The Serbian government has formed a taskforce which is holding daily meetings with Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport’s management to address the frequent flight delays, staff shortages and other bottlenecks which it has blamed on the global airport operator. The country’s Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Goran Vesić, said, “We have discussed actions that will be taken in the coming days in order for passengers to get the service they paid for. We are monitoring the situation on a daily basis. The taskforce that has been formed is made up of all stakeholders from Serbia’s aviation sector. Representatives of [airport operator] VINCI have been informed that the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate will launch tender procedures by the end of the week for the selection of two new ground handling operators. This way we will enable greater competition and better service. All the major global ground handling operators have been informed of the upcoming tender. Furthermore, we have discussed ways to quickly modify legislation to enable the installation of self-service passport eGates on arrival”.
According to the Minister, the airport is facing significant issues in its baggage sorting facility, which is understaffed. Furthermore, in a bid to cut long queues, the airport is set to open a further three passport booths on arrival in the coming weeks. “I have emphasised to VINCI to introduce ushers who will assist passengers waiting in line and direct them to the next available booth”, Mr Vesić said. He added that daily meetings are now being held with the airport’s management and other key players in the country’s aviation industry each morning at 8.00. “Unlike other European airports, which are also experiencing issues, our goal is for passengers to have a carefree experience and be provided with the service they paid for when they purchased their ticket”.
VINCI has not directly responded to the government’s criticism but has said it is in the process of hiring 100 new employees at Belgrade Airport. A number of new staff members are currently undergoing training. However, Mr Vesić has remained critical of the operator. “They [VINCI] knew that Air Serbia would introduce 22 new routes and increase operations by 40%. They also knew that Flydubai would increase operations by 193%, Wizz Air by 109% and Turkish Airlines by 80%. Simply said, they could have predicted it would be a busy year”. Belgrade Airport is on course to handle over seven million passengers this year.
Funny thing is the government has a company called Aerodrom Beograd AD whose only job is to monitor the concession. Its CEO is the former CEO of Belgrade Airport (and Jat Airways) and he and his team have huge wages. What exactly have they been doing all these years?
ReplyDeleteBravo!
DeleteNo one expected them to do their job but we all expected Vinci to be more professional. After all we know that they were never the first choice for the concession, they only got it after Macron visited Serbia.
DeleteVesic just make meaningless propaganda "unlike other European airports". Their supporters will then make stories that we are better than Europeans.
DeleteAre you saying that we are worse by default? I don't understand what you are trying to say?
DeleteThere are European airports that are doing much worse than BEG and that's a fact either in terms of delays, infrastructure investment or growth.
^ Agree completely. Look at Amsterdam. They actually have been limiting the number of passengers that can arrive and depart because they can't handle them. Imagine that happened here.
DeleteAt least the toilets are clean and actually work in Amsterdam.
DeleteSituation on BEG is really bad and Vesic in 30 years did not acomplishe anything. Just remember three times repetition of pavements of Republic square. I do not care for European airports although I can not avoid them unless going to Bodrum and Egypt.
DeleteVesić had the brilliant idea that VINCI should hire queue managers!
DeleteWe should give him credit for that.
It's amazing Vinci could not come up with that idea considering literally every airport has them during the peaks.
DeleteLOL, sure they do!
DeleteI was at ATH yesterday, queue managers were present at passport control @ arrivals.
DeleteNo they weren't, what are you talking about? 🤣
DeleteToday Vesic went in sortirnica without any clearance with photographs. Toliko o sigurnosti na aerodromu.
DeleteReminds me of that time when a journalist went airside at several German airports to show how lax they were regarding security.
DeleteFurthermore, you can't access BEG airside without clearing one of the controls. He probably went unannounced but he most definitely passed security control.
If Vinci was such a serious concessionaire then there would be no need for Vesic to intervene.
Of course he passed security control. He didn't catapult himself inside. In actual fact, if you look at the photos, he is being escorted by a police officer through the airport.
DeleteCool trolling attempt, but queue managers are a thing everywhere.
DeleteQueue MANAGERS ... I love it ))) It is the profession of the 21st century directing clowns around where they need to go!
