Air Serbia has blamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and its operator for the flight cancellations and delays the carrier has been experiencing over the past few weeks. In a scathing press release over the weekend the airline said the airport was understaffed, its staff undertrained and its infrastructure and technology problematic, noting the situation is “out of control”. Last Friday, the Serbian Ministry for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure met with Belgrade Airport’s management, also expressing its dissatisfaction with the concessionaire. The development is in stark contrast to just three weeks ago when Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vučić, said the airport and Air Serbia had an excellent relationship and that airport operator VINCI had full understanding for Air Serbia’s needs.
The Serbian national carrier noted, “There are a whole range of problems that Air Serbia has been facing at Belgrade Airport on a daily basis for weeks, that is only getting worse by the day, all of which has a very serious consequence on punctuality. In recent days, the situation at the airport has gotten more and more out of control. This is not only in reference to the cancellations and delays on June 22 caused by the failure of an X-ray device at baggage control, which was just one incident. Problems with the functioning of other airport services is a much greater issue and is of a chronic nature. Passenger handling is extremely slow. Check-in agents are undertrained, and the check-in process takes much longer than it should. The baggage belt often breaks down, causing queues at check-in desks. As a result, flights are closing late and being delayed. Passengers are rightfully angry. Baggage drop-off counters are often out of service as well”.
The airline went on to say, “Loading baggage into the aircraft is often late and there is not enough staff. In the evening hours, there is a lack of employees in all support services. There are problems even for arriving flights, where passengers often must wait longer to collect their luggage than their actual flight time because there is a lack of staff in the baggage sorting facility. When it comes to lost luggage, it accumulates at high speed and passengers are unable to get feedback on the status of their luggage, as employees do not even manage to list it, let alone send it to passengers”. Air Serbia said it had regular meetings with the airport’s management and informed them of their planned network and volume of flights for the summer in advance. “Although the lack of staff in key positions was identified as one of the biggest risks as early as six months ago in a document dealing with the level of preparedness for the summer season, it is obvious that the problem has not been solved in the meantime”, Air Serbia said. Belgrade Airport has not responded to the accusations.
In 2017, in a bid to cut costs, Air Serbia halted operations of its Air Serbia Ground Handling Services (ASGS) company, which provided passenger service, supervision, station management, training, freight forwarding and customs clearance at Belgrade Airport. It outsourced these duties to Belgrade Airport instead. Similarly, it halted operations of its catering division and is now experiencing issues with its outsourced catering provider. Last week, the Serbian carrier said it had been forced to optimise and reorganise its scheduled due to the late arrival of leased aircraft, the prolonged maintenance of its jets and supply chain issues.
Have no intention of defending the airport but it seems that to Air Serbia everything and everyone is to blame for their problems except for themselves. From what I see, foreign carriers are operating normally out of BEG.
ReplyDeleteNot all.
DeleteIt is difficult to compare other companies except Wizz (that also has big delays) with JU on BEG as Air Serbia has many more flights than each of them.
Wizz Air has big delays everywhere (not just in BEG) and it is more of an issue with the airline. Not to mention that Wizz Air's handling is done by another company in Belgrade, not Belgrade Airport.
DeleteI agree with what Air Serbia said. But I definitely disagree with the way they went about it with these press releases.
DeleteWizz Air's handling is different comparing to Air Serbia, but security check and passport control are the same.
DeletePassport control has nothing to do with Belgrade Airport. Passport booths are staffed by police and police is hired by the Ministry of Interior. There is nothing the airport can do there.
DeleteWizz Air is actually pretty good for delays in Belgrade. It is mostly highly punctual. The massive delays by Air Serbia (multiple delays longer than 5 hours in the last week) cannot possibly be due to passport control or x-rays. Air Serbia just doesn't have enough aircraft.
DeletePassport control is not organized and led by airport but it is the part of the airport that is common for all the flights including JU and W6.
DeleteOn my last flight to BEG wirh OS i waited 40 minutes on my luggage
DeleteDepends when your flight was but Austrian handling in BEG is done by another company, not Belgrade Airport.
