Air Serbia will introduce its fifth destination in Spain next month by launching flights to Malaga. Starting December 18, the carrier will maintain two weekly services between the two cities, each Thursday and Sunday. It comes following the successful launches of flights to Palma and Valencia this summer. The introduction of the new Malaga service will mark the first time Belgrade has been linked to the coastal city on a scheduled basis. Spain has been in high demand for travel from Serbia this year, with the airline noting the performance of its new destinations in the country have “exceeded all expectations”. The carrier recently announced it would more than double its services to Barcelona from four to nine per week next summer. Additional frequency growth on other routes is expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks. Details for the new Malaga service can be found here.
Commenting on the new service, Air Serbia’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Boško Rupić, said, “By introducing Malaga as a new destination, Air Serbia is further enhancing its presence in Spain and offering passengers even better connections to this Mediterranean country. Flights to all cities in Spain that are operated by our company have recorded very good cabin load factors throughout the year. We believe that Malaga will be as attractive to our passengers as Barcelona, Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, and Valencia”.
Very nice! :)
ReplyDeleteBravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDelete1. Madrid
2. Barcelona
3. Palma de Mallorca
4. Valencia
5. Malaga
6. …
Bilbao hopefully. Air Serbia can benefit from
DeleteSpanish transfer passengers as well, since Bilbao is not very well connected.
Or Alicante.
DeleteSevilla 💪🏻
DeleteAlicante is not so far away from Valencia and can be served from there.
DeleteSevilla is not so far away from Malaga and can be served from there. Once in Andalusia, it is foot domvisit Ronda, Cordoba, Sevilla, Almeria, Granada and they all have decent connection from Malaga + Gibraltar.
I guess the next will be Canary Islands and Atlantic coast of Spain.
Canary Islands is too long.
DeleteToo long for what? Maybe for crew duty times only.
DeleteExactly.
DeleteTenerife would be the best destination year around due to stabile climate conditions
Delete21:48, agree with you about Tenerife. Such a beautiful place. Lovely volcano and birds park. Greenest to say of all 7 islands.
DeleteActually, greenest is La Palma. Tenerife are the biggest.
DeleteFinally and good morning, Air Serbia. Málaga is the new Barcelona especially with its surroundings. Lot to see and do and not only about the beach.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, JU managed to kick out Vueling by aggressively increasing Barcelona as it is no longer available on their website. Those dudes are on fire.
Vueling is an airline with lower than average than service, but I always hate to lose an airline, as it means less competition on the market - both in terms of pricing, and in terms of schedule.
DeleteVueling is a horrible airline. Delays, overbookings, incompetent staff. They were quite good before joing IAG.
DeleteLook what happened with BA - just another low-cost airline... Iberia may seem to have improved, but not that much.
Isn't Vueling coming back next summer season?
DeleteWell, sadly BEG is gone from their booking website. I think both JU and W6 have squeezed them a lot and they left. Same scenario with SOF a couple of years ago. Ryanair and Wizzair butchered them alive and Wizz have increased BCN-SOF to daily next summer. JU is doing the same with 9 weekly service from BEG. Crazy times,
DeleteThey shall also try Brno with ATR
ReplyDeleteBetter Budapest.
Delete...or Kosice.
DeleteBudapest is a must. From beg and ini!!
Delete@dee
DeleteDefinitely INI-BUD with an average of 3 pax per flight that even the PSO subsidies couldn't cover the losses.
Those 3 passengers per flight are more than the average number of passengers between Zagreb and Osijek.
DeleteIs this the route that was teased a couple of days ago?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/11/air-serbia-poised-to-unveil-new-routes.html
Yes
DeleteCongratulations to JU for finally moving in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteSerbia and Spain already have great political ties and it seems like they are currently working on expanding economic ties as well. JU is positioning itself to profit the most from it.
Btw I noticed in the system that they have further boosted Rome from 11 to 12 weekly.
Nothing about politics here. Please don't involve them. Spain was always a very visited country and well developed tourism and super nice people. 12 huge islands to begin with that Air Serbia can and may still reach if needed. They already covered 1 of them...
DeleteMenorca is spectacular but more expensive compared to Mallorca. They can try launching Mahón, Menorca or Bilbao, which is one of the most wealthy regions in Spain.
I believe Sevilla could also work for them twice a week.
