Air Serbia has expressed interest in adding Porto as its second destination in Portugal based on slot request reports with coordinator NAV Portugal. It comes following the success of its new Lisbon service launched this April, which has proven extremely popular with both point-to-point and transfer passengers alike. Based on the requests, the airline plans to serve Lisbon on a year-round basis and could potentially opt to launch services to Portugal’s second largest city as early as this winter. Belgrade and Porto have never been linked with a nonstop air service. Porto Airport, which is operated by VINCI, is considered the country’s leisure gateway. As the Spanish region of Galicia is nearby, just 120 kilometres by car, 10% of passengers travelling through Porto Airport are estimated to be of Galician origin.
Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News earlier this year, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “There are still a couple of routes we are looking at in Europe, but I would not disclose them just yet. As a hint, the new routes might be outside of our current bank structures so we might start to create additional banks, for example like our flight to London, within this wave of departures. The routes we are looking into involve longer flying time. Maybe some of them will come as early as next year. However, I would not rule out an even earlier introduction”.
Speaking to the “Tanjug” newsagency last week, Mr Marek said Air Serbia plans to continue growing when it secures the necessary capacity. The Serbian carrier has added 22 new routes since the start of the year. “We are very satisfied with all the steps taken so far and the newly launched routes. All are performing well. Of course, some better than others. When you plan for a new destination, it takes some time for it to develop. However, we are noticing a new trend, especially in the post-Covid period, where every new route starts working from day one. We have many examples of new routes being completely sold out within a few weeks of going on sale”.
It would make sense. Last winter they added quite a few of these leisure destinations in winter like Malaga, Malta…
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see that Portugal has become such a strong market for them.
ReplyDeleteWet Lease 1 Plane from October and add 30 Destinations in November!!
ReplyDeleteNever change the winning strategy🤣🤣
You are so hilarious...
DeleteLike it or not, but they are winning! And you, can you sleep?!
DeleteI hope they continue to have good results on the Lisbon route once Wizz Air starts flying in a month.
ReplyDeleteHow many weekly flights will Wizz have on BEG-LIS route?
Delete2x weekly, A321
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/p/wizz-air-belgrade-lisbon_22.html
Thanks
DeletePrices are extremly high for the route. Even in winter. Hopefully competition will drive prices down
DeleteThere is probably a lot of demand which is why prices are high.
DeleteLisbon is looking like the new Spain - a success story for JU.
ReplyDeleteI mean Portugal :)
DeleteThat’s a good news! I’m wondering if they will lunch Madeira one day :)
ReplyDeleteMadeira could work once or twice a week during the season, but the flights would be way to long + the airport itself is tricky for flying into. Code share with TAP could work for that, but also self-transferring in LIS is a good idea as well since its super cheap with FR and EasyJet.
DeletePlus, LH group offers return tickets to Madeira for 250 euros up and I don't think JU can manage to be competitive on this route.
Madeira, Azores and Canaries in Spain should be introduced as off season destinations as they are beautiful, warm and worth of visiting in the wi6as well. This would be perfect to employ the crew and planes and in low season and to reduce seasonality even more.
Deletewi6as?
DeletePilots need special license to be permitted to land at Madeira. It's probably the trickiest commercial airport of Europe to land. Madeira island is called island of constant spring, so I do believe it's possible to have all year around 2 flight a week.
DeleteIs there a big Serbian diaspora in Portugal?
ReplyDeleteNo
DeleteOh my God it's not always about diaspora...
DeleteI didn't say it's always about diaspora, I was just curious if there was one.
DeleteSome people travel btw and people in Serbia and wider region have more money nowadays.
DeleteAgain, I didn't say they don't, I was just interested to know if there was a sizable diaspora as I haven't heard of it before. Calm down.
DeleteA lot of my Russian colleagues that are currently based in Serbia are in the process of obtaining digital nomad visas for Portugal, and I even know some Serbian folks applying for them. I'd wager there's going to be a "digital" diaspora soon there
DeleteJust I personaly know 5 Serbian families living in Lisbon..So I assume there is diaspora..Also Portugal is very popular amongst our young freelancers, I know few of them on freelance visa staying there, also their friends keep going there for a few months and coming back
DeleteI wish they were talking more about dry-leasing additional 4 ATRs, 5 A320S and 2 A330s and hiring 200 crew members...
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to destinations, shorter routes might include a few Romanian airports plus KIV, and then some routes in the Caucus, Middle East and "exotic" ones like Porto!
We wish them all good luck and hope to get out of this mess soon
I am certain they know better what types of destinations are bringing them money.
DeleteThey are not talking about. If you read the article, it says its based on slot requests.
