Air Serbia is suspending four existing routes for the remainder of the winter in a repeat scenario from the 2023/24 season. The development impacts flights from Belgrade to Ankara, Gothenburg, Hamburg and Hannover. Flights to Ankara were halted on November 16 but will briefly resume during the holiday period, operating from December 17 to January 7, before being suspended again until the start of the 2025 summer season in March. Initially, the airline had planned to operate flights to the Turkish capital throughout the winter. Similarly, the last flight to Gothenburg was operated yesterday, December 1, with services set to restart briefly from December 19 to January 12, after which they will remain suspended for the rest of the season.
Air Serbia will suspend flights from Belgrade to Hamburg and Hannover starting January 17, 2025, with services expected to resume at the beginning of the summer season. This pattern mirrors last winter's suspensions, when these routes were also paused from January until the summer of 2024. Despite these changes, Belgrade will remain connected to three of the four affected destinations through competing carriers. Air Serbia faces direct competition from Wizz Air on routes to Gothenburg and Hamburg, while AJet continues to operate flights between Belgrade and Ankara.
The decision to suspend these routes highlights the challenges Air Serbia faces in sustaining less profitable destinations during the low-demand winter season. While competition from low cost carriers like Wizz Air and AJet plays a significant role, fluctuating seasonal demand and operational costs are also important factors. As of mid-January, Air Serbia will operate scheduled flights to 55 destinations from its Belgrade hub, an increase from 51 during the previous winter season. The airline has added Salzburg, Mostar, Nice, Guangzhou, and Shanghai to its network, which were not served in 2023/24. However, it has discontinued operations to Tianjin this winter.
I think judging by their profitability and that they are a national airline, those routes should stay for the sake of connectivity...but then again it's a company which needs to stay profitable
ReplyDeleteThey probably are profitable because they react this way and cut something when it is not making money.
DeleteFirst and foremost, they are profitable because the Serbian market has remained strong. This especially applies to the charter market where they hold a monopoly as is the case with Turkey or a near monopoly as is the case with Egypt.
DeleteAir Serbia can't survive unless it grows and gets the traffic volume it needs. They need to find a way to make these secondary and tertiary markets work for them.
Read the text. Connectivity persisit by competition aorlines
DeleteAs they grow elsewhere, so will the demand for transfers to these places. Eventually there'll be potential for year round operations
DeleteThey cut them when they had A319, they cut them when they have Embraer so maybe they should try to do it with ATR
DeleteLOL!
@09:14
Delete+1
@nemjee
DeleteThe numbers don't show that our market is presenting the strong growth as the comments here suggest.
2019 saw 2.81 million pax with roughly 20-25% transfer traffic. Going with 20%, that makes 562.000 transfer pax and 2.248 million O&D pax.
2024 is just over 4 million pax of which last announcement has transfer traffic at 40%, that is 1.6 million transfers and 2.4 million O&D. Growth in percentage terms has transfers growing by 184,7% since 2019 while O&D traffic by 6,7%, overall pax numbers by 42,3%.
I think the ERJ's are going to be a game changer for their Euro-Med network once enough of them come into the fleet. 100 pax on the A319 for example puts their CLF at 69,4% while on their ERJ 84,7%. This is just throwing amateur figures without looking at other, important and less known figures but it kind of tells the story of their issue that is relevant to the article. I think their solution to the above seasonality issue is the ERJ, they just need time to have the adequate amount needed to make a difference.
They are national carrier only when they need to get public money. In all other respects they act as any other private company which focuses on profitability.
Delete10:12
Delete+1000
@Anonymous 10:12 Amen to that! I still don't get why people pretend as if they're this amazing national carrier who cares about the citizens. lolno
DeleteThey do not care about their employees let alone their passengers
DeleteASL management consistently overcharges and mistreats its passengers and at the same time manages to underpay and mistreat its employees.
DeleteI'm sorry to say it but after the 10 years ASL's existence that has proven to be the situation again and again.
