Air Serbia plans to keep thirteen destinations it launched this summer season into next winter, which begins on October 29 in the aviation calendar this year. The Serbian carrier will continue to operate services from Belgrade to Tel Aviv, Chicago, Marseille, Lisbon, Krakow, Izmir, Hamburg, Gothenburg, Florence, Ankara, Cologne, Cairo and Budapest. Routes that were introduced this summer but are being marketed as seasonal flights only include Catania, Naples, Palermo, Heraklion, Rhodes, Corfu, Chania, Varna and Ohrid. Changes still remain possible as the airline is yet to finalise its 2023/24 winter season network. According to Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, the carrier continues to review its network on an “almost daily” basis.
The Serbian flag carrier has said the new routes launched this summer have all proven successful. “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”, the airline said last month.
Air Serbia is adjusting to new demand patterns among customers. Mr Marek told the “Flight Global” magazine, “One of the most significant changes we have seen is the typically strong days such as Monday, Friday and Sunday, it doesn’t work that way anymore. Now, for example, our strongest day is Thursday. A lot of people work from home more, so it doesn’t really matter where your home is, so we see a flattening of the deviation during the weekdays. We also see that seasonality is getting much more extended. We had a very successful and profitable winter, which was never happening before”. He added, “The changes that will hopefully not stay are these last-minute booking windows. It’s destination by destination, but still the majority of bookings are happening at the last minute. There have also been shifts in the types of passengers travelling, notably towards the premium leisure segment. I would call it ‘high-end leisure’ - it’s travelling more than before”. However, while demand for flights continues to be strong, he cautioned that “it’s also artificially driven because there is a limited supply in terms of capacity”.
Did not expect they would continue Marseille and Izmir in winter.
ReplyDeleteWhy? Izmir is the country's third largest city with over 3 million people. It's also an industrial center with a lot of demand, it's not your typical seaside destination like Bodrum for example.
DeleteIzmir has been very successful.
DeleteNo visas between Serbia &Turkey, Serbians go to Turkey in summer, while Turks like BEG for winter Holidays. Hence it's a year-round route.
DeleteAnadolujet also flies Izmir-Belgrade.
DeletePeople here were saying how Marseille was the weakest new route but it seems to be doing fine enough for them to keep it over winter.
DeleteMarseille is doing well at least on August 1st when I was onboard BEG-MRS, a little delay since we had to wait connecting passengers from SKP, around ten passengers doing SKP-BEG-MRS on that day. Flight was almost full on the Embraer
DeleteI guess thats the plus side of having the ERJ's in the fleet. Routes that weren't working on the A319 and doing ok on the ERJ.
DeleteSmirna, not Izmir.
DeleteIf MRS survives it will be only because they got the E90. I think it's one of the routes that no longer gets the A319. That was the whole point for such routes.
DeleteHopefully they extend Varna. It's doing very well
ReplyDeleteThey will, Fraport gave them subsidies to keep it in winter. I think this route has a lot of potential.
DeleteBetter schedule it soon then. Two months ahead of winter, they will loose potential customers.
DeleteFinally some competition in VAR as TK and especially OS have been long dominating in winter and their prices extremely high. Wizz operate to German villages. VAR is also a large city with universities so there is no reason why it should not work for JU.
DeleteHope they keep it in winter. They haven't scheduled it yet.
DeleteIt would be nice, but are the hours convenient?
DeleteVarna is doing great, people love to see poplars and roses by the sea
Delete10:43 no, they are not but still glad JU is competing with TK and OS. The prices they currently offer are very good. Plus Western Bulgaria is more "connected" to Serbia compared to the Eastern part. OS has been operating for many years and charging 300€ via VIE and taking advantage of the lack of competition so JU will end their arrogant dominance. And well TK the journey is barely 40min to IST however in summer they become agressive as well and fly twice daily on some days. Either way, wish JU all the best of luck in VAR and hope they include BOJ in the future as well but it is much more seasonal because it is a smaller city and more touristic in summer while VAR is bigger and has a bigger catchment area approx. half a million if you include Dobrich and Shumen which are quite close and not that small towns. Plus, there is a small Russian community living there and they can fly via BEG to reach Moscow for instance. It will also popularise BEG as a destination. VAR itself is not as pretty as BOJ but still feels so much urban.
DeleteThis time around JU has a much stronger network so VAR can work much better. JU has to make sure such routes survive if they want to keep on building a hub. Their network management is definitely doing a very good job.