ReplyDeleteLisbon would be a great success. It is a bit far but im sure the potential is there. TAP is surly interested in code sharing and getting a feed for their LATAM and West Africa flights. Vinci operates both airports and they should offer an incentive to make this route work.
I met Bosnians in Sevilla last year. Very beautiful city with very beautiful architecture.
DeleteI do, however, heavily recommended Cádiz. This town is a true jewel and luckily not infested that much with drunk British tourists. Very close is the "hippie" town of Tarifa, where the ocean meets the sea. Cool place with rastas, surfists etc but Cádiz is much classier. You have the feeling that you are in Cuba or something. Very colonial and elegant town.
Yeah, definitely they have to introduce Lisbon ASAP. It will be successful as these routes to Spain...
DeleteWow, my favorite destination :D I believe it's gonna be huge success. Well done, JU.
ReplyDeleteFantastic destination. Very glad to see how well JU is developing Spain
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to see how well JU and BEG aire doing. Once again like in the good old past BEG and JU are linking the region with Europe and more and more with the world. Keep going Serbia, just keep going!!
ReplyDeleteAlways they say about excelaatnt load factor , but noone gives official numbers of load factor . If it is true why they expect about 2.7 millions passengers although they have started at least 12 new routes . Someone is lying....
ReplyDelete@13,12
DeleteThe first few months this year was terrible for JU as restrictions were still in place for many of the destinations in the JU network. It was around May when things started to improve. Still, they managed to carry almost the same amount of passengers as they did in 2019 while 3 aircraft down compared to the same period. They are currently 2 aircraft down compared to 2019. Wet leases were in full (all 4 ac) being used for roughly 2.5 months bringing capacity around the 2019 levels during the peak summer season.
Not to mention that 2 airports restricted frequencies and load factors (AMS and LHR), not all destinations from 2019 have returned (HEL, KBP, CAI, TLV, BEY, NCE) and frequencies were still down across most of their network. This made room for the route expansion this summer.
You can get the idea how CLF has increased.
Just fantastic! IMO this guy Rupić was instrumental in many good developments in the previous couple of years - just keep it going like that!
ReplyDeleteWell done JU!
ReplyDeleteThe schedules, especially on Thursdays, is definitely more O&D focused rather than transfers. Whats also interesting is that the 10am wave is getting further expansion.
JU is going to need flights arriving between 08:30 and 09:15 for better ac utilisation. Longer ME/Caucasus region rotations would fit perfectly into this arrival bank.
Yes, schedule is indeed amazing. Málaga is even going to see flights from New York and Tel Aviv next year. It is now the 4th busiest in Spain after Barajas, El Prat and Mallorca.
DeleteSvaka čast!!! To se čekalo!
ReplyDeleteWhat about TLV resumption announced by JU?
ReplyDeleteSoon.
DeleteI wonder if Spain will be the new Greece for Serbians. 5 destinations is quite a lot. Won't those figures hurt the Greek destinations? Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteThey attract completely different types of passengers. Majority of people drive to Greece anyway.
Delete@14,08
DeleteA portion of pax on the direct flights to Spain would likely be those that either used to transfer via other European hubs or travel to other airports such as BUD to catch direct flights.
Not to mention that an increase in tourists from Spain is expected next year. A 4 day event with Spanish tour operators was recently held in Belgrade, where JU took part.
Yes, agree about driving but I am referring to air connections. I mean, 9 weekly suddenly to Barcelona is a lot in my opinion for instance and Valencia seemed to witness strong demand. What types of passengers are you referring to being different?
DeleteMany people travelling to Greece are young families, seniors, Greece is generally cheaper (depending on where you are holidaying) and so on.
DeleteSpain sees a lot of young couples, younger people, transfers, diaspora etc. Also despite all the jokes, the standard of living has improved notably in Serbia. More people can afford to travel. The unemployment rate is at its lowest in decades. That's why you are seeing record number of charter flights and new leisure destinations popping up. The amount of money home owners renting are currently making (due to huge Russian migration and prices going nuts) are enough to pay for a holiday in Malaga for at least two within a month. People are renting out one bedroom apartments for a 1000 euros in Belgrade. The demand is huge.
Yes, the standard of living has increased not only in Serbia luckily but in the region as well I would dare to say which is only good for everyone. I don't see Spain as an expensive destination and would say the same price range as Greece if you go to the south. Malaga is quite affordable. You can have a meal for 10-15€ if you know where to go and avoid touristic areas. A budget hotel can cost you around 60€ for a double room in the higher season.
