Air Serbia negotiating Yekaterinburg service
Air Serbia is in discussions over the introduction of flights to Yekaterinburg, Russian local media report. The talks are said to be in their final stages and, if concluded successfully, services should begin in late November or early December. The Serbian carrier has not commented or confirmed the potential route launch. The head of the Ural Tourism Association, Mikhail Maltsev, told reporters at a press conference that negotiations were underway with two European carriers. The other is believed to be Wizz Air, which plans to commence operations from Budapest to Yekaterinburg. If the Belgrade service goes ahead, the south-western Russian city would become Air Serbia’s fifth destination in the country. It already serves Moscow, Krasnodar, St Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don, the latter two recently being upgraded from seasonal to year-round operations.
Russia is one of Belgrade Airport’s biggest markets and despite the coronavirus pandemic has continued to perform well. Currently, Air Serbia, Aeroflot and Nordwind Airlines maintain flights between the two countries. Demand over the past year has been driven primarily by Russian tour operators selling packages to Serbian mountain resorts. With numerous markets still closed for Russian travellers, relaxed entry rules into Serbia and visa free travel have made the country a popular choice. Since mid-August, Russian travellers have also been visiting Serbia for coronavirus vaccinations as the country has enabled hotels to book jab appointments for foreigners. With Russia only administrating vaccines from one manufacturer which is not approved by the World Health Organisation and the European Medicines Agency, demand has grown to undergo the procedure in Serbia where the jab manufacturer can be selected.
Indirect traffic between Serbia and Russia in 2019
Air Serbia has previously described Russia as a strategically important market for the airline. “The Russian Federation represents a strategically extremely important market for us. Services to Russia enhance the flow of trade and strengthen the long-held and friendly bilateral relations between our two countries. Our flights have also been carefully scheduled to offer business and leisure guests from Russia seamless connectivity over our Belgrade hub to key destinations in the Balkans and Southern Europe, where we have an extensive network of flights”, the company previously noted. During the pre-pandemic 2019, there were over 2.950 passengers flying between Belgrade and Yekaterinburg on a single itinerary, based on OAG data. Air Serbia currently codeshares on Aeroflot's service between Moscow and Yekaterinburg.
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