Air Serbia plans to grow aggressively over the next five year and potentially double in size if market conditions permit. The airline anticipates strong growth in demand for the upcoming specialised Expo 2027, to be held in Belgrade, and intends on benefiting from the event. The carrier’s CEO, Jiri Marek, said, “We are currently updating our five-year plan because there is a big event in our region, the Expo 2027 in Belgrade, which is around the corner and will stimulate strong demand. We want to be part of that demand and capture as many passengers on our side as possible. We will continue to develop not only long-haul but grow our medium- and short-haul network, as well as the feeding network. We still plan to grow aggressively”.
Mr Marek said a pause in wide-scale growth was needed this year after the airline added over forty routes to its network over the past two years, in 2022 and 2023. “This year we took a more stable path because what we realised last year is that despite the market being there and us being able to capture it, with all the outsourcing that is happening in aviation, we are at the end of the supply chain. The supply chain cannot grow at the speed we would like it to. Therefore, we have started to fix and address these issues. We finalised a Joint Venture with Menzies for ground handling. Still, we are a shareholder in the Joint Venture because we want to keep the strategic decision-making, in terms of where it will be developing and for it not to be fully outsourced”, Mr Marek said. He added, “The next issue we will address is MRO. We are having several discussions with several partners. One that we mentioned in the past is Turkish Airlines. However, like many others, Turkish Airlines is having issues with its fleet and with engines. It is keeping us as an airline busy from this strategic project, but it is on our target list. We want to improve catering, we are developing the new loyalty program which we would like to launch this year and we recently announced plans for a new lounge at Belgrade Airport which will be double the size of the current one”.
The CEO noted Air Serbia could boast a fleet of over forty aircraft within five years. This year alone, the carrier is expected to add at least seven dry-leased aircraft to its fleet, which includes three ATR72-600s, which have all been delivered, two Embraer E195s and two Airbus A330-200s. “There are a lot of things we would like to develop so in five years we might be an airline double the size and we could be an airline with over forty aircraft. It all depends on where the market will be. What we proved with Covid is that we can quickly react if the market is going up or going down and we want to continue to be flexible”, Mr Marek concluded.
That is really great. Definitely means we can see a lot of long haul routes soon.
ReplyDeleteGood to see they are still planning something regarding MRO. Hope it works out.
ReplyDeleteIt would be amazing to see a JU MRO facility at BEG!
DeleteDidn't Marek say in the past that once they reach 40 aircraft they will place on order for new planes? So it could happen within the next 5 years
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteWhat would they order potentially? New ATR72-600s? A320neos? Embraer E2s?
DeleteA320neos have huge backlogs and it will take years for deliveries to begin.
DeleteDelivery slots are oversold.
And Airbus just like Boeing gives preferential treatment to those who order dozens of aircraft.
Embraer E2s on the other hand are much much easier to get on time.
Just my2cents
Yes, I just saw Mexicana place an order for E2s last week and first deliveries are already coming next year!
DeleteThe E2 is a great aircraft with ideal specifications for JU's network BUT the Pratt engine situation needs to be resolved first.
Delete195 E2 with 136 seats would be a good replacement for A319.
DeleteExcellent choice
Delete@11:52 I personally dont like when airlines put that much seats on the Embraer jets. Those new seats of KL on the E2 models are awful for example when compared to the good old quallity fat comfortable seats of LOT.
DeleteI do not see JU getting the E2 anytime soon.
Deletethey cannot even handle the current network properly. this weekends delays were horrible. every single flight with over 1h or more were delaying. JFK and ORD over 5 hours.
ReplyDeleteMany airports in Europe this weekend had huge delays. It happens every summer. An airline that has a dense scheduled with quick turn around times is affected because of it across the entire network. We had a flight to Barcelona on Friday and when we boarded the plane we had to wait another half an hour because of air traffic congestion.
DeleteThey habe too short block times so delays are inevitable. I experience it very often.
DeleteYou are totally wright, anon 09:08.
DeleteAll the people do is go to BEG web page and they look there what are the delays...Based on it they base their "experts" opinion.
And what they do not know is that there are so many other factors which influence flight delay...I was flying BEG-FRA last week and we were late for 1,5 h in departure only because BEG was so congested that we could not depart. Every 3 minutes one plane was departing. If we add on it European air traffic congestion we are coming to the situation that airlines are often blamed for delays they are not responsible for.
Keep dreaming that a plane was departing every three minutes. Not even in ATL these things happen
Delete@09:29
DeleteIf ASL schedules flights in a timeframe it can't realistically handle who's fault is it when inevitable delays occur?