DeleteThey already have talked about all those points you mentioned.
Delete6th dry leased ATR (YU-ASB) has arrived, 1 more to follow in roughly 1 month (YU-ASC).
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/06/air-serbia-adds-sixth-atr-plans-two.html?m=1
Another 4 ATR's have been shortlisted for dry lease, 2 should end up joining the fleet. This will bring the ATR fleet to 9.
2 A321's is expected to be joining the fleet soon.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/05/air-serbia-drafts-a321-entry-plans.html?m=1
A319's will be replaced with A320 and A321.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/09/air-serbia-to-transition-from-a319-to.html?m=1
The gap between the A320 and ATR is being filled by the ERJ190/195, initially on wet lease. This plan has been brought forward, with the first of 3 arriving last week. The next 2 will have full JU livery.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/06/air-serbia-to-add-e190-jet-to-fleet.html?m=1
The 3rd A330 is expected to arrive by the end of the year, also with a special livery. 4th is rumoured for next year, also with a special livery.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/04/air-serbia-sourcing-third-and-fourth.html?m=1
A tonne of new crew members have joined since the start of the year. More will follow. Training also includes new pursers and A330 type rating conversion courses.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/02/hundreds-apply-for-air-serbias-crew.html?m=1
All unreliable Marek ego trips. Roughly 15% of what he promises actually happens. Keep that in mind
DeleteSick and tired of those 'special liveries' on the A330 🤮.
DeleteI think it's early to tell if they're ego trips or not. Fact is that alot has been happening since he has come on board. Summer expansion, although not having a smooth implementation, has happened.
DeleteTwice actually. More aircraft have happened, including an additional A330. Plans for regional jets were brought forward. ATR modernisation is finally complete. It hasn't exactly been all talk and no action.
9:05 I agree that JU needs more dry lease aircrafts if they want to be trusty airline with growth, with connections to capital cities (Asia, Middle East, northern Africa) before Porto.
Delete9:43 Roumors said that third 330 would arrive in June, fourth by the end of suumer, two A321s soon, exotic routes, e.g. Havana, etc. Trieste was put on sale and cut because of lack of aircrafts. This is ongoing situation, and we shall see how many newly established routes are established for the winter season also. And what about new routes this winter?
It is funny how people magically forget everything good he has done, but when something happens that is not uphill they do not forget to blame Marek for that. Running a business is not rainbows and butterflies, it cannot always go up smoothly. Every big company in the world had ups and downs in order to become successful.
Delete+100
DeletePushing back third A330 is notable. Marek will try to blame China for paperwork delays.
DeleteHe said North American expansion will follow China expansion. China now has a leverage to slow down and delay Air Serbia expansion not only into China but also North America.
DeleteIt would have been better to decouple China and North America plans and proceed with North America expansion first. If China keeps delaying CAN approval and PVG slots at least it won't affect getting third A330 into fleet.
+1
DeleteMarek said that Shanghai is to be expected in Q4. They are already streched, one A330 for JFK only, because of 7 flights per week, the other A330 for Chicago and Tianjin, 3 and 1 flight per week, respectively. So, if something happen they will be force to wet lease again. Waiting for third A330...
DeleteChina denied PEK to Air Serbia, doubled Hainan frequency to Belgrade then extended two weekly into winter. On the other hand Air Serbia is still flying TSN only once per week. Shaghai was expected in Q3, it slipped to Q4 and there are no guarantees it will start this year.
DeleteTime to cut dependency on China and move ahead with 3rd A330 for North America.
^ Pretty much everything you have written is incorrect but literally blatantly made up and incorrect.
DeleteEverything is correct. If you have one item that you believe is incorrect (for example if you think Air Serbia flying once a week to TSN) please provide proof, a link to a timetable etc.
DeleteNo nothing is correct. Starting with your first sentence that China denied Air Serbia to fly to Beijing. Please, if you don't know things don't make them up just for the sake of writing something.
DeleteLooking forward to your evidence JU has been assigned slots at PEK.
DeleteThey haven't been assigned slots in Beijing because they never reqursted them. Once again, please don't make things up just for the sake of writing something.
DeleteAir Serbia wanted to fly to Beijing but had to select Tijanjin instead:
DeleteAir Serbia looks to eventually introduce flights to Beijing and Shanghai but has opted for Tianjin as its first point in China due to Covid restrictions. “We would have preferred to start with Beijing and Shanghai. However, there are very strict restrictions in China due to the pandemic and also with regard to market access. So, you can't just fly wherever you want. Tianjin was the best alternative”
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2022/10/air-serbia-expected-to-push-back-china.html
Air Serbia only received Shanghai traffic rights, not Beijing. It doesn't take rocket scientist to figure out Hainan is for PEK, JU for TSN and PVG in the future.