This is so true. They're just obsessed with figures. This is why they prefer wet lease to dry lease (or buying) despite it is utmost national interest to have Serbian pilots in JU's birds, to develop and be capable to do our own maintenance etc. Running for big numbers, they just outsourced everything so private companies, some of them even out of our country, are developing their own nice jobs. That is opposite of national interest.
DeleteAnon 10.12
DeleteI am mostly referring to a solid performance when faced with considerable capacity reductions. Despite major cuts BEG has resisted reporting falling numbers. Naturally as this trend gets worse we will eventually see numbers decline.
This is not so much because of market trends and dynamics but rather because of incompetent management at both JU and BEG.
Serbian economy is doing rather well. Demand is there but supply isn't.
Every year the same story. And it seems the same routes.
ReplyDeletePerhaps improving marketing activities on these markets would help in the future.
ReplyDeleteNo, it will not. As long as there’s LCC competition, gastos will always use cheaper trip, no care for thir homeland company.
DeleteHomeland company?? Why would you pay extra to fly between the same cities
Delete@09:12 that is the same attitude that has BEG being serves by only 21 airlines so that JU can not face too much competition...
DeleteDid anyone forbid any airline to fly to BEG?
DeleteThe feed are forbidding. They are too high so that the airport can give large discounts to JU.
DeleteThat's called protectionism.
No, that is called business strategy like on any other airport in the world.
DeleteW6 also gets benefits as their traffic in BEG is big. Are they also "protected" by some dark, secret forces?
And after all have you bothered to read this article talking about "high fees"?
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/11/belgrade-airport-targets-flights-to-new.html
I said it before and I will say it again... you can't be successful without first having a good and competitive commercial strategy. This is where JU failed miserably.
ReplyDeleteIt's time for the government to start looking for a new CEO, one who can appoint a new managerial team and come up with a new corporate strategy. You need to have a vision, something current CEO obviously lacks.
Let's also not forget that they terminated TSN. If I am not wrong they terminated well over 5 routes this winter as there is also Naples. Don't know if I am forgetting something else.
"As of mid-January, Air Serbia will operate scheduled flights to 55 destinations from its Belgrade hub, an increase from 51 during the previous winter season. The airline has added Salzburg, Mostar, Nice, Guangzhou, and Shanghai to its network, which were not served in 2023/24. However, it has discontinued operations to Tianjin this winter."
DeleteSo, how do you comment Global traveler reward for best East Europe airline? Is JU good or bad?
DeleteAnon 09.05
DeleteTruth be told SZG and NCE are old destinations which were resumed after being cut. OMO is subsidized so they don't care so that leaves us with PVG and CAN as the only truly new destinations in their network. However, they did terminate a lot of destinations this winter which indicate that there is something wrong with the way they operate.
Anon 09.06
I have flown close to 100 times with JU and I can safely say that they are not better than LO or SU. Good for them for being voted number one in Eastern Europe, I am just curios which metric was used.
Nemjee it is probably the same "metric" Skytrax uses... 😉
DeleteOver 20k passengers voted. Must be something that you are overseeing
Delete@09:14 they must have been very impressed by Pupin!
DeleteAnon 09.14
DeleteOk, please enlighten me, what am I missing? Did they charm all those passengers with their loyalty or corporate programs? With their app? Inflight entertainment? Mediocre business class?
What makes JU better than LO or SU in eastern Europe?
Anon 09.14
DeleteMy thoughts exactly.
I can guarantee JU is 3x better then LOT. Not sure where to start with LOT terrible service and rude staff. I have flown 2 x this year from WAW to YYZ and they used 30 year old 777 by euroatlantic Airways. It was horrible . Their 787 are constantly breaking down. Inside interior is super outdated and the worse bussines class I have ever experienced it. JU in my opinion has a very friendly and welcoming crew. On board service is average good and their aircrafts are very clean.
DeleteLO just announced brand new cabins, business and economy. They are also receiving brand new MAX planes and E2.