DeleteObviously you're not aware how easily bottlenecks get formed when there's no one directing the traffic flow. Your boomer comments regarding the 21st century should be posted to Facebook, not here.
Delete@13:56 yes bottlenecks everywhere because of people wearing earphones, playing with phones or waiting like sheep to be handled instead of following the flow and monitoring where to go. I feel sorry but good luck to you if you need someone to handle you!
DeleteWho could come as new ground handlers? Swissport? Dnata?
ReplyDeleteHopefully Air Serbia Ground Services come back
DeleteThey don't have to "come back" they already have a permit to operate as ground handlers at BEG.
DeleteMaybe Celebi
Deletehighly recommend fraport just like in LJU🤣
DeleteHehe I don't think Fraport will come, they only like to go to places where they can have a monopoly.
DeleteSelling off ASGS proved to be the disaster that haters were saying it would be.
DeleteSame as with JAT Tehnika.
ASGS has not been sold off. What are you talking about?
DeleteASGS is no longer owned by JU. That is since 2017. BEG airport owns it now.
Delete^ No that is not true. ASGS, as it was written here, still exists it just doesn't operate. They transferred their workers to BEG airport. But it is not owned by BEG.
DeleteAs per Air Serbia's 2022 financial report:
Air SERBIA ima sledeća zavisna pravna lica:
Air SERBIA GROUND SERVICES d.o.o. Beograd
AIR SERBIA CATERING d.o.o. Beograd
Amadeus d.o.o. Beograd
Aviation Trade International Ltd. London i AeroMak dooel Skopje
Air Srpska d.o.o. Banja Luka i Priština Air d.o.o. Prština
So they sold the operation to Vinci but kept the name.
DeleteSame thing.
@Anon 09:11
DeleteFraport seems to be doing a good job on all the other countries it operates in the Balkans.
What is so problematic about LJU?
@10.17 No they didn't sell the operation to Vinci. Are you stupid or something? Vinci wasn't even in Belgrade when ASGS stopped its operations. The financial report lists companies in 100% ownership of Air Serbia and first on the list is Air SERBIA GROUND SERVICES d.o.o. Beograd. Jesus.
DeleteFrom the Air Serbia financial report
DeleteAir SERBIA GROUND SERVICES (ASGS), licencirani hendling agent, u stopostotnom je vlasništvu Društva. Pruža usluge supervizije, prihvata i otpreme vazduhoplova, putnika, prtljaga, robe i pošte na beogradskom aerodromu i usluge špedicije u vazdušnom prevozu robe
look if you have too much traffic fraport will happly come and reduce it and direct it to Frankfurt
DeleteAnon 10:33
DeleteHow come Fraport hasn't done so in Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey where it operates 17 airports.
Why do they need to change legislation for egates? We used to have an egate on arrival in 2010/2011/2012...
ReplyDeleteThat egate worked less than it actually worked. They need to change legislation because egates have evolved and they take your photo and store information.
DeleteThat makes sense. Thank you
DeleteThat eGate was a real comedy, hopefully the new, proper eGates arrive soon, they're really needed over here
DeleteWhen it worked it was quite good actually, and nobody used it so it was without ques.
DeleteCan't wait for the egates. They said before they will have them in departures too, not just arrivals.
DeleteIt was very slow to work though.
DeleteI have used twice the e gates in ATH and they worked great. You really save a lot of time. I hope they manage to make them work as smoothly in BEG.
DeleteI notice that it is mostly Air Serbia that has delays. Foreign airlines are taking off more or less on time.
ReplyDeleteNot really, take a look at Wizz Air. Also many airlines like Lufthansa or Swiss arrive to BEG with a delay. TK isn't the best either.
DeleteWizz Air, LH, Swiss all managed by Sky Partner in BEG.
DeleteWell LH and LX are late every day.
DeleteSky Partner is also struggling to find people, they have ads looking for workers like every day. I suppose they still did not realize that they need to pay people more.
DeleteMost companies in Serbia are understaffed. They have started putting self scan machines in all Maxi shops (even the ones that are the size of a bedroom) because they can't find people to work at the counter.