DeleteWill they launch any other new route in winter?
ReplyDeleteYes, there should be
DeleteWell if they are, it is time to announce those new routes.
DeleteLast year they announced the launch of Malta at the end of September for start at the end of October.
DeleteWell they need to see what will happen with the fleet and how many planes will stay. It helps a lot that they have the E95 and the second one should arrive in September. These three Embraers should really help them when demand falls.
DeleteShouldn't they know how many planes will stay? It's not like someone will take it away from them. It's their decision.
DeleteThere are alot of wet leases that need to be changed for dry leases. And it's dry leases they seem to be having issues attaining. Plus scheduled maintenance that goes on throughout the winter made difficult with a shortage of parts.
DeleteGood news
ReplyDeleteThe Embraers will come in very handy during winter.
ReplyDeleteWill Prague still served with ATR or is it being moved to Embraer?
Delete^ It's a mix of both.
DeleteI think it is one of the reason a route like Marseille will stay in the winter network.
DeleteInteresting. My flight from Krakow on the 30th of August got canceled and I was offered a flight (scheduled as well) two days later-which means I have to pay two nights extra in a hotel. From that I thought, maybe demand was not that high. Seems like it obviously is?! I really wish they were more reliable, and that when you buy a ticket you are not playing roulette which day or hour it takes place.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lie. Air Serbia has to provide you for a hotel or the earliest flight to the destination.
DeleteI'm not for serbia and i avoid AS in summer months but let's stop spreading BS around just for the sake of it
JU was forced to cancel many flights due to staff shortages. It's unfortunate it happened t you. I wish we lived in a better world where you didn't have to experience such things but there is really nothing we can do about it.
DeleteAnon 09:12, what exactly have I lied about? Can one comment here without getting some JU fans insulted? There is no BS from my side. The only BS is Air Serbia‘s customer service which is NEVER reachable. Most passengers have the issue that it’s impossible to get an answer from them.
DeleteJU slashed around 10%of its network, precisely due to lack of staff... They realized that chaos mid June must not repeat itself and are doing their best until new crews arrive.
DeleteI am not anon 9:12 but I will tell you that in the case of cancelled flight you must call airline and demand the quickest possible transport to the destination with other airline which original ticket issuing airline must pay.
DeleteEvery single airline will in this case try to minimize its cost and to convince you to take first available flight with them but you are surely not obliged to accept that offer. There are many other airlines that fly to KRK and only if you called Air Serbia they would have arranged for you some transfer flight on that day (LO, LH, OS, KL, TK...)
Anon 09:33
Delete+1
Two of my friends on two different locations have experienced the same: because of the cancellation of their flight they had to stay two and three more days BUT in both cases AS has covered their expenses.
DeleteAnon 09:33, I have called and emailed them multiple times. No answer. So I really don’t see any other options. I need a direct flight, since I am traveling with a very small child. (The only acceptable option would be LOT, but it still is with a layover.) They should offer to pay for a hotel-but there is no such option (just refund and voucher, or booking another similar flight). Did any of you commenting actually have to contact customer services, because I never could get a hold of them? This is not just my problem, but many face the same issue. Why is there a need to justify JU‘s behavior, when it clearly is very faulty? Maybe one of you can call the customer service and advocate my case to prove me wrong?
DeleteWhich fli?
Delete... flight?
DeleteSo, send then the invoice for the hotel for 2 extra nights, original ticket, cancellation and the new one and your bank account. They will reimburse you for the hotel for sure. Maybe you will wait a couple of weeks, but you'll get the money back.
DeleteAs some other commentors said, either they offer you alternative flight on the same day or they cover extra expenses. If you stay at your home or friends place of course you cannot get compensation, but if you have to pay the hotel, they will pay you back.
Same is if you would take a train to some other city to catch the flight on the same day.
I took Air Serbia's flight to KRK in late July - 32 passengers, return flight two days later had 30, so I guess it's OK for atr72 and brand new destination in their network. If they plan to keep it in winter then I guess numbers have picked up?
DeleteJu has more then enough staff. Lies are unreal here . BeG might not have enough groun crew but that has not much to do with JU.
DeleteAnon 10:39, thank you for your input. That seems a bit low, less than 50% I would say. The thing is, I would like the route to be successful as well as JU, but the practical experience unfortunately says otherwise.
Delete@Anonymous10:55
DeleteOK buddy, keep telling yourself that, because unless you work here, you don't have a clue what went on here in the past few months...
