Belgrade - Chicago flights restored after 31 years by Air Serbia

Air Serbia has launched services between Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and Chicago O’Hare International this morning, marking the resumption of scheduled flights between the two cities exactly 31 years to the day they were last operated by its predecessor JAT Yugoslav Airlines.

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AS IT HAPPENED

02.00: An event marking the new route launch is being held in downtown Chicago, in the presence of dignitaries and airline officials

17.15: After over ten hours, the aircraft has landed in Chicago and was greeted by a water cannon salute

07.15: Lift off

07.00: Doors closed. Flight time to Chicago 10.05h.

06.50: With its new Chicago service, Air Serbia has introduced new amenity kits in business class

06.45: Passengers are taking their seats

06.35: Aircraft is ready for boarding

06.00: The Serbian Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Goran Vesić, noted, “This is the second service between Serbia and the United States. An increasing number of intercontinental flights from out city remind us of the golden age of Yugoslav and Serbian aviation in the 1980s when JAT flew across continents connecting Belgrade with Toronto, Singapore, Chicago, New York, Melbourne and Beijing. Today, for a small country like Serbia, it is important that our airline connects us to the world. This is why in Serbia we look forward to the success of our national airline as it develops to become one of the strongest carriers in the Balkans. Air Serbia transfers passengers from all over the Balkans to the world. We are proud and happy because today not only Serbs are travelling via Belgrade to the world but also Albanians, Macedonians, Croats, Montenegrins and Bulgarians as well. This was the case half a century ago when one could fly from Belgrade to the United States. It took three decades for Belgrade to once again become the place from which one can travel worldwide. Wishing us the best of luck in our new journey.

05.50: The ribbon cutting ceremony is now taking place

05.45: President Vučić said, "There are many of you here who were still not born when there were last flights to Chicago. I would like to thank our US partners for enabling us to secure excellent slots to both Chicago and New York to enable transfer opportunities from the entire region. Belgrade - New York is now Air Serbia's most profitable. We believe the same will be the case with Chicago. These flights will allow good transfer options to Toronto and Canada until nonstop services are launched, as well as to the Midwest and West Coast in the US. We now no longer have to transfer via Munich, Frankfurt and Istanbul,  we can fly from our Belgrade. We dreamed big and we succeeded".

05.40: Ambassador Hill notes, "I want to congratulate everyone at Air Serbia who have made it possible. Air Serbia is becoming a major player in this sector and they are bringing Serbia and the USA closer together. We are now not just linked through basketball but also through this great new route" 

05.35: Air Serbia's CEO, Jiri Marek, is now addressing the press. He will be followed by Serbia's President,  Aleksandar Vučić, and the US Ambassador to Serbia,  Christopher Hill.

05.25: The launch ceremony is about to get underway

05.05: Check in is in full swing

· 05.00: A ceremony marking the launch of the new route is scheduled to take place shortly at gate C11 at Belgrade Airport. The Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic and the US Ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill, will make an address. 

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Chicago becomes the carrier’s third long haul destination and second in the United States after New York. The airline will initially maintain two weekly rotations, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, increasing to three weekly from June 12. Further flight details can be found here. The airline’s 257-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft, registered YU-ARB and named after Nikola Tesla, is operating today’s inaugural service, while its other A330-200, registered YU-ARC and named after Mihajlo Pupin, is scheduled to be deployed between the two cities this Saturday.

Ticket sales on the new route have exceeded the airline’s expectations. The majority of Air Serbia’s flights departing both Chicago and New York over the next month have been sold out. Commenting ahead of the inaugural flight, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “This is a big achievement for us. As a small regional carrier, it is not easy to start long haul flights. We did that in 2016 with JFK. It was very difficult to make the decision to start the second long haul route, but we did that last year and now it will become much easier to start the fourth and fifth route in the future. We are extremely happy with Chicago and how it was perceived on the market. Many of our flights out of Chicago are almost sold out up until the end of June, same with JFK which will operate daily for the first time this year. Now we need additional aircraft to grow more”. Air Serbia will sign a codeshare agreement with a carrier from the United States next month.

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JAT US newspaper ad for Chicago flights

JAT Yugoslav Airlines launched regular charter flights from Belgrade to Chicago on April 10, 1980. They were upgraded to scheduled operations on November 4 that same year and were maintained by DC-10 aircraft. Over the following twelve years, services to Chicago ran four times per week with the routing Belgrade - Zagreb - New York - Chicago, as well as Belgrade - New York - Chicago. In its final years, nonstop flights were introduced from Belgrade. As Yugoslavia began to disintegrate, the United States imposed an embargo on air services from the country on May 21, 1992. As a result, the final flight between Belgrade and Chicago was operated on Sunday, May 17, 1992. JAT’s successor, Jat Airways, planned to restore operations to the Windy City in both 2004 and 2006 but was unable to do so as Serbia and Montenegro were relegated to Category 2 in the US Federal Aviation Administration’s safety oversight rating. In 2011, US charter carrier Swift Air announced plans to launch operations from Chicago’s Rockford Airport to Belgrade via Zagreb on behalf of the Air Plus tour operator. On June 18, a total of 221 passengers boarded the Boeing 767-200ER aircraft, however, the flight was cancelled fifteen minutes prior to the scheduled departure time after the FAA failed to issue approval for the service.

JAT summer 1991 Chicago schedule

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Belgrade and Chicago became sister cities in 2005. Hundreds of thousands of people living in the Chicago area have Serbian roots or are of Serbian origin. In 2007, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare became sister airports. Although there are more point-to-point passengers currently scheduled to fly on the new service between the two cities, Air Serbia is also targeting connecting traffic. At this point, the airline has seen notable transfer demand on the route to and from Skopje, Podgorica and Tivat.