Air Serbia aims to cover the majority of destinations in the region and progressively add frequencies on all existing routes in the area, with the likes of Ljubljana potentially growing up to 21 flights per week from Belgrade. The carrier’s CEO, Jiri Marek, noted recently, “For us, the region is extremely important and that is why we want to position ourselves as the leading airline in the region. We call it the wider- ex-Yugoslav Balkan region because we want to go beyond the border of the former Yugoslavia. I think we have the perfect aircraft serving this region, which is the ATR. It is the aircraft that has extremely good economics to serve regional destinations. Our strategy is that we would like to cover the majority of destinations in the region. In the former Yugoslavia we already cover fifteen destinations, and we will grow this year to include Ohrid”.
Mr Marek added, “The strategy is to densify destinations step by step and offer multiple daily connections to Belgrade. We are building growth in the region based on the strong point-to-point demand and the transfer demand is on top of that. For example, Ljubljana for us is one of the most important markets in the region. We are almost back to pre-Covid frequencies and in summer we will reach that. We will have eighteen plus flights per week. We still consider that we might even grow up to 21 weekly, which was our number of pre-Covid frequencies, which was a reaction to the collapse of Adria, plus we have two weekly flights from Niš. I believe that this market has potential to be, in very near future, up to four daily flights”.
Commenting on the possibility of basing aircraft at nearby airports, Mr Marek noted, “Everything is possible but is this feasible or reasonable for us or anyone else in the region? I think it is a complex question. We are regularly looking at other opportunities in the region. At the moment, the limitation is obviously that we are not in full open skies, so this would require us to get a European AOC and with that come certain complexities. Due to our aggressive growth, which we aim out of Belgrade, which is our priority at the moment, I don’t see it as being feasible in the next couple of years although we would never turn down any opportunities that arise in the region”.
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Bravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteLjubljana going 3x daily is a surprise. Do they actually have that kind of a demand?
ReplyDeleteThey obviously see it and with them adding more and more destinations to the network it demand will probably grow with transfers.
DeleteI think there are several factors that contributed to the success of BEG-LJU-BEG:
Delete1. solid O&D demand acting as an additional boost to the revenue.
2. relatively short segment meaning the plane can leave and come back in time to catch absolutely all connections. This is not the case with ATH, IST, ARN, CDG...
3. collapse of JP and the loss of connectivity. JU stepped in and stepped up in a market where they were already relatively strong.
4. absence of VIE connection which could be the only real competitor on the Slovenia-Balkans market.
That said, I personally expect BEG-LJU to be relatively high on Wizz Air's future list of destinations. The number of tourists alone traveling between the two countries is enough to fill a two weekly A321 on the route ... especially in summer.
Air Serbia needs to boost BEG-LJU as a deterrent. The more flights they offer, the harder it will be for Wizz Air to break through their defenses.
That said, Air Serbia should do something to get more people to fly between Belgrade and Ljubljana. They were quite successful with INI-LJU which has really good loads throughout the year. Switching certain flights from the ATR to the A319 should be one of their priorities. Place some ads and organize more promo offers in order to attract even more customers.
@Nemjee
DeleteAt Wizz, they say even BEG-VIE is a bit too short a flight for them. Hence, I doubt they would be eagar to start BEG-LJU.
I think BEG-VIE is not too short for them, it's just an excuse as they know it will be extremely difficult to break through the JU-OS duopoly. Both airlines might hate each other, but their common hatred of Wizz Air would unite them in no time. They did the same to Niki which only managed to get a LF of 66% on the Embraer.
DeleteJust look at BEG-VIE this summer:
07.00 OS
07.45 JU
11.05 OS
12.35 JU
18.35 JU
18.40 OS
This is their schedule on the busiest day when demand is the largest. It also doesn't help that OS is upgrading the 07.00 departure to A320 and JU renewed their ATR fleet.
Wizz Air would need to go big or go home in order to remain relevant on this market. That's why I think LJU is an easier prey especially if JU keeps on doing well over there.
As i wrote a while ago, WIZZ should create party plane - because most of my friends think flying to Belgrade is expensive and if they knew they can fly for 60-70€ they would all fly instead of driving.
DeleteThat is whey I said JU needs to work on that market segment. JU is not the cheapest option when traveling from LJU to BEG. If Wizz enters the market they can offer lower fares thanks to their competitive CASM.
DeleteSuch a potentially high volume route from BEG needs to be gradually increased, first in terms of frequencies and then capacity.
Nemjee09:54
DeleteTravelling from Belgrade to Ljiljana by any mean is unreasonably expensive. Buses are about 70e return for a 7h one way ride, JU charges +150e. Unlike with Vienna on Slovenia /Croatia routes there are no real competitors.