DeletePoint is: North America expansion should proceed without waiting for China expansion.
In the last 3-4 months Marek was not mentioning PEK as possible priority route in China, but PVG and CAN...and that's reasonable, because most of Serbian diaspora lives in South China, around CAN and Shenzhen..Also our Chinese immigrants are from Canton area..And since TSN is doing very well, there is no reason for pushing PEK in front of all these other popular routes..Not to mention that CAN is much better link for South-Asian countries than PEK, where many Serbian go for vacation during winter..I just want to mention that Serbian tourists in Thailand are in higher numbers than all other Balkan countries together ( words from Zagreb Consulate from times when it was the only Thai consulate in the region)
DeleteOr they should just stabilize their fleet, brand and product before starting a next wave of expansion.
ReplyDeleteAlso hiring staff, especially in customer service and waiting for BEG to hire enough people so that JU doesn`t go through another meltdown. Furthermore, developing their app and website, introducing basic stuff like flight tracking, online boarding pass in the app, better interface and less bugs would be nice.
But instead of all of that JU is stretching their muscles and deciding to expand to secondary destinations since actual development is not fun for them.
+1
Delete+2
Delete+3
DeleteStabilisation of the fleet has happened, although slower than expected due to issues on the global market (aircraft engine issues, lack of spare parts, aircraft interiors etc). Most, if not all major carriers are experiencing some form of issues with their fleet.
Deletehttps://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/28/united-airlines-revamped-cabins-behind-schedule.html
https://www.aviacionline.com/2023/05/swiss-expands-its-short-and-medium-haul-flights-for-the-2023-2024-winter-season/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-03/lufthansa-says-engine-woes-ground-third-of-a220-fleet-in-zurich
https://www.ft.com/content/2d5d8b71-471a-46e0-98c1-4b4d152aeec9
1 more wet lease arrived yesterday (9H-LAW).
New interiors have been delayed due to shortages. A330 cabin refit was supposed to happen back in April and was delayed due to shortages on the market.
Improvements to onboard products has already started. Complimentary service in Y class was upgraded 2 months ago, amenity kits for J class have returned also returned, dedicated car park spaces for JU business cass pax in the premium parking area at BEG. ATR's will soon have business class, onboard content streaming will return. JU is working on a new frequent flyer program. JU is facing challenges but they're working on it.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/05/air-serbia-plans-product-upgrade-rules.html?m=1
Regarding BEG, even pro government media is reporting on the issues at the airport. They're hiring more staff, although not enough, but hiring.
https://biznis.kurir.rs/info-biz/4187040/ovi-radnici-dobice-duplo-vece-plate-guzve-na-aerodromu-uskoro-bi-mogle-da-budu-resene-zaposljava-se-jos-100-novih-ljudi
JU have definitely bitten more than it can chew this summer, however a whole line up of other factors has made a bad situation worse. Hopefully this has been a late wake up call for both JU and BEG that their current way of organising things isn't working and that better organisation will be needed.
Anonymous10:20
DeleteI honestly hope you don't beleive that truly and you are here just to advocate how JU is doing some things on those matters.
JU should not be focusing on damage control, but in proper planning of the fleet and their product. With a lot of aircrafts that are not theirs, without their brand, their crew and their onboard services no one should ever say that they started the stabilization, because that's not how you stabilize. People purchase tickets to experience AS and not some Romanian or Greek airline doing services for JU.
When it comes to hiring, that's not a process you start mid season and go off and say you are doing something about it. Years of terrible reputation, low wages, molestation, threats and corruption within AS have came to the point where not so many people are willing to work for them, and even if they did they have no intentions of staying there long term. With wages below market value and humiliating working conditions you will get staff that is not going to provide you a proper service and harm the brand long term.
No unified business ass product, extreme differences in cabins, seats, in flight entertainment and food and beverage options worse than wizz air is not going to leave a good impression. If I am going to get LCC service I want to pay LCC price, right?
Yes, they are growing yes, that's good but let them improve now rather then growing again.
Up to 7% of daily cancelation and up to 50% of delays is not a good statistic my friend.
And regarding their online customer service, website and their app.... The only thing that can properly describe it is LOL.
Planning the fleet is not that easy task one might thik due to huge seasonality in Belgrade. Simply said during the summer many more planes are needed than during the winter. In that kind of situation there are only 3 solutions:
Delete1. To lease whole fleet in dry lease that will cause enormous costs for planes and staff during the winter when all these additional planes will sit on tarmac.
