Air Serbia posts strong leisure traffic results
Air Serbia handled over 140.000 travellers on charter flights this summer season, accounting for around 10% of its total passenger count this year. It comes following a strong performance in its leisure operations, which have hovered around pre-pandemic levels, as the global health emergency forced many holidaymakers to cancel their plans last year, resulting in pent-up demand. Between mid-April and late October, the Serbian carrier operated 1.100 roundtrip charters. Turkey was the most popular destination, accounting for nearly half the total number of leisure flights. Due to increased demand and no entry restrictions for Serbian nationals into Turkey and Egypt, Air Serbia increased frequencies to Antalya and Hurghada multiple times during the summer. The airline operated up to six daily flights to the Turkish resort city and up to eight daily rotations to Hurghada on select days over the peak travel period. In addition to Turkey and Egypt, the Serbian carrier also maintained operations to the Greek islands. Furthermore, this year saw Air Serbia run charters from Niš to Turkey.
Commenting on the results, Air Serbia’s Head of Sales, Boško Rupić, said, “We are glad that, despite the difficult conditions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, we can be proud of a successful summer season. We have noticed that charter flights no longer have strong seasonality as was the case in previous years. Although the peak travel period is still in June, July, August, and mid-September, in the last few years we have also seen growth in charter services during April, May, October, and November”. He added, “In cooperation with our travel agent partners, we have committed all available resources to ensuring that as many passengers as possible reach their desired destinations in safety and comfort, to enjoy a well-deserved vacation. We are equally proud of the significant number of non-tourist charter flights we have operated during peak season”.
Aiding Air Serbia’s performance this summer were fewer foreign charter operators. This summer only saw Nouvelair from Tunisia and Aegean Airlines from Greece run regular charter flights to Belgrade. However, the Serbian carrier is seeing increased competition from foreign carriers running scheduled flights to popular leisure destinations, including Wizz Air. The Serbian national airline is maintaining charters throughout this month to meet demand during the school holidays in the country and will continue to do so in late December and early January for the New Year and Christmas holidays. “Air Serbia will continue to operate charter flights to Hurghada in November and is planning New Year flight offers in partnership with travel agencies”, the company said.
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