DeleteYou are complaining about LO leasing 777s but you don't mind horrible Bulgarian and Lithuanian A320s with horrible legroom flying for JU?
Anonymous 09:23 give 09:21 a break. He must say this things so he can get some Cacanski chips along with the sandwich!
Delete@Nemjee
DeleteSZG and NCE were not flown last winter so they are new destinations for comparing with previous winter. It is absolutely not important that they were flown 4-5 years ago. In aviation it is very long ago.
OMO is subsidized, but it is not a reason this destination not be counted as new one in winter. If JU hadn't been that strong in the region Mostar would have never chosen to subsidize them.
PVG and CAN are 2 new destinations, but important to say they are 2 new long-haul destinations with 4 weekly departures. If we compare cancelled TSN with 1 weekly departure and CAN+PVG with 4 weekly departures we shall see than even TSN has been cancelled JU has 3 more wide body departures weekly to China and I really do not see how it can be seen as failure.
As this article indicated despite the mentioned cancellations JU is flying this winter 4 destinations more than in winter 2023/2024. Increasing the number of destinations hardly can be seen as "something wrong".
Marek did for JU more than any other JU CEO in the past and surely he should continue doing his job. The list of the positive things he did is quite long and surely longer than the list of failures.
Airbus and Embraer destinations are in far grater risk of being discontinued than ATR destinations.
DeleteJust my2cents
JU flew BEG-SZG last winter 2x weekly; but this route was suspended from Jan. 13 to March 7, 2024.
DeleteIs Air Alps also strong in the region since they are getting subsidies? Same for OU. Lol
DeleteMarek did for JU more than any other JU CEO in the past and surely he should continue doing his job.
Delete_______
Marek is this you? Lol
No je should not continue to do his job because it's because of him that so many people quit. They have parked planes because there is no one to fly them. You want more of that? Also what happened to his surprises? Go on, tell us!!!
I will tell you. All the following points happened during the time Marek has been JU CEO
Delete- National carrier is for the first time profitable in last 35 years
- Air Serbia replaced ancient B733 and ATR72-200/500.
- Air Serbia never had more airplanes in its fleet
- Air Serbia introduced for the first time Embraer plane in its fleet
- Air Serbia never had more destinations in its history (43 new destinations opened in 2022 and 2023)
- Air Serbia never had more passengers in its history (this year expected 4,4 million)
- Air Serbia for the first time flies to 3 and soon to 4 long haul destinations
- Air Serbia for the first time in its history has 3 and soon 4 wide body planes
As Serbian citizen I can't be more satisified with the sucess Marek achieved. Compare him with one Sasa Vlaisavljevic and you will excellently understand what I mean.
Because it's because.
Delete- From what I know Air Serbia was profitable before Marek.
Delete- Fleet restructuring started in 2013 when YU-APC arrived. Marek merely continued what was already started.
- Air Serbia never had more wet-leased planes in its fleet because it doesn't have enough pilots to fly dry leased equipment.
- It was during Marek's time that they introduced the Embraer for the first time and it later on crashed into a fence. Why? Because the crew that operated it wasn't JU's and they didn't have to follow their rules. It was the first time since Air Serbia was created that we had such a serious accident which could have killed over 110 people.
- Air Serbia rushed to add more and more destinations which caused considerable network collapses. We all remember what happens when summer ones. This is the price of handling 4.4 million I guess.
- Marek's first long-haul destination was already terminated. His choice was very wise and he failed to make the switch to Beijing when the Chinese market started opening up. He introduced Chicago which is also struggling in winter. So far only JFK is holding up well and we all know that was launched long before he joined JU.
As a Serbian citizen I believe he rushed and forced unsustainable growth. Growing at such pace strained their operations, caused massive delays and angered passengers. There is a reason why despite all this growth Air Serbia barely manages to handle 50% of the traffic at BEG.
Btw I won't list all of his failures as I've done it several times before. Air Serbia has tremendous potential and it should be treated as a project of national importance. However, it has become clear that current CEO isn't able to do it.