2. To ignore summer travel increase and not to react on customer's request for additional destinations.
3. To wet lease the planes from other companies during the summer and keep number of dry leased planes on winter level that would create extra income by following customer's demand for increased traffic during the summer and not cause extra costs during the winter.
I would say that first option is not acceptable for anyone who has any kind of business spirit and second option is OU option where you do not react at all on market changes. How they are successful we can all see.
So, in that case only option nr. 3 could meet the demands for increased summer traffic and optimized fleet during winter. That is exactly the best possible fleet planning as anything else would either bring the company again in the position to ask Government for money or to lose money due to its inactivity during summer. Saying only "proper fleet planning" without going into details is amateur's move.
New staff hiring started in February this year when more than suffcient number of cabin crew applied. It seems more to be problem here with pilots as the consequence of certain political factors within JU and it must be urgently corrected.
There are only keyboard enthusiasts who actually care about "differencies in cabin" as 99% of the pasengers do now even know what type of the plane they board and especially not if that plane has the same configuraton like the other plane of the same air carrier. Insisting on these details in the situation where you try to transport as many as possible passengers during high summer season and earn extra cash is really childish.
Air Serbia are not Emirates to have some extra flight entertainment which might be different on JU or wet leased planes. In each case one get chips / water or snack and drink no matter if you are in JU or Dan air plane. So, once again huge exaggeration.
Huge cancellations they had in lat 7-10 days are getting consolidated. The fact that Air Connect made them huge problems and that YU-ASB did not arrive on time should not be reason for them not to expand.
Its about stating the facts and not about being an advocate for or against JU.
DeleteFleet planning is definitely an issue and I think they have gone way overboard in wet leases this year. However, JU is also limited in resources to train new staff, it isn't a large airline so I doubt they have full time trainers. Simulator part of the Airbus training (A319/A320 and A330) is done in other countries as the resources to do so in Serbia is not there. It is also unknown the budget and conditions JU have for dry leases. JU also hasn't had it easy bringing in additional dry leases which was a statement they made last week. It would be interesting to see more insight on this part.
Another factor regarding their fleet and wet leases is the issues they have had with Jat Tehnika, which have held aircraft on maintenance far longer than it needed to be. APB I believe was 6 or 7 months at Jat Tehnika if I'm not mistaken. This has pushed JU to find last minute alternatives abroad, for example Turkish Technik.
Wet leases is also common with other airlines as well. With LX, for example, its an exception to have an LX aircraft operating the ZRH-BEG route rather than the standard.
Onboard service has improved, although alot more needs to be done, especially in regards to business class. Reread the article posted above. Buy on board is in need of improvement. Overall, it is massively better than LCC's which offer nothing. JU isn't a LCC, it's service doesn't reflect it, and neither should it's prices.
The article regarding staff recruitment was from February, the slowest month in the industry and not mid season. Prior to that, there were another 2-3 recruitment drives within a 6 month time frame, which doesn't include pilots. Again, JU isn't a large airline and it does take time to train hundreds of new staff. It's not possible to hire today, start tomorrow. How JU treats its staff is another story. Rumours around seems to suggest it's more of a HR issue, which seem really incompetent at their jobs. As for salaries, my understanding is that they are ok, not the best but certainly not below average. The biggest problem to my understanding is that it hasn't increased in several years, which means overall it's a decrease when inflation is included. Correct me if I am wrong.
Differences in cabins was mentioned above, with global supply issues being a problem. This isn't just a problem unique to JU.
https://simpleflying.com/united-airlines-narrowbody-retrofit-plan-supply-chain-delays/
https://www.businessinsider.com/jetblue-a320-cabin-refresh-delayed-airbus-321neo-2019-7
Their website is decent, their app is useless and really user unfriendly.
Anonymous14:49
DeleteYou have mentioned the facts that are known for many years now, everyone knows BEG has an issue with seasonality yet AS managed to create a mess and expand way further than they can reach, causing an issue for their passengers, making long ques at the airport for those that want to rebook, get a hotel or demand a refund. Not only that but reaching their CS via telephone or email is hell and you might wait for hours to get to them only to find out that they simply cannot help you, or you have to fill an online form and wait for couple of months to just get a response from them, and God knows low long to actually solve the inquiry.
Could that be avoided with proper planning? Of course, it could. Was it avoided? No, because their short sight did not care much about the service they provide as much as they cared about charging legacy airlines fees and offer an LCC experience.
