Air Serbia has announced the first set of its planned new routes for the 2023 summer season with the addition of four cities in Italy. The carrier will add Catania, Florence, Palermo and Naples to its network in Italy, complementing Bari, Bologna, Milan, Rome and Venice. Furthermore, the carrier will increase frequencies to the Italian capital, as well as Milan and Bologna next year. The four new Italian routes will be served twice per week with the Airbus A320-family aircraft. It will mark the first time Belgrade has been linked to the four through a scheduled air service. The new additions are in line with the carrier’s strategy to add new summer leisure destinations to its network, which have seen growing demand from Serbia.
The carrier initially planned to launch flights to Florence during the 2020 summer season, however, the service was scrapped as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. On the other hand, Air Serbia has previously operated charters to Catania, Palermo and Naples. In addition, flights to Rome will be increased to twelve weekly rotations next summer, Milan will run daily, while Bologna, launched earlier this year, will operate four times per week. The carrier has so far not scheduled flights to Trieste which were introduced this summer.
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| Air Serbia Italy expansion, summer 2023 |
Italy is one of Belgrade Airport’s biggest markets, with Serbia and Italy seeing strong point-to-point traffic. The two countries have wide-ranging economic ties with 1.789 Italian companies actively operating in Serbia and employing over 26.000 people. Among them are Fiat, the Benetton Group and Ferrero, to name a few. Furthermore, the Serbian diaspora in Italy is estimated at 70.000, more than 55% of which live in the country’s north. Air Serbia has also managed to capture a notable number of transfer passengers to Italy. The recent bankruptcy of Romanian carrier Blue Air, which boasted an extensive network of destinations in Italy, has also presented an opportunity for Air Serbia to expand its operations.
Today’s announcement is the first in a series of new routes to be unveiled in the coming days. Speaking at the CAPA Aviation Summit in Gibraltar yesterday, the carrier’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “The first batch of new routes will be coming on Friday and every three days we will announce a new batch of routes so that by mid-December we will have them all on sale for next summer. These new routes are driven mostly by connectivity and leisure, and they are mostly in Europe”.
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Can't wait!
ReplyDeleteExciting times for Air Serbia. Excellent to see that it is continuing to develop. Nice that we will be getting good news every few days regarding the new routes.
ReplyDeleteOk, they are definitely going to need more planes next summer unless they wet lease like 10 of them.
ReplyDeleteAnd a LOT of new cabin crew.
DeletePolish?
DeleteI meant lot as in many
DeleteI know bro, just messin' with ya.
Delete@11,17
DeleteA new round of recruitment for cabin crew is underway. The deadline for applications ended roughly 2 weeks ago, assesment day and training to follow. I believe it was their 3rd recruitment drive this year. More will definitely follow.
@08,01
YU-ALZ arrived last night, the future YU-ASA (5th new ATR) is being prepared for getting the JU livery. I think another 2 ATR's will join by next summer for a total of 7.
Marek also mentioned more A320's as the lease rates are more favorable compared to the A319. JU was short of 4 narrowbodies, currently it's 1-2. YU-APO arrived in the mean time. It will be quite disappointing if at least 3 A320's don't join the fleet come summer 2023 as it will mean a heavy reliance on wet leases considering the expansion planned for next year.
Maybe they get to keep their ATR 72-500s, so they do end up with 10 ATRs by the next summer
DeleteThey have only one ATR72-500 left. There is no point of keeping them in the fleet with all other ATR72-600s.
DeleteWhy not? That plane is ideal as a backup. It can also serve from INI for LJU and ATH as well as from KVO to IST, SKG and TIV.
DeleteIts expensive to have back up these days.. Besides crew can't fly 500s and 600s in the same day, so it really messes up operations.
DeleteBravo JU!
ReplyDeleteGood to see they are starting sales early. Usually they announced new routes closer to the launch date.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSo proud about Air Serbia!
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how many new destinations they opened and especially as they are looking out of the box with destinations like BRI, SZG, AGP...
I expect them to be Catania, Palermo and Napoli.
The only ex-Yu airline with some strategy and sense of direction.
ReplyDelete@Anon 09:21 Chillax bro.
DeleteWell done Air Serbia!
Announced
ReplyDeleteFLR
NAP
CTA
They haven't been announced yet and there are 4 not 3 new destinations.
DeleteThere are 4 new routes like the article says.
