Manchester and Dublin are now Belgrade Airport’s busiest unserved destinations in Europe, after the airport added more than forty cities to its network since the start of the pandemic. Most of the new routes added from the Serbian capital were previously within its top fifteen busiest unserved on the continent. Lisbon, which was number one up until this April, is now served by both Air Serbia and Wizz Air, while Cologne, which was second-placed, was launched this May. As a result, Manchester now takes top spot, with an average of around 10.000 point-to-point passengers per year travelling on a single ticket. Dublin follows, with approximately 8.500 point-to-point travellers. These figures exclude potential transfer traffic and market simulation.
Neither Manchester nor Dublin have previously been served on a scheduled basis from Belgrade. In 2019, Air Serbia submitted a slot request for a three weekly service to Manchester, but never followed through with either announcing or launching the flights. Visa requirements for Serbian passport holders remains an issue for both destinations, especially the United Kingdom, which requires a long and costly visa application process for general visitors. However, Air Serbia has previously said its new route additions will likely involve cities with longer flying time. The Serbian carrier currently codeshares on KLM’s three daily flights between Amsterdam and Manchester, while it has its designator code and flight numbers on Air France’s service between Paris and Dublin six times per week.
Following the recent addition of Porto to Air Serbia’s network, which was also among Belgrade’s busiest unserved destinations, the remaining cities on the list are predominately secondary points on the continent, including Bilbao, Bergen in Norway and Birmingham. Within the Caucasus region, Yerevan has the highest indirect demand, while in Turkey, Antalya is the most popular, although the city is served through numerous charter flights throughout the summer. Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, recently said, “Air Serbia is continuously working to enhance its route network and forge strategic partnerships that benefit our passengers and expand our global reach. In terms of route expansion, we have several exciting plans in the pipeline”.
Both Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and Air Serbia will take part in the upcoming Routes World conference in Istanbul, where aviation stakeholders discuss and negotiate new routes. EX-YU Aviation News will also be present at the event and will bring you the latest developments.
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I did not expect Manchester to be at the top.
ReplyDeleteShows that despite visas there is still demand.
DeleteCan we expect any progress on the visa situation?
DeleteNope. UK remains the only European state that requires visas for Serbian citizens and Ireland is, though EU state, unfortunately tied to the UK in customs union over N. Ireland.I don't see visas are going anywhere in the near future, until Serbia becomes EU or EEA member.
DeleteLike Alicante, nobody understand those lack of service in the network.
DeleteA lack of aircraft will continue to be their main issue
ReplyDeleteI do not think so
DeleteAircraft AND crews.
DeleteThere is always Aer Lingus :D
DeleteObviously they will have enough planes - wet or dry leased.
DeleteQuite obvious, especially based on last summer season.
DeleteBig problem was AirConnect last summer.
DeleteThey are now out of the game.
I have a good friend that lives in Manchester and they always fly with KLM or combination Air Serbia/KLM.
ReplyDeleteWill it be more convenient for them to use British Airways now that they are starting flights to Belgrade?
DeleteNo as the BA flight leaves LHR at 7am making connections impossible in the case of DUB, or, in the case of MAN, one would have to get up very early, if public transport to LHR from MAN exists that early.
DeleteI think the LHR flights are timed for TATL connections.
^ thanks. Makes sense
DeleteMaybe there is a really early connecting flight from MAN to LHR.
DeleteI don't know why you're saying ''maybe'' as if it's not easy verifiable in 5 seconds. By the way, no, there isn't one that really early.
DeleteOk, thanks bro.
DeleteI don't know why easyJet keeps quiet.
ReplyDeleteCaucuses would be a good region for Air Serbia to get transfers.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they will launch it eventually.
DeleteI would love to see flights to Tbilisi
DeleteI wonder which destination they will choose in Caucuses. Out of the three - Yerevan, Baku or Tbilisi I'm guessing they will only go for one.
DeleteIt's Caucasus
DeleteYerevan makes most sense. Most P2P demand and a lot of new demand created by Russian migrants.
DeleteHow long would the Belgrade- Yerevan flight be approximately?
DeleteIt is a 3 hour flight.
DeleteThe fact that the likes of Bilbao and Bergen are now among the top unserved routes shows that Belgrade offers flights to a lot of cities in Europe.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteMost days of the week you can not even get flights with Air Serbia for example to Madrid or Malaga.
DeleteThey fly to everywhere but with very low frequencies while JUs competitors offer excellent connections despite stopovers.
