Air Serbia is preparing for the launch of its new Chicago service and the expansion of its New York frequencies to daily next summer with ticket sales for its second destination in the United States expected to begin shortly. The carrier plans to maintain a two-weekly service between Belgrade and Chicago from the start of the 2023 summer season. “We are thrilled to welcome Air Serbia to O'Hare International Airport. Passengers will now have additional options for affordable travel between Europe and the "Windy City”. As aviation continues to recover and more and more travellers once again take to the skies, offering options to our valued passengers is more important than ever. We’re pleased to partner with Air Serbia to connect people and businesses in Belgrade with the Windy City”, the US airport said in a statement.
Air Serbia is soon expected to conclude a codeshare partnership with a carrier from the United States, which would further improve its connectivity to the North American market. The deal could be made public by the end of the year, with the aim for it to be operational next summer. Air Serbia has again ruled out the possibility of joining one of the major airline alliances. Its CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “I have experience with all three alliances. But as a smaller company, you always put more into it than you get out of it. We would be limited in who we can and cannot work with. At the same time, we are the leader in the wider Balkan market, which expands our possibilities across alliances. Cooperation between companies is supposed to be mutually beneficial, but it doesn't work that way in alliances”.
Air Serbia’s regional network is expected to be strengthened in the lead-up to its new transatlantic service, which will play a key role in the route’s success. “With the introduction of Belgrade - Chicago flights, for the first time after 32 years, the capital of Serbia will be directly connected to the American city where approximately 350.000 residents of Serbian origin reside, as well as a large number of those hailing from other countries of the former Yugoslavia and neighbouring Balkan states, which are, and will be, well-connected with Belgrade via the regional Air Serbia network”, the carrier said. Air Serbia is interested in adding more destinations in the United States once it commences operations to Chicago next year. “We're looking at other destinations in the US. But again, our main strategy is to target cities that have year-round potential. We do not want to increase seasonality, which is already high in our region”, Mr Marek said recently.
.gif)
Great job Air Serbia
ReplyDeleteWho is the codeshare partner? American or Jet Blue?
ReplyDeleteOr Delta.
DeleteDelta doesn't have hybrid in ord, zo hopefully aa
DeleteHybrid?
DeleteThere is going to be a lot more passengers once they finally get that codeshare.
DeleteRumour is Jetblue. Lets wait and see.
DeleteAA would be ideal
DeleteI'd guess American, which has a big presence at both JFK and ORD. JetBlue is not strong in Chicago.
DeleteWhat about Alaska Airlines? That would provide decent coverage of the West Coast.
DeleteFantastic news.
ReplyDeleteWell done Serbia
DeleteFair point about the alliances.
ReplyDeleteOU can vouch for that.
DeleteWhat will be the fare likes?
ReplyDelete* fares
DeleteI'm assuming similar to New York.
DeleteI am sure that Chicago will prove to be a success for Air Serbia and that frequency will be doubled within 1 year of service. I hope they restore and maintain their punctuality as they had it before with New York (which has deteriorated lately).
ReplyDeleteMiami next please
ReplyDeleteI hope they won't wait 5 years after launching Chicago to start another route in the US.
DeleteThey should first add frequencies to Chicago, make it a success and profitable and only then should they start a third destination. That's what they did with New York.
DeleteThere is a major reason why they couldn't expend and start more wide'-body operation. There was global pandemic for 3 years and still it is for USA as you must be fully vaccinated to enter Anonymous10:58
DeleteSkip Miami and go to Fort Lauderdale. Bunch of American Serbs own a property there.
DeleteThere is no way Miami would be ahead of Toronto on the list.
DeleteFort Lauderdale has lower fees too.
DeleteFinally :)
ReplyDeleteA bit disappointed that Toronto will be left behind but looking forward to see Air Serbia spread its wings in North America
ReplyDeleteVucic said that Toronto will be next on the cards in N America.
DeleteToronto seems to be completely sidelined
DeleteToronto is next, probably by year 2040,so don't lose your hopes....
DeleteInteresting and open statement about alliances for smaller airlines
ReplyDeleteDescribes Croatia Airlines' situation very well.
Delete+1
DeleteThe Balkan Diaspora is huge in Chicago. It will do well on this route.