DeleteI suppose you know better than web site of Air Serbia.
DeleteWell yes I do know better. The flights are not in the system yet (you are looking at ITA codeshares on their website) and there are 4 new routes being announced today.
DeleteNot in the system but on the front page of Air Serbia!
DeleteMore novih destinacija u 2023.
DeleteJedan smer
Firenca
Iz Beograda
Od RSD
8.108
Povratno putovanje
Firenca
Iz Beograda
Od RSD
16.215
Jedan smer
Napulj
Iz Beograda
Od RSD
8.108
Povratno putovanje
Napulj
Iz Beograda
Od RSD
16.215
Jedan smer
Katanija
Iz Beograda
Od RSD
11.632
- Florence
Delete- Palermo
- Catania
- Napoli
Anon 08:47 & 08:59 on air serbia web page are all 4 destinations
DeleteYes now they are. They weren't this morning.
DeleteWow
ReplyDeleteWell done!
ReplyDeleteAren't FLR and BLQ too close to each other for having JU flights?
ReplyDeleteThey serve different markets. Bologna is used by a lot of diaspora. Florence will be leisure.
DeleteWhat about Portoroz?
ReplyDeleteRead
Delete"The first batch of new routes will be coming on Friday and every three days we will announce a new batch of routes so that by mid-December we will have them all on sale for next summer."
That's around 20 new routes if they are going to announce them every 3 days. Really impressive!
DeleteWhat about it?
DeleteThey should offer connections to new destinations as well, KIV for example
ReplyDeleteI believe they have some restrictions at KIV now due to nearby war. Some airlines cancelled the flights, I don't see it coming in this expansion.
DeleteThey should add Cluj, Iasi/Suceava.
DeleteThose airports now work as secondary Ukrainian airports.
Ofcourse there are oppurtionities to offer transfer to KIV for JU, but there needs to atleast some point-point travel between these cities which is almost non existend. Even though Moldova is a poor country Chisinau offers a lot of destanations, so it's not gonna be easy to fill these planes. At the moment JU can offer tranfers from Russia to KIV but they need to think on the long term.
Delete@09,19
DeleteKIV was one of the new destinations announced for summer 2020.
@09,39
There were some complications but things seem to be back to some normality, other than possible issues with radio communication. Air Moldova was recently forced by the Moldovan government to stop selling tickets for summer 2023 due to financial issues. JU is quick to react to these kinds of things, recently being the bankruptcy of Blue Air and added capacity to OTP including 3 pw on the A319. I wouldn't be surprised to see KIV getting announced.
Except for Trieste and Bari, it seems that JU won't be back there.
ReplyDeleteWell, you are wrong about BRI.
ReplyDeleteTickets are on sale for next summer.
Oh very nice. Destinations are a bit out of the box.
ReplyDeleteTrue but this strategy seems to have worked well for them this summer.
DeleteAir Serbia picking up where (bankrupt) Carpatair left off!
ReplyDeleteBlue air as well
DeleteFair point about them wanting tl take over some former Blue Air pax. They had almost 20 destinations in Italy.
ReplyDelete*to
DeleteThey still keep neglecting Romania.
DeleteIt's early days yet. They will announce another 10 more routes or so.
DeleteNew regional routes to be announced soon :)
DeleteI wouldn't say Romania will be included. Air Connect was postponed to March. CLJ has a slight stagnation and especially TSR. FR have not yet launched their summer schedule for secondary Romanian airports compared to the rest in the region. Maybe IAS is a possibility because it isolated a bit and close to Ukraine.
DeleteBravo AS.
ReplyDeleteBrave and bold that is the way forward.
Go Serbia!
ReplyDeleteRespect
ReplyDeleteThis is great. Italy is huge market, covers all kind of pax from BEG: leisure, transfers, f&f, business. And it's so close meaning lower costs for JU.
ReplyDeleteWizz is again sleeping on high leisure demand, simply unbelievable. I would like to see ITA back in BEG next year too, they are getting back on track and offering more and more destinations from FCO. It used to be good transfer option couple of years ago.
The companies started to offer it. It was neglected for quite some time. We see (and will see in coming years) similar thing with Spain and Portugal. Serbians love the wider Mediterranean and we finally see it's much more than Greece or Adriatic.
ReplyDeleteMany serbian students study in Italy.
