Air Serbia is working on securing permits for flights to Guangzhou in China after doing so for Shanghai and is considering services to South Korea and Japan for future expansion in Far East Asia beyond China. Speaking to the “TangoSix” portal, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “We are currently in the process of finalising our third wide-body aircraft and as soon as that aircraft comes, we will continue our expansion towards China. We have secured traffic rights for Shanghai, and we are working on traffic rights to Guangzhou. We will serve one of two. Wherever we manage to secure slots first will be the one we will expand to next. Once we expand to these cities in China, we will most likely add another destination in North America and, in the near future, we will also look beyond China in the Far East, most likely South Korea and Japan”.
The CEO noted the airline has a number of destinations on its list which it wants to serve in the future. “In terms of destinations, at the moment, we are aiming to have over eighty operating this summer. However, as noted before, we are very flexible and agile to react to any opportunities and as soon as we have a sufficient number of aircraft and no constraints on that matter, we will be able to add even more destinations which we have in the pipeline”. He added, “In terms of the narrow-bodies, our core strategy is to phase out the Airbus A319 and go for the A320s. However, currently, there are some interesting options on the market with A321s so we will maybe fastrack and consider taking the A321s on dry-lease already this summer. But it very much depends on the volatile market. We will also continue to expand our ATR72-600 fleet”.
The Serbian carrier introduced flights to Chicago last week, which the CEO says are performing above the airline’s initial expectations. “Chicago was always on our radar when we analysed the business case, but it was not sufficient to take an additional aircraft just because of this route because we didn’t know how demand would react in the initial stage. So, it was natural that when we were planning our China launch, which was still restricted by Covid measures, we would combine it with Chicago. It was the right choice because initial demand exceeded our expectations. From June 12 we will already be on three weekly frequencies. The flights are developing quite well, so most likely next year additional frequencies will come to this route as well”, Mr Marek explained.
EI-FCY is currently in painting and will be delivered to ASL.
ReplyDeleteThey will need a fleet of 5 a330 to meet all the route plannings soon!
. A321 is a good idea but they desperately need regional jet as well
They really need those Embraer's. Gap between A320 and ATR is too big. and if they replace all A319 with A320. wonder how many regional would they need. maybe 4-5. seems like a lot.
DeleteBravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteSo long haul development timeline looks something like this:
ReplyDelete- new China routes
- new North America route
- new Asia route beyond China
What is exactly Air Serbia advantage over lets say Turkish or the Middle East carriers, to take those transfers from Zagreb/Budapest to South Korea?
DeleteWith such an attitude one could imagine that JU should not start any route where some other carrier is already flying on.
DeleteGosh.
Smaller airport to navigate a transfer and potentially cheaper prices could be the main advantages
DeleteTransiting via ME hubs adds a few hours of travel time. JU currently has the advantage to overfly Russia which cuts travel time to both Korea and Japan. AY is the perfect example of how important those overfly rights are for their hub.
DeleteAir Serbia advantage over Turkish airlines is that passengers are able to take a car/ bus from croatia and hungary to Belgrade, and once the train line is finished, take a quick train from Budapest to Belgrade. Travelling through 1 airport is so much easier and convenient than flying through 2 airports.
DeleteThe future is Asia and this is a smart.move.bg Air Serbia. It is not the time for Japan yet.because the Japanese traveler is more conservative and prefers Asian carriers such as JAL, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines etc. to.destinations in Italy, Germany, France, UK etc. but Guangzhou and South Korea.are.definitely a smart.move because they will attract passengers from the Balkans as well as the Chinese and South Korean tourists to Europe.
DeleteDubai and Istanbul are simply too big and transfers involve a lot of walking and waiting which many Asian tourists hate because they can't communicate and are afraid of missing transfers.
If Belgrade Airport can fix the problem of the smelly and disfuctioning toilets it has a chance to become a new hub to China and South Korea. But will that happen in our lifetime?!
More competition would give better service &/or price
Delete@19:47 you're right belgrade can become a hub but needs to much work. needs a metro line from the airport.
Deletealso needs more efficient and reliable transport from belgrade to the region to make transfers easier. like the high speed train being built to budapest and that they plan for Sofia. functioning as a hub will only work well if people can travel from and to the airport easily.
and most importantly that terrible security check that just next to the stairs. that's the most stupid design i have ever seen.
Bilo bi zanimljivije da ANA leti za bg 2x
ReplyDeleteBilo bi.
DeleteMogla bi i Air China da pokrene makar jednu liniju.
DeleteBilo bi zanimljivo, slazem se ali i ovako je super sto ce se JU sve vise i vise razvijati.