And these delays reverberate for the rest of the day for all flights this particular aircraft was scheduled to fly.
Who's fault is that?
The passengers?
The airport?
Eurocontrol?
SMATSA?
Who exactly do you blame instead of the airline?
anon 09:34
DeleteWell, they`ve already had 25 planes scheduled to takeoff between 6.00 and 7.00 on the recent day that saw 136 departures, and that means every 2,5 minutes.
@Anon 9:34 Stop spreading false information. At ORD a plane departs every 37 seconds so it sure does happen at ATL.
Delete@anon 09:34
DeleteThere are no dreams. Believe it or not the planes do depart every 3 minutes from BEG in peak hours or as anon 09:56 wrote every 2,5 minutes. You might like that info or not but it is now the reality in Belgrade.
@anon 9:52
If the plane arrives from previous destinaton on time as it was in my case and can't depart on time due to congestion in BEG how can it be JU fault?
Belgrade airport gave these slots to JU so they need to keep them. Guess who should be blamed...
^^^
DeleteJU schedules flights that it knows won't be able to depart on time. Because it knows hoe long it takes to turnaround an aircraft, to process travelers and their luggage and load them on to the plane.
But nooooo, it is everyone else's fault that it has delay after delay! LOL
I am truly sorry that you do not want to see the reality.
DeleteHave you ever heard for block time? Do you know it is always longer than actual flying and taxing time? Do you know that even if the time at the foreign airport is not sufficient for an airline they can make it up during the flight?
Actually do you anything else except to look at BEG web page?
@Anon 10:32
DeleteI knew it it was BEG's website fault for providing real time flight information.
If only we didn't knew and didn't talk about it there wouldn't be any problem!
Shame on you VINCI.
You really need to calm down.
DeleteAre you seriously blaming JU for delays made by airports to departure or ground handling at the foreign airports? I mean that has got to be the most ridiculous comment ever. JU operates a flight. Ground handling at 2 ends need to service that flight, so if there is a delay on one, it is off course going to cascade to other flights as well. Simply blaming JU and saying they need to factor more time is laughable. Analyst behaviour at its best.
DeleteWhen the plane is late arrival at start, off course it will be kicked out from the queue, and the priority for take off will be given to airplane that is scheduled on time, to depart...And you will be sitting inside the plane for half an hour or an hour..Why would airport accomodate the ones that are always late? In the last couple of weeks I flew 3 times, every time incoming flight was late minimum an hour, and then we were sitting inside the cabin for another 30-45 min. minutes waiting for the new "queue"...Few days ago in Rome, plane from Beg was late over 1 hour, and then we were waiting attached to a gangway for more than 45 min, for Fiumicino airport to give us vehicle that would drag us out from the gangway..And why would they accomodate AS quickly? You were late 1 hour in start, every day you are late, now wait your turn for everything...Yes, pilot can recover some of the lost time, but this is done only if you fly with Air Serbia crew and dry lease..For example, for Spain most flys GetJet, and they never recover time, pilot always takes exactly the same omount of time fof the flight, like it was prescheduled, regardless of the time being late..I know that from Malaga to Beg , that direction, they can speed up and reach Beg in even less than 3 hours, but lets say around 3 hours, but thdy never do that..They fly 3 hours :35 min, they don't wanna spend extra fluel. And they are always late in ddparture from AGP for min. 1 hour
DeleteMost major European airport experince issues in summer. This weekend was a disaster across Europe. Huge delays in FRA, LHR, FCO, VIE etc.it had nothong to do with airlines, all flights and airlines were delayed.
DeleteORD was late because they had to divert to Detroit, there was a tornado warning in Chicago. Nothing was taking off and landing. Many times it's not JU's fault. Yesterday's flight from FRA was late because they were waiting for a pushback which was late so they missed their slot. Delays at FRA were so bad a few days ago that they allowed take offs after 23.00.
DeleteJU might not be the best airline out there and Marek is a mediocre CEO at best but there are things which are beyond their control.
@11:14
DeleteSo it was due to a tornado warning that the flight got diverted to Detroit! I wondered why when I saw it on Flight radar but now I know. Thanks!
Also a lot of weather issues that required deviations, producing delays with air traffic controls.
DeleteIf a plane has a late departure, why don't the pilots just dly faster to make it on time?
DeleteThis guys that is complaining about the delays, probably hardly ever fly. He should visit North America and check their OTP stats. There is soo much involved and most of us understand why and no point to com plain. JU does a decent job for a small airline .
DeleteToday according to flight radar , there are 145 departures from BEG in 24 hours . Well on average : 24×60=1440 minutes . 60÷1440=0.041. 145×0.041=6.04 . And on average today we have 6 departures in 1 hour which means that BEG today has 1 departure every 10 minutes .