DeleteIf the parking at the airport is an indicator of Vinci competence then we can imagine how bad it is in baggage handling etc
DeleteI flew in on JU803 (23JUN). The baggage carousel displays did not show which flight was where. Airport staff had take bags off the carousel and line up in between them for people to collect their bags - this staff could have probably been used elsewhere. There were 11 flights that arrived within 10 minutes. There were only 4 immigration counters open. This isn’t Air Serbia’s fault. If the airport can’t get their act together, and the airline keeps getting blamed, they should then name and shame so that they can show they are doing everything necessary to keep to the schedules set out.
DeleteSerbia is a horror when it comes to organising and I commend Air Serbia for showing us the skeletons in the closet or Belgrade Airport.
DeleteI will continue to fly in and out of Nis Airport because I value my time and sanity and because I don't enter very dirty toilets which is ALWAYS the case in Belgrade Airport.
Svi su drugi krivi.....
ReplyDeleteIn this case it's kind of true. There are shortcomings within JU for sure as well, but there is no excuse when flights arrive to BEG on time and depart late anyway. Yesterday evening I arrived from TIV and we had to wait 10 minutes more onboard the plane because there was no one to operate the jetbridge. This kind of thing boggles the mind.
DeleteOk, so the airport delayed you by 10 minutes. What about the multiple flights yesterday evening that were cancelled or delayed by more than 45 minutes?
DeleteSimilar thing happened to me recently on Lufthansa flight from Belgrade to Munich. We landed in Munich and the pilot told us over the PA that we have to wait because there was no one available to operate the jet bridge. In the end they brought the stairs even though we were at a jet bridge but we waited a good 10 to 15 minutes.
DeleteWere stuck at the gate in Amsterdam for more than 30 minutes after landing at Schiphol from Los Angeles as no staff was available to connect the airbridge. Saying that however, this was a perfect storm with an expected outcome - A rapidly growing airline with an insufficient number of aircraft in summer peak hubbing at a construction site that still is Belgrade Airport. So "brigo moja predji na drugoga" approach here is not only naive, its ridiculous to say the least.
DeleteLooks like too many flights are arriving and departing in same hour and there is on top of that new charters already in peak. There is also extremely high demand for air travel in Serbia. As new circumstances are developing, operation in BEG should be reorganize and airport should be run like a major hub. Also Air Serbia should introduce another departing/ arriving wave. The question is how fast they can fix the problems?.
DeleteIt was a big mistake to outsource everything. They need to bring back ASGS, Catering and Tehnika.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI agree. It may be more expensive but if you manage it well. It is better for the business to have full planning and control over all your own needs
DeleteVery soon wide masses will realize everything was better during SFRJ 😃
DeleteI hope so too but it has already been 30+ years and counting.
DeleteBolje da u avionu nista ne daju i da operišu kao low cost with legacy prices
DeleteAhhhh… Yugoslavia…. Deeply mourning it to this day, the demise of a great country with many faults, but sooo many great things.
DeleteThe thing with Yugoslavia was if this happened back then, people would come at the airport to volunteer and help the things work. Because if we work, we can make everything work, right? If we sit and comment nothing happens. And airport is public thing so we should care. That was the spirit.
DeleteNext on the list is airserbia line maintenance, they are already in process of outsourcing maintenance…
DeleteFirst thing Air Serbia should to is apologise to passengers, which they haven't even bothered to do.
ReplyDeleteI personally do not care whether they apologize or not, it means nothing to me. I want them to sort it out before my flight.
DeleteApologising would mean they accept part of the blame, which they clearly don't want to do even though 99% of the delays is due to them lacking enough aircraft to fly all the flights for which they put tickets on sale.
DeleteSome would say that apologizing would be the honorable thing to do .... hahahah.... just kidding, no chance AS would do that.
DeleteI suggest for winter season another 40 new routes and one wet leased plane.
ReplyDeletehahahahaha
DeleteActually, one wet leased plane is not good enough, they should launch those 40 destinations with 80% of their fleet wetleased. Meanwhile Marek can assure us everything is under control and how they plan on expanding to Bishkek, Kinshasa and Hyderabad next because their whole system is as smooth as silk.