DeleteMozda bih zip er mogao da pokrene BEG 2x nedeljno iz Narite.
DeleteTesko.
DeleteWow
ReplyDeleteDestinations outside China in Far East sounds great.
ReplyDeleteExcellent to see that they plan to further develop long haul network.
ReplyDeleteThird A330 coming.
ReplyDeleteHow much sense would Australia route via Singapore have?
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't make sense. It is extremely expensive which is the reason there is a single European airline flying to Australia.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteGood one with Jet 2
Delete@XYZ the response from 09:17 is not true. i just checked. Kangaroo route with Qantas from Sydney to London with stop in Singapore is 1,908.51 Euro. But Sydney to Belgrade with Emirates or Qatar is 1826.68 Euro and 2132.09 Euro respectively. This is for exact same date of travel. So the prices are pretty much the same, even though London is an extra 2.5 hours more travel than Belgrade and Heathrow is much more expensive than Nikola Tesla airport.
DeleteSo the whole balkan region is already paying the same prices to fly to australia already.
@ Slav.
DeleteHe does not mean ticket prices are expensive, he means operating the route is.
Singapore would make sense if they were in Star Alliance.
Hong Kong would be a great addition as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the demand between Belgrade-Tokyo-Seoul?
ReplyDeleteI think they count here more on transfer passengers, but let's not forget that Japanese business presence in Serbia is growing. Of course, not enough to justify direct flights to Japan, therefore transfer passengers from the region would play the most important role here.
DeleteDemand is basically zero .
DeleteDemand for your crappy opinion is zero but demand between Japan and Serbia is strong. In fact, ANA wanted to start Belgrade charters back in 2016. Based on 2019 long haul demand to/from Belgrade, Japan is 8th unserved country, just behind Thailand.
DeleteVery limited, I suspect. This is more about transfers.
ReplyDeleteVery ambitious though.
BEG is well positioned to handle more long haul flights. In my opinion there is a market and the airport has the infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteIt has the buildings and the sevices but in reality they do not have enough trained specialized people and auxilliary personnel to support such growth.
DeleteBEG has good predispositions for more long hauls with a lot of regional links.
DeleteThey need more aircrafts on dry lease soon, any idea for new routes this winter?
DeleteGood to be ambitious, but good to maintain current new service. Chicago was more than 2 hours late yesterday. Today Bucharest is cancelled and 2nd daily flight will be delayed more than 3 hours. Thessaloniki is also delayed. And they still haven't launched their June flights or charters.
ReplyDeleteInteresting they are thinking about South Korea. But first fix the current issues.
2 hours late is nothing for long-haul flights.
DeleteIt is because it was 90' late this morning and many connections were lost.
DeleteMarek is dreaming an Asian dream while in reality his operations are collapsing.
They fly double daily everywhere, no big deal.
DeleteThey still don't fly double daily, they don't have the planes for that. Their operations are collapsing.
Delete"operations are collapsing" LOL keep dreaming.
DeleteIf I was purger I would also say Operations are collapsing! But then I would wake up and realize my constant attacks did nothing to stop Air Serbia from growing more than 50% since 2019.
DeleteJU's OTP currently is below 70%, which is below average. This is something they need to improve on.
Deletehttps://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/most-punctual-european-airports-airlines-that-you-can-count-on-this-summer/
@ anon 9:32
2 hours delay is nothing? Try using that to advertise an airline to passengers. 4 hours is more than adequate to turn around an A330. The delayed arrival back to BEG meant all transfer pax lost connections and additional strain to the overstretched resources at both BEG and JU.
@ anon 9:44
They don't fly double daily everywhere. And if they need to reroute pax onto other carriers, or provide hotel accommodation, it's additional unnecessary expenses for the airline.
They fly double daily to many destinations actually. Doesn't seem you know much about this airline
Delete67 destinations currently.
DeleteDouble daily (14 pw) or more:
LJU, VIE, BUD, ZRH, CDG, IST, TGD, TIV, SVO. 9 routes. 13% of the network is double daily or more currently.
8-13 pw: ZAG, AMS, ATH, BCN, OTP, LCA, MXP, PRG, SKP, SKG, TIA = 11 routes or 16% of their network.
Together, with 8 or more weekly frequencies: 20/67 routes or roughly 30% of their network. This percentage will drop when more destinations are added to the network next month, as the next 10 or 11 routes have less than daily frequencies, bringing the percentage to around 25% that is 8 pw or more.
Yes, apparently I have no idea about the airline.