DeleteThe NE of US is known for delays...very congested airspace and any weather or operations related issue just snowballs throughout the day. I bet the folks complaining about delays take the bus for travel 😆 🤣
Delete@Anon 11:29
DeleteIn the last 5 days, including this weekend, I flew from MAD, AGP, FCO and BEG off course..Used Vueling, Iberia, Ryanair and Air Serbia twice..Guess who was only late over 1h?
Probably Vueling, two years ago Italy almost removed their operating permit because of constant delays.
DeleteDouble in size how ??? More wet leases and considered as their own fleet ??? Do they even have any money to order something new ???
ReplyDeleteNo, they said last month they will be reducing wet leases
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/05/air-serbia-looks-to-ease-reliance-on.html
Why not double in size in 5 years? This year they are adding 7 dry leases to the fleet, which is a lot for an airline the size of Air Serbia.
DeleteThe Government can provide loan guarantees.
DeleteJU haters got their morning portion again. They can’t read articles like this and stay calm. Try Complexan before reading AirSerbia news
DeleteAn order for new aircraft will definitely need GoS financial assistance.
DeleteNothing wrong with that. If the government can purchase new trains then they might as well cover the downpayment for new planes. Unlike Serbian Railways, JU is a profitable and a relatively well managed business.
DeleteBravo Air Serbia 🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸
ReplyDeleteGood for ASL! I'm hoping for some expansion news for next winter
ReplyDeleteIt is logical to focus on existing routes and increasing frequencies, rather than opening numerous new routes.
ReplyDeleteFrequencies will grow too.
DeleteMashallah
ReplyDeleteAdd some routes to the Middle East
ReplyDeleteI think they need to boost core European routes to support any Middle Eastern expansion as ME routes are longer and don't properly fit the current wave structure.
DeleteThe great thing about them getting E195s is that they can not only add frequencies but they can also launch some thinner new routes. For example, they can easily add a new route to the Caucasus with the E195.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteCluj & Baku are coming up.
DeleteAmazing job done by Air Serbia in 2024 considering the incident with the Marathi E190. They picked themselves up and in the end grew by a lot. Lots of planes incoming, new long haul routes, and planned growth for winter.
ReplyDelete* Marathon
DeleteStill not a word about improving their “euro” business class. Is it that unprofitable to reinstall real businesses class seats on all of their single aisle planes?
ReplyDeleteYes it is. It is the reason why 99% of European airlines do not have real business class seats on short haul flights.
DeleteThe only airline operating intra European flights with dedicated business cabin is Turkish Airlines. There is no other European carrier. And even TK has eurobusiness on some of their aircraft.
DeleteThat does not mean we should follow them. The original Air Serbia A320/A319 business class was a key differentiator. The current offering is just economy class with a different colored headrest cover.
DeleteThere is a reason they got rid of the dedicated business class seats and there is a reason no other airline in Europe has it. JU's dedicated business class proved unprofitable and was a loss maker proposed by people from Etihad who had no clue of the Serbian market or yields and who were also proposing flights to Tivat at 2AM. So yes, it made complete sense to get rid of dedicated business class cabin on short haul planes just like it made sense for every other legacy airline in Europe.
DeleteWe are waiting for more frequencies and new destinations!
ReplyDeletehope that AirSERBIA continues to grow
ReplyDeleteI wonder what JU would do if Ryanair did by some miracle base a plane in BEG.
ReplyDeleteI think if Ryanair based planes in Belgrade it would impact Wizz more.
DeleteNothing would happen. They would just have to up their game and become more competative. Aer Lingus exists in Dublin next to Ryan.
DeleteYou don’t need to wonder yourself. Ryan will never come to BEG, because JU is too strong here.
Delete@11:00
DeleteThat is correct. If only the other European airlines could be as strong as JU is Ryanair and O'Leary would have gone bankrupt long ago.
JU already proved that they know how to compete.
Delete11:17
DeleteSo who’s preventing them to come to BEG and destroy JU? If they are so strong and JU is so small and weak, should be easy job for them
Ryanair is more than welcome to launch BEG flights as long as they accept equal terms. Let them compete on quality, on time performance, schedule ... and not price alone. Can they defeat Air Serbia and Wizz Air under those conditions?
DeleteOne thing is certain, there is growing demand out of Belgrade and rising passenger numbers are best proof of that. So why is Ryanair not coming to get their piece of the cake? The fact so many legacy carriers do well also shows that there are a lot of passengers who are not price sensitive. It means their yields should be good.