Stating that JU is not an LCC is simply a fact, they have a different business model and that's where it ends. When it comes to experience... Not so much of a difference in economy, you will get a seat, a seatbelt, a magazine or a pamphlet in front of you and you will be offered dry sandwiches and instant drinks for extra money. JU offers slightly bigger legroom than its main competitor at BEG (WizzAir), older planes, a seat recline, 0.33l water and a 20g bag of chips (or toto, noblice, whatever comes to you that day), other than that it does not offer much of a different service whatsoever besides hand luggage in their cheapest fare.
For comparison, travelling to Sweden with Wizz can cost you as much as 30e one way with hand luggage included. Both Gotenborg and Stockholm are covered by both airlines, so lets say you go to Stockholm and land at Skavsta with Wizz, you pay 30e for a flight + 5 euros for snacks and water and yet another 30e for another one hour bus or bus-train ride to Stockholm Central. In total, you spend 65 euros to go from BEG to Stockholm with Wizz and getting almost the exact same service. While using JU to Arlanda costs at least about 80 euros one way, excluding the fate from ARN to the city itself. You will not know which plane will pick you up, will that be even an airline you brought tickets for and the experience you will have will be average at best. Making a price sensitive passenger (which are most of passengers from the Serbian market) force themselves to be indifferent to the brand of their national carrier and simply have no good impression of it, making them potentially pick another airline rather than the one from their own country. Now, Sweden for instance is now connected with AirBaltic via Riga and they offer quite a deal, so JU is not competing only with Wizz but basically with every other carrier that has a transfer hub.
So, what is the difference between the service of JU and LCC airlines?
Anonymous14:49
DeleteRegarding the hiring, it is simply not possible that both JU and BEG could not plan their crew on time and hire people. As mentioned before, both JU and BEG offer below market conditions and wages that rarely motive competitive workforce to come and work for them at the airport and commute every day to work just to earn enough money to barely live. That has not improved even though the job market in Belgrade has improved a lot and people are getting better paid jobs in the city itself. So besides not having enough workforce, stubbornness of their HR planning and humiliating treatment of the workers brought them to the lowest point in terms of quality of service by hiring the least competitive crew. If you traveled recently though BEG, not only that the staff is purposely rude, slow, unpleasant and unhelpful, but their level of English knowledge is terrible. Working at an international airport and in a city known for high proficiency ranking at EF EPI that is simply embarrassing.
I do understand that JU is affected by other factors as well, but using those factors as an excuse for your own terrible organization and planning is just sad. Blaming others for their mistakes is not going to take them anywhere. JU is a national carrier, owned by the government and should be working in the best interest of Serbia as well as representing Serbia abroad (bcs thats what flag carriers do), but with the number of failures and incapability to improve, modernize and consolidate on the market, is it really doing that?
Maybe they are doing something as we speak, maybe, we don't know, but until they do something and actually show that to their passengers and potential passengers, we can't talk about how hard they work on this or that. Less fairytales, less excuses and more actually steps towards development and we `amateur keyboard enthusiast` will be really happy.
I would not say that seasonality is the same like every other year. Seasonality is bigger this year due to the fact that you have so many new destinations where many of them wil be flown only during the summer.
DeleteI agree that reaching CS could be difficult, but at least it costs you nothing. The local calls to Air Serbia are free of charge, but often very busy. Once you reach them they are able to re-book you, but they are not able to give you any kind of compensation information as it simply is not their job. There is no telephone number in the world of any airline employee who covers compensations, but in each and every airline you can reach them only by email.
I am glad we agreed that there is no difference in economy between Air Serbia and Dan Air flight. You get the same - chips and drink if your flight is shorter than 2,5 hours and sandwich if it is longer. Of course we are talking here about European and not about flights to USA or China.
As you started comparison between JU and W6 it needs to be emphasized that in many cases JU lands on primary airports where Wizz won't bring you from BEG or won't bring you at all.. Try your luck and land with Wizzair to LHR, FRA, AMS, IST, CDG or SVO. No way amigo, only JU can get you there.
You keep forgetting that having cabin luggage with standard IATA measures is huge benefit for JU passengers as W6 allows you only to have 40x30x20 bag that goes under your seat. If you want to add normal hand luggage that goes free of charge on JU flights on the very same flight to Stockholm you mentioned, you will have to pay 45 EUR per flight or in total 90 EUR for return ticket. That is already by itself huge difference and costs more than one way ticket either with W6 or JU.
Apart from it let's not forget that with JU one can collect miles and reach status while with W6 it is impossible.
Finally if it happens that your W6 flight gets cancelled you wil get nothing but reimbursment of your flight costs and the company won't bother to arrange you any alternative transport to your final destination. I hope it will never happen to you, because if it does, you will ask yourself for thousand times why you haven't booked the ticket with JU. Air Serbia in that case would organize re-routing for you on the first available flight no matter of the company that organize that other flight.