And of these destinations seeing 8 or more frequencies per week, how many are using BEG for the TATL routes? Half of those routes are not even on the top 15 list for JU.
Great that you love JU, but defending disorganisation isn't a way to show that love. In fact it's counterproductive.
"They don't fly double daily everywhere. "
Delete"Double daily (14 pw) or more:
LJU, VIE, BUD, ZRH, CDG, IST, TGD, TIV, SVO. 9 routes. 13% of the network is double daily or more currently."
You really need to decide. Too bad you hijacked an entire news article which is based on discussion about future long haul expansion.
You're mixing 2 people here. 9 of 67 routes is not everywhere as claimed. The ones hijacking the article are those commenting with alot of misinformation. Btw, this conversation is part of the long haul expansion topic, mainly their OTP and its effect on long haul connectivity.
Delete@Anon 9:27 "But first fix the current issues". Aren't you the one who, in 2013, said that Air Serbia won't get Airbus jets? That BEG airport has issues with lost baggage?
DeleteA319/320 arrived, baggage issues fixed but you never came back to apologize. Both Air Serbia and BEG airport grew and improved over time but you and your buddies never come back to praise that growth. You and your crowd is just bitter as you can't accept JU/BEG success. That's the only driver behind your comments.
They certainly fly double (or triple) daily to most of the destinations transit pax are from.
DeleteThen let's not forget a huge number of pax ends in BEG.
I am not really sure if this is going to work out. Lets see
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteIn line with this statement they allowed yesterday's flight (third since inauguration) to ORD to depart with more than 2 hrs delay from Belgrade. Chicago, which the CEO says are performing above the airline’s initial expectations.
ReplyDeleteSo?
Delete"Allowed", do you even know the reason? Do you think there might have been a reason outside of their control?
DeleteYou people are just saying anything at this point lol
DeleteDesperation.
DeleteOf course that he does not know the reason.
DeleteThere was a technical issue with the aircraft.
DeleteInstead of attacking the Anon who pointed out at this delay, it would be more helpful to give us the reasons for the delay, since it appears you all know what happened.
DeleteAlso, it would be nice if you could explain how does this excuse help mitigate the consequences of this delay.
And even if it was a technical issue they I presume didn't have enough time to fix it ahead of the flight while the AC was on the tarmac for hours but waited last minute and caused the delay? Some of you are riding such a wave of smoke in support of JU that you are completely blind and try to excuse everything. 2 hrs + is a significant delay in my opinion and should lead to an internal investigation / lessons learned, action point and RESPONSIBLE person for a no repeat again. Since you know everything what was done of all the above? ... probably 99% NOTHING!
DeletePlane arrived to the destination with 90 min delay. It is really not a big deal for TATL flights.
DeleteEspecially not for "internal investigation". You make the problem out of nothing.
^ it seems you are blinded by hate or don't know the basics of aviation. Do you realize technical issues can occur at any time and are usually discovered on aircraft start up because that is when checks take place? Or you expect them to be starting up the plane, which requires pilots in the cockpit, throughout the night?
Delete@09:30 >>>"SO" means that possible passengers (especially high paying) in the future will look for an alternative instead of booking JU flight. "SO" means probably hundreds of thousands $ lost in connections / hotels / compensations. "SO" equals with unrealiability and that drives demand for a product down, "SO" has many more negatives associated with it...
DeleteMa ja mislim da je najbolje za svaki slucaj da ga oteraju kod majstor Mileta u Surcinu svaku noc pred let. Nece da skodi 🤣
Delete@10.11 you really need to calm down.
Delete@10:11 Na aparatima
DeleteMany of you play down the delay of 2 hours as not a big deal. I do not know how much you travel, but 2 hours means a lot for some of the passengers. It means that they may miss a connecting (not necessarily bought on one ticket) flight. It means that they might be late for a meeting or be stressed out because of some other appointment. It means that some might have to take a taxi instead of some cheaper form of transport etc etc etc. Not a big deal per se (especially from the Balkan perspective), but it may mean that next time some passengers (especially the Americans) will skip Air Serbia. For instance, I had a negative experience (nothing big, but small details also can show that an airline does not care about the passengers) with Delta. Since that experience, I avoid them if I can.
DeleteThe plane wasn't late 2 hours on arrival and what do you want them to do? Send a plane with a technical fault into the air? Your suggestion how they should have been starting up the plane throughout the night shows you know little about aviation or planes.
DeleteWhat does a 2h delay have to do with CEO's statement that the flights to Chicago are performing above expectations? I think this part of the comment is just bitter and completely unrelated to the article.