DeleteTrue. Every other billboard in BEG is for job openings. On instagram "Kafeterija" has been advertising positions for its future cafe at Belgrade Airport for months.
Delete@9:28 yes they are delayed too but in counts of minutes and mostly up to 50-60 and not in hours like JU. FYI APH arrived yesterday from Barcelona at 12:58 and was supposed to fly to Moscow at 14:30; SVO flight however departed only at 16:34 which is 3.5 hours late. This morning again APH has been sitting at gate A1 the whole night and had a scheduled departure for Moscow at 6:00 however it departed at 07:25 (1.5 hours late). Is that the airport or JU ? KLM operates mostly every day on time, arrives from congested AMS airport on time or ahead while JU is delayed almost every single day. JFK and ORD flights from the US late almost daily by 1-2 hrs. 9 Aircrafts on wet lease currently and still massive delays all across the board is NOT normal and NOT acceptable.
DeleteDelays over an hour are rare these days, most flights that are delayed are so up to one hour.
DeleteThere could be a number of factors that are causing delays at BEG.
Delete- Check in staff don't have adequate amount or adequately trained personnel to handle pax in a timely manner.
- Not enough gate agents.
- Not enough baggage handlers.
- Catering is a mess but far from the worst.
- Tehnika lacks personnel and doesn't use time efficiently.
A month or 2 ago, JU would most likely have been the reason for the delays but JU currently isn't the main factor. JU has adjusted schedules and have adequate aircraft for operations, they're not tight with cabin crew, flight crew is adequate and more will be joining soon.
This mornings SVO that you mentioned most likely was waiting for transit pax from JFK
(SVO has alot of JFK transfers) which landed late. Quite possible is that the airport lacked adequate staff to appropriately handle the transfers, which also need additional screening (pax, cargo and luggage) due to the security measures in place. If this is the case, despite the late arrival of the JFK flight, there is absolutely no reason as to why that SVO was that delayed, which falls back onto the airport. Most flights this morning departed with a delay including foreign carriers.
The best investment VINCI made were those Xrays at security that you don't have to take anything out of your bags. There are no lines most of the time at security.
ReplyDeleteOrher than the times when there are massive lines....
DeleteHaven't had them yet and I travel from the airport twice per month every month.
DeleteThe main bottleneck is luggage sorting.
DeleteThe biggest bottleneck in BEG is JU's lack of enough staff and aircraft.
DeleteWhat are you on about... The govt's Ministry of Interior is the biggest bottleneck.
DeleteI was at passport control 2 days ago - all the counters were operational, but the cue was horrible. Not enough counter positions there is the problem at the moment. I don't know what is the plan for the future, is this control going to be moved somewhere else, where there is enough room or are they simply going to open few more positions...space there is still under construction.
DeleteYou didn’t read the article Branko, did you? eGates. The solution ids eGates.
DeleteTwo additional ground handlers?? That's going to be a lot
ReplyDeleteShould be ok, BEG is heading towards 10 million passengers. Two handling agents are not enough for that volume.
DeleteMeanwhile the Minister has not a word of criticism for Air Serbia??
ReplyDeleteOf course. Both the minister and Air Serbia management have agreed to blame everything on the airport. Originally Air Serbia blamed everything on the late arrival of wet leased planes and supply chain issues but after consultation with the government agreed that the best way to go was to blame everything on VINCI.
DeleteAirport Belgrade is the address that needs to be blamed the most.
DeleteOf course it does not mean Air Serbia does not have any responsibility for delays, but certainly not for luggage, check-in and security procedures that cause the most delays.
JU reduced delays to a minimum, flights leave in the morning on time and then BEG screws them over in the regional wave. Cancellations are also minimal so JU is doing ok. They also leased another A320 and so on.
DeleteJU did its part, BEG on the other hand didn't.
Cancellations are minimal because JU is pre-cancelling flights week in advance. And you can't tell me that is because of Belgrade Airport.
DeleteSince the German A320 arrived cancellations have been brought down to a minimum. JU found a way to stabilize its operations. You need new arguments to attack Air Serbia.