SrbijaVoz has exited the market as the cheapest option even though the rail segment from Prokop to Ljubljana is decent and relatively fast.
Thank you. Do you remember how long the train took?
DeleteI guess since JU enjoys a monopoly on the route they can afford to charge more. That is why I am almost certain Wizz Air will feel comfortable enough to enter this market. After all, they are after a price sensitive market so they don't need more than 2 weekly flights. If they can spare an A320/321 for Friday/Sunday rotation then they could make a killing.
I don't think they would impact JU that much. The market overall seems to be in expansion mode right now. It just depends who will capture the most of it.
He acknowledges that Air Serbia isn't no.1 in the region at the moment,!
ReplyDeletein ex-Yu they certainly are.
DeleteIs Tarom bigger in terms of pax carried?
DeleteWould be interesting to compare JU and W6 in the ex-YU region.
DeleteNo, TAROM handled 2,3 million passengers in 2022. Air Serbia handled 2,75 million (with travel restrictions to core markets in Q1).
Delete@Anon 09:26
DeleteThanks for the info. So JU is the biggest airline based in the Balkan region (leaving aside TK and A3).
Good job!
@anonymous 09:26 can you please provide us where is the information about 2.3 million passengers of Tarom airlines ?
DeleteHere you go https://centreforaviation.com/news/tarom-records-2m-pax-in-2022-report-1179327
DeleteSky Greece handled 3.5 million passengers in 2022 so they are also ahead of JU.
DeleteI think FR and W6 which have bases in the Balkans also had more passengers.
Air Serbia might be the 6th biggest airline in the Balkans.
@anonymous 09:49 thanks a lot .
DeleteNemjee I'm afraid if we add all the capacity U2 has in the Balkans (especially Greece and Croatia) during the high season they carried more than 2.75 million passengers.
DeleteIndeed, then again they mostly fly there in summer so others might catch up with them during the slower months of the year.
DeleteLast time it did not work out well for JU on BEG-BUD route, LF was criminal (sub 40%) back than. Let's hope both p2p and connecting pax works better this time!
DeleteThere are rumors that advanced bookings on BEG - BUD are criminal at the moment, even worse than 40%. We will find out in a month or so I guess.
DeleteWhat did they expect? They only put ads now for the route. There was no promo here or in Budapest so how did they expect for seats to sell? If they start cutting flights no one will be surprised. This was expected.
DeleteWhat ther regional destinations could they add down the line?
ReplyDelete*other
DeleteMaybe Mostar, Maribor, some destinations in Romania?
DeleteWhat about Portoroz?
DeleteMaribor makes more sense. Portoroz is weight restricted and limited to a few weeks in the summer. Maribor could operate year round and get feed from Graz too,
DeleteIf you are looking at Maribor as a destination it would make much more sense to launch Graz instead, and then you can get feed from Maribor, which is much smaller than the passengers you can arttract from Graz. The only question is what kind of deal you could get from the airports. If Maribor pays you to fly then I would definitely choose it over Graz if I were Air Serbia. Otherwise I think Graz is the wiser choice.
DeleteWell, Budapest is a big regional destination that starts in less than a month. We will see how well they do there. As far as regional markets go, BUD is the second largest that can be efficiently served by the ATR, VIE being the first.
DeleteThis will be a big test of their maturity in terms of strategic planning.
Could Varna and Burgas airports work for JU?
DeleteThey are launching Varna this summer.
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/p/air-serbia-belgrade-varna.html
DeleteBrac
DeleteSorry but Mostar would not work. They would not have more then 5 passengers on plane.
DeleteInterestingly, talking about regional growth strategy and mention just one route, LJU.
ReplyDeleteAha, then my mistake. I always think something else when use term strategy, but when they talking that is totally different. Understood 😉
Delete^ Your comment makes no sense. Read the article again where they do outline their strategy for the region.
DeleteATR makes many regional destinations work financially.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey will need more of them.
Delete10 -12
DeleteIt would be good to keep destinations such as Split in winter, at least a few times a week.
ReplyDeleteMaybe during winter 23/24 they will. Didn't they operate Rijeka for a few weeks around New Year this winter?
DeletePula. Not Rijeka.
DeleteAh true, my mistake. I wonder how those performed
DeleteVery poor.
DeleteBEG-PUY was the first winter scheduled route (although for a short time) to the Croatian coast since 1990/91. They did a charter to ZAD a few days ago as well.
DeleteA good start would be to at least bring forward the season start to the Croatian coast, while operating some service over the peak holiday period during winter.