DeleteFrom what I heard and I don't know if it's true, people keep on quitting JU. They seem to be stuck in another era just like BEG is. JU and BEG seem to be a match made in heaven.
My respect to NEMJEE . He likes Air Serbia but never acted like a cheerleader . When he forsees that something is wrong he never hide it .Once again he had my appreciation .
Delete*has
DeleteWell, of course I support them but I am not blind to some mistakes they are making. There is a saying in Serbian that keeps on coming back to me: ушла им вода у уши.
DeleteThey had a good 2022 and a fantastic winter. They boosted their network but failed to make the necessary arrangements for it to work out fine. I have been writing for a long time now that one of their biggest weaknesses remains their non-existent commercial policy. I am trying to think of one big and important project that was introduced and implemented since Mr Rupic took over. I can't think of any.
JU should keep on growing and expanding but let's be realistic, they need to fix many things internally before they continue walking down this road.
I have another saying: it is easy with another dck gloginje to kick
DeleteNemje objasnio
DeleteOGLEDALCE OGLEDALCE!...(take a mirror) ...
ReplyDeleteThey (JU) should be ashamed for their part of poor planning and poor execution. Noting that the airport is not much better in any way hence I can write Balkan circus all around at it's best!
Air Serbia has many faults and their top management leaves a lot to be desired but BEG has a lot to do with their delays. I was told that BEG still needs around 500 staff to get through the season.
DeleteLook at departures this morning. All JU planes were in BEG on time, there were no serious slot restrictions yet some planes still left with a delay. This is where we just can't blame JU for the mess.
If they are missing 500 staff, there is no chance they will be able to hire that many people to save this season.
DeleteThe could wet lease the staff :D
DeleteMaybe they can get some ex-Bus Plus control people, they are currently looking for a new career. lol
DeleteThey have more able people on payrolls with SNS approval doing nothing then poor bastards from BUSPLUS.
DeleteNemjee
Delete+1000
Who wrote them this press release? Malovic?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Grozdanic, they returned guy from grave and put him in charge of training. 🤣
DeleteAha, use the foreign operator as a scapegoat. Lol
ReplyDeleteEvery issue in Serbia has a foreign origin, didn't you know?
DeleteVince has been a disaster. I believe we are reaching a point where the govt will start fining them. Especially with all the negative attention pro-opposition media has been giving to this topic.
ReplyDeleteAre fines within the scope of the concession agreement? Is the agreement public?
DeleteNo, the agreement is not public.
DeleteThat's why it's a shame ICN didn't get the concession. They were supposed to get it but somehow they went for Vinci after Macron visited Serbia. Interpret this as you wish but I think we got a bad deal in the end.
DeleteI'm not so sure ICN would have been the best. Korean companies don't have such a good track record in Serbia. Remember the stories of the factory workers being given nappies so they don't rake toilet breaks?
DeleteWell those are two completely different industries and companies. ICN would come because BEG was/is a highly lucrative investment. Yura on the other hand came because of cheap workforce and government subsidies.
DeleteFrom my personal experience I can tell you that Korean way of working is everywhere the same no matter which industry we are talking about.
DeleteEven in Germany their behaviour with local work force is the same as in Yura.
Fining them? How? Do you really beleive that the contract that no-one has seen yet, have at all the clause for fines...? Why do you think that the contract is still "top secret"?
DeleteAirport concessions contracts in EU also have secret sections. One example:
Deletehttps://ibb.co/bPK4Vnr
100x bolje da imamo vinci nego da je dosao fraport i ugasio aerodrom
Delete100x bolje da imamo vinci nego da je dosao fraport i ugasio aerodrom
DeleteEvery week they find someone else to blame. Can't wait to see who it will be next week.
ReplyDeleteATC!
DeleteHaha yes SMATSA next week :D
DeleteEven better HKZP. Two in one 😃
DeleteBEG management seems to be extremely autistic and now they seem to be paying the price for their past behavior. I remember their ads were all over Belgrade advertising various open positions. One thing that bothered me was that all future candidates would be employed by an agency and not the airport itself.
ReplyDeleteThis is already a wrong first move. No one wants to be working through an agency anymore and it's a practice that seems to be dying out. BEG is still insisting on it.