Still a long way to go..
5 years ago they didn't have a single route to Spain. Now they fly to 5 cities. They are increasing frequencies. Madrid is being increased this winter. Barcelona is at 9 weekly
Delete@09,34
DeletePerhaps you could change the way that you look at their route network.
Out of the routes with less than daily frequencies, how many are seasonal, have changed from charter to seasonal scheduled routes or have launched in the last 12-15 months?
Another thing to look at is how many of the routes launched in the last 2 years have seen frequency increases in the mean time.
Another angle to look at is whether JU is focused solely on route count or frequencies as well. While JU have significantly increased it's route count the past 15, 16 months, it also has increased frequencies and capacity to most of their routes in their network.
JU is after all a relatively small carrier based in one of Europe's poorest countries. Their network currently is more than ok and has grown quite ambitiously since 2019. Comparing it to competitors with 3, 4, 10 times the aircraft count in wealthier economies isn't giving a fair representation of the situation at BEG.
@JATBEGMEL - exactly my thoughts. I am always comparing JU to LOT. LOT, with much bigger fleet size, bigger intercontinental network and from bigger and richer country, has 10 million pax. JU will have 4 million this year. Huge success!
Delete@12,30
DeleteComparing to LOT, JU will most likely have around half the fleet count of LOT next summer (~38-40 ac vs 75 currently at LOT) and around 80% in destination count (95 vs 120 currently at LOT). Quite impressive.
They have currently 24 planes so no way they will almost double their fleet by next year. LOT also plans to add 35 aircrafts in next 4 years.
Delete@14,00
Delete22 aircraft are in the fleet as dry leases:
7 x AT7
10 x A319
3 x A320
2 x A330
+
1 x AT7 (DAT - SE-MDC)
1 x E175 (Marathon - SX-ASK)
1 x E190 (Marathon - SX-PTM)
1 x E195 (Marathon - SX-RMA)
1 x A319 (Dan Air - YR-URS)
1 x A320 (Dan Air - YR-JUL)
1 x A320 (Get jet - LY-WIL)
2 x B738 (Klasjet - LY-BUS, LY-PMI)
= 31 aircraft (+/- 2 aircraft this winter)
SX-ASK will be replaced with OY-GDC which recently arrived in ATH with the full JU livery. 1 more E195 is expected to join this winter.
So far confirmed is another 3 x AT7 and 1 x A330 which brings the count to 35. This is without factoring in additional A320 or ERJ's.
It really is a shame EasyJet just dont seem to show much interest in Belgrade anymore despite the Geneva service whenever I am on it being full, so Manchester would be a good one for them.
ReplyDeleteI also expect with Red Star having just played in Manchester those numbers being even higher as they took quite a following there
Hope once day Dublin. Visa requirements is a problem, but Irish visit visa you can get easy - never been problem when someone had to visit me. Usually I am flying DUB-CDG-BEG / DUB-AMS-BEG / DUB-MUC/ZRH/FRA - BEG
ReplyDeleteWould be nice. Visited Dublin for the first time this year. Visa was issued without a problem. Flew via FRA.
Deletevisa for Serbian citizens should be free, publish on INIS web page, but Irish consulate in Belgrade charge around 30-40 eur and easy to get. Friends and family members visit us few times per year
DeleteI said recently on another topic. The only reason Ireland requires visas and is not like the rest of EU countries is because it is a requirement for them as per their agreement with the UK. You can thank the Brits for needing a visa to Ireland.
DeleteThe only reason Ireland requires visas for Serbia has nothing to do with UK, but the fact they are EU, but not a part of SHENGEN. Serbia is on a SHENGEN whitelist.
DeleteDublin please!
ReplyDeleteIn Spain i thought Tenerife and Alicante were on top ,for me is a great surprise City Bilbao because is not a typical City sun and beach
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that it gets feed to/from Southern France or is it too far away?
DeleteBilbao is not a big surprise. After all, it is located in Spain's officially most richest autonomous region - The Basque Country. GDP is even higher than Madrid and Barcelona. It would be rather a more business than a leisure destination but can be both. Bilbao used to be an ugly, industrial city in the past, but the Spaniards have done huge improvements and now looks very decent. And you are totally wrong about the beaches. You take the metro 15min out of centre and it will take you to some great beaches. Thing is that they are destined for surfists, but not all of them and the water and sand are very clean yet a bit cold, because it is an ocean after all.
