Air Serbia to axe Niš - Budapest service
Air Serbia will cancel one of the twelve state subsidised services from its base at Niš Constantine the Great Airport, based on a decision made by the Serbian government. The two weekly flights from the south-east Serbian city and Budapest will be discontinued at the start of the 2019/20 winter season this Sunday. “The decision was prompted due to scarce interest from citizens of Serbia’s southern region for travel to the Hungarian capital, as well as to prevent this flight’s negative impact on the sound results achieved by the other services of public interest operated from Niš. Namely, despite only three months of operations from Niš and the disappointing results of the Budapest flight, the average load factor on all twelve routes has reached almost 70%”, the company said in a statement.
Air Serbia won a tender to operate eleven year-round and one seasonal service from Niš earlier this year. The contract is valued at five million euros per year for a period of five years. As a result, the carrier has stationed an Airbus A319 at Constantine the Great Airport. “After consultations with representatives of local authorities and relevant state institutions, the Serbian flag carrier has started to initiate activities in order to implement the decision and terminated all activities on the Budapest route, based on the agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and Air Serbia, specifically Article 11. All passengers holding tickets for flights between Niš and Budapest after October 27, 2019 will receive a refund”, the airline noted.
During the first three quarters, Niš Constantine the Great Airport handled 295.578 travellers, an increase of 10.7% on the same period in 2018. In September, the airport welcomed 44.376 passengers through its doors, an improvement of 47.7% on last year. The national carrier said, “Since the start of scheduled operations from Niš, Air Serbia, together with the competent institutions, has been closely monitoring the parameters of all flights of public interest operated from this city. The company has planned and is undertaking activities aimed toward improving operations from our second base airport Niš, acting in the interest of the citizens of this part of Serbia and of the Serbian national airline”.
This week, the Serbian government launched tender procedures for the launch of services of public interest from Kraljevo’s Morava Airport.
,br<
0 Response to "Air Serbia to axe Niš - Budapest service"
Post a Comment