Second, their salaries are low and they do not match the reality on the market. This is something they need to work on. Average salary in Belgrade is over 100.000 RSD, offering a glorified минималац doesn't seem attractive to many.
So basically they are refusing to adapt to new market dynamics and then they wonder why they are understaffed at the end of June when traffic is booming.
This is unacceptable and the government should fine Vinci for failing to improve working conditions and operations at the airport.
I won't even go into how rude their staff are and how unfriendly they are towards their customers. That's a whole different discussion.
BEG management seems to be made up of dinosaurs who seem to be living in another era. Air Serbia has upgraded their business model (not their HR practices unfortunately) but BEG has not done the same.
I dont know anything about BEG salaries, but I find it hard to believe anyone at the airport is working for the lowest wage, which is around 300 EUR in Serbia. At least I hope so ...
DeleteSomeone reported about Vinci recruiting in India. Has that materialised or were these the catering workers?
DeleteBEG got some workers from India but with their economy booming there isn't as much pressure as before for them to leave and accept these kind of jobs abroad.
DeleteA few months ago when I flew I saw them loading luggage. Two weeks ago when I flew on KL to AMS there weren't any, on any plane. Maybe they also quit. lol
I know that a few years ago almost all foremen at the airport were hired through Омладинска задруга. Don't know if that's still the case.
I mean why would someone accept that kind of treatment when he can work as a cashier in Lidl for like 80.000 a month.
Like I said, BEG has deeply rooted issues and they need a new business paradigm. Should they change? Yes. Will they change? I don't think so.
Let's not forget that we've seen BEG struggle last year as well. This is not a new development. It's more of the same.
Maybe there's a clue in the CEO Vlaisavljević whose JAT was no better with employing. No doubt the circle around him is made up of fossils from the same era who look back fondly at the times when BEG mostly employed through youth organizations on series of 3 month long contracts. Wouldn't be surprised many 'nobody wants to work these days' being thrown around the office..
DeleteWell, well, well if it isn't the consequences of JUs actions... Yeah the airport is a mess, but it in no way takes the blame away from JU for ditching it's own ground staff, therefore making itself reliant on others. That is the risk they decided to take to save some money, so they should soak it up and do what they can to fix the mess...
ReplyDeleteAlso it's one thing for vesic to go around pointing fingers at Vinci, but for JU it's a very low level to stoop to and frankly embarrassing
It seems that national carrier and capital airport had more professional management in 90's than today.
ReplyDeleteDefinitively YES on both sides!
DeleteEvery organization in Serbia had more professionals back then, one thing we can't blame communists for. Their legacy of education and professionalism lasted till 00s (until majority of them got retired). Unfortunately, education and other parts of society were devasted during 90s and the values of work and professionalism are not appreciated any more, so our human resources are at the lowest point ever in almost every industry, with no signs it will change soon.
DeleteI kinda understand JU. Even if they lack 2-3 planes, it is impossible that all flights are late for 2 hours. Also, images of bags spread all over BEG airport show that the airport is struggling, it is impossible to blame JU for slow luggage handling. I am really surprised BEG was not ready for this summer season knowing how much airports around Europe struggled last year. Any idea how are major hubs doing this year?
ReplyDeleteIt is messy at other airports too but nowhere near as bad as it was last summer.
Deletei can only speak for airports i frequently visit for work this is hamburg vienna and zurich and they are absolutly fine exept belgrade where i have always some issue no mather if i come with lot austrian klm or airserbia.
DeleteWhat a mess
ReplyDeleteNow BEG should do a press release about Air Serbia being understaffed.
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia's main problem ist lack of aircraft, Staff and uncontrolled expansion. Fleet and frequency Plan seems not to be done by proffessionals.
ReplyDeleteProblems on BEG are present (lack of Staff, problems with equipment), but JU is to blame for horrible delays and cancellations...they simply dont have enough aircrafts in service.
You seem to forget that BEG confirmed the slots for all the routes JU wanted to launch this year, so they knew full well what resources would be required months in advance. It's inexcusable that flights get delayed from the home base even when they arrive to BEG on time. The baggage hall looks like a warzone and there is a clearly visible lack of staff everywhere across the airport.