DeleteDeparture delay index at BEG this morning 2.2 out of 5
ReplyDeleteBetter than Amsterdam where it is 4.4!
DeleteAnd that's on top of AMS having caps on daily passenger numbers, caps on daily flight departures etc.
DeleteAmsterdam delays this morning are because of a storm. Please do your research.
DeleteWell, compring AMS and BEG is like comparing Belgrade and Lajkovac train station… get some realism guys, let’s see how Sofia or Solun are doing. Mind this megalomanic staff.
DeleteAmsterdam has no cap on daily passengers anymore, this is last years news.
DeleteAnon 10:03
Delete+1000
Or TIA or ZAG.
TIA doesn't need baggage sorting as most flights are LCC and most passengers travel without luggage.
Delete@10.04 and it was lovely last year let me tell you. 5 kilometer line just to get into the airport building.
Delete@anon 10:07. If you were in a 5km line, you were stuck in a bar in Amsterdam city center. Or you are confised with the car problems in Belgrade. Well that is a 5km line to get only with your car at the parking lot, where the next problem arises.
Delete^ Please don't give me information on my experience at Amsterdam airport which was a nightmare when I traveled in June last year. Yes, the line was outside of the terminal. If you don't believe me your problem. It took a total of 3 hours from entering the line at 4AM to getting to security check (thankfully I check-in online otherwise I would need to wait in line at check-in). The only reason I was there was because KLM cancelled my connecting flight the day before when I landed in Amsterdam (but I guess you will explain to me that you know better and that I am dreaming that my flight was cancelled). Of course my baggage was lost. Oh and should I tell you that I waited for an hour at passport control to get out of Amsterdam Airport. In fact, the policeman didn't let people enter the passport control area for 40 minutes before that because it was "full", When he did allow us it was another hours wait. But I'm certain you know better.
DeleteJust to add. Grand total of 2 passport booths working for non Schengen citizens (afternoon time). It was amazing, as I am sure you know better.
DeleteYes there were problems last year before the summer period, these were solved before the summer peak started. Anyhow, I travel weekly from Amsterdam, mainly with KLM. In the last 5 years I had only one significant delay of 3,5 hours, no cancelled flights, bagage never got lost, waiting times are always normal, except for that one period you are referring to now. So yes, I know how it goes in Amsterdam normally. And just like anon 10:03 said, please compare BEG to Sofia, Malta or Katowice. Not to an airport 10x the size of BEG.
Delete^ You obviously live in a paralell universe if you think Amsterdam was running smoothly last year. I guess an airport running smoothly orders airlines to restrict passenger numbers on each flight and sets up tents in front of the airport. Well done.
Delete"Yes there were problems last year before the summer period, these were solved before the summer peak started."
DeleteAgain, you live in a parallel universe if you think problems in Amsterdam were solved before the summer peak. Btw airlines were slapped with passer caps in July (maybe for you that is winter peak) and the caps lasted until MARCH 2023. But for you I guess that is an example of a well run and well managed airport
DeleteAmsterdam Is The European Capital Of Air Travel Chaos
https://www.euronews.com/travel/2022/09/30/schiphol-queues-airport-slammed-for-flight-cancellations-and-four-hour-delays-as-lines-bui
When compared to other major European destinations, Amsterdam is the worst for air travel chaos this summer, here is why...
AUGUST 4, 2022
Please don't treat people as stupid.
Well something has to be done. I wrote the other day that I was flying from BEG last Friday to SKP and our ATR72 arrived from its previous destination (Tivat) ahead of schedule, we boarded on time and then sat on the tarmac for one hour. The pilot informed us there was no one to load our luggage and that we were waiting on that. My return flight from Skopje was on Sunday. I was monitoring the situation with the plane in BEG. It arrived from its previous destination (Salzburg) ahead of schedule and was again delayed by an hour on departure to Skopje. I have a feeling it was for the same reason.
ReplyDeleteI assume these comparisons in operations Vesic gave is compared to 2019?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteFlydubai on steroids.
DeleteWell they did go from 4 weekly to double daily.
DeleteIt's impressive FZ grew so much despite Wizz launcjing and growing on AUH-BEG.
