Nice!

Wow very nice new airlines come and come

Good news bravo BEG unexpected

Pls MAN will be the next by JU

Its also a nice touch that they will be using their old flight numbers BA888/BA889, same as 13 years ago.

👍😁

Did not see this one coming :)

Welcome back!

Spiffing news! Now we are just missing Air France and Iberia to come to Belgrade. We desperately need more flights to Paris.

BA is really, really bad news from Wizz. Who in his right mind wants to go to Luton.

Interesting how better Wizz is performing on London compared to Air Serbia.

Next news, Air Serbia joins Oneworld :D

They have more capacity. They use A321d.

*A321s

A321 W6-A319 JU. Nearly a 100 seat difference.

On November 3rd LHR-BEG there are only 2 seats left in business. Seems like sales are going well for the route.

Wouldn't be surprised.

Unfortunately BA is a far cry from what it used to be in 2010.

They still have an impressive and spectacular network so filling these flights should not be a problem for them. I expect this route to go to daily in summer.

I am curious if JU plans on being Wizzier than Wizz on BEG-LON and maybe launch STN or LTN.

Wow, the premium carriers are finally discovering BEG

Do JU and BA code share on each others BEG-LHR flights?

Would not rank BA as premium intra Europe. Their pitch is worse than easyjet and service is about the same.

No. But have a feeling they will very soon. Also expect to see QR code on these BA flights (they connect perfectly)

Makes sense.

Only thing left premium at BA in their European ops is the price.

Me neither!

JU flies daily. W6 does not. Think about that perhaps?

So? It still has more seats than JU.

Nice! Especially that it starts this winter.

Good timings for the flights.

JU will respond with Manchester launch.

Next steps : JU joins Oneworld and American Airlines launches US flights :)

Lot of work ahead for Air Serbia.

Can we expect daily or at least 6 weekly in summer? I know slots are a big issue at Heathrow.

They still have the upper hand with more flights. Now they need to try and attract transfer passengers to the region with the London flights.

The difference isn't huge. Yes, Wizz Air's A321s have 230 seats and Air Serbia's A319s have 144 but on a weekly level, Wizz has around 100 seats more than Air Serbia.

One would hope

I'm really surprised they decided to start these flights in the slowest part of the year. But I'm not complaining :)

This is excellent also for people wanting to connect to Mexico, Caribbean and South America!

Let me give you math lesson then. 9 weekly flights by JU, and 5 flights by W6 (maximum) gives you 144*9= 1296 seats per week, while W6 231*5=1155. How is that more seats than JU?

Air Serbia has daily flights in winter but in summer it's 9 weekly. Unfortunately JU has between 80 and 90 passenger per flight.

Agreed. BA has excellent connections to North America (USA and Canada). They pretty much fly everywhere in USA, so a good way to get passengers ex BEG good transfer option. Not to mention it will help JU improve more as it now has even more competition for its prime markets in USA (JFK and ORD).

Not true. I used this service many times and every single time flights are almost sold out. I might saw 5 empty seats last Nov on one of my flights

Great news!

Would be nice to see SAS too.

Wow. Now, that's a piece of news!

^ true

On British Airways flight you get nothing in economy on a flight lasting the duration like Belgrade. In Air Serbia at least you get a box with a sandwich, muffin and bottle of water free of charge.

Agree with comment above. Load factor on LHR flights is between 110-135 PAX both ways.

JU is regularly half full to London, hence the huge difference in number of passengers compared to Wizz

However, it is strategic that national carrier keeps operating daily flights to major European cities.
Government should also subsidize daily Brussels flights

didn’t know that serbian passport holders don’t need a transit visa if they already have a US visa, that’s huge!

True that. BA service has really deteriorated

They are making good money on their LHR flights. Don't worry.

@12:08 you are joking, right? JU flies there daily vs BA's 3 pw

One world hope

And ITA Airways

ITA has applied for slots so I believe we might see it back soon.

Connections are not the best to the US but fares are around $1.000 so they are more than competitive, even cheaper than LH gang.

Where you can see it ?

American will not come to BEG whether we like it whether we don’t. Demand is not there to launch Serbia flights.

@12:39 and BA will get you most likely in time and with a smile while on JU you might be late +/-120 min and rarely see a smile. Ju cabin staff don't think even necessary to greet passengers while they are boarding; they rather just stand like mummies.

Great news for BEG but bad news for JU.