DeleteWell BEG tried to get more people to work for them but there were no takers. They though people would rush to work for them which wasn't the case in the end. When it was obvious that they won't be able to handle all this growth it was too late for JU to cancel flights.
DeleteThey should also issue a press release criticizing the Ministry for interior for not hiring or dedicating enough staff at passport control for both departing and arriving passengers. But something tells me Air Serbia won't be issueing an angry letter about Bata Gasic.
ReplyDeleteCurrent bottlenecks -
ReplyDelete1. Departure border control - fault of Ministry of Interior Affairs and their Border Police
2. Departure security control - fault of VINCI
3. Arrival border control - check number 1
4. Luggage handling - fault of VINCI
So, in general, Serbia and VINCI share 50-50 blame
And when a second pilot shows up at the gate 30 min past departure time is that also government and Vinci? or must be Belgrade traffic but never Air Serbia organization.
DeleteThe government's mistake was going with Vinci in the first place. There have been other applicants who certainly would have done a better job.
Deletethe airport is a joke they cant control this criminal taxis .. the driver took 300 euros or dollars from an elderly russian lady with her grandchild to metropol hotel
DeleteOne of the reasons JU has delays is because their rotations and turnaround times are very short. Most of their planes are on the ground just 45 minutes.
ReplyDelete45 minutes is perfectly reasonable for a home base turnaround of a legacy airline. Ryanair does 25.
DeleteIt is not reasonable at all especially at crowded European airports. That is why AMD / CDG / BCN / MAD flights almost never make it on time back to Beg. Even in BEG this is very often not enough time especially with the current lack of ground personnel / handlers.
Delete10-15 min deplaning, 20 min boarding already gives you 35 minutes ...where is cleaning, re-fueling, catering etc?
DeleteWhat catering?
DeleteThe turnaround today between Catania-Belgrade and Belgrade-Stuttgart is just 35 minutes. The aircraft will definitely be late.
Delete35mins is certainly doable.
DeleteThere is absolutely no way they will manage it.
Deletei dont get it. Is it possible with current infrastructure to handle the pax numbers?
ReplyDeleteMany Airports and Airlines across the world are suffering the exact same problem. Air Serbia must accept some of the blame though, as they are also short staffed and short of Aircraft and their customer service in dealing with the situation is a disgrace. They are simply expanding too quickly without the infrastructure in place.
ReplyDeleteThe blame lies across the industry but Air Serbia's expansion is still the root cause of the delays. The check-in/passport/x-ray delays add a maximum of 20 minutes per flight for each delay. Air Serbia has multiple flight cancellations and 2+ hour delays every single day.
DeleteI’ve got 1:30-45 mins of delay for my flight Nice -> Belgrade, they dont know the reason
ReplyDeleteI was flying TK lately a couple of times out of BEG and the handler for TK is AB staff. I can say that the ladies were always nice and welcoming but the check in process takes forever due to slow computer system (that is what they told me themselves). In an average it takes 5-7 minutes per each passenger so the queing in line lasts forever despite 4 counters been open. Can these computers be given some boost? Manual check in in the old days was much more efficient and quicker, I witnessed the check in at BKK of our DC10 (full load) taking 50 minutes since opening the flight registration!
ReplyDeleteYes, my thoughts exactly. This February I was flying with TK, they've sent an A330 - and the check-in guys were like STONED. They first gathered all at an internal council meeting, then they figured out that they should MANUALLY 1 by 1 re-map existing pre-checked-in pax to the new configuration - TOTAL MESS. Then the very slow check-in process. Flight was late 1h for no tangible reason; not to mention that we then missed the connection at IST...
DeleteAre there seasonal jobs at BEG?
ReplyDeleteThe ground staff is extremely untrained and without basic knowledge. My family and I flew to MIA via CDG in April. At the check in counter we lost some 20 min time. Except my wife, we all have Italian passports. We were all asked to show the visas. I told her that there are no visa requirements for entering US with Italian passports. She did not believe, so she started calling her colleagues. Once she was convinced, she understood that ESTA is the right document she actually needs to check. But then she asked my wife to show ESTA doc. Well I got the US visa, no ESTA needed - my wife. Well again the girt start calling the other to be sure. Finally we were checked. Normally such person would not be employed. In 20 min them she should have checked at least 25 passengers.