I hope it is very clear now what are the differencies between JU i LCC (in this case W6).
I do fly quite often from BEG and what I noticed is that Belgrade airport staff is unfortunately very rude, but the same I can't say for Air Serbia employees. Many of young people got hired during this year and all of them are quite excited that they got a chance to work for Air Serbia. Many circumstances have changed in aviation industry and flying by plane today is not the same as it was 20 or 30 years ago - on the same way cabin crew does not get benefits some of their older colleagues had in the past. There are no more JAT flights to USA or Australia where they could stay at company costs few days waiting for their return flight in 5* hotels or when they got paid above average only for being JAT's cabin crew. Those days are gone, but still even today working for JU brings a lot of benefits nobody is talking about. They are collecting a lot of experience and the same as pilots they can use at some later point in their career to apply for ME airlines earning much more money or as JU employees they can get free JU tickets that none of us, normal people, can't get. It is maybe not the part of their salary, but surely affects positively their costs whenever they decide to fly.
I do not think that JU should be excused for each wrong move they made, but as their FF I am sure that they suffered a big shitstorm they are only partially responsible for. All circumstances in last 10 days happened together (including weather conditions and airport mistakes) creating so called "perfect storm" and affected heavily Air Serbia business.
DeleteAs we can see now as soon as JU managed to get additional wet leased planes the delays are decreased and today there is no cancelled flight.
I wish them to improve points which need to be improved, but not to allow anyone to stop them in their expansion. We were too long whitnesses of Jat airways as an incompentent company protected by Government like polar bears bringing terrible results and above average salaries paid by Serbian tax payers and nobody wishes that time to return.
No difference in onboard service, yet you made a whole list of things that JU has that LCC's don't. At the end of the day, it's up to the customer to see if they find JU value for money or not. Since you mentioned Sweden, despite competition, JU still remains the largest carrier between Serbia and Scandinavia and is increasing frequencies. They must be doing something right.
DeleteYour comment suggests that Wizz doesn't wet lease aircraft as well, which isn't the case.
https://simpleflying.com/wizz-air-supplements-sofia-based-operations-with-wet-leased-boeing-737/
JU isn't either the only one that could improve their customer support either, you seem to be forgetting these 2 events:
https://www.rts.rs/lat/vesti/drustvo/4863548/deo-putnika-iz-rima-vraca-se-autobusom-za-srbiju-resenje-i-za-lekare-u-frankfurtu.html
To say that JU is entirely at fault for the mess lately is twisting the truth. They're not blameless but not everything is entirely their fault either. Better planning would of lessened the mess, but one way or another there would of been some form of mess and no amount of aircraft, staff or resources would of changed that.
JU is doing a fair bit to improve and there are several articles out there describing short term improvements. More needs to be done, but to say that nothing has been done isn't the truth.
Anonymous18:32
DeleteWe definitely did not have the same experience with JU, while everything sounds like a fairytale comparing W6 to JU, it really isn`t like it. My last flight with JU got canceled with not a single e-mail, sms or any form of notification what so ever. We found out that the flight was canceled on the spot (while we needed an hour to arrive to the airport in the first place), it was the only canceled flight that day (and yes, there was a storm and almost every flight was significantly delayed, it was not their fault). Even though storms can be predicted JU only had 2 counters working to rebook the passengers and take care of them, the line was huge and people were waiting for hours only to be informed that there are neither seats or flights available in the next couple of days for most flights, that people from outside of Belgrade could go back home on their own or to wait for hours to get a hotel etc.
Some, who knew the regulations, got an alternative with other airlines if they were flying to EU, while others were almost told to f*ck themselves. Call center was impossible to get ( 3 one hour attempts and nothing), rudest crew in the counters that did not hesitate to shout at people. My flight was rebooked to another day as we took last 2 seats thanks to the fact that i was traveling with a diabetic and people allowed me to skip the line, even that flight was significantly delayed and the only thing i was regretting was not booking a flight with Turkish Airlines. Their CS did not respond to the e mail even a month after. Similar things happened to me before while waiting almost 2 months for a refund when JU canceled their Amman route.
Now take W6 in comparison, I use it twice as much than JU, in 6 years of using it they canceled a flight on the day of the travel only once (now this is my experience) for which i got a compensation in less than 2 weeks including a taxi refund from the airport to home and back. All notifications were given on time with both sms and e mail, and most of the things you need to do is available online and worst case scenario is using their chat which takes ages and its terrible i know but still much better than JU that provides services as if it was 2013 and not 2023.