ReplyDeleteChicago will be a huge success for connecting flights.
DeleteI wonder which transfer destination will be most popular. I know for JFK it is Podgorica.
DeleteGo Serbia!
ReplyDeleteOU is the market leader in the Balkans!
ReplyDeleteYeah, sure.
DeleteOU is not in the Balkans lol
DeleteGood one
DeleteHahahahahahahaha Hahahahahahahaha Hahahahahahahaha
DeleteNow, after having a gooooood lough : OU had all chances and potentials to become market leader in ex-yu, Balkans and SE Europe. But it did not because of corrupt politicians appointing incompetent management and guys like you who support their deeds and Bravo them
Delete@Rijeka, OU with its small hub in Zagreb could never even be a leader in exYu much less in wider spaces as you mentioned. No hard feelings, it is nice to fly high, but be serious.
DeleteHow long will the flight to Chicago be?
ReplyDeleteAround 10 hours probably.
DeleteBiće žurka i kaos na svakom letu
ReplyDeleteCope harder.
DeleteHaters are furious.
DeleteTheir indignant rage gives me joy.
Ali kad se trude da napisu na srpskom pa bude Biće umesto Bit će, al se opet zaj… obožavam :)
DeleteAny ideas what days the flights will be operational?
ReplyDeleteWe will find out soon.
DeleteWonder how long it will take this one to become profitable. New York took 4 years.
ReplyDeleteI think that Chicago will turn out even more successful than New York.
DeleteAnd how do you know New York is profitable now ? Have you ever seen any official numbers or just because Mr Marek says so ?!
DeleteMaybe because the flights are always full?
DeleteSeveral sources have said so and there was absolutely no reason for them to do so as no one even asked them or forced them to comment on it. And all those sources cite the same year when the route became profitable.
DeleteAnd how do You know that New York is not profitable now? Maybe because You say something about of profitability New York line? I really do not understand that argument.
Delete@ 09,28
DeleteJU is not the same airline today as it was in 2016. YU-ARC should be cheaper to integrate into the JU fleet compared to YU-ARA, not only due to the lease price but also that familiarisation flights are not needed as was the case in 2016. The airline next year will be larger than 2019, with more capacity, more frequencies, better pricing policy and they have finally stepped up their marketing. Not to mention that in the mean time they've established various contracts in the US, which had to be done from scratch back in 2016.
JU seems optimistic in long haul and expects to expand to 5 ac in the short to mid term. Theyve been very quick to pull out of routes that don't work or where they can find better use for the aircraft.
Because Aleksandar says so!
DeleteActually, a number of comments about JFK have been made by JU.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/10/us-market-of-great-importance-to-air.html?m=1
There was a period in 2020 (September I believe) when JU had the best CLF of any airline operating into JFK. Capacity in business class has increased with YU-ARB reconfiguration and with YU-ARC the route will finally go daily. Routes not performing well don't see frequency increases, which JU has done on a number of occasions to JFK.
Congratulations to Air Serbia for expanding long haul. Well done on moving in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile they keep selling out their Tianjin flights! The inaugural one is almost sold out according the reservation system (just one seat left in economy and a couple in business). They have sold out the flights on 30 December and 6 January!
ReplyDeleteAnd people were wondering why they were rushing to launch China :)
Deletewow nice. This is from BEG to TSN?
DeleteYes
DeleteI'm sure it will be full in the bellyhold too :)
DeleteGood luck JU.But when is YU-ARC cooming?
ReplyDeleteSome people are saying this week, but essentially it just needs to arrive by the first week of December.
DeleteInterestingly seat map layouts are currently showing the same across all long haul flights. So either YU-ARC will get the JU long haul product (the same one as YU-ARB due to its longer than expected stay on the ground) or they still haven't uploaded the new seat maps.
DeleteExciting times for JU!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the flights to begin!
ReplyDeleteNow the hard work begins in making Chicago sustainable.
ReplyDeleteWonder what the cargo potential is on this route.
ReplyDeleteIf they have a lot of cargo to New York as they indicate and data shows, then Chicago should be similar.
Deletethey should increase frequencies on almost all ex-Yu routes.
ReplyDeleteI hope they start MBX soon.
DeleteThey have already increased drastically this winter. When the new ATRs arrive, they will increase even more.