ReplyDeleteI also find it absurd and disgusting that the check-in staff is checking for visa requirements.
DeleteThat is the duty of police or passport control, not some untrained young fools that barely know the map and who have never travelled in their lives.
Once i almost got into a fight in similar situation when i lost patience.
Of course they need to check the visas. Otherwise the airline is responsible for deportation of its passengers. Usually that will be recharged to the handling provider.
DeleteYou should not loose patience for that reason, as airlines are heavily fined for pax carried with no regular visa, so they absolutely need to check it, as border police woun`t pay them bills.
DeleteIt is a requirement for check in staff to check if you have a visa not the passport control in your departing country. You obviously don't travel a lot.
DeleteBut they should at least have basic training to know the difference between visas and ESTA
DeleteI actually travel a lot and that is why it pisses me off.
DeleteTo be checked and scrutinized by some uneducated mule.
That didn't exist back then, it's another way of outsourcing government duties to the private sector.
If they wanted to check it, why don't they do it at the time you purchase your tickets?
So we may take your money, but that doesn't guarantee it'll take you to gate.
Disgusting.
Petition your government to lobby for changing international travel regulations. Governments forced airlines to do this.
DeleteI am flying ZRH - OHD with JU next month and I am not looking forward to experiencing this circus
ReplyDeleteFirst you will endure the circus in Zurich due to a lack of staff with the Cantonal Police.
Deletebut the staff should have knowledge, right? And 20 minutes for the check IN is unacceptable.
DeleteDepends, a lot of staff have left the ground handlers during Covid. Now at least at Swissport it's mainly students, other young people and foreigners who can't find job opportunities due to a lack of German skills.
DeleteBEG is not alone, with increasing flight prices, it is time to pay higher salaries across the industry, in order to attract (quality) staff. It is already happening in the US.
Unless your flight gets cancelled I don't think you have much to worry about. Delays have been brought under control.
DeleteIt looks to me that the long haul flights have not been affected.
ReplyDeleteBelgrade - New York was an hour late two days ago. New York - Belgrade was an hour late two days ago and three days ago.
DeleteThe last Belgrade - Tianjin flight (22 June) was three hours late. The one before that (15 June) was 2.5 hours late. The flight on 1 June was more than six hours late!!
@11Ч38 did you notice lately that ORD / JFK flights are never on time returning to Belgrade? They are not so terrible but all within 30-60 min delays.
DeleteToday ORD is on time.
DeleteToday BEG-ORD JU506 was an hour delayed. ORD and JFK both arrive to BEG around 30 mins late due inexperienced gate agents causing congestion at boarding.
DeleteBoth BEG to JFK and ORD have early arrival today, check them online.
DeleteThe ORD flight that departed from BEG was an hour late.
DeleteEven if early in the morning they have all the planes on site and no slots have been assigned, if their crews are still out of hours (because the day before they finished late) that new wave of flights will delayed once again. And by the look of it they are scars of workpower too, not just planes…
ReplyDeletebut the staff should have knowledge, right? And 20 minutes for the check IN is unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteThe airport staff should work from home
ReplyDeleteThe Serbian way of booming: expand a lot without enough aircraft, crew and airport capacity to support your expansion. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteWhen it fails blame others
DeleteFast forward to early Jan 2024: Belgrade airport had double the passengers of Zagreb airport in 2023. Air Serbia had a record number of passengers in 2023. @Anonymous 12:09: not a word from him.
Delete@ anon 14.32
DeleteHahah great! So true!
Some people keep saying "This is not good for Belgrade Airport!. This is very bad for Air Serbia" hoping they would inflict harm on BEG/JU and reduce number of passengers. Some don't even hide it:
Deletehttps://ibb.co/bQXpjpd
It's true though. We've read here that some companies and people give up on JU. I don't think it's gonna be significant numbers if the mess stops soon, but if it continues it will be disaster.
