Jin Air scraps Belgrade flight plans
South Korea's long haul low cost carrier Jin Air has cancelled plans to launch services from Seoul to the Serbian capital in 2020, just over a year after announcing its intention to link the two cities. In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, an airline spokesperson said that it currently has no plans to introduce flights to Belgrade. Previously, during a press conference in Seoul, the airline's CEO, Jung-ho Choi, said services to Bucharest and Belgrade would be launched 2020. "In 2020, Jin Air plans to operate 52 domestic and international routes. In particular, plans have been made to introduce Bucharest and Belgrade in 2020", Mr Choi said at the time.
The budget airline, which launched long haul operations in December 2015, is a subsidiary of Hanjin, a holding company which also manages the national flag carrier Korean Air. It is Korea's only low cost airline to operate wide-body aircraft, with four Boeing 777-200ERs in its fleet. Jin Air utilises the aircraft on its medium and long haul network which includes Honolulu, Cairns in Australia, as well as Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia. Previously, the Deputy Minister for Civil Aviation in the South Korean government, Suh Hoon-Taik, said, "There is interest on both sides to establish scheduled flights between Korea and Serbia and we will undertake a study to determine if there is sufficient demand. The prerequisite for these flights is an Air Service Agreement, which was concluded with Serbia in 2016. I will also assist in increasing cooperation between Air Serbia and Korean carriers".
During the first five months of this year there were only 1.668 Korean visitors to Serbia, representing a decrease of 21% on the same period last year. Overall, there were 5.114 Korean nationals entering Serbia in 2018. The state-owned Incheon International Airport Corporation led an unsuccessful bid for the 25-year concession of Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in 2017. However, despite these indicators, the Serbian Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlović, recently said there was potential for nonstop flights between the two countries. Under a new Air Service Agreement between Serbia and South Korea, which replaced the one inked in 1980, both Serbian and South Korean carriers have rights to operate up to three weekly flights between the two countries.
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