Don't they have to provide compensation and other benefits only if the cancellation/rescheduling happened less than 14 days prior to the flight time?
Delete@ anon 09:54
DeleteYou simply need to be patient and wait someone to answer on your call.
If you were close to KRK airport you could have gone there and look for their counter where you could have finished all the details. How long before the flights have they informed you about the cancellation and what was a reason given?
And after all I do not see why flying with small baby on transfer flight is something special? I have done it many times. Better to fly throuh WAW, FRA or VIE during one day than to stay extra 2 days on destination.
In my opinion it is better to stay in a good hotel.
DeleteSofia also cancelled for 30.8. what's happening? More than enough staff?
DeleteAnon 14:12, your baby is not mine, right? A little understanding would be helpful sometimes. These comparisons how can I and you can’t? are very patronizing and demeaning. I have my reasons why, I have done layovers where things have gone badly and both my baby and me were very exhausted and needed many days to get to our usual routine. So-no-for me staying at a decent hotel is better. I am not living in Krakow, so I can’t go to Air Serbia’s desk either. Also it seems that I should basically sacrifice my time for fixing a problem that Air Serbia caused, by calling them constantly, visiting their sales’ desks, and so on. They should really get it together.
Delete… and they did not give any reason for changing the date of the flight, to answer your question. They informed three weeks in advance.
DeleteIt seems to me that you are quite spoiled.
DeleteYou have more than enough time to change flight schedule and get organized but you are still coming here with some claims.
That's a lot of extra capacity and flights.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many wet leased aircraft they will have this winter season.
ReplyDeleteI think even they don't know.
DeleteERJ's plus Dan Air. I guess it depends on how quickly they can get maintenance done on their narrobodies, we all saw the mess last winter. Plus a few narrobodies are not in the JU configuration so it'll be interesting to see if they will be reconfigured this winter.
DeleteAccording to the documents they sent BEG they are keeping B738s over winter. That's what my friend who works at the airport told me.
DeleteHow many of B738s? I guess three are way too much.
DeleteFrom what I know two of them are staying. They are a very good and comfortable plane to fly on so I am happy they are staying for a bit longer.
DeleteVery good
ReplyDeleteThey are truly becoming a serious player in the Balkans.
ReplyDeleteJU is the Balkan leader!
Delete+1
DeleteLOL!
Delete^ I don't see what's funny. You don't think they are becoming a serious player in the region with 80 destinations and fleet of over 30 aircraft?
Delete10:16 a.m
DeleteCan you tell which one is bigger than JU? Who else serves so many destinations and has such a large fleet?
Aegean?
DeleteTurkish?
DeleteAgreed, but I mean in the former Yugoslavia 😉
Delete@anonymous 10:23 , 30 airplanes how ??!!! 21 in their own livery and 9 wet leases , so I suppose not 30 .
DeleteIt's not 30 but 32 at the moment.
Delete32 today, 36 next summer. next-best airline is expecting to get first batch of 6 new aircraft. even if all six arrive next summer and if have no engine issues, that will be just one sixt of the ju fleet. You think that 1/6 will be able to make any dent in ju network? no it won't.
Delete@anonymous 21:09 I suppose you consider the wet leases in those 30 to 32 airplanes .If you do then you are wrong , they do not belong to Air Serbia.
DeleteThey operate for Air Serbia so it does count, just like passengers on those wet leased planes count exactly the same as those who flew on other Air Serbia planes.
DeleteNo @anonymous 23:36 they do not count , they do not have the serbian AOC ! Every airline in the world can wet lease an airplane , that does not mean it counts as their fleet.
DeleteWhen Air Serbia records over 3.5 million passengers this year no one will be able to tell if they were transported on dry leased or wet leased plane. They are all Air Serbia passengers flown on planes operating on behalf of Air Serbia, on Air Serbia routes and to Air Serbia destinations. So no, you are dead wrong.
Delete+1
Delete@aninymous 04:49 are you for real ??? Who said about passengers numbers ?! We are talking about airplanes numbers ! Please do not try to confuse things !
DeleteSo what @anonymous 0449 ??!!! Swiss international airlines and British airways who wet lease from Air Baltic and Finair respectively are gonna have record passengers number this year ! So don't understand your point !
DeleteThose airlines are not in scope of this blog. Wet or dry leased, like it or not, some 31-32 planes are delivering Air Serbia network this summer.
