TRIP REPORT | INDEX
Written by Matjaž Nose
Some basic data of the flight:
Flight number: JU1193
Flight date: 15 August 2019
Operated by: Air Serbia
From: Ljubljana (LJU)
To: Niš (INI)
Scheduled departure time: 14:00
Scheduled arrival time: 15:25
Aircraft type: A319-132
Aircraft registration: YU-APD (Goran Bregović)
I was pleasantly surprised some time ago when it was announced that Air Serbia would start flying between Niš and Ljubljana from the beginning of August. The route between the two cities was just one of the routes out of Niš airport that were established as a result of a subsidy given by the Serbia's government to help improve air connectivity of this south Serbian city. Consequently, the prices of these tickets are 'very promotional'. It is possible to buy a return ticket for as low as 50 € with hand baggage only. I decided to buy my ticket immediately when the new route was announced, but I was surprised that it took Air Serbia few days to start selling these tickets directly on their website. As I was so fast, the only way of buying a ticket when I decided to do so, was buying it through one of the online ticket booking platforms thus paying few euros more.
Out of curiosity, I decided to check how much a ticket would cost aboard the famous Niš Ekspres bus between Ljubljana and Niš and how many hours would I have to spend in the bus to reach Niš. The results of this online investigation are as follows: a return bus ticket would cost approximately 10% more but on the other hand, Niš Ekspres gives you over 1000% more time to spend inside their bus.
There are two weekly sets of flights available between Ljubljana and Niš, on Thursday and on Monday. Thursday mid-day flights depart Niš airport at 11:50 and Monday evening flights take off at 19:35.
After approximately one hour of actual flight time and 45 minutes needed for the aircraft to be prepared for the return flight at Ljubljana airport, the aircraft heads back to Niš the same day.
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| Niš is not a very common destination on Ljubljana airport boarding passes |
I was flying out of Ljubljana on Thursday afternoon. There is a lot of construction work going on at Ljubljana airport so there are some traffic deviations and inconveniences related to these investments around the airport currently.
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| Construction work at Ljubljana airport |
Ljubljana airport is a relatively small airport but you can still find all necessary services there. When I checked in an hour and a half before the flight, there was no queue at check in desks for my flight (Air Serbia does not offer online check in for the flights departing from Ljubljana, so I had to do it at the airport).
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| Flight departure information boards |
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| Air Serbia's check in desks |
The non-Schengen section of the airport departure gates has a small Duty Free shop as well as a Bar-Bistro-Cafe where you can eat something or have a drink before boarding the aircraft.
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| Non-Schengen departure gates area |
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| Arrival of Air Serbia's A319 airplane from Niš |
With some delay, there was an announcement for Niš-bound passengers inviting them to meet Goran Bregović. The aircraft named after this famous artist took off at around a quarter past two in the afternoon. The actual flight time was around one hour and we even managed to arrive ahead of the scheduled arrival time at Niš Constantine the Great Airport.
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| Gate No. 4 was used for our flight |
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| Boarding through an airbridge |
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| Ljubljana airport as seen from the airbridge |
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| Taxing to runway for take off |
The flight itself was more or less uneventful, though the cabin crew were very nice and attentive.
Every passenger was given a cold small bottle of water for free, with other snacks and drinks being available for purchase.
Slimline seats were also comfortable enough for this short flight which had a load factor of 70-75%.
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| Slimline seat |
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| Inflight service - a complimentary bottle of cold water |
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| Cabin during the flight |
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| Two full pages of Air Serbia's August inflight magazine are dedicated to Niš flights |
Departing Ljubljana airport, the aircraft headed south to Croatia, we overflew Zagreb and Tuzla before starting our descent to Niš airport.
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| Approaching Niš airport |
There are no airbridges at Niš airport so we deboarded the airplane using mobile staircases (while boarding the airplane at Ljubljana airport, the airbridge was used). The airplane was parked walking distance to the arrival hall so no bus was needed.
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| Airplane was parked walking distance to the arrivals hall |
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| Mobile staircases were used for deboarding |
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| Walking towards immigration and baggage collection area |
As I was travelling with hand baggage only, it took me only few minutes to clear immigration and be out of the airport. I paid 700 dinars (approximately 6 €) for a taxi ride to my hotel in the centre of Niš (there is a public bus connecting the airport with bus and train stations too).
After hotel check in, I was ready to start discovering Niš!
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