Delete- Yes, of course, if you include Goverment subsidizing. Without it JU was really profitable for the first time in 2022 - Marek's first year as CEO.
Delete- Marek finally closed the story about ancient planes. Mind you, YU-ALP was still flying last year, so successful was "fleet restructuring" since 2013. Nobody before him did not achieve it although some unsucessfully tried.
- Despite having wet leased planes Air Serbia is a profitable company. Having more wet leased planes does not exclude the fact that its fleet is the biggest in its history. Not very nice attempt of spinning.
- You know very well as well as the others that it was Marathon's plane and Marathon's pilot. Should Marek go and personally check if each pilot's licence issued by EU authorities remains valid? Which CEO checks it in the world? Did Sunexpress CEO (LH owns it 50%) check if ETF pilots are insane or not when they hired them? Of course not. All of these pilots have EU licence and it should be enough.
- We all remember what happened and we all know that at least 50% of delays were caused by the airport and their awful ground handler.
- Yes, it was his first long haul destination and now it has been replaced by two more. Losing one and getting two is not such a bad deal despite there are attempts of some to present it otherwise.
- He rushed for a growth at the time pandemic was over and not all the other competitors were woken up. So he simply saw the chance and he wanted to grab it. Nobody can blame him for that.
The big majority of the destinations he introduced in 2022 and 2023 are still being flown proving the choice of destinations was right.
Nemjee
Delete+1
- Air Serbia was profitable years before Marek arrived, government subsidies were used for certain projects within the airline, not for maintaining regular cashflow or to pay the bills. A lot of these extra cash injections by the government were used to get new planes, launch JFK etc.
Delete- So what if he finished that story? You said he was the one to renew their fleet which was not the case. It's a process that started in 2013. Marek just continued it. What sets him apart from his predecessors is that he was the first CEO to get newer planes while not having enough pilots to operate them. Now that was a first for JU. Tell me, how many ATRs are actively flying and what is E95's utilization like?
- They are getting wet leases not because they love them but rather because they have to. They don't have enough pilots to fly the planes they have right now. If they thought wet-leases were a sound business model then they wouldn't have removed the stickers from the planes.
- You do not enter into a commercial agreement with a relatively unknown and inexperienced airline. It wasn't Marek who was going to check their licences but any serious airline has a department which deals with these matters. Tell me something, how many people have quit JU operations department since Marek arrived? If he wanted to introduce the E95 into the fleet then why not do it the same way OS did it?
- Nonsense. First major chaos last year happened because Dan Air delayed the arrival of their A320. Instead of arriving in May, it landed in BEG in mid-June. Stop blaming anything and everything on BEG and the ground handlers. You knew very well what was going on and what they could and couldn't do. Air Serbia ignored all the red flags and it scheduled so many extra flights while knowing that BEG couldn't handle it. For the love of God, BEG was looking for worker in May! We all remember their billboards around the city.
- Aha so basically now that his competition woke up they are scaling back and cutting flights left and right? How many destinations have been terminated this winter? If JU is such a well-run business how come they can't go past 50% marketshare at BEG?
And shall we talk about his latest failure? What happened to the JU-CZ codeshare agreement? Why isn't China Southern selling CAN-BEG on JU? All they sell are connections via other European airports. Is this yet another of his success stories similar to QR and TK?
Such a recognisable toxic writing style.
DeleteNemjee, you're trying to hold people accountable, I salut you but that's hell of a job in this country (and wider).
Delete- Conclusion is more than clear. Without GoS cash injections (whatever they were used for) Air Serbia would not have been profitable before 2022. Full stop. Starting from 2022 there has been no need for any kind of subvensions no matter under which name they were hidden. So subvensions = 0, profit 21 mil although that year JU introduced around 20 new destinations + 1 new long haul (TSN).
Delete- I did not say that he renewed whole fleet, please read more carefully. I said he replaced ancient places and that is exactly what happened. No more B733 and ATR72-200/500 flying around. He was the one who did it although the process started years before it was finally finished. Why nobody else finished that job in period 2013-2023?
