Hainan Airlines suspends Belgrade ticket sales
China's Hainan Airlines has discontinued the sale of its two weekly flights between Beijing and Belgrade via Prague as of late November, indicating the route's imminent suspension. However, it is yet to remove the flights from Global Distribution Systems. According to the "Airlineroute" portal, Hainan Airlines' last flight to Belgrade is currently scheduled to operate on November 23, after which ticket sales have been suspended. It comes just over a year since the route's launch in September 2017. In a short response, the airline told EX-YU Aviation News it "has no answer at this moment" concerning the route's fate but would follow up on the inquiry. Flights between Beijing and Belgrade via Prague operate with the 292-seat Airbus A330-300 aircraft. The airline has fifth freedom rights on the Prague - Belgrade - Prague sectors, allowing it to also sell tickets between the two cities.
Hainan Airlines recently said the majority of its bookings to Belgrade were made by Chinese tourists, who can travel to Serbia visa free. During the first three quarters, 77.543 Chinese nationals visited the country, representing an increase of 103.2% on the same period last year. As a result, Chinese visitors were the third most common in Serbia, behind only those from Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Chinese carrier previously noted it would consider upping frequencies on its flights to Belgrade or introducing nonstop flights to the city, depending on demand. Furthermore, the airline concluded a codeshare agreement with Air Serbia two months ago, which has seen it place its flight numbers and designator code onto its Serbian counterpart's service between Belgrade and Skopje, while in return, Air Serbia codeshares on Hainan's flights from Belgrade to Beijing. Previously, Serbian officials said they were in talks with Hainan Airlines over modifying the service in order for it to operate with the routing Beijing - Belgrade - Sarajevo. The Chinese Ambassador to Serbia also said negotiations were under way for the introduction of flights between Shanghai and Belgrade.
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| Hainan Airlines' sales office at Belgrade Airport |
Hainan Airlines is considered to be one of China's best carriers and has been consistently ranked as one of the top ten best airlines in the world. Subsidiaries of Hainan's parent company, the HNA Group, which is involved in aviation, real estate, financial services, tourism, logistics, and other industries, placed a bid, as part of a consortium, for the 25-year concession of Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport last year, however, pulled out in the final stages. The Group has been struggling with debt of 95 billion US dollars and has been selling off both its Chinese and international assets in order to balance its books.
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