I don't like BA in general and I am not too fond about them returning to BEG since it will dilute the passenger counts on JU flights.

https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/04/ita-airways-applies-for-belgrade-slots.html

Plus BA has a very good premium product.
A few days ago it was announced that Lufthansa will be improving its onboard product as well.

@Anon 12:45
Doubtful that they are making money on these loadfactors and BA launching flights will only make things worse.

Just my2cents

I think it too.

This is great news, but they will have to work hard to make BEG profitable as they already have big competition in JU and W6.
Welcome BA888, you were missed a lot!

Still pretty stupid that you need a visa just to transit this airport

That's where they'll need a strong commercial department to create a loyal base of customers. We all know who is their CCO so don't expect much, that guy has not done anything the past 3 or 4 years since he took up that role.

Years ago we had a poster on here who went by that nickname. We sure did have a lot of great people that used to post on here but then they disappeared over time.

BA888 nickname

Yes, I know we had a person writing under BA888 nickname, but in this case I was thinking on BA flight number to Belgrade.

They showed already that they know how to fight with competitors.

This is the 34th new route launched out of Belgrade this year.

Air Serbia proves you the opposite.

@13:54

😂😂😂

What a dumb comment.

I don't. MAN is too far to fit into waves since block time is quite long. Unlike LIS, OSL, MAD, AGP... there is virtually no O&D demand to help fill out the seats. MAN will remain on the wish list for a while.

Yes but BA has very good times if you are heading from London. They are also much stronger on this market as I am sure many who flew on JU are collecting Avios.

premium carriers are finally discovering BEG

LOL, so QR, LH and LX are not premium?

This is good because it improves BEG's connectivity and overall competitiveness. BA will force JU to improvise and adapt to new market realities.
At the end of the day Serbia needs as many new connections as possible.

With a 07.55 departure from LHR, BA will offer the following connections to BEG:

05.25 LOS
05.30 JNB
05.50 CPT
05.50 NBO
06.15 ACC
06.15 EWR
06.15 IAD
06.15 BGI
06.20 JFK AA
06.25 DFW AA
06.30 YYZ
06.30 JFK
06.35 PHL
06.40 JFK
06.50 SEA
06.50 BOS
06.50 MIA
06.55 RDU AA
06.55 IAH
07.00 EZE
When you take all of these and add local demand BA should have no problems filling an A320. I expect this route to go daily from the summer.

Good luck BA and welcome.

But in that case Serbian passport holders would need to obtaim UK transit visa.

Air Serbia applied couple of years ago for additional LHR slots but was rejected.

Do we know who will be the handling company?

I wish they didn’t have a 7:55am departure from LHR as it means I just miss that flight coming from DUB. Hopefully frequencies increase soon!

BA has quite attractive prices this winter for return journey LHR-BEG-LHR.
They start from 118 GBP.

True dat.

Menzies or Pink

BA is greeting passengers with a smile and they are OTP? What are you talking about ? They are the worse and most of their Indian FAs hardly speak English. Plus they are extremely delayed.

Why is this bad for JU ? This is actually a great news for JU. I have flown BA and I would never again if there are other options . Their crew is lazy, not well groomed and service does not exist.

You could say the same for LH or LX yet both airlines are thriving in Belgrade. BA has improved their onboard product and are a decent airline right now

You don't need transit visa, but there are certain restrictions..You cannot leave transfer area, and also you have to fly out within the same calendar day..Say, if you arrive from Bangkok at 21:30, and your connecting flight to Madrid is at 00:30 ( so after 3 hours), you won't be able to embark the plane in Bangkok

They need , if they want to leave transit area. Also you have to fly out in the same calendar day

Welcome back! Good news for BEG.

It’s time to JU to join an alliance.

So, stupid it is.

Well done BEG. Now try securing more London airports because the prices are not the lowest. Gatwick is a must. Will be very interesting what will happen with PRN as well...

I have been writing letters to EasyJet and previously to Air Lingus begging them to start flying to BEG from Gatwick. Alas, nothing happening. BA should have opted to fly from Gatwick rather than compete with Air Serbia at LHR. Luton, Stansted and Heathrow do not cater well for Londoners living south of the Thames in terms of public transport.

@15:59

More of them are coming, i.e. the European ones, we need more of them :)

I remember the day when they left BEG 13 years ago and I was sad knowing Belgrade is losing big air company.

So glad they are returning to Serbian capital!

Is it reasonable to expect denial of additional BEG slots to BA until JU gets approval for additional slots at LHR?