DeleteOf course, Serbian standard of living has increased.
Quite good! I think even a lot of Russians will be using the routing since there is a decent RU community in / around Malaga. It used to be a fully booked flight on Aeroflot in both directions.
ReplyDeleteGood point. Marbella is packed with Russians. You can see signs in Cyrillic before entering the city itself when driving from Málaga.
DeleteOvo će biti naj duži let JU u evropskoj mreži.
ReplyDeleteZar nije naj_duzi JU let do Kazanja?
DeleteKazan is the furthest.
DeleteThe best thing about Spain is Gibraltar. One visit to the country is enough for a lifetime. Sort of like visiting New York City. It's not as advertised. But good to see further expansion.
ReplyDeleteI'm coming back to Spain each year so I guess it's true that de gustibus non est disputandum.
DeleteAir Serbia next destination in Spain should be Ibiza. I want to party in Ibiza.
ReplyDeleteLike they asked me for this route, I have to go to Granada almost every month. Hopefully they'll keep it during summer season. Thank you Air Serbia
ReplyDeleteNow Air Serbia has a good network in Spain !
ReplyDeleteMore destinations are not needed but increase of frequencies especially on the Madrid route which is still pathetic with only two flights a week ..
For spotters, fans and airport/plane lovers. A live event to watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JB5OJfOIdk JU is a newcomer soon to be seen there
ReplyDeleteBravo! Please start Alicante too :-)
ReplyDeleteNice holiday destination. Valencia has more to impress and see. But the villages around Alicante are amazing. You also have Benidorm, which is the typical cheap resortish town with huge hotels. Nice for those who like this type of tourism. Beaches however, are really clean and very good. Spanish beach infrastructure is quite high.
DeleteBooked my flights already.. 228 euros with checked bag.. yupppii.. so happy.. Hvala Air Srbiji
ReplyDeleteToo expencive
DeleteHardly, not in the real world. The days of cheap flights are long gone.
Delete@Anon 20:13
DeleteMaybe for you if you work for €500. It's obviously not expensive for him. The man even rejoices.
Good price I live in the Netherlands and flights from EIN to Milan,Budapest, Poland,Romania, Bulgaria Bratislava,London,Dublin and Baltics can be found very cheap under 70 euro for an reotur. But for Spain the cheapest you can find if you are lucky is €100 in February or November. And that is for Barcelona and Alicante. For Malaga and Sevilla ticket prices are almost always expensive. Even in February you can pay 300 euro for a roundtrip.
DeleteToo expencive? With luggage , round trip fro just ovet 200 euros??? Flight is like 3hrs long...what are you talking about....i was thinking it would be around 400 euros. To Tivat and back is almost 200 euros.
DeleteAnyways, i am happy.
Could it be that lots of Russians use those Spain flights ex BEG? AGP is a typical Russian destination as quite some Russians live downthere.
Delete228€ is definitely too expensive. You should of gone with the cheaper tickets starting at 300€+ one way with Lufthansa and friends. For only 35.500 din you can get an awesome deal one way with LX with a travel time of only 22 hours. Or for 39.000 din via VIE with OS with just under 10 hours of travel time. That's a steal. I bet you must feel silly now to have paid 228€ for a 3.5 hour return flight.
DeleteOnly way for people to keep on buying €20 fares is if the airline keeps on receiving subsidies either from the airport or from a local authority.
DeleteYou need to keep in mind that JU's clientele can afford this. They are not after those who are chasing a €70 package holiday to Zakinthos by bus. They know this and they have adjusted their pricing accordingly.
I believe there is going to be quite a bit of extra demand for next summer. For example, Microsoft (in Belgrade) has just hired 1.000 Russian IT guys and the average salary is well over €3.000. They will have no problem booking a €250 fare when planning their holiday next summer.
200€ RT BEG-AGP is a lot. JU will take advantage due to lack of competition.
DeleteFor instance, SOF has 3 carriers operating and so are the low fares in OTP.
@Nemjee
Delete+100!
Price is excellent no dought .. nowadays if u want to take baggage return flights arround europe are starting at 300EUR
ReplyDeleteI flew in the summer Zurich Malaga with Swiss with suitcase 900€
ReplyDeletekonacno!!! Bravo!!!
ReplyDelete