W6 is the only other airline that stationed their aircraft at BEG therefore being the major competitor for JU, so far the value they provide for the money they take is far beyond the value JU is offering. While I can agree on most of the thigs you said, I have to add that the price of hand luggage on W6 varies on different flights and different time of purchasing which can significantly cheaper and the price is from 40up for a return flight, however you can buy a one way ticket with luggage to Skavsta for 30euros on certain dates. While the JU tickets are much more expensive. Yet W6 does manage to not have the reputation JU has in Serbia, they do make mistakes, they sometimes fail as well but for sure did not fail as much times JU did in BEG.
DeleteThigs that you stated that would make you `regret` not booking with JU are very same things that happen to you with both W6 and JU, just with JU staff yelling at you because you expect them to do their job.
I use both wizz and airserbia from BEG a couple of times a month.. At the end I mostly decide for Airserbia since its cheaper for what you get. Or if the diffrence is 20-30 EUR I go for a flagcarrier since in case something unexpectable happens I am always on the saver side. I can not travel with only a handbag I always need a boardtrolley with me. As soon as I select the standard ticket at wizz its 100EUR more expensive
DeleteMy experience with Wizzair from last year is horrible, so I don't fly with them any more..They canceled 2 of my flights within a month time, and they canceled it the same way AS was doing these days- while we were waiting embarkation on gangway..One was for Abu Dhabi..They just escorted us outside through customs, and tricked all those poor Indian pax, saying they would organize transport for them to the city, but instead they just left them outside the building in the middle of the night ( passed 12am)..Those were all transfer pax, they didn't know were they were...They just refunded my canceled flights, after more than 1 month time, and never covered any other expenses I had..I couldn't sue them, because both flights were not for EU countries..Also, most of other flight I took with them were big time late, and employees very unprofessional...No more with them, even if AS is only other option
DeleteTreshnja10:34
DeleteSince the flight was to and from Serbia, similar regulations apply as in EU so you are entitled to compensation as well, but you just have to push it, otherwise they will just ignore you and save money the way JU is doing right now.
Interesting idea. Didn't know Porto served so many passengers from Spain.
ReplyDeleteHow many weekly flights to they plan to have to Lisbon this winter?
ReplyDeleteThey have 2 weekly scheduled for winter.
DeleteWhat I find a bit crazy is that they they have flights operating on exactly the same days as Wizz Air - Tuesdays and Saturdays.
DeleteMight have something to do with LIS being really slot constricted, so you fly when you can secure slots. Just guessing.
Delete@09:29 they scheduled the flights on the same days on purpose. Thats how they will compete, fair enough.
DeleteThey should look at making a codeshare partnership with TAP and offering connections to South America.
ReplyDeleteAgree, would be a good opportunity to get codeshares to Brazil especially.
DeleteThey already have codeshare to brazil
DeleteWith Turkish Airlines via Istanbul.
DeleteWho is going to fly to Porto???
ReplyDeletePortoricans?
DeleteWell I flew in May with AS to LIS, took a rental car and drove to Porto/Vigo. I really liked both areas so I will definitely return. Flying straight to Porto will save at least 3 hours driving plus fuel plus tolls etc...
DeleteAnon 9.29 you and alike certainly not. I wander what do you do on this site considering how little you know about the topic, yet you dare to comment.
DeletePretpostavljam da će čim obezbede dodatne avione, LIS ići na bar 4X nedeljno. Portugal će izgleda biti lepa priča za JU. Na vladi je sada da razvija bolje ekonomske odnose sa Portugalom kako bi zaživeo i kargo prevoz.
ReplyDeleteMogli bi za početak da konačno potpišu Ugovor o izbegavanju dvostrukog oporezivanja sa Portugalom, sramota da to još uvek nije rešeno
DeleteNisam znao za taj podatak,potpuno se slažem.
DeleteCan the Embraer make the route BEG-OPO?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteConsidering its capacity, might be a good aircraft to start this route with.
DeleteThe Embraer will give them a lot of new opportunities, especially in winter. A type they should have made part of the fleet many years ago.
DeleteTrue. But I feel they will use the Embraers mostly on slimmer routes rather than for new ones. We will see.
DeleteSlimmer routes for the A319, as well as routes where the ATR is starting to be small (PRG, DBV).
DeleteThey tried and failed to bring SZG to the A319 last winter, ERJ could be the better solution.
I also see HEL and GVA coming back now that the ERJ's are here.
Honestly I find the A319 more spaceous and comfortable inside than the embrajer aspecially on longer routs
DeleteGood to see they are thinking out of the box. I wonder which other new routes we could see.
ReplyDeleteThose out of the box routes seemed to have all perfumed well. Marseille might be an exception.
DeleteWhat's wrong with Marseille?