DeleteNeighbouring elegant and posh San Sebastián (Donosti) is prettier, but smaller and FULL of French tourists. The other advantage of Bilbao is its proximity to Santander, which is another very elegant city with spectacular beaches. The North of Spain is seriously underrated as all the focus goes to the ultra turistic Mediterranean coast when you begin with Costa Brava and reach all the way to Cádiz near the Portuguese border and of course the capital Madrid. But, JU has a huge potential if they consider Bilbao. Last year it welcomed more than 4 million passengers bearing in mind that the population of the Basque Country is slightly above 2 million:
https://www.aena.es/es/estadisticas/informes-mensuales.html
Interesting. Who knows. Maybe it gets added from BEG one day.
DeleteThanks for the insight for Bilbao and Basque region.
DeleteSo far Air Serbia has been quite good at picking new destinations.
ReplyDeleteTrue
DeleteAer Lingus will be great on DUB route it brings more diversity at BEG but when it comes to MAN, Easyjet hasn’t been expanding from BEG so I don’t see them launching Manchester lol, that would be more a Ryanair/Air Serbia business (unless Jet2 wakes up)
ReplyDeleteAer Lingus is even more passive in the region so I doubt they would start flights. Their route managers probably wouldn't be able to locate Belgrade on a map (or had ever heard of it)
ReplyDeleteThose are top unserved destinations in Europe. What are top unserved destinations in the world for Belgrade?
ReplyDeleteShanghai, Toronto, Miami
DeleteLos Angeles is not in the top 3?
DeleteIn 2019, top 5 underserved long haul routes were (in order) Shanghai, Beijing, Toronto, Chicago and Hong Kong.
DeleteFollowing that same list, it currently should be: Shanghai, Toronto, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Guangzhou.
Yous sure of the second list?
DeleteEx Yu Admin, is the list for 2022 available? A lot has changed since pandemic. For example, Miami was not one of top 5 destinations in 2019.
DeleteThey fly to Split and Dubrovnik, the same thing was said for Air Baltic for not flying in this region and now from May 2024 they’ll be flying to Skopje, Ljubljana and Pristina (added to existing BEG operations). Let’s be optimistic :)
ReplyDeleteMAN 50:50% chance, DUB low chances.
ReplyDeleteMy feeling as well.
DeleteYerevan & Tbilisi, plus maybe Manchester.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of that can be done in terms of transfers in the Caucasus and some P2P demand could also be created.
Don't forget secondary cities in Romania.
DeleteIs there any demand for Iceland? No visas required.
ReplyDeleteNot really. Too expensive
DeleteAnd too far away. One plane would be deployed the entire day on a single rotation. Plus they would need to have a crew layover in very expensive Reykjavik.
DeleteThe crew can do a turn around flight.
DeleteTo KEF? I don't think so. Flight must be at least 4 hours in each direction.
Delete@11,07
DeleteThey could if JU was not bothered with connecting routes to their waves as it's closing in on the limit of crew legalities. Long rotation time (~ 11 hours) means that JU is without an aircraft for half the day, which is why AUH was dropped.
@11,09
BUD-KEF is scheduled at 4:45 so BEG-KEF would be around 5:20 (5:00 on the return leg), roughly the same distance to DXB.
Good luck
ReplyDeleteNo need for other new destinations at the moment
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteEvery airport should strive to have a many routes as possible.
DeleteI would like to see them increase frequencies on existing destinations rather than launch new long thin routes.
ReplyDeleteJust my2cents
Povećavaju oni i frekfencije, tamo gde postoji potražnja.
ReplyDeleteBelgrade native, with 20+ yrs. US experience. Went through BEG for the first time since construction. Maze of corridors first impression. Top floors arriving psgs, clean-cut nice both sides C and A, I see uniform product there. Dept. gates mix of different materials do not see uniform product yet, slight bus station feel to it. They really, really need (main area after passports specially) shops/d frees/ cafes to fill empty voids and demand. Baggage area, construction still, I hope they will have uniform product with new materials there. Better than the last one of course, but still do not see it as a 'clean cut flow' airport yet. Arrival waiting area is nice, new clean cut. Ticket entry area looks nice, new. Connection to old T1 and T1 needs more work. Outside looks nice they just need to wrap it with some landscaping stuff. I know its work in progress still , just my 2 cents.
ReplyDelete@just.my.two.cents
DeleteSo you've been living in USA for 20+ years, which city? BEG when renos completed will be nothing special but will be hopefully functional and efficient. That's what most pax care about, in and out quickly as possible.