DeleteDo you know how many stories I have heard about people swearing not to fly with Lufthansa anymore especially after pandemic?
DeleteFew months later first cheap ticket changes their mind quite fast. The same will happen here and all the haters including "analysts" will have to continue suffering. How sad :)
Yesterday Air Serbia cancelled JU516 ATH, JU386 LHR, JU532 FCO and JU604 VIE. Today they have cancelled JU126 SOF, JU816 TLV and JU444 GOT. Today"s JU170 TGD has not been cancelled but is already five hours late..
ReplyDeleteAt least they fed the TGD pax today: https://ibb.co/Gx1g2qw
DeleteWhat a disgrace! Unacceptable!
DeleteActually, it is much better today, "just" 3 canceled flights, looks like that much needed Embraer helped ease the pressure a bit
DeleteBoth Airport and AirSerbia are the victims of SNS gang.
ReplyDeleteI have had only good experiences at BEG flying in from Amsterdam on KLM or Air Serbia. In September I'll fly direct from US to BEG, arrive early AM, I hope I have the same good experiences. I have also found passport control at BEG to be as fast or faster than most.
ReplyDeleteYes, BEG was super easy to navigate till recently. It is not any more, unfortunately.
DeleteHow is Belgrade-Split doing in terms of punctuality?
ReplyDeleteOr it is “Russian roulette” on any given day?
Since delays and cancellation are widespread and worldwide my intuition tells me reason a bit more complex than what meets the eye.
My feeling is the planet Earth is changing/increasing its own frequencies and we humans have to change our own frequency. Otherwise there is miss match and negative electromagnetic field is formed?
Don’t you feel that is quite negative field is since few years ago? No matter where you look everything is negative.
It’s not so widespread and worldwide. That’s what you hear about.
DeleteBut if you look at the punctuality ranking, Norwegian had in May 89.25% operations on time, followed by LOT with 88.68% and Iberia with 86.63%.
No idea when Air Serbia is but definitely not in top 10…
People in Serbia love conspiracy theories, isnt it?!
DeleteWhy not blame HAARP or the Aliens?
Boris is right.
DeleteBut most people won't understand that.
Hold on, I'm just trying to change my frequency
DeleteIt is widespread at least in Western part of aviation sector.
DeleteCheck YYZ departures on daily basis and delays are massive.
US too more or less, the same with IT infrastructure unexpectedly falling down.
Anyway regarding frequencies you can check that with Shuman resonance . It is not the same 7.8 since 1990’s ; it increased steadily.
You can also observe on personal level the time. Time speed it up.
Wouldn't it be normal to have an honest meeting between JU, BEG and Govt? They jumped to accusations really fast, that's not how you communicate with partners. I think this could be revenge for that Vinci's statements on fake taxis at the airport. Nevertheless, it's not good for anyone if they continue talking with each other through press releases.
ReplyDeleteSo, this mayhem has been predicted for more than a year now. It had started at summer season back in 2022, when employees were literally begging management for pay raise and more staff and there were none of it. At the end of the season they made announcements that they were surprised by the traffic numbers. BS. If ramp agent that loads bags had known that traffic was gonna increase, they knew for sure. This year the same story. Even worse. For reasons known only to management ground handling by Vinci is completely forsaken and left to die down. Companies are leaving, transferring their contracts to Sky partner, there are no new equipment, staff are underpaid and made to work more for same or less money. They gave us pay rise of 50 eur and told us it is the biggest increase of salaries. They literally are laughing at us and humiliate us. We begged and pleaded to Senka and to Jelena Lukic and to Francois Berisot to listen to workers but to no avail. My guess is that they want to get rid of ground handling and there are some deals with other andling companies I don't know if handling is protected by concession agreement but everything seems like Serbian way by Frenchies. If they were to conduct business like this in France, they would have been thrown to jail. That egoism, colonialistic mentality and areogance of Bruno and Francois is despicable. The way they talk to workers. Just a small quote from Bruno... Law is there but not everything has to be adhered on it. Is that Vinci way? Shamefull. Thst is why there are no workers, there is staff shortage. People are working for 600 eur, handling more than 20 tonnes of cargo and baggage daily at temperature s more than 60 degrees. They are running from plane to plane without a brake, risking their health and lives. Margins for error are higher, overwork and fatigue is the greatest danger at airport - yesterdays tragic accident at San Antonio airport when worker was invested by jet engine is great example. Shall we wait for similar thing to happen here? Solution is simple... Bruno, Francois, Jelena.. raise salaries minimum 300 eur base salary, hire more staff that will work for higher wages.. government to make addendum to concession contract to protect ground handling for duration of concession... and you will see how all troubles and delays will be gone.