Really curious how LH will react given their quite dominant presence in the entire Balkans...

Your resonse has nothing to do with initial desinformation about "premium carriers finally discovering BEG". If BA is assumed as premium, so are LH, LX, QR and some others alreadty serving BEG for quite some time. Strictly from short/medium soft product viewpoint, Air Serbia also counts as a premium when compared to BA offer.

Asking for more "premium" European ones at BEG is laughable, for example Iberia/TAP. Both had plenty of opportunity to launch BEG but now that Air Serbia has awesome coverage of the peninsula with at least 1-2 more destinations expected for the next season, asking for IB/TP could only be described by greed.

Competition is good, but I sincerely hope that they’ll match prices of Wizz-Air where you can fly one way for £13 - cheaper than bus service from Cambridge to Luton airport. Other wise just another expensive Airlines.

Check the facts. Air Serbia didn't get slot allocation but then failed to pay for them. Slot allocation to Air Serbia was REJECTED back then,

Not just JU but W6 has also rushed in and filled the void to the Iberian peninsula. They are doign extremely well in BCN and I am sure in LIS too.
So they took their time and lost a decent opportunity.

Now you have Vueling code-sharing with A3 via ATH for €600 when they could have dominated the market with nonstop flights.

That is why BA will be interesting for those who don't need a visa for the UK especially for those transfering from Canada and the US.

Well, Air Serbia is not cheap on this route and they manage to do quite ok on BEG-LHR.

There are obviously enough people who can afford to pay a premium in order to arrive to a central London airport.

Don't know or care about other airports but in BEG they added a lot of extra seats for this winter season. They will run 4 daily flights, 2 from FRA and 2 from MUC.

Vinci gonna be mad

Why?

I agree BA is worse then a low cost Airline but high fares. It is bad news for Air Serbia.

one way for £13 means big loss for the airline. Only a tiny number of seats can be sold at that price while majority of seats have to be much more expensive if airline is to turn profit on an almost 3 hour route.

No, they don’t, if they are flying to USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. They can leave the airport and stay in UK up to 48 hours.

JU is good when it has competition.
Without competition they are just lazy and useless.

MAN is close to the top (if not #1) of unserved Euro destinations from BEG. There is a lot of demand to fill those seats.

Not true at all. Recent Air Serbia expansion to Italy and Spain proves they were not just lazy and useless without competition. Most of the new routes they launched were proactive and ahead (or without) any competition.

I am curious if this will make possible to book AA miles to fly to BEG. So far, BEG-LON is not bookable with British avios. Probably it is too early.

Wasn't it the case also last winter?

Yes but Belgrade is already well connected, there aren't that many destinations (major ones) left unserved. MAN might be on top of the list but I suppose demand is rather modest. I mean even London barely has double daily flights, slightly more than Berlin or Prague and less than Athens, Barcelona, Bucharest or Istanbul.

MUC wasn't double daily last winter, I think it was 11 weekly with the CRJ. This year it will be double daily and I think it will be a mix of E95, A319 and A320. This summer Munich was mostly operated with the A320.

Well since this route will be operated by BA then it should not be any different than their flights from London to anywhere else in their network.

Funny thing is that if you go on ba.com and try to book some US flights they will sell you a combination of AA and JU.

How can they sell JU ticket if they do not have code share or interline with JU?

11:34
The Premium guy strikes again.

I guess they kept the interline, maybe it's similar with KLM which terminated the code-share for BEG-AMS but kept it for transfer flights. They no longer sell JU flights for point to point transfers. I looked at ORD-LHR-BEG and it was a JU-AA combination.

I also found the information that departure from LHR must be on the same calendar day so I honestly doubt that it is allowed to leave UK airport with any other visa than UK visa.

Why bother re. how many options available.

Interesting that this winter BEG-LON will have the most flights ever:

JU 7
W6 5
BA 3

That's a total of 15 flights, first time that we have more than double daily in winter and there will be more than this summer (14 weekly). I guess BA is after transfers and some local traffic.

Interestingly that the only connection to London from TSR is Wizz Air with daily flights, down from 9 in summer. OSI, TZL... will not have any London flights in winter. Belgrade will be the only city with London flights in an area from Zagreb to Budapest to Timisoara to Sofia and then to Sarajevo. Quite a catchment area.

Meh..