@09,31
ReplyDeleteAer Lingus could be an interesting option for US travel. However, I think JU has alot more to offer considering that this part of Europe could do with more options to Ireland and JU has a decent network. I see JU being the better option for BEG-DUB.
MAN on the other hand would be a great route for FR but they're avoiding BEG. Easyjet doesn't seem all too interested in this part of the region and have pulled back almost everything from BEG. Which leaves JU.
@09,52
Alot of JU's routes got frequency increases this summer, some got frequency and capacity increases as well, another 40 routes are again getting frequency increases this winter. Quite a few routes have exceeded pre Covid (2019) frequencies. I'm not sure where you're getting the opinion that JU is more focused on launching routes over increasing frequencies to existing routes.
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/09/air-serbia-schedules-europe-wide.html
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/03/summer-2023-air-serbia.html
BUD-DUB is 30€ OW with FR. Thats big competiton
ReplyDeleteGood observation. Until the visa issue is solved the UK and Ireland are lost causes for more Belgrade growth. Once the visa is off i woukd think Edinbugh would be on the cards too. However the visa has now been on for 30years which is a total disgrace. The British government is in the grip of xenophobic right-wingers so i see little hope until the Tory's vanish. Even then the Labour party are desperate to look 'tough'. But we can hope ans lobby! The Serbian government is also very passive in regards this issue because they dont actually care or have much of an interest in this kind of thing. If they had any good advisers tney would make a big deal of publicly stating their desire to have that removed by the UK at every opportunity they can. But they dont.
DeleteFrom SOF to DUB the flights cost 19,99€ and will be increased to 5 weekly in winter because of the ski flights and up to 2 daily around New year's Eve.
DeletePeople, the tickets are not all sold for 19.99 or 50€, I guess you know that. Also, those are tickets without any luggage so top those prices for 20-40€. Also, would you mind to check and share the most expensive prices? If you really want to compare than compare some average cost of the flight over seat/ passenger and you'll see that those flights are no si cheap.
DeleteBUD-DUB can be found for cheap on occasion but if you look at markets JU could target such as Greece, Turkey, MENA, they are actually quite expensive from DUB. Greek islands in particular have insane fares, as does the Croatian coast. Sounds like a potential market for JU to me
DeleteIronically, advisors of Serbian Government are Tony Blair and Lord Mandelson. Shouldn’t be that difficult to lobby. In any case, I think there is quite a potential to open route BGD-MAN or BGD-LIV
DeleteRyanair cost to carry a passenger from BUD or SOF to DUB is more than 20 or 30€. If every ticket was sold exacty at those prices without any aux revenue, Ryanair would be losing money and eventually shut down those routes. Only a small number of tickets are available at those prices, many sell for much more.
DeleteEI have been extremely conservative in short haul markets in the last number of years. Them serving BEG is all but not going to happen.
ReplyDeleteJU would add more value from DUB as prices to Greece in particular, as well as the Ex-Yu region are very high. JU would keep LH/AFKL/TK honest price wise.
Very interesting. I'm surprised about Yerevan. Who is traveling between Serbia and Armenia?
ReplyDeleteNever would have guessed that Yerevan would have been top performing from the caucus country markets. Would have thought Tbilisi or even Baku.
DeleteNot surprising at all.
DeleteArmenia has a big massive diaspora everywhere in the world.
Armenian communities you find even in such exotic places as Isfahan in Iran, Chennai in Southern India and even in Yangon in Myanmar.
These communities are not new at akll but already exist since centuries.
Seeing Manchester on the list, I realized that since YU broke up, I don't think there have ever been flights to any other city in the UK from Belgrade other than London
ReplyDeleteI think you are right. I don't remember there being any other city in the UK served from BEG since the early 90s.
DeleteThere hasn't been. Only LHR and Jat one year (I think 2011 or 2012) flew both Heathrow and Gatwick. They also operated Tivat-Gatwick a few years seasonally.
DeleteVisas are secondary issue. How many flights from Heathrow and Luton are there whole year?
ReplyDeleteI don't understand all the chit chat about England. It's not a tourist destination for people in the Balkans or any country in southern Europe.
ReplyDeleteAnd as far as traveling Americans, it's one and done.
Open the Caucuses!
The UK is however 8times the size of Serbia and has a huge amount of people who love spending money in the Balkans...
