Air Serbia schedules Chicago launch

Air Serbia has scheduled the launch of its Belgrade - Chicago O'Hare service for May 17, 2023. The carrier will maintain three weekly flights between the two cities with its Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Services will run each Wednesday and Saturday until June 11, after which they will increase to three weekly from June 12 with a Monday departure. Air Serbia has now commenced ticket sales on the route. Further flight details can be found here. It will mark the resumption of flights between the two cities 31 years to the day when they were last maintained by JAT Yugoslav Airlines and 43 years since operations between the two cities commenced on April 10, 1980. The last scheduled flight between Belgrade and Chicago was carried out on May 17, 1992. The United States introduced an embargo on air traffic from Yugoslavia four days later, on May 21.

Commenting on the new route launch, Air Serbia’s Vice President for Americas, George Petković, said “After over three decades, the JU 506/507 flight will mark the return of the national airline to Chicago. This is an extremely important city, and we are certain that nonstop flights between Belgrade and Chicago will mean a lot, not just to the Serbian diaspora, but also to the wider Balkan region. By introducing flights between those two cities, the region will be better connected to Chicago, and passengers will have more choice. With the good connections that Air Serbia offers, we expect great interest for these nonstop flights, for those who want to continue their travel to other destinations”.

Figures provided by Sabre Market Intelligence show that the Serbia-US market attracted 239.000 two-way origin and destination passengers during the pre-pandemic 2019 - almost 85% of whom travelled indirectly. Belgrade - New York was the largest city pair, with Air Serbia alone handling 61.700 two-way passengers on its nonstop service, while Belgrade - Chicago was the second biggest market with 38.000 two-way passengers.

Air Serbia’s regional network, which is expected to be strengthened in the lead-up to its new transatlantic service, will play a key role in the route’s success. Among the former Yugoslav capitals, excluding Belgrade, data indicates that Zagreb has the most traffic to the Windy City. Lufthansa is the main carrier of choice for flights between the Croatian capital and Chicago, handling 20% of the market, followed by LOT Polish Airlines with 14% and British Airways with a 12% market share. Skopje followed Zagreb with the most travellers headed to Chicago, then Sarajevo, Podgorica and Ljubljana. The Windy City was the second busiest destination for travel in the United States from all former Yugoslav capitals after New York, with exception to Ljubljana, where it was third, behind both the Big Apple and San Francisco. Although Air Serbia does not serve Pristina, it had more travellers to Chicago than Podgorica.