DeleteMBX is nonsens.
They will start Portoroz, not Maribor.
DeleteThey are in talks with POW. Doesn't necessarily mean they will start it.
DeleteOhrid should come next summer too.
DeleteFrequencies will definitely increase on the regional routes. Theyve already done so this winter, including adding flights to PUY during the Christmas /New Year holidays, which hasn't happened since the 1990/1991 winter season. Not only has OTP frequencies increased but will also be on the A319 3 pw.
DeleteOHD is tipped to be a returning route next summer. POW will likely replace TRS. I expect SJJ will see some increases as well. I wouldn't be surprised to see both SPU and DBV operating at least daily next summer, LJU with a third daily, TIA 14 pw. The announcements lately have been impressive so let's wait and see.
What will be the flight number? Same as during Yugo times?
ReplyDeleteI doubt they will be the same.
DeleteJU506 is in the JFK number range. It used to be used for LCA. Currently unused.
JU566 is in the VCE number range. Currently unused.
Most likely it'll be in the JU7## range.
Why don’t they just group all long haul under the same range?
DeleteThe JFK flight was symbolic I guess because they wanted to use the same flight numbers that were used by JAT.
DeleteWaiting to buy ticket :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent news
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Nice to see US market developing for JU. Many were saying here that there would be no passengers.
ReplyDeleteCongrats Air Serbia. That is quite a good development.
ReplyDeleteAfter Chicago largest unserved destinations from BEG are LA and Miami, my bet is they are looking at Miami .
ReplyDeleteShaghai, Toronto and Hong Kong have more passengers from/to BEG than LAX. A lot of airports have more demand than Miami.
DeleteDefinitely looks as if more than the current two wide bodies are planned :)
ReplyDeleteOnly One World make sense at this point.
ReplyDeleteAS is definitely profitable on the Beg-JFK route. I fly to Serbia twice a year, every year and only one segment was not sold out. It was the only time I managed to sleep in an airplane spread out on four seats ( the middle rows).
ReplyDeleteWhat is with the inflated diaspora numbers? Chicago does not even have 100 thousand Italians but apparently there are 350 thousand Serbs there..... so dumb!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the fact that in Chicagoland alone there are 19 Serbian Orthodox Churches (plus 3 in WI: Racine, Cudahy and MKE), 3 Serbian Monasteries, 1 seminary, 3 cemeteries.
DeleteCould be but there is a big difference between 15K official and 350K claimed.
DeleteUnited Airlines has a bigger hub at ORD, bugger hub at LAX, plus SFO, IAD, MCO, TPA. The frequencies of feeder routes into ORD from Canada, both YVR and YYZ are far better too especially since Air Canada is a Star Alliance partner. Sure AA has the JFK advantage, but in every other scenario UAL would be a better option. UAL is trying to expand at JFK and probably will in the spring time when they restart JFK operations and add more to it.
DeleteChicago is all United Airlines.
ReplyDelete? American Airlines has a major hub there lol AA which also has hubs in JFK, MIA, LAX all current / possible JU destinations …. That’s why I think AA is best
DeleteUnited Airlines has a bigger hub at ORD, bugger hub at LAX, plus SFO, IAD, MCO, TPA. The frequencies of feeder routes into ORD from Canada, both YVR and YYZ are far better too especially since Air Canada is a Star Alliance partner. Sure AA has the JFK advantage, but in every other scenario UAL would be a better option. UAL is trying to expand at JFK and probably will in the spring time when they restart JFK operations and add more to it.
DeleteToronto needed ASAP
ReplyDeleteDon't you have a weird feeling someone within Air Serbia is trying to prevent Toronto launch?
DeleteWhy on earth would they. They probably did yield calculations and considering how expensive YYZ is, it probably made more sense to start Chicago first.
DeleteWith all that intense defensiveness it would be weird not to think someone on the inside was trying to block Toronto, but it would be even weirder to say it out loud without providing some evidence. So let's keep it to ourselves for the next couple of months.
DeleteHope the fares will be competitive and affordable.
ReplyDeleteGreat for Serbian & Balkan diaspora on the east coast. How about West Coast & Canada? Why not finally think about Vancouver, Seattle??? Thanks.
ReplyDelete