DeleteThe target should be double daily for all regional routes.
ReplyDeleteOnly if it makes economic sense. For some routes, I don't think it does.
DeleteAnon 09.34 said target should be and I agree, they should target to have all regional destinations at least twice a day. Some of the should even go higher to 3 or 4 by time, and for some will take time to reach daily first, but the goal should really be minimum 2 flights a day in next couple of years.
DeleteThey have a few regional routes that are double daily or more.
Delete14+ pw:
TGD, TIV, BUD, VIE, IST
7-14 pw:
ZAG, LJU, OTP, SKP, TIA, ATH, SKG
Plan for LJU is 4 daily, so I guess the midday flight will be coming back in the next 6-12 months.
ZAG I see getting a third daily soon.
BNX could do with an increase, perhaps 4 pw rather than the 2 currently.
Hopefully SPU and DBV go at least daily next summer. It would be good to see both starting earlier, and SPU getting winter flights.
SJJ will go double daily at some point in the next 6-12 months. They pulled off the midnight flights due to a lack of aircraft, which shouldn't be a problem once YU-ASC joins the fleet.
Honestly, when they announced the new routes for summer I thought maybe 2 or 3 would survive to the winter. But great to see almost all of them are continuing in winter too.
ReplyDeleteI wonder when the new destinations will be revealed
ReplyDeleteThey should now focus on the Middle-East, Caucasus and secondary Romanian cities.
DeleteThere should be demand from Helsinki for flights at least once a week, especially with ERJ. At the moment people fly with AirBaltic (seasonal) and Lufthansa which lost some of the trust.
DeleteIs there any chance for Air Serbia to return flights to Helsinki?
ReplyDeleteWould love to see that.
DeleteDoubt it. There is not enough demand.
DeleteIt could work with Embraer.
DeleteI think there is a chance now that the ERJ's are in the fleet. It seemed to had been doing ok on the CRJ previously, not so much on the A319.
DeleteAirSerbia should reshuffle the flight numbers. This growth has left them with many routes with unusual numbers :)
ReplyDeleteAgree. They no longer make any sense.
DeleteIn OHD once they have once again that same problem with the luggage.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that many passengers are intercontinental (US) connecting from this region through BEG and the ATR don't have that capacity there are many cases for late baggage - even that it has arrived at OHD after the passengers are back in USA after 2-3 weeks.And then complaints about ASL call center and e-mail no response...Then they choose TK from SKP over ASL.
Twice once in the first sentence, correcting myself :)
DeleteNice to see Florence staying in the schdule.
ReplyDeleteSome Macedonian officials said when Ohrid was launched that it will likely be year round, so let's see if they extend it.
ReplyDeleteOhrid had a catastrophic launch, we are talking 10 passengers per flight. Now it's a different story and flights are full of transfers. I can see them adding flights next year. I hope they add more night flights because of connections especially now that Kukes is dying.
DeleteI wonder when they plan on loading the next round of destinations into the system. They are supposed to start in a few months.
ReplyDeleteAren't 13 additional routes compared to last winter enough?
Delete14 for part of winter if you consider that Malaga was launched in December last year.
Delete15 since Tianjin also launched in December :D
DeleteGood news. Hopefully this means that strong growth at BEG will also continue during the winter.
ReplyDeleteIt will
DeleteNice to see the two A330s side by side :)
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see what they plan for winter. So far they have not yet scheduled any frequnecy increase compared to last winter, except for Tianjin.
ReplyDeleteThey have already scheduled increase to NUE, LYS and TSN.
DeleteMaybe they need to take a little pause this coming winter instead of announcing new destinations and consolidate their lousy operations, fix the issues, get proper maintenance done in time so to get ready for the new summer schedule starting in March / April 2024.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteTruth be told these days their operations are more or less ok, delays are manageable now and are not causing major disruptions.
DeleteBtw seems like FRA is back to its old self.I saw videos of luggage piling up at the airport. Seems like they didn't learn their lesson from last summer.
How many E195-90 they plans to add to fleet ?
ReplyDelete3
DeleteI think they will have 4 or 5 next summer. Depends what they can find on the market. I hope they add at least another E90 for some routes like Prague, Bucharest, Marseilles etc.
DeleteWhat about Bologna?
ReplyDeleteBologna was launched last year and operates year-round.
DeleteI expect Naples to stay also
ReplyDeleteWhy not Split and Ohrid?
ReplyDeleteWho needs Split in winter?