In my opinion, this year was probably their last fantastic chance to launch BEG. Both JU and W6 are unable to respond due to fleet limitations. On top of that, both airlines are full and many flights are either sold out or almost sold out. Wizz Air's load factor in May out of BEG was over 90%. If Ryanair launched flights then they would have gotten a lot of new customers who wouldn't have to pay a pretty penny to fly.
Time is running out as both carriers are adapting and slowly overcoming their fleet related problems. Once both JU and W6 restore their operations they will have a chance to fight back - something neither can do right now. You snooze you lose.
How many passengers could JU have this year if they were at 4.1 million in 2023.
ReplyDeleteMy guess around 4.6
DeleteMy guess is 45,6 million.
DeleteGreat. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, JU. It seems you’re on the right track.
ReplyDeleteHopefully they will consider growing out of Nis and Kraljevo in the near future too.
ReplyDeleteNot so much demand there for legacy carrier. Swiss is the best proof for it.
DeleteAnd what will happen after EXPO?
ReplyDelete2028 will come.
DeleteAnd demand will drop
DeleteDemand will reduce naturally after any big event but it will not drop to levels before the event. I kind of wonder what goes through people's heads here to constantly be so negative, constantly hoping for the worst scenario, constantly hoping for everything to go wrong...
Delete+100
DeleteJu will feel very small difference after Expo, because Belgrade will become more popular and many tourists will continue coming. Also, they will spread network of short, medium and long haul and transfer passengers will continue to to rise. At the end, Serbian economy will be extra boosted by 2028, so difference will be very small and 2029/2030 will be the same as 2027
DeleteWell, the expo infrastructure will not be destroyed once the event is over. Quite the opposite. I am certain the city will privatize the facilities the same way they did with Sava Centar. Belgrade will start hosting various exhibitions which will further stimulate demand for air travel.
DeleteWith BEG's growing network, Belgrade's connectivity will improve making it an even more attractive destination for fair tourism. There is a reason why Barcelona, Paris and Amsterdam are hosting massive events so often. They have the facilities to do so. So will Belgrade once Expo is over.
Expo's location is also very good, it is located close to the airport on the Belgrade bypass. It means it will be accessible from all sides.
As a old JAT worker, after decades of "successful" privatisations and great minds, we are returning back in 1991,when JAT has his own MRO, CATERING, ground handling,even DUTY FREE,
ReplyDeleteHahahhaa they have non of those... ASL is far away for having everything that JAT did, ASL sold everything they have, no aircrafts owned, no catering, no ground services, no duty free...
Delete^ If you bothered to read the article you would see they have a joint venture in ground handling where they have a majority share in that joint venture. Similar will be for MRO. Air Serbia didn't sell everything off. Maintenance and catering division was separated from Jat Airways by the government and then sold, not by ASL. Finally, plural of aircraft is aircraft, not aircrafts.
DeleteTouché
DeleteI remember visiting the JAT Business Club in the late 1980s and it was phenomenal for the time. A real business lounge. I don't think Aerodrom Beograd or Vinci or Dufry or whoever ran it since 1992 had invested a single dinar in it since then and was so sad that they are finally get rid of it.
DeleteThankfully with the new lounge coming soon things will be great.
DeleteGood luck, I mean it in a positive way!!
ReplyDeleteBiggest challenge will be finding qualified flight crew and mechanics.
Everyone, double current fleet is more than 40, e. g. 10 ATR, 10 A319, 4 A330, 2 Embraers 195, 3 A320. Double is 54. Marek previously said that aim is 50 aircrafts. 40 aircrafts in 5 years in my opinion is stagnation. They already operate, I think, 34 aircrafts with wet leases, so 40 aircrafts in 5 years is low.
ReplyDeleteHe obviously was not referring to wet-leases but their own planes. And with wet leases Air Serbia operates 31 planes, not 34. They have 4 aircraft wet leased from GetJet and 2 from Bulgaria Air.
DeleteAlso he didn't say they would double the fleet size but double the size of the airline.
"The CEO noted Air Serbia could boast a fleet of over forty aircraft within five years". And I counted certain 2 Embraers 195 (scheduled from July 1st) and 2 A330s. If it is up to 50 in five years it would be ok.
ReplyDeleteSupply chain issues can't stop Air Serbia from announcing Miami and Toronto for 2025. Two A330s will arrive in the next 3-4 months.
ReplyDeleteIt is never good to announce routes that far in advance when you don’t even know whether or not this A330 will arrive in July with all the supply chain issues. July is a week away and the livery isn’t even announced.
DeleteThey never "announced the livery" in advance. The public found out when the plane goes out of painiting.
DeleteHell yeah.
ReplyDelete