is full on daily basis
DeleteMarek already talked about the option of converting the ATR's into cargo aircraft back in June.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/06/air-serbia-considering-atr-fleet.html?m=1
What happened to the ID only entry? List of countries seems unchanged:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mfa.gov.tr/countries-whose-citizens-are-allowed-to-enter-turkey-with-their-national-id_s.en.mfa
Ovaj dogovor će u mnogome smanjiti sezonalnost od sledeće zime. A da ne govorimo koliko će transfernih putnika doneti na letovima za ORD i YYZ. Postaće profitabilni mnogo brže nego JFK.
ReplyDeleteZašto bi iz Istanbula bilo transfernih putnika za Čikago i Toronto? Sada je obratno, dosta ljudi iz BEG lete preko IST sa TK za Ameriku i Kanadu jer je jeftinije.
DeleteTurci će imati još jednu opciju za nekoliko gradova u S. Americi. Što nebi koristili ako tajming i cene budu ok?
DeleteOvaj deal ce biti atraktivan za Turks gradjane koji putuju za Sev Ameriku via Belgrade transfers.
Deleteexyu - can you ask/find if there are any talks for Air Serbia transitioning to Miles&Smiles FF program?
ReplyDeleteI believe it was reported here that JU and TK talk about it.
DeleteWhen the charters kick in next year, Turkey is gonna better connected to the Belgrade airport then downtown Belgrade.
ReplyDelete^ There are rumours that Istanbul will extend its subway train service to Belgrade .
DeleteThey will brand the new Belgrade suburb as " Istanbul West " .
; D
Pathetic
DeleteWho the hell is flying / will fly Air Serbia when you have Turkish Airlines on the same route, offering a product & service which are 1000 times better? Just wondering.
ReplyDeleteNobody is flying. Fake media just want to make you believe that Air Serbia is flying to Istanbul and increasing frequencies due to demand. Don't trust the article.
DeleteI did. And my plane was one of the few who landed safely due to storm at BEG that night which made many to redirect to Timisoara and Nis. I made right decision.
DeleteYou know, some people really don’t care about on-board product to be honest. They just want to make it from point A to B without major delay. Pricing is the most important factor after all.
DeleteSo, the flights to Ankara will be increased from November or from March?
DeleteAnd after all we have to mention Pegasus. Even though they’re blocked by strong JU-TK bloc and can’t grow on the market, their LF keeps getting 90-100%.
ReplyDeleteThey should be at least allowed to fly to BEG 7x weekly. I could even see them filling a plane to INI once or two times per week.
Many years ago they had the opportunity to grow to daily but were not interested .
DeleteBelgrade was not important for them .
Thus Pegasus has become victim of its own ignorance and negligence .
One important remark: If one flies by ASL with TK ticket and have a connection via IST to another TK flight, it is not possible to get boarding pass here in Belgrade for the next TK flight - had a situation recently, needed to rush to transfer counter at IST, almost lost next flight due to congestion and rude and incompetent TK staff working there. In the opposite direction it was fine, easy getting boarding for ASL flight form IST at departure airport. Code share agreement should consider each carrier's DCS system compatibility as well and to implement proper edifact communication.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like Istanbul might overtake Zurich and Podgorica next year in Beograd.
ReplyDeleteThis has been in the cards for a while now. Look just how the traffic developed... not focusing on O&D passengers only. IST will become major transfer point for destinations on all continents. For a decent price, even South America is withing the reach.
Delete