DeleteGrowing ?
DeleteBEG should be close to 8 million this year, don't forget that we will have a very strong winter. Next year it will come close to 9 million.
ReplyDeleteGood thing for BEG is that it is killing neighboring airports like OSI and TSR so their passengers are using BEG more and more. If you live in Romanian Banat and want to go to Spain or Italy, BEG offers the most options.
People here were writing months ago that this would be the outcome.
ReplyDeleteThe situation is already much better than it was a few weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is lack of staff. And that's the problem everywhere in the country which is why the unemployment rate is at record lows.
ReplyDeleteDo what others are doing in the construction industry or Belgrade bus company, import workers from Sri Lanka and India.
DeleteThe lack of staff stems from the lack of decent salaries compared to the cost of living. 50-60.000 leave the country each year looking for employment and better paying jobs. Conditions at work leave alot to be desired. Just have a look at the recent mess with Aerodrom ketering, where 40 workers were made redundant only to be replaced by Indian workers, which is illegal under Serbian law. Labour inspectors have recently ordered for the workers to return to work. Where is the motivation there to seek employment at the company? Unfortunately this isn't an isolated case. Importing workers isn't always the solution when you have fully capable locals leaving the country in search of employment for similar if not the same jobs.
DeleteGood. They have been returned to work to do nothing, same as the way they have done nothing up until the point they were terminated.
Delete@Anon 10:49
DeleteWhy do you hate workers?
They did nothing but were replaced by Indian nationals. So Indian nationals were brought in to do nothing? Something doesn't add up. Obviously they were doing something.
DeleteThere is no quick fix for this. New ground handlers won't have any impact on this summer because the tender will be finished in September. By the time they set up operations, hire people and then train them it will be summer 2024.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteFlying out from BEG tomorrow. Quite interested to see what the situation will be like.
ReplyDeleteGood luck
Deletelol thanks
DeleteDon't worry. Flew charter to Kefalonia on June 23rd no line at check in - took 5 mins at 4pm. 6pm flight left at 6:29pm, not a bad delay. Read about drama day before and day after but had a really smooth experience. Passport took 20 mins as line was long as when you enter, where lady checks boarding cards, but cops only stamp foreign passports, not Serbian, so it's fast. Security was easy and took 5 mins with no lines.
DeleteGate C2 has lots of seats near Xleb & Kifle so it was easy too. Plane was a wet lease with Romanian crew and only 24 rows of seats. Good fast flight.
Return: July 4th flight at 9:15pm left at 10pm, smooth ride, Lithuanian plane 31 rows with Romanian crew. 15 mins at passport since there were a few flights (one big one from Dubai with lots of foreigners thus stamping needed). No wait at luggage carousel 2 - our 3 bags came out right away. No suitcases on the ground or in piles as shown on media. Our ride was able to pick us up at departure level at new terminal using new access, with a pass for ramps. (We use Sky Parking) and we were on our merry way in no time.
Now either we got REALLY lucky twice, or people are finding stupid reasons to shit on BEG when I've had nothing but great and smooth trips to and from Belgrade airport. It's actually the fastest passport and customs I've seen anywhere. Serbs are spoiled and like to bitch, try flying to my home airport of Toronto YYZ and see what a shit show that airport is! Try Dortmund passport control for a laugh, wait an hour to get through 10 people because they ask 100 questions about why you're visiting and how much cash you got. MUP are the nicest cops to foreigners at BEG and always make me feel good about coming back to my second home. Don't believe the hype.
Anyone know which days Air Serbia has the most dense scheduled waves? I know it is three or four times per week. Anyone know the days?
ReplyDeleteOuch!
ReplyDeleteVesic, the same guy who wasn't able to fix a single meter of any street in BEG, now is giving somebody a lesson, welcome to the land of paradox...
ReplyDeleteHe needs to protect ASL which is a major political project for his party.
DeleteIt would have been great if national airline had been political project for every single party in the past.
DeleteUnfortunately we had seen terrible Jat Airways that was nothing but a shame for Serbia.
It's always someone else's fault. The SNS project of Air Serbia is always blameless and perfect
DeleteDelays today have been brought to a minimum. Vesic obviously did something right.