ReplyDeleteNumber of students is pathetic low. These are theirs summer charter lines except Florence.
Deletegirl…
DeleteYes. There will no more be charters. Agencies will buy tickets for summer season. Just like Mallorca last year. Next they will announce same with Grecce
ReplyDeleteI personally agree with it - why would some destination be available only to agencies?
DeleteLot of idiots on this site are for free flights and do not want to share risk. Agencies share risk and pay for full plain. Simple.
DeleteThat means AYT will also become a scheduled service next summer, that's why they blocked TK after all !!!
DeleteWatch your language agency man!
DeleteIt is known in all western world that there are no charters anymore and all the flights are free to be sold.
Only you still live in 1974.
Interesting that they are all in the midday wave.
ReplyDeleteAnd they all start on different months.
DeleteAnd all on A319/A320!!
DeleteInteresting that FLR was initaliy planned to be operated with ATR in 2020, but now they switched to A319/A320.
DeleteI'm guessing they are keeping ATRs for regional expansion.
DeleteIts especially weird since FLR has a runway barely long enough (cca. 5000ft i think) for A319s to land there, and that main A319 operators (ITA and Vueling) only use specific planes on those routes, fitted with a software upgrade package that lets them squeeze some more performance out of the plane, which idk if JU has.
DeleteMaybe JU A319s have the more powerfull engine versions equiped? Smth like the difference between the CFM56 -5 and -6 thrust difference?
Congratulations Air Serbia. Can't wait for the rest of the routes.
ReplyDeleteHope some of these operate year round.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe it! I live in Palermo and have to transfer every time I go home. Thought I would have to do it till the end of time. Thank you Air Serbia. Buying my ticket straight away! Yay
ReplyDeleteThis is great news and wouldn’t be surprised if we see additional flights to different Spanish cities with the popularity of the existing ones.
ReplyDeleteA personal ask can we finally get an airlink to one of our closest neighbours and Budapest. It’s much needed and would do well, even if only 2 or 3 flights a week and it’s an easy rotation.
Yes, would love Budapest. At least until the fast rail link is completed.
Delete9 cities in Italy!! Crazy
ReplyDeleteThey pretty much NEED additional 2 A320 and 3 A319, with 5 ATRs that they already said they'll take
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about the ATRs. The other article said they are thinking about it. Far from confirmed.
DeleteThey won't order A319 anymore, only A320s. So we'll definitely see next summer new A320s and couple of wet-leases for sure.
DeleteKeep them coming! 😀
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia on stereoids.
ReplyDeleteMarek has certainly gave them a new lease on life.
DeleteLike soneone said a few months ago, he will either turn Air Serbia into one of the most successful regional airlines or run it into the ground. No middle ground 😀
DeleteTaking in consideration no budget money was planned for JU in 2023 I believe they are on the right track to become more than successful regional player.
DeleteI'm glad to see my quote going around :D
DeleteIn the end, they really will reach their goal of 100 destinations by 2027.
ReplyDeleteThey are on the right track.
DeleteOk let's do some maths.
ReplyDeleteThey will announce new routes every few days to mid December. So I assume another 3 batches of routes.
That leaves
- Regional expansion
- Middle East expansion
And what could be the third one?
Canada expansion :p joking.
DeleteProbably Aegean expanaion - Greece and Turkey too.
DeleteHope they include Baku, Tbilisi or Yerevan
DeleteToday is the 2nd of December. If they will be publishing every three days until the mid Decemeber, that menas on the 5th, 8th, 11th and 14th.
DeleteI would go for regional, Middle East, Caucusus + Turkey, and one European
With this bunch of Italian cities, my guess is that next is expansion in Romania.
DeleteLagos 😂😂😂
DeleteI guess we'll see 2-3 new (scheduled) routes to Greece so one announcement day will be Greek.
DeleteI suppose they won't be flying to TRS anymore.
DeleteAir Serbia online ticket purchase is a joke! I was purchasing tickets to IST online and during the payment the screen would come up with "payment in progress" and that remained on the screen forever without the payment going through. Then I bought the tickets through the application ok but I ended up being charged in the bank for 3 tickets instead of two. Had to open a dispute through the bank. Unbelivable how their system is archaic and useless!
ReplyDeleteJust a small advise - if it happens again do not purchase another ticket but call them.
DeleteThey can find out if the ticket was issued based on your name, destination and date.