ReplyDelete100% agree with you but where is it better?
DeleteJust look at Munich airport baggage handling.
It is a disaster everywhere.
Haha and I am called names when I talk why we had pLandemic and why was Yugoslavia destroyed in blood
DeleteI have a booking with JU in economy class for July. But I wish I had made my arrangement with other airline expect JU..Big mess the all airline with its management..Shame on them!
ReplyDeleteAre you going to appologize if your flight in July is on time?
DeleteOf course he won't.
DeleteNot here to blame BA or defend them,but isnt ASL the one in the fault here,as i heard 17 of their pilots quit,most of the AC have issues,3 weeks ago APB was delayd for 2 hours to LED or SVO because the back lavatory was clogged,after they fixed that it clogged up again.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure it's only 17? Rumors say it's 170 if not more. Trust everything you read online.
DeleteGo travel with backpack only and avoid chek in stress...
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who works at the airport in the baggage sorting. There is indeed a lack of staff in the baggage sorting facility and many people cover other terminals which are not part of their responsibility
ReplyDeleteAirport is a mess. I flew to Athens on Friday with Aegean. First there was a huge queue and only one checkin. Then another men (our guy) comes but communicates pretty badly and people don’t understand if he will start another check in desk. He first had problems making the display above work properly. Then he starts it but cant check in one couple for 10 min. Then he shuts it down and moves to another desk and starts there. Again pretty slow. People move from one queue to the other without any order.
ReplyDeleteThe fast lane through security works but all people from regular lanes are directed to use it too. I guess this is ok. However after security there is a lane that leads you to a separate passport control. There is a sign saying priority and also floor stickers. However, on the counter there is a piece of paper with printed sign “Sluzbeni prolaz” or something like that. I come to the desk and police officer tells me in a rude voice: “Do you have diplomatic passport? Can’t you read”?
I say yes I can. It says priority lane here and on the floor and I have priority. She says “that’s priority for the company not for us”… I go to the restroom close to A4 and men’s room is closed and everyone is using lady’s room. There are traces of bad craft everywhere. Etc etc. boarding was delayed
Classic SNS story - always defect blame on everyone else, never take any responsibility
ReplyDeleteI had my worst airport experience ever at Belgrade airport yesterday. And I’ve traveled a lot, all over the world. The plane was delayed (again) so we missed our connecting flight. And our bags turned out to be “lost”, so after more than one hour waiting we went to Lost and found. They had obviously never heard of the word serviceminded. A lot of people had lost their bags and I asked if this happens often. “Every day”, she answered very bored. Then a guy told us all that he had found his bag, because he had an air tag. “I can literally see it”, he said. It turned out all our bags were in the luggage room behind the belt. And although the woman had said there weren’t enough people working there were maybe 10 men in that room. And people formed a queue and shouted to the men behind the belt that they could see their bags. And after 1,5 hour of shouting and begging I finally got our bags, but the men in the luggage were awfully rude. I was crying when I left the belt area. As I said, the worst airport I’ve ever been to.
ReplyDeleteTerrible experience with airserbia last Sunday. They lost all our luggage and there is no any information on it for 5 days already. So since we have exited the arrivals we found ourselves like robbed and left without anything of our personal belongings. The company doesn't care even to reply.
ReplyDeleteI think they should close completely this sh* company if they don’t have staff or means to provide a normal service . Passengers should not have to go through this frustrating experience because air Serbia has such a low quality service
ReplyDeleteI am still waiting on my luggage. Since 27/07/2023. They don't respond on mail,telehone or twitter. Airport and Air Serbia are not responding at all for almoat 3 weeks now. Very bad.
ReplyDelete