Air Serbia adds second new route in Covid era
Air Serbia yesterday announced the launch of its second new route during the coronavirus pandemic, following the launch of its Oslo service in July 2020. Flights to Geneva, which are scheduled to commence as early as March 1, were initially to launch as part of the carrier’s 2020 summer expansion, which also included cities such as Amman, Rostov-on-Don, Florence, Lviv, and Chisinau, but was shelved due to the global health emergency. The announcement yesterday came just days after easyJet temporarily suspended its Geneva – Belgrade service until March 5, although the resumption date is subject to change. Similarly, Air Serbia’s decision to start services to Oslo also came after Norwegian Air Shuttle temporarily dropped its operations on the route.
Air Serbia’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Jiri Marek, said the new services are part of the carrier’s strategy to respond quickly to changing market conditions. “We are carefully monitoring all the changes in travel restrictions and demand, trying to act quickly and seize all the opportunities that open up on the market. In July, we already launched a new destination - Oslo, which proved to be an excellent business decision as the Norwegian capital is currently one of Air Serbia’s top five destinations. Additionally, establishing a codeshare partnership with Turkish Airlines resulted in the introduction of daily flights to Istanbul, which have an excellent passenger load factor, exceeding 80%”, Mr Marek said.
Prior to the pandemic, Air Serbia planned to serve Geneva three times per week but has now opted for a two weekly split schedule, to allow for better connections via Belgrade. The route was the subject of intense competition in 2013 when Etihad Regional, easyJet and Swiss all launched the service, however, in the end, only the budget airline prevailed. Air Serbia’s predecessor, JAT, last served Geneva in 1985, from Ljubljana. Air Serbia planned to introduce Geneva to its network back in March 2018 but cancelled those less than a month later. Entry into Switzerland for the majority of Serbian citizens is currently not permitted.
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