DeleteEven KLM cut it from daily to 1pw during the winter.
Connections, leisure, if KLM has this route, it would be more likely for Air Serbia to have it. And I do not like that tone "who needs"...
DeleteKLM has just decreased this route heavily that is a good sign how successful they are in SPU.
DeleteLeisure? SPU has in February 30.000 passengers mostly driven by domestic demand and PSO routes. So, no profit here.
I truly doubt JU should waste their money on the destination almost no foreign airline wants to fly during the winter.
I am sure airBaltic, British, Aegean, Aer Lingus, Austrian, Brussels, easyJet, Finnair, Iberia, ITA, LOT, Lufthansa, Ryanair, SAS, Vueling and Wizzair have excellent reasons not to fly to SPU during the winter.
So thanks, but no thanks.
Actually, if there are subsidies, why not?
DeleteNobody offered subsides to JU from SPU, so no chance.
Delete14:01 Thanks. Air Lingus, Brussels, Finnair, Iberia, ITA, Ryanair, SAS, Veuling do not fly to Belgrade at all. Actually, Air Serbia covers some of these routes, e.g. Italy, Spain, Sweden, Belgium. In addition this is not a matters of likes or dislikes, but profit.
DeleteKLM and JU are not the same and markets for both should not be treated as such.
DeleteThere is somewhat of O&D demand between both, plus JU could easily pick up a fair few transfers currently going with OU as JU has the better network.
Not to mention that JU has the ATR which it could easily use to SPU.
@anon 14:01 Yes, they do not fly to BEG at all, but I do not see how it is anyhow related to the fact that SPU is strictly seasonal airport. All these airlines including those that fly to BEG clearly confirm it.
DeleteOf course it is the matter of profit. That is a reason nobody of them including JU does not fly to SPU during the winter.
JU's ATR could be much better used on some other regional airport that would generate many more winter passengers like CLJ.
Major difference between JU and KL is that JU can operate the economical ATR on the route in winter. I think they could try it as 2x.
DeleteThen again after their failed adventure with night flights to ZAG and winter flights to PUY and RJK I don't see them coming back.
PUY and RJK don't have the same performance as SPU even in the best of months. Both are ATR routes on smaller frequencies (2-3 pw) while SPU is 6 pw on the A319 which could easily go daily, perhaps more once the network grows. PUY actually had winter flights for the first time in 31 years which went at 3 pw during the peak holiday season (Dec 23 - Jan 9).
DeleteSame could be done with SPU. A couple of flights a week during the peak winter period (perhaps early December to mid January). It would help in some small way to reduce seasonality in their network. I think it could work.
With a subsidies, why not?
DeleteSplit could work in the winter during peak holiday season.
DeleteLot’s of things depends and how Split as a city gets developed. Either gets Dubrovnik route as mainly summer destination or survives as year around working city with other industries like Barcelona.
On my JU flight from Split to Belgrade there was a lot of Australian transfers through Istanbul. So JU has a lots if potential on that route
Nope. Reasons listed above.
Delete+100
DeleteNope. Reasons are not valid.
DeleteStop it. You are busted!
DeleteI think that they have to start Yerevan and Tbilisi flights especially with the new e-jets this coud be profitable routes
ReplyDeleteTrue dat.
DeleteBaku.
DeleteThey should keep Monastir at least once a week with an embraer since Tunisair is no longer serving BEG from Tunis. JU should get the opportunity and fill that void.
ReplyDeleteTrue. But there is a lobby from Egypt against it. They should have an all year round flight to Tunisia. So far Monastir was a charter.
DeleteFlights from Tunisia were mainly operated in winter for Tunisian diaspora in Serbia. As someone who has flown this route in winter, I can confirm this. On top of that route was often operated via Vienna due to low passenger numbers.
DeleteI remember people having up to 3 weeks in Tunisia during the winter, operated by tourist agencies. Some of them wrere pensioners alone or with grandchildren.
DeleteI flew MRS on 5th, plane was full, just two NS guests. Alternating schedule to MRS at different hours would help a lot as morning departure aims only at pax arriving from region of Provence.
ReplyDeleteI hope they reconsider extending OHD into winter. Even 2x weekly. I flew with them twice so far to OHD and I love their product + the possibility of spending a day in Belgrade
ReplyDeleteOHD would be perfect 2x weekly.
ReplyDeleteNo flights to INI after 31 DEC 2023?
ReplyDelete