DeleteAlicante, 5th Spanish busiest airport, not served
DeleteOs because Air Serbia flight to Valencia,without this destination Alicante will are on top
DeleteIt's Caucasus not Caucuses.
DeleteMiroslav, please do your checks because this is not the first time you write comments that do not make sense. Don't you know that Brits love visiting the Balkans and Eastern Europe in general? This is a huge country with many airports and a large market. Also, in case you forgot in 2006, there were ski charters to INI from London:
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/06/wizz-air-plans-new-london-gatwick-nis.html
"Following the airport’s reopening in 2004, Thomsonfly (today's TUI Airways) launched seasonal winter operations from London to Niš in 2006 for holidaymakers heading to nearby ski resorts. The route lasted for two years."
And you are wrong also about the Balkans and southern Europe because precisely there no visas required for Greeks, Bulgarians, Romanians. Also lots of those nationals live in the UK especially a sizeable Romanian community. Brits visit Greek islands, go skiing in Bulgaria or its Black Sea coast, they also love Transylvania and Brasov Airport is set to be the new star.
While the visa issue is settled for Serbs, Bosnians for the UK, Serbia for instance can try and restore them ski programmes and charters to INI as a start and BEG needs to make the first step at least with Ryanair to Stansted or easyJet to Gatwick.
I am not saying there is no potential in the Caucasus, but those are smaller and poorer markets, which already have a tougher competition.
JU and Serbia in general must focus on the UK and Ireland, the same way they unlocked the potential with Spain and it went so well for them. Having JU flying to LHR is good, but not enough as there are other important destinations in UK such as Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bristol, etc. And of course Dublin....
Just because there were winter charter flights from England to Nis for two years does not make Nis a travel hub for the English. English tourism to Serbia is almost non - existant. English travel is to the Croatian coast and Greece and that's about it. And those countries already have plenty of routes.
DeleteAnd I wasn't talking about expats who live in England from the Balkans. That's a given. Expats from the Balkans live everywhere in the west. I don't think adding one route from Belgrade to Manchester will make much of a difference.
Seriously consider how many people from the Balkans will be traveling to Manchester on vacation? Or any other British city other than London?
It's ridiculous for you to compare travel to Spain with travel to England. Spain is a vacation destination. England is marketing's hype, similar to New York City. Not worth the trip.
What a load of rubbish
Delete"Them serving BEG is all but not going to happen".
ReplyDeletenever seen this type of wording before. A little awkward.
Wizz to LPL could be an option
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know why Air France A319 F-GRHK has been on the ground in BEG for 10 days? AOG or maintenance?
ReplyDeleteMaintenance
DeleteCan not complain about JUs network at all.
ReplyDeleteBut frequencies are not so okay.
For example Malaga : i live right between Belgrade and Zagreb but Ryanair in Zagreb going four weekly this winter of coures is much more appealing than JUs twice weekly.
Less frequency = less competitive.
I'm sure you do. LOL.
DeleteSlavonski Brod?
DeleteYep! Flew once with JU and twice with Ryanair to Malaga because we have property there.
DeleteI am German, my wife is Croatian.
She has no problem at all with flying Air Serbia and we would use it more if frequencies would be better.
Cool. You fly from where you get the better deal. Nice.
DeleteDo I understand correctly that since AirSerbia has no active codeshare agreements with Russian airlines, Russian cities won’t show up on this list? I wonder how possible are Novosibirsk or Yekaterinburg, considering that AirSerbia already has 4 destinations in Russia.
ReplyDeleteAS should expand in Russia.
DeleteCant wait Oct 26 to see what AirSerbia has prepared for us! I expect many great news!
ReplyDeletewho wants to visit manchester anyway?!
ReplyDeleteThe list of cities in the balkans under the catagory 'who wants to visit' is quite a long one. Dont be so silly..
DeleteYes, the English are standing in long ques to visit Sarajevo and Skopje.
DeleteIn a way they are..and bringing more cash to spend per head than one would imagine
DeleteIf AirSerbia adds Minsk in Belarus to its network for a reasonable price, it will see record numbers.
ReplyDeleteA lot of Russians would use this route, as they can travel to Belarus with just an ID-card (an internal passport) and go on from Minsk with a passport for traveling abroad...
Serbia has introduced sanctions onto Belarus and can't fly there.
DeleteThere is a lot of Serbian diaspora in Birmingham and Manchester it just makes sense. Also if the likes of Wizz were to do this i could see a lot of short break travellers from the uk bringing some much need spending to the Serbian economy.
ReplyDelete