Knowing that Air Serbia flights are half full and they also have Wizz as competition, BA still decides to enter the game.... Do they have some extra info?? Hmmm... Maybe some insider hints regarding visa rules from British side in the near future?!?!? Interesting development anyhow

BA flies from Heathrow to Budapest with A319/A320s 4 times a day, while Wizz flies from Luton to BUD 3 times a day with A321neos, but they seem to be able to coexist. I don't believe it will be a problem, especially considering that BA with its higher fares will be more targeting the transfer market while Wizz will be more point to point with its cheaper tickets.

???

* than

Of course it’s premium, just look at that vast network, that is already telling you something. And also, who cares if JU launched some destination first, it’s about competition between carriers, it’s on them to fight for the market!

Hopefully we get to welcome TAP, Iberia, Air France, SAS, ITA Airways in the near future!!!

Why should Air Serbia pay for slots they didn't get?

no thanks

yes, thanks!

@Anon 17:45

Hate to be a party pooper, but commercial entities usually don't act based on 'letters' they get from random people :(

Transiting without a visa
You may be eligible to transit without a visa if:

you arrive and depart by air
have a confirmed onward flight that leaves on the day you arrive or before midnight on the day after you arrive
have the right documents for your destination (eg a visa for that country)
One of the following must also apply:

you’re travelling to (or on part of a reasonable journey to) Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the USA and have a valid visa for that country
you’re travelling from (or on part of a reasonable journey from) Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the USA and have a valid visa for that country
you’re travelling from (or on part of a reasonable journey from) Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the USA and it’s less than 6 months since you last entered that country with a valid entry visa
you have a permanent residence permit issued by Australia or New Zealand
you have a common format residence permit issued by an European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland
you have a permanent residence permit issued by Canada on or after 28 June 2002
you have a uniform format category D visa for entry to a country in the EEA or Switzerland
you have an Irish biometric visa (marked ‘BC’ or ‘BC BIVS’ in the ‘Remarks’ section) and an onward flight ticket to the Republic of Ireland
you’re travelling from the Republic of Ireland and it’s less than 3 months since you were last given permission, on the basis of holding a valid Irish biometric visa, to land or be in Ireland
you have a valid USA permanent residence card issued by the USA on or after 21 April 1998
you have a valid USA I-551 Temporary Immigrant visa issued by the USA (a wet-ink stamp version will not be accepted)
you have an expired USA I-551 Permanent Residence card issued by the USA on or after 21 April 1998, with a valid I-797 letter authorising extension
you have a valid standalone US Immigration Form 155A/155B issued by the USA (attached to a sealed brown envelope)
You will not be able to transit without a visa if a Border Force officer decides you do not qualify under the immigration rules. You can apply for a transit visa before you travel if you’re unsure whether you qualify for transiting without a visa.

Dakle ko god ima usa ili Canadian visa or Au or NZ, can overnight at lhr both ways from belgrade.
I have usa passport but I almost always I spend a night in London as it's easier to travel

Of course it’s premium, just look at that vast network

Wizz and Ryan are then also premium just based on their vast network, LOL! You have absolutely no clue what are you taking about.

They only reason you want those airlines in BEG your perception they would harm Air Serbia as you always repeat the same dumb comment: This is bad for JU!

Vinci sold them slots, why would be mad?

Sold ticket is not only, nor the most significant, income for many companies.

Air Serbia E195 is the perfect aircraft to launch MAN 2-3 times weekly.

They need to sell 50 eur of extras per each of those £13 passengers. Good luck with that.

Can you telll me the source of your info. I'm curious since a lot of my BEG coworkers have no idea.

W6 will have 7pw to LTN during December and the first week of January.

Heathrow is the worst airport. I avoid it like the plague

Me too. Flew YYZ-BEG about 5 years ago, never again.

Why so strict policy toward Serbian transfer passengers?

Really? You wish..

Meh

Hainan arrival is a big thing. BA on the other hand is from a declining market. So..

So .... what?

Not just Serbia, also non EU Balkans too.

You used to be so much fun at parties.

Thing is that the standard of living is nowhere close to where it was 13 years ago. This means people can afford to fly more often than before. Add to that the fact there is growing demand from Serbia to the US you have BA which thinks it can make money in BEG now.

Downpayment, they asked for premium slots which are expensive. They realized then they could not afford it.

They do not, however BA is regularly selling connections with JU from LHR - although with JU flight number, meaning they already have an interline. We will see what future brings, I somehow believe QR has something to do with this decision for BA to start flying to BEG again :)

False, I never said that. Nobody is attacking JU. I just want to see more variety at BEG in terms of carriers, that’s all.