DeleteDon't feed the troll.
Delete10:53 - Anon is 100% correct. It would be good to first acknowledge the delays and try fixing the problem. In the last comments, literally every second comment mentions delays of many hours and connecting flights in BEG:
Deletehttps://www.trustpilot.com/review/airserbia.com
Huge expansions come with a cost and they might need to pay it if they do not secure enough planes, staff and training.
@Anon 10:53
DeleteAir Serbia operates BEG JFK since 2016. Most of the time it was just one frame, operating 5x or 6x weekly during summer. No major issues or delays not counting the weather and BEG being closed. So if you had just a bit of common sense and less hate you would know Air Serbia will resolve ORD growing pains quickly and deliver reliable ops. Except you won't have courage to admit you were wrong a month or two from now.
@15:47 I was only addressing comments dismissing delays as unimportant. One bad experience is enough for a passenger to avoid an airline.
DeleteThese delays are particularly important at the beginning of each route when there are more reviews online.
I don’t hate Air Serbia. On the contrary, I wish them well. But like many here, I see challenges related to this rapid expansion.
>> One bad experience is enough for a passenger to avoid an airline.
DeleteThat's a fallacy. In January 1981 I was on AA B707 JFK-NAS that experienced enjine failure on takeoff. Went back to terminal and we had to wait couple of hours for replacement bird. One bad experience on my first AA trip. Have been happily flying AA ever since.
There is no honest way you can see only challenges related to this rapid expansion but not successes Air Serbia already exibited during previous rapid expansions in the past decade. There must be a reason you insist only on negative narrative.
Try flying southwest airlines where they straight-up cancel flights because they sold tickets but didn't have crews to operate since they fired their pilots during covid
DeleteI avoid them for other reasons.
Delete"We are currently in the process of finalising our third wide-body aircraft and as soon as that aircraft comes"
ReplyDeleteWhy don’t they buy some Boeing aircraft for preference 772er/77W or 767 ?,
Why would you add a completely new aircraft type to your (small) fleet and create extra costs and issues with crew training, servicing etc.
DeleteAnonymous 09:37
DeleteIts just a suggestion maybe if JU change its fleet ;)
No reason to do it.
DeleteMarek clearly informed that JU fleet is Airbus fleet.
Changing the fleet doesn't come free. Training, parts, acquisition costs etc. It's either waste money to play around unnecessarily with aircraft not compatible with the fleet or expand, you can't do both.
DeleteWill there be enough gates at BEG for these wide-body jets in the future? I am sure that JU will have five of them till next summer.
ReplyDeleteNo. Even now with all gates it is tight. KLM and Austrian are regularly parked on remote stands.
DeleteAnother 4 gates with air bridges and 4 remote stand gates are yet to come back into operation. These are gates A7-A10 (with air bridges), gates A4A, A4B, A7A and A7B (remote stand gates). No chance JU will have 5 A330's next summer. Their 3rd A330 delivery has been pushed back, while they barely have adequate staff to handle current operations despite their recent massive recruitment campaign. 8 wet leases this year will at some point need to mostly become dry leases by next summer considering another small expansion is expected this winter and another massive expansion is expected next year.
DeleteNew terminal can be build pretty fast if needed.
DeleteFor Asia expansion it will be great if they add Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore, busy routes can make busy passengers
ReplyDeleteIf they add Guangzhou, they woun`t be adding Hong Kong.
DeleteActually, the two cities not entirely overlap.
DeleteThey serve many such cities in Europe.
I believe Hong Kong permits would be much easier to obtain.
DeleteIf I understood well it would be Shanghai or Guangzhou. Why Guangzhou? Why not Hong Kong, because of the cost?Hong Kong could bring lot of transfers, diaspora from Australia, Japanese. And what about Beijing?
DeleteI think they plan both Shanghai and Guangzhou but which one launches first depends on the slots. It kind of makes sense. They plan 2 destinations with third A330 (Shanghai/Guangzhou) and then another 2 with fourth (new North America route and South Korea or Japan). At least that is my understanding.
DeleteAir Serbia moving into what could have been a real opportunity for OU. I can see them do a pretty aggressive expansion into the Croatian coast next summer or when these routes (Japan and South Korea) are launched. This could finally give OU the catalyst to act..... unless it's again too soon.
ReplyDeleteOU doesn't have the money to react.
DeleteYet they have the money for A220's apparently.
Delete^ It's a lease
DeleteSo leasing is for free?