DeleteAnd Air Serbia did something right as well.
DeleteNo mater who made Air Serbia it must be seen as Serbian and not as party's project. Unfortunately many fail to see it.
I am very much against SNS, especially its president, and especially its policy and relations with ex-yu neighbours, primarily Croatia, which are lowest ever, I disagree with lot of things SNS is doing and the way it "operates", but if there is one good thing SNS did for Serbia, that's definitely Air Serbia. Looking at pathetic feeder Croatia Airlines, I can just say : hat off and deep bow
DeleteNo government that comes after SNS can do anything about Air Serbia because of two reasons:
Delete1. macroeconomic reasons.
2. general public has a positive opinion of JU and we can see that by their growing passenger numbers.
Well if the airport hires more people and increases pay , guess who will have to pay. It will be the passenger. Airlines will have a good 3xcusr to raise their fares by a couple of hu dred euros.
ReplyDeleteTrue dat!
DeleteIt's not the passengers because BEG is already extremely profitable. Vinci will have to be less greedy. Also with the expanded terminal there are going to be more shops and so on boosting airport's revenue.
DeleteThe airlines will find any excuse to raise their fares. The terminal can be as profitable as they want, but the airlines can always put the blame on the airport. You will see it will happen.
DeleteIt has been said time and time again.. for months now. The quickest solution is to increase wages. No short time bonuses, no some 10 percent "attendance bonuses". Minimum 30000 dinars base salary increase for everyone and then bonuses and whatnot. Workers have been begging management for years now for increase in salary they laughed at our faces and humiliated us with 50 eur pay rise a year. Shamefull. Of course there are no workers available. It is because of their total lack of interest for ground handling. It is the Frenchies fault.
ReplyDeleteLuggage handlers got a salary increase from 60.000 to 117.000 RSD. That's more than fair.
DeletePublic stunts like today talking to handlers do not solve problems. There is no mention of mingling of government in operation of airport in any document. Asking them to solve problem with taxi driver was mistake.
Delete@Anonymous at 1341
DeleteNope that is a lie... they will get bonuses up to ehichnthry can earn 117k.. that is not pay raise. And why only baggage handlers. There are lot more services to be given money. Check in baggage loaders cleanesrs drivers. Toilet service. Weight and balance turnaround coordinators...
What da hell does ehichnthry mean?
DeleteAhahaha.. sorry it was autoinput thing havent even seen it.. it should have been "which they"
Deletehahahaha ... thanks.
DeleteI am JU cabin crew. The situation at the airport is absolutely chaotic. Up until a few weeks ago only short haul flights were affected and then long haul too. Flights to ORD and JFK are departing over an hour after scheduled time. All that we can do is wait and try our best. Arriving back from flights you have lines at passport control stretching to the bathroom area. Tomorrow i am scheduled to work TSN and I am not ready. Last time I flew TSN it was delayed over 6 hours.
ReplyDeleteIf you have worked last years you remember the chaos that was during the summer season with all delays. Now it is 10 times worse
DeleteI have not. I got hired at the latest recruitment drive.
DeleteIf you got hired in the last recruitment drive you are not working on the A330.
DeleteThat is true. None of the new crew members have yet been trained for the A330. Bunch of bull.
DeleteHow would you know? I got hired October of 2022.
DeleteYou could see that it is made up because it is a very similar comment the same person keeps posting about long haul. Same comment just a few days ago without the "I am JU cabin crew".
DeleteThe last recruitment drive was not in October 2022.
DeleteOh really? There was no assessment day in October?
Delete"I have not. I got hired at the latest recruitment drive."
DeleteThe latest recruitment drive was not in October. Better luck next time.
I had my assessment day in October of 2022. I now realize there were more recruitment drives after that, I apologize. I don’t understand why I would lie about that, but this is a public portal and we are all allowed to share our thoughts. I said what I wanted to and whether you believe me or not, I genuinely don’t care.
Deletethis is a public portal and we are all allowed to share our thoughts - not true
DeleteYes it is true why would it not be?