Like, can you just chill out with that passive aggressive attitude. I have my own opinion and I absolutely don’t care if you like it or not. Bye :)

How can overnight if we see

"have a confirmed onward flight that leaves on the day you arrive or before midnight on the day after you arrive"

Honestly, the way BEG is run there is no surprise you and your coworkers have no clue about what's going on. We are all seeing the product of your work on a daily basis with messy delays, piles of undelivered luggage and now JU hiring people because you are offering miserable salaries.

I managed to get a one way business for 207£ which is great

This literally means overnight. If u arrive on Monday, you onward flight needs to depart on Monday or before midnight on Tuesday

AirSerbia JU381, is almost ALWAYS full. AirSerbia, prioritises this route not only to avoid getting fined by Heathrow for not utilising landing/take-off slots, but also because it's a cash cow. A few years ago they even brought in a third flight because demand was so high - albeit, that flight WAS almost empty. This is first hand knowledge from someone who's been flying LHR-BEG since the war. In the last 30 years I have only witnessed a handful of flights where there have been a few empty spaces, but never more than a few spaces.

It's simple logic, do you think BA would even have considered BEG again had demand not been there? Do you think the British have some historic or moral obligation towards Serbia, no.

It's pure economics.

So again: Why so strict policy toward Serbian transfer passengers?

Not true

BA arrival is "not good, not terrible" kind of news.
Not bringing some big changes. Just another airline with modest no of flights.

I would not say it is "just another airline".

BA is one of the biggest airlines in the world and can't be treated the same like many smaller carriers.

It brings a lot of connections and it is to expect the frequency will be increased next summer that will cause connectivity to be further improved. Yes, there are already many airlines in BEG that provide good connectivity (LH, QR, FZ, TK, KL, LX, OS, LO...) where visas are not needed but for people who have already UK or US, CAN, NZL, AUS visa this is nice addition.

Ok, we were talking about same thing with different wording.

I flew there quite often in the past and i really didn't like it.

Also, I do not like that on UK airports you don't know what is the gate something like 45 min before departure. Once you find it out you need to run through airport in order to arrive on the gate on time.

The same thing is done in Malta.

Split has 10 daily flights to London during summer season (to all 5 airports) 🤷‍♂️

BEG and JU growth is very aggressive. Individuals that can't cope with it are behind some of the most offensive comments, like those posted during inaugural BEG-ORD flight. They need help.

You don't know that SkyPartner and other providers do exist at BEG, and now Menzies as well?

Btw, BA is re-introducing the complimentary snack and drink on their short-haul flights.

https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2023/08/01/british-airways-introduces-new-snacks-in-shorthaul-economy-to-accompany-the-return-of-free-tea-and-coffee/?utm_source=BoardingArea&utm_medium=facebook

London has 6 airports, not 5.

Haha, you learnt that from your big idol Pu..er?

Pathetic.

London has many more flights from all 6 airports to Palma.

I would not fly to London via Wizz or Air Serbia let alone a pricey airline like British.
Heathrow is the absolute worst airport in Europe and their staff are very rude and condescending.
Having flown all over the world and studied in England ( thirty five years ago) , I say this with some experience.

@1655
Careful with your racist comments!

I was hoping...

Things are changing.

Are summer flights planned? I don't seem them in the GDS.

They are. The flights just went on sale 4 days ago for winter and you expect them to have already finalized their summer 2024 network? They need to get slots first.

But all of BA's other flights are in the GDS for summer 2024. I hope they go daily and BA should not have slot issues in LHR. Is BEG even slot restricted?

LHR is slot restricted not Belgrade but the flight to Belgrade departs and lands from, get this LHR. None of the new routes that BA has scheduled last week are on sale for summer and they won't be for some time.

Last year one flight business class was only 100 euros more.

Tresnja you are giving wrong information. Its the next day before midnight :)

Good news for ex Belgrade transfer passengers, but seriously the UK Government should reconsider their visa policy towards ex YU, Serbians, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Bosnians and Albanians are the only nationalities that require UK visa (even a direct transit visa, unless exceptions mentioned above apply).

I would boycott BA until the Tories reconsider their racist visa policy towards the Balkans, they're not second tier Europeans. After Brexit - mind your allies.

I am trying to book a flight in May but there are no flights available between April and September, then available in October 2024. Does anyone know if they will actually fly next summer to BG or not?