DeleteCertainly not the same as buying new planes which they initially misled everyone. The constant state aid, state loans and recapitalizations (amounting to 200 million EUR in last 4 years) will definitely help pay for part of the leasing costs as their current financial reports indicate that they are facing liquidity issues.
DeleteLease rates:
DeleteA319: $45-200.000/month
A320: $53-225.000/month
A221: $145-240.000/month
A223: $160-260.000/month
So they will spend more money that they don't have to lease new aircraft that they don't need. Liquidity issues isn't resolved that way.
State loans need to be paid back and they've just deferred paying them to 2025. At some point it'll need to be paid back. State aid can't go on forever as we last saw with AZ.
Meanwhile, their market share continues to fall while no real changes to their network have been made. Their CLF doesn't suggest they need that capacity, nor do their finances suggest that they can afford new aircraft. I'm trying to understand the logic. That extra cash they're spending on new A220's could of (and should of) gone for more A319/A320 aircraft to boost their network.
I can understand who's commenting just by looking at the illiterate use of ''could of'' and ''should of''
DeleteJasmineeee!!!! Dje si? Dobro jutro! Jel'se ispila kahva? Kad cemo za Mostar? A moze i cak do Franfurta, vidit kako malo bolje pripomoc "partneru"
ReplyDelete9.44, c'mon, the man must have still been asleep :D
DeleteI am from South Korea and I can't wait to see Air Serbia at ICN airport! Respect Serbian Brothers from South Korea 🇰🇷🇷🇸🇰🇷🇷🇸
ReplyDelete+1
Delete+1
Delete+1
DeleteThe famous Serbian-Koran brotherhood
Delete* Korean
DeleteI already see Japan or South Korea in 2024. Simply wow!
ReplyDeleteWould be amazing.
DeleteAnd I am a Serbian-American and I can tell you that Americans are quite used to two hour delays, especially when transferring flights. There are few airlines in the US which do not have delays and the reasons for this are many. It is not always due to "technical issues". Air Serbia is doing a great job with their expansion and as a small regional airline in a region where most airlines are unprofitable and poorly run, it is performing remarkably well.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteSve realnije postaje opcija za sirenje linija da dodje i A350 o kojem se vec pricalo pogotovo zbog planirane ekspanzije prema Aziji gde bi ovaj avion bio pun pogodak. I dolazaz A321 je odlican jos kad se krene konacno sa jos vecom ekspanzijom prema Bliskom Istoku gde su najvece sanse za jos vise novih putnika.
ReplyDeleteINN-NS
A gde prema Bliskom Istoku sa A321?
DeleteThey would require a significant injection from the government to obtain A350s. And if they order just 2 or 3, they will have to wait forever to get them
DeleteJedan od primera IKA, BGW ili KWI su samo jedno od mnogo destinacija, na bliskom istoku postoji mnogo Potencijala.
Deleteanonymous17:52
Niko nije rekao nove A350 da uzimaju ima ih nekoliko na lizing trzistu trenutno. I na nekim linijama bi logli bez pomoci drzave da lete profitabilno ne samo prema aziji nego i prema JFK i ORD.
INN-NS
DeleteMislim da je B-787-8/B787-9 bolja kombinacija i avion za Air Serbia nego A-350-9/A-350-10
DeleteWhat does another north american destination means? Hopefully Toronto
ReplyDeleteThey said several times it is between Toronto and Miami.
DeleteToronto is a pipe dream they keep beating us with!
DeleteThis is good strategy by Jiri. He is complementing 2 different long haul markets in order to support expansion of wide body fleet.
ReplyDeleteNorth American markets will mainly rely on diaspora to fill the planes and China/Korea/Japan will rely on Asian business growth and future development dominance to fill the planes.
Wondering if pax to/from China/Korea/Japan (& India) to/from North America would typically fly via Europe or directly? If they fly via Europe then this coould be an added bonus of transfer pax for Air Serbia.
DeleteFor Asian pax who want to explore Eastern Europe will be perfect for JU ! If they operate South Korea and Japan, Eastern Europe countries will be directly affected to JU !
Deleteanonymous19:14
DeleteJust anecdotal from personal contacts that some Indian pax would go via Europe. But not sure if the reason is price or extra holiday stopover or both.
What about A359 for Japan and Korean expansion ?😏
ReplyDeleteThey are sticking with A332 for now.
DeleteThey were about to get some A350's recently.
DeleteI think the route to Japan will be launched before Expo in Osaka 2024/25. The demand will be huge
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting how there is every year talk about long haul destinations on JU like HAV,BKK,PEK,YYZ,PVG,MIA and it never happens , they needed more then 10 years to start ORD
ReplyDelete