DeleteThe SNS way: never, ever take any responsibility for anything, always blame others for failures
ReplyDeleteOh yes and if you are opposition in Serbia blame SNS for everything possible.
DeleteAs far as I can see, he is doing something. It’s usually the clique that constantly spits at the government that doesn’t do anything useful.
DeleteYou described politics in general. :)
DeleteAfter my flight in BEG, I saw a lot of lost baggages, how its possible
ReplyDeleteOn every airport in the world. It is not lost it is not delivered on time.
DeleteIt is amazing that every time someone points out some problems with BEG or Air Serbia, there is someone else saying that it is the same thing "everywhere", "worldwide" etc. Even it is true to some extent, if BEG and Air Serbia want to outcompete the regional rivals, they need to be better that others.
Delete"if BEG and Air Serbia want to outcompete the regional rivals"
DeleteIf? IF??? ExYu region competitiors have been squashed and demolished.
I thought Air Serbia had bigger ambitions than to demolish two Air Montenegro planes...
DeleteWhen it comes to long haul, they will need to compete with Aegean, Austrian, TK, LH, LOT and the Gulf carriers.
All those who dismiss the cancellations, the poor onboard product and so on, need to understand that Air Serbia tries to enter the big boys league. Nobody cares there if it's the fault of Vinci, Air Serbia or the storm. People who do not have sentiment for Air Serbia won't use it if they miss their connection or if they're late for their meeting...
You obviously don't know Air Montenegro is not the only exyu regional rival so you need to learn to deserve a response.
DeleteJU's onboard product is ok, not poor. There is room for improvement, sure, but definitely not poor. Improvements were made in May, short haul has recently been further tweeked, with further improvements to come. JU isn't buying 5 star status from Skytrax to show how amazing they are (LH for example).
DeletePeople will fly regardless of previous experiences if the price suits their budget and schedule. It's the case with any airline. If it wasn't the case, AMS and FRA would definitely not be in the top 10 list of busiest airports in Europe.
Also, A3 doesn't fly long haul so they aren't a competitor in that field.
@anon 21:02 You know, sometimes there is no need for stating the obvious...
Delete@anon 00:21 "People will fly regardless of previous experiences if the price suits their budget and schedule" - this is true for most of the people, especially in the Balkans and the wider CEE region. But the real money - especially on the long haul - is not made on these people. They are important, they cover the costs etc. But, the real money is made on the business class (or business people, not necessarily flying business class) that buys tickets in the last moment and for them convenience is more important than money.
DeleteIn my company, we have a sort of "skyscanner" and book the tickets ourselves (then it has to be approved by the higher-ups). Obviously, we are supposed to choose the most economical option. But at the same time, you have a drop-down menu of around 15 justifications why you selected something more expensive. It can be as simple as: "timing of the meeting", "length of the stopover" etc. So, in reality, unless the price is outrageous (normally, the differences between the main airlines are relatively small), you are free to choose whatever you want. Even if e.g. LH is more expensive, but you are a Miles and More member, you will find a way to go with LH. In the end, the difference for the company is negligible.
So many people here make comments without having insider knowledge how the most lucrative part of the market works.
Negotiating concession extension beyond 2024
ReplyDelete2043
DeleteBullcrap. Vesic needs to cut the sh!t and show what he means with his actions not words. He has not done anything for Belgrade or Serbia that had any use to it. He needs to be replaced ASAP and held accountable.
ReplyDeleteReplacing him today will help solve the issue right now? Or in the next couple of weeks? Are you okay?
DeleteNo changes can be done right away. Those of you thinking announcing new handler, replacing Vesic or any other measures are going to have immediate effect are dead wrong. Wake up!
ReplyDeleteYou need to read what I posted on 3 July:
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/07/belgrade-airport-to-get-new-ground.html?showComment=1688390724014#c7382480074489935564
TangoSix next day expanded on this:
"Ukoliko bi još jedna hendling kompanija počela sa radom na „Nikoli Tesli“ i ukoliko bi Er Srbija poželela da potpiše ugovor o opsluživanju sa njom, ta procedura ne bi mogla da bude brža od tri do četiri meseca"