I think JU scheduled and even operated a few RJK winter flights some years ago. These were subsidized and still had atrocious loads. They were suspended and weren't brought back.
DeleteBy EU AOC do they aim PRN OPS?
ReplyDeleteI don't think they'll launch PRN any time soon. In reality, it's an unnecessary operating complication for them. Better to focus their capacity on markets that have more potential for them. Furthermore, I don't think we should see a JU plane in PRN before they change the name of the airport.
DeleteI’m sure that will happen just to receive one or two daily ATRs from BEG
DeleteIf circumstances were regular then the ATR would have been too small for BEG-PRN. Transfers alone would fill an A320.
DeleteI think you are severely overestimating it
DeleteWhat is their most frequent regional destination at the moment?
ReplyDeletePodgorica
DeleteIST
DeleteHow many frequencies will Tirana have this summer?
Delete12
DeleteI was shocked yesterday when I was searching for a flight from Zagreb to Belgrade in April on a Tuesday or Wednesday. There are no direct flights. Didn't expect that and it ruined my plans.
ReplyDeleteThey haven't loaded their summer timetable for destinations in the region yet.
DeleteDo you know when this could happen? I would then wait with my flight booking.
DeleteIt will be on Monday afternoon
DeleteIf they start flyinf 4 daily, could they add early morning flight? To catch New York and Chicago flights?
ReplyDeleteI think they will add the times they had in 2019 when Adria went bankrupt. Not sure which ones those are though.
DeleteA midnight departure would be perfect
Delete4 daily would mean flight in the morning, midday, evening and night. In all 4 banks. With that, every single connection is possible and convenient.
DeleteNot really. It means departure at midnight, arrival at 1.30am and flight to nyc or chicago at 7ish. Which means at least 5 hours waiting at not so comfy airport. I would never book that.
DeleteWhich is why JU will most likely upgrade some flights to the A319. They have the JFK departure at around 13.15 and those connect perfectly from LJU.
DeleteI think the flight on the A319 would be around 45 minutes.
@09,59
DeleteAll inbound flights from JFK, ORD and TSN connect to LJU.
LJU-BEG doesn't connect to:
* JFK 3 times a week (Mon, Tues, Wed)
* ORD 1 flight a week (Wed)
@10,00
JU's third daily schedule was:
JU192 BEG LJU 1310 1435 AT7 Mon, Wed, Fri
JU193 LJU BEG 1520 1635 AT7 Mon, Wed, Fri
@18,37
A midnight schedule would like something like this:
JU196 BEG LJU 0030 0155
JU197 LJU BEG 0410 0525
No you can't connect on NYC flight every day. You can connect only on certain days - when departure is at 13.15. and not on days when departure is at 7.50. the rest is long wait. Which is stupid to buy since you have Lufthansa, Airfrance, LOT, KLM/Transavia offering shorter connection and cheaper flights.
DeleteI'm sure they will introduce a late evening arrival/early morning departure from Sarajevo once the airport finally extends its work hours, apparently from May.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteA split morning/evening schedule would work great as well.
DeleteDestinations such as JFK, ORD, TSN, OTP, SOF, TIA, LCA, SKP, TGD, TIV, INI, IST, LHR, ATH, SKG, VAR, OHD, FCO, VIE, BUD, CHQ, RHO... would all be possible.
Good to hear
ReplyDeleteMaybe Brac will be next...
ReplyDeleteOr Mostar.
DeleteWhat is the point of Brač? It's too close to Split and ferryboat connections can't compare. To me it only make science for tourist that stay on Brač and I don't think that could ever be enough. Maybe if concessionaire (company that owns a hotel chain on the island, if I remember correctly) offered them some good subsidies...
DeleteWe really need SPU year-round. Well, I do that is. :D
ReplyDeleteCount me in :)
DeleteTurkey and Romania seem like two big markets with a lot of growth potential for Air Serbia. They have started work on Turkey, hope they begin expanding into Romania soon as well.
ReplyDeleteCluj-Napoca first!
DeleteRomanias forgotten treasure trove : Iasi !!!
DeleteWhy?
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if they had some plans to grow out of Nis and Kraljevo too.
ReplyDeleteBelgrade Airlines? Sure...
DeleteWhy expand from Nis which has proven to be unprofitable for them outside of subsidized flights?
DeleteKVO has no fuelling possibilities and is limited to what an ATR can bring in from BEG to operate the flight.
DeleteJU tried unsubsidised flights from INI to ZRH which should of been a success and it wasn't entirely considering the length of operation was reduced.
It's either make less money forcing INI and KVO or make more money with as much operations from BEG as possible.
Full flights also don't mean profit which we saw with FR pulling out of BGY-INI.