И Ви мислите да је то случај само са ЈУ? Исти проблем сам имао са ТК, Пегасусом и са Луфтхансом.
DeleteI was making that purchase from Russia on my Visa issued in Serbia so calling them is not very easy and costs a lot. @11:57 The problem is that I have a problem every time I am buying their tickets online (I recogn that I use more my PC rather than the application) so I can definitively say that their site is not "friendly" especially if one select Cyrillic which I do as a matter of principle.
DeleteFollow them and write them on Twitter in Direct Messages.
DeleteYou probably don't know that they have their Russian telephone number for contacts
Deletehttps://www.airserbia.com/kontakt
That is an agency who sells their tickets and usually nobody answers that number ... I tried in the past when I wanted to buy a ticket to BEG. Had to go there in person.
DeleteI have had the same problem. You get to the final phase only to have the 'in progress' page remain. I've had to call the JU call centre every time to finalise the ticket purchase. They were quick to answer and extremely helpful, found the reservation and processed it with the ticket arriving in my inbox immediately. Their website could be improved, and especially their mobile app.
DeleteSabre is used by Serbia Air and is not the best. Amadeus is much better.
DeleteLasta has a better web site, but Air Serbia is charging even 300 euros one way from Milan to Belgrade.
DeleteI am hoping to see Alicante/Bilbao, Lisabon and Bordeaux soon
ReplyDeleteAnd that's how you build a hub
ReplyDeleteWhat they need IMO is phasing out of A319 and going for ATR72-600, EMB 190, A320 and A330 fleet
ReplyDeleteSuddenly INI and especially KVO are forgotten. All expansions are focused on the capital...
ReplyDelete....where the biggest market is.
DeleteAs it should be. There is only one Belgrado.
DeleteINI-ZRH was recently announced and starts in roughly 2 weeks from now. It's also their first route from INI not getting PSO subsidies. Most likely it'll remain in the summer. I wouldn't be surprised to see INI-IST getting more frequencies as well.
DeleteNot much can be done about KVO due to limitations with the airport. Still, there is 1 year round and 2 seasonal routes.
Sorry, my bad.
ReplyDeleteThat’s even better haha!
I live in Spain,i know actually we have 5 destinations from Belgrad, Madrid, Barcelona Valencia Palma and Málaga.Do you think two next weeks will announce more Spanish cities?
ReplyDeleteNope for the summer, maybe some extra frequences. I think we can see LPA or TFS next winter season.
DeleteHope to see ALC-BEG for S23 or S24 at least
ReplyDeleteI heard ALC TFN and BIO but may be on 2024
DeleteYes, there are many cities in Italy. And towns. Villages also...
ReplyDeleteFenomenalno, I like it. Converting former charter destinations into summer seasonal should be a safe bet.
ReplyDeleteOdlicno. Jedva cekam da letim za Siciliju a i da vidim Vesuvius i jedem pravu picu.
ReplyDeleteMogli ste i do sad leteti tamo.
DeleteVesuvius i prava pica (Margherita) samo vidis u Napoli .
DeleteSicilija ima Etna, Pistacije i Granita sladoled..
My guess is we'll have Cairo, Tel Aviv and Kuwait in the Middle East; Yerevan & Tbilisi in the Caucasus; Ohrid, Cluj-Napoca & Portoroz in the region. Krakow & Budapest as the wild cards! :))
ReplyDeleteThese announced destinations would be perfect for A220 type.
ReplyDeleteSomething's off with those routes. Some are just too long for ATRs, some are just too small for A319. Hmm, is it possible Air Serbia will actually lease a regional jet for some of those routes, and some of the new routes they are about to announce?
ReplyDeleteLike they had Adria's CRJ900 for the summer of 2016, to try some thin but longer routes? At that time it was KBP, HAM etc. Regional jet would be a nice additional summer wet lease.
And it could be used for KVO as well.
DeleteI agree. There are some routes that are too long for the ATR but the market too small for the Airbus fleet. Wetleasing CRJ or Embraer from the likes of CityJet, Xfly, Air Nostrum or German Airways would make sense.
DeleteGreat news! Keep adding!
DeleteCan the A320 take off from Florence or do they need to use the A319?
ReplyDeleteNope. Only A319 or the ATR they can use.
DeleteToday new Routes?
ReplyDelete