DeleteReally light loads. It's probably the worst performing route for this years expansion.
DeleteIt doesn't surprise me, especially since they there is Nice and Lyon both being served from Belgrade.
DeleteToulouse would have been better.
DeleteAnd Bordeaux 😂😂😂 and than Cluj-Napoca.
DeleteU marseju su mi arapi ukrali telefon iz dzepa. Niko tamo ne treba da ide. Uzas
DeleteMarseille is my favorite place on Mediterranean coast..great place to visit, and beautiful colour sky and the sea
DeleteIt's more Arabia than France there.
DeletePorto fits Marek's description from earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteA šta ćemo sa raspadom "sustava"?😝
ReplyDeleteExpanzija Pošto Porto 😀
DeleteTaj ce raspad sustava ostavit dugorocne posljedice na mrsku nam susjedsku zrakopolovnu kompaniju.
DeleteA onda sam se probudil i videl da otvaraju Porto. Uh bokca ti, ti me Srbi bas zivciraju.
I remember when there were articles here with data on indirect passenger numbers for unserved routes, Porto was (surprisingly) really high up the list.
ReplyDeleteWent to Porto just 2 weeks ago! Had to go with Lufthansa from BEG and return with Swiss. Absolutely stunning city. Highly recommend it.
ReplyDeleteOh and I wasn't the only one from BEG that transferred onto the OPO flight.
DeleteAs someone who lives in Portugal, I would love to see this route happen. Very happy they started Lisbon too!
ReplyDeleteThe Iberian peninsula has become very important for them.
ReplyDeleteIt was underserved for many years.
DeleteThey also had to build up their network. At the same time living standards have imporved and more people can afford a holiday in Spain and Portugal.
DeleteFantastic news. Really hope they start these flights.
ReplyDeleteAny news regarding conversion of their 72-200 to freigthers?
ReplyDeleteYes, they said they have given up on the idea for the time being as there are no available conversion slots.
DeleteWould be a good addition. If they launch it this winter, I expect it will start in December.
ReplyDeleteI am guessing VINCI offered them really good conditions to connect two of their airports. Also, getting (obviously necessary) additional slots for Lisbon is not an easy task
ReplyDeleteGood to see VINCI and Air Serbia work together.
DeleteEspecially on flight delays and cancellations. Amazing job
DeleteThey took a short break. Love affair between the two is back.
DeleteJasmineeeeeee!!! Dje si? Je l'se o'ladla kahva? Il bjese pijes vrucu? Kak'a Porta i Cikage ba, kaki bakraci...
ReplyDeleteLoL
DeleteI would prefer Air Serbia to increase frequencies to existing routes insted of introducing new ones .
ReplyDeleteMadrid is only 3 x a week - that is ridiculous .
If Air Serbia increased frequencies to Tivat to 100 flights per week and Paris to 50 flights per week, they would never had a chance to start new routes like Madrid in the first place. Opening new routes and slowly increasing frequencies goes hand in hand
DeleteIt was 0x per week for the past 30 x 52 weeks
DeleteAir Serbia is an airline till now virtually unknown in Spain .
DeleteSo to build up a customer base it has to have at least daily presence in such important markets the like of Madrid and Barcelona .
Otherwise local people will think of it as of just another charter airline from Eastern Europe .
Air Serbia is bringing tourists from Serbia to Spain, not the other way around.
DeleteAir Serbia together with tourist board should market Beograd as a great city break destination. They need to do more marketing.
DeleteI guess they'll use the planes they wet lease from DHL or FedEx
ReplyDeleteIt’s very simple answer for the success of Portugal routes.
ReplyDeletePeople wants Sun. Sun is the food for the humans hence success for Air Serbia routes like Lisbon, Barcelona, Split, Athens.
Yes yes there are other things like some old buildings in above mentioned cities but that is trivial. People wants Sun, local non GMO food (if still available) and big smiles from hosts in these Med destinations. Its good for the soul😊
Svaka ti je ka' u Njegosa ☺
Delete😊🙏
DeleteBoris, you know nothing about Portugal.
DeleteIt is situated on the atlantic coast and can thus not be a mediterranean country.
Second the north of Portugal can get very wet with lot of rain even in summer.
Sun do you have mostly in the deep south: Algarve and Alentejo region..
What about Reykjavik or Baku or Tbilisi?
ReplyDeleteWould be very nice.
DeleteAs someone from Porto, I'm really excited for this to happen! Can't believe Porto will be connected to Belgrade before any Croatian airport.
ReplyDeleteWhy is that so hard to believe?
DeleteFaro in Portugal is also interesting option for Air Serbia in the summer.
ReplyDelete