Air Serbia to restore bulk of network in July

Air Serbia plans to operate flights to some forty destinations by the middle of next month, as it continues to rebuild its network. If circumstances permit, during July, the airline will resume operations to Italy, Spain, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Ukraine, Cyprus and Israel and launch services to Norway. Flights to the Russian market will be restored in August. Starting July 1, the carrier is expected to commence charter services to Greece (Skiathos, Rhodes, Corfu, Heraklion, Kefalonia and Atikon), to Turkey from July 5 (Antalya and Bodrum), and to Spain from July 15 (Mallorca). Due to changing market propositions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, Air Serbia has also secured more favourable slots in Frankfurt and Amsterdam for a select number of its weekly flights, which will allow for better connectivity for transfer passengers via Belgrade.

The airline is facing increased competition from Wizz Air, which will base its third jet in Belgrade next month and directly compete against the carrier on several routes, among which are Barcelona and Milan. As a result, the carrier has rescheduled its operating days to Spain’s second largest city and brought forward its resumption of flights to Italy to July 1. “We are pleased to recommence flights to Italy, which is traditionally one of the key markets for Serbia, due to numerous factors that connect the two countries, including strong economic cooperation, tourism, diaspora and trade”, Air Serbia’s CEO, Duncan Naysmith, said. He added, "We are delighted to recommence flights to such a large number of destinations, and in this way make an important contribution to the recovery of air transport in the region. We are glad that, after a very challenging period, we are able to lead the recovery of one of the economic sectors which were affected by the coronavirus pandemic the most. We are among the first in this part of the world to start flying again, we are gradually increasing the weekly number of flights, and we continue to adapt our flight schedule to the future development of the situation".

Air Serbia will increase frequencies on its Belgrade – New York service to three weekly next week, while a fourth weekly rotation is expected to be added in July due to very strong demand. The carrier said capacity is “almost completely full” on the route. This week, the airline marked the fourth anniversary since launching services to the United States. During the four-year period, Air Serbia handled almost 280.000 passengers on the route on 719 round trips. Mr Naysmith noted, “We are very proud to be the only ones in the region to offer nonstop flights to New York. Its launch represented a significant milestone at the time of its introduction, confirming the strength of our business strategy and contributing to the development of tourism and business cooperation between South Eastern Europe and the United States”. He added, “Many did not believe it, but we managed, in a relatively short period of time, to secure our first wide-body aircraft, necessary permits, and undertake all the necessary steps to commence flights”.

May 21 - July 10 operations (correct as of June 26)

Departing Belgrade

Destination	Resumption date
Frankfurt, Zurich	May 21
Vienna, London	May 24
Ljubljana	May 29
Paris, Amsterdam	May 31
Sarajevo	June 4
Banja Luka	June 5
New York	June 6
Podgorica, Tivat	June 8
Sofia, Tirana, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Copenhagen, Athens, Prague, Bucharest, Istanbul	June 15
Zagreb, Brussels, Berlin	June 16
Stockholm	June 17
Split	June 28
Milan, Zagreb	July 01
Thessaloniki, Rome	July 02
Venice, Larnaca, Tel Aviv, Dubrovnik	July 03
Kiev	July 09
Pula	July 10

Departing Niš

Destination	Resumption date
Hahn, Nuremberg	June 16
Salzburg	July 01
Tivat, Hanover	July 02

Departing Kraljevo

Destination	Resumption date
Vienna	June 30

EX-YU Aviation News

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