Air Serbia tipped for Far East service
The state-owned Serbia Post company has said that Air Serbia is expected to soon launch flights to the Far East which will generate further mail cargo opportunities, fuelling further speculation the carrier will commence operations to China next year. It comes weeks after the Serbian Finance Minister, Siniša Mali, held talks with the Chinese Ambassador to Serbia regarding future flights between the two countries, noting both sides will work on service details from Belgrade to either Beijing or Shanghai. He added there was a strong desire on both ends for flights to be introduced during the second half of 2022.
Recently, the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, held talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, during which he expressed the need for nonstop flights between Belgrade and China to be established. Mr Vučić said a service between the Serbian capital and either Shanghai, Beijing or Guangzhou is necessary due to strong demand and asked China’s leader to look into the matter. “President Xi said he is taking considerable notice of the request. When he says something like that, you can expect for his words to be put into action within a short period of time”, Mr Vućić said. He added the flights could be operated by either Air Serbia or a Chinese carrier.
China has emerged as one of the top unserved markets to and from Belgrade since visa restrictions between the two countries were mutually lifted in 2017, with travel reaching a record high in 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 145.248 passengers travelled between the two countries in 2019 (excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan). Of those, 62.518 flew to or from Shanghai, or around 43% of all China travellers. It was followed by Beijing with 52.123 passengers and Guangzhou with 14.087 travellers. Air Serbia’s CEO, Dunacan Naysmith, recently said the airline was continuing to look into options at expanding its long haul network, with the Chinese market being of interest. Air Serbia has a codeshare agreement in place with Air China between Vienna and Beijing. Last year, the Serbian carrier renewed its Special Prorate Agreement with Hainan Airlines enabling passengers to reach Beijing from Belgrade via Brussels, Berlin and Moscow.
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