Trebinje and Bihac coming online soon :D
ReplyDeleteTrebinje - That would be amazing can you imagine an over night stay to enjoy the wine!!
DeleteAnon 10:44
ReplyDeleteBecause A320 classs aircraft are just too big for most of their network most of the year.
I know lots of talk of Wizz v Air Serbia but I think they can compliment each other to make Belgrade a hub for the region. If you look where Wizz is growing its presence in Yerevan in Armenia and in Georgia then maybe that is for the benefit of Belgrade airport. Of course it’s interesting Wizz’s play in Istanbul but if Air serbia hopefully go down the Turkish airlines loyalty route it would close that off. However other places are still at play like Tel Aviv etc. . Greater connectivity for Belgrade will benefit all
ReplyDeleteATR is a perfect fit for them.
ReplyDeleteDensifying destinations is not a new idea. Kondic spoke about going double daily to regional destinations. In reality, you can densify TIV TGD LJU but not destinations like INI or BNX.
ReplyDeleteDane said many things but in the end he made a mess and was fired.
DeleteDane tried to do what government politicians asked him to do. Seven years ago:
DeleteAir Serbia's Chairman, Siniša Mali, has said the airline is looking to develop its regional fleet in the coming years in a bid to strengthen its network."Our strategy is to start flying double daily to a number of cities and to get new regional planes. We will see whether they will be turboprops or jet-engine aircraft. With these, we can cover points in the region", Mr Mali said
from: https://www.exyuaviation.com/2016/04/air-serbia-to-develop-regional-fleet.html
He really did try, he did his best but his best was just not enough. He chased away many high quality people with his crazy and horrible mobing and in the end there was no room for him at JU.
DeleteTopic was Air Serbia's new strategy: "The strategy is to densify destinations step by step and offer multiple daily connections to Belgrade". Turns out it was not new strategy at all, Air Serbia had it back in 2016.
DeleteInstead you tried to derail converstation and talk about your petty grievances.
I thing double daily from BNX to BEG would be good deal for JU and for passengers. Now passengers from BNX make connections in Berlin, Brüssel, Nürnberg, Stockholm and other not BEG
DeleteLOL, ATR is horrible for flights over 2 hours long. Which is about 1000 km distance.
ReplyDeleteHopefully they'll also increase ZAG, TIA, SKP, SOF, OTP, SJJ at least to 14x weekly.
ReplyDeleteZAG won't happen; there is no way that they will be paying 19€ per pax on atr, when their LF is 70% or so on the route now
DeleteLast Anon +1
DeleteWell they seem to be doing fine in ZAG, this winter they had more flights than they had in summer. If demand is there then the price hike should not impact them so much. After all, when people from Zagreb are considering flying to the east, it's not like they have much choice. It's either JU, OS or TK or FR to several destinations with a really low number of frequencies.
DeleteIt seems they're celebrating birthday today - 95 years since the first flight to Zagreb by Aeroput. Good luck to Air Serbia. I hope they'll have good season this year and many good years to come :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think JU has any flights that are two hours on the ATR. Longest is Prague which is 2 hours (block) but roughly 01.40 flying time. This isn't that bad.
ReplyDeleteWorst regional flight on the ATR had to be SJJ-CPH on JA. I think that flight was well over 03.30!
ATR🤮
ReplyDeleteTake your private jet instead.
DeleteMaybe one day we can 8-10 A330, & 20-30 A220. All A330 will depart at the same time to JFK, ORD, MIA, YYZ, DTW, two for China, 1 for Austrlia via something (maybe A350 can reach Australia).
ReplyDeleteAll the A220 will arive at BEG from all Balkan Airports 2 hours prior A330 depart (great connections). After that all A220 Depart for Europe (great connections again). Late night A220 back to Balkans, not only ex-yu, but also Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania etc.
Dreaming is Free 😃😃😃
Cestitam Anon 01:32. Nadmasili ste me u zelji za razvoj nase nacionalne kompanije. U sledecih 25 godina nije realno da flota Er Srbije predje brojku od 40 aviona.
ReplyDeleteVeoma dobro je voleti napredak u bilo kom poslovanju.
Ali zelje ne kupuju avione i Aerodromske slotove...
Iskreno se pridruzujem Vasoj prici. Ipak to je samo zelja.
Bar za 20 i neku godinu.
Pozdrav, Rod. 😀🛫
It is a shame that Air Serbia has only two flights weekly BNX BEG. Air Serbia ignores BNX for a long time, but other air carriers not.
ReplyDeleteForget night ops at LJU, first of all, airport is closed and extra opening hrs are mind blowing
ReplyDelete