Air Serbia readies for massive expansion

Air Serbia is preparing for the launch of 21 new routes over the next two months, eighteen of which will operate on a year-round basis and three that will run seasonally. Last Thursday, the carrier signed a contract for the introduction of twelve subsidised services from Niš Constantine the Great Airport. “We will connect Niš with seven countries, six within the European Union, as well as Montenegro. The first six countries will be linked from July 15, with the full schedule to be operational by August 1. Concerning Montenegro, there is an administrative condition that needs to be fulfilled and until that is met the Niš - Tivat service can't be launched. However, we believe this will be dealt with by the time the new routes commence", the Assistant Minister for Aviation, Zoran Ilić, explained.

Signing of the subsidy agreement between Air Serbia and the government

Air Serbia will require additional aircraft in order to maintain its peak summer schedule. It has so far contracted a Nordica Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft, which will be utilised from June until October and has so far been scheduled on select flights from Belgrade to Dubrovnik, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Helsinki, Kiev, Prague, Stuttgart, Thessaloniki, Vienna and Zurich. The carrier is expected to lease additional capacity in the coming months. In the lead up to the launch of its new routes, the airline is progressively introducing an additional seven weekly flights from Belgrade to London Heathrow, starting today, for a total of sixteen weekly rotations, while it has also rolled out a new option for economy class passengers to bid for a business class upgrade by sending in their offer. The higher the amount, the greater the chance the passenger will experience a trip in business class.

Commenting on its summer expansion the Serbian carrier said, “We've exerted a lot of effort and worked hard to offer our traditional hospitality on flights to a significantly higher number of destinations. We picked each of them by listening to the wishes and needs of our guests. Our primary focus will remain on strong growth and development, improving our services and expanding our reach so we can offer our faithful guests as many options as possible”. As previously reported, the airline will introduce flights from Belgrade to Barcelona, Cairo, Helsinki, Kiev, Krasnodar, Madrid, Nice, Rijeka and Zadar, as well as from Niš to Baden Baden, Bologna, Budapest, Frankfurt Hahn, Friedrichshafen, Gothenburg, Hanover, Ljubljana, Nuremberg, Rome, Salzburg and Tivat.