- Exactly. They have to as they respond to the demand. According to some here they should not do it as they do not have enough planes in YU register that could cover all demand. So, I will never agree to the fact that it is better not to cover demand with wet leased planes than to cover it even with GetJet planes. Of course it would be the best if they could cover the demand with their own planes but as it is not the case better like this than not at all.
- I am not insider in Air Serbia in order I could provide you the answers you want to have. As I already said, ETF is also relatively unknown company but it was hired by SunExpress that is owned 50% by big Lufthansa and remaining 50% by huge Turkish. Did they do something wrong by hiring ETF? Of course not. There could have been the same possibility something to goes wrong on ETF flight like on Marathon flight. Both are new, both are unknown (even Marathon is 3 years older than ETF). Air Serbia was unlucky that it happened on their JU code flight, SunExpress had better luck.
- It seems that twisting my words does not happen to you accidentally, but intentionally. However, it does not help anyhow. I never said all the blame was on groud handlers, but 50% and it is true. Apart from JU's fault with Dan Air and Air Connect (it seems you forgot about them) there were huge problems with Vinci and its unexperiencied employees on Tesla, especially at check-in counters. I personally withnessed it.
Tell me, at the time when whole Belgrade airport was blocked due to security breach in January this year and when all the passengers had to go through security all over again - was it also Marek's fault? Nonsense.
- Cutting flights left and right and having 4 destinations more than last winter? Congratulations.
- For God's sake, CZ started flying to BEG 2 motnhs ago and they already signed MoU where they agreed about possible future codeshare. Maybe there will be codeshare with them, maybe not, but it is certainly way too early to critisize Marek for not having one already.
How long did QR or TK fly to BEG before they signed codeshare? Really, some people...
And if you ask me about TK I will tell you that before Marek Air Serbia was flying regularly to IST only (no regular flights to any other destination in Turkey) often with ATR or did not fly at all by having only codeshare with Atlas Global (2017).
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/02/air-serbia-to-terminate-istanbul-flights.html
Last summer they were flying 13 weekly to IST, 4 weekly to ESB and 2 weekly to ADB - all with A319/320 family. So having 19 weekly regular flights to Turkey (charters of 30 weekly rotations not included) is worse than not flying at all?
How yes no.
The flight to IST was introduced in December 2019, a year or two before Marek took over. He was in charge of marketing back then if I recall correctly.
DeleteWhat was the frequency in 2019?
DeleteNo, he was never in charge of "marketing". He was the Chief Commercial Officer.
DeleteWinter surprises by Marek.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteCould the reason for reductions be lack of Embraers? Second one is not joining the fleet.
ReplyDeleteIt's lack of pilots, many quit. Their E95 isn't even flying to the maximum. They are cutting a lot this winter and they have three Embraers in their fleet.
DeleteAnd maybe it’s because of hard economic situation in Germany and Sweden? It’s a lot worse than we can imagine here on Balkan
DeleteThey also reduced Rome and Athens. Is the situation there worse than we know? How can Wizz fly to those routes but JU can't?
DeleteBecause it’s LCC. It’s cheaper
DeleteW6 doesn't fly to ATH from BEG.
DeleteHe's talking about JU ... duh
DeleteIt is the lack of dry lease Embraers and pilots. Air Serbia would have no need to pay wet leased Embraers in the winter if they had own fleet of 3-4.
DeleteI can't comprehend how Bulgaria Air and Marathon had no problem finding flight crews for their E-jets but JU, a profitable national carrier can not!
DeleteOr Air Montenegro, for that matter. If people don't want to work for some company, it could be up to many reasons, but two key ones are money and relations (not always in that order). It's no secret JU fails at both.
DeleteQuo vadis Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Marek say that 25% of their passengers are gasto? These destinations look very gasto to me. Why did they lose these gastos to Wizz Air? Didn't he say he will make JU Wizzier than Wizz?
ReplyDeleteImagine if FR was flying from BEG how many of gasto traffic whould have left JU.
DeleteI fear all of them. Air Serbia seems to be spinning out of control. Can anyone stop it at this point?
Delete"spinning out of control" hahaha. Tell me you're a drama queen, without telling me your a drama queen.
DeleteTell me you are a JU bot without telling me you are a JU bot.
Deletelol I am not a JU bot, I actually avoid flying with them for various reasons. But saying they are out of control is really dramatizing things. They still have 5 routes more this winter than last winter, record number of passengers this year and more aircraft this year than last.
DeleteBecause gastos are least loyal pax. They care only about the price. They will transfer at 3 points, only if it’s 15 Euro cheaper. I would gladly close all gasto routes, starting with ORD
DeleteLike BG wannabe hipsters.
DeleteSmart people.
Delete^^^
DeleteYes, they seem to not be willing to pay 20-25 but most of the time a whole lot more for the pleasure of being served a plazma biscuit.
It was a topic back in XIX century, but everyone agreed that paying more if you can pay less is basically not part of the human nature. Adam Smith in his most prominent book: "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest"
DeleteOr, in this case: It is not from the benevolence of diaspora that JU expects profit, but from their regard to their own interest.
I think NUE is next.
ReplyDeleteNUE and BLQ do seem as if they'll be next.
DeleteIt was said last winter the same for NUE, but it did not happen.
DeleteNUE was reduced from 3 to 2 this winter. Next is from 2 to 0. They also sent the ATR on some days
DeleteChanging flight departure times on and on. What a floating timetable. More unstable than LC
ReplyDeleteThese constant changes are terrible for passengers flying for business!
DeleteIf it happens a few times you'll be opting of flying with a connection on another airline so that your schedule is a lot more predictable even though your travel time increases.
+1
DeleteThe problem is, most of the routes can't be sustained with two weekly flights, except for maybe leisure destinations. Give it a try with three or four weekly so that you can attract more pax. Use the advantage of hub & spoke instead of LCC model and do some marketing on low yield destinations.
ReplyDeleteIt's so stupid to do same thing three years in a row, why they even schedule something and then make a mess in system one month later...
+100
DeleteThey are cutting these flights in order to have enough capacity to launch again CAI as the president promised! 😉
ReplyDeletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/07/president-air-serbia-to-restore-cairo.html
Cairo flights starting on 30th of February!
DeleteDon't you ever get bored of your cynical toxicity?
Delete^^^
DeleteReality is not toxic. it is just reality. And it won't change if you ignore it.
No need to flight empty planes in February and March on non-congested airports.
ReplyDeleteAsk yourself why are those flights empty? Why did they think passengers will be there?
DeleteYou do not know what is Goeteborg, lost teritory of Sweden?
DeleteThis does not inspire confidence when booking with them. The JU cancellation lottery?
ReplyDeleteLast Monday, HAM-BEG on JU A319, 25-30 pax.
ReplyDeleteKeeping HAM but ignoring MUC is unbeleivable!
DeleteMUC is a hard battle to fight. I don't say they shouldn't but please have in mind "weapons" LH has available. Can you imagine what would them launching 2-3 daily TGD flights do for JU's competition with Montenegro and transfers at BEG? And that's just a peanuts in LH arsenal... JU has to carefully pick the f(l)ights :)
DeleteI guess an EMB 170 or 175 might help to keep such destinations over winter.
ReplyDeleteExactly. They should have kept the E75. They need it for routes which don't have enough demand and where you can't operate the Atr.
DeleteThat plane did wonders for LOT.
No, they don't need a salad of all aircraft types possible.
DeleteSalad is already there; this would be merely a dressing.
DeleteQuestion about the routs where they “fight” with Wizzair is what is price difference between two carriers. As I see Rome and Milan became much cheaper with AirSerbia from the moment Wizz entered market. On othrr side I know that flights from Salzburg are not so full, price is always high no metter how much before you look for tickets